Without waiting for a reply he went back to the gate and watched Skinny and Carolyn June ride down the lane. The deftness and skill with which the girl handled the horse she rode forced a smile of admiration to the lips of the Ramblin' Kid. She sat close in the saddle and a glance showed she was a born master of horses. "She's a wonder," he said to himself, "a teetotal wonder--" A shade of melancholy passed over his face. "An ign'rant, savage, stupid brute!" he murmured bitterly, "well, I reckon she was right--Hell!" he exclaimed aloud, "I wonder if Skinny'll remember about that upper crossin' bein' dang'rous with quicksand after the rain--Guess he did," he finished as the two riders turned to the right toward the lower and more distant river ford and disappeared among the willows and cottonwood trees that fringed the Cimarron. CHAPTER VII THE GREEDY SANDS When the Ramblin' Kid, working the rope-conquered and leg-weary Gold Dust maverick from the North Springs back to the Quarter Circle KT, crossed the Cimarron at dawn Captain Jack and the filly swam a raging, drift-burdened river. Less than twelve hours later Carolyn June and Skinny, at the lower ford, rode into a stream that again was normal. Old Blue and Pie Face splashed through water barely reaching the stirrup leathers. Only the fresh rubbish flung out on the meadows by the flood's quick anger or lodged in the willows, still bent by the pressure of the torrent that had rushed over them and slimy with yellow sediment left on their branches and leaves, told the story of the swift rise and fall of the Cimarron the night before. On the bluff north of the river Carolyn June and Skinny checked their horses while the girl gazed down on the panorama of green fields, narrow lanes, corrals and low buildings of the Quarter Circle KT. The sight thrilled her. On all the Kiowa range there was no more entrancing view. "It's kind of pretty, ain't it?" Skinny ventured. "Beautiful!" she breathed. "I'd--I'd like to stand here and look at it always--if you--if you'd enjoy it!" he said and was instantly appalled by his own audacity. Carolyn June flashed a quick look at him. "We had better go on," she said, then added lightly: "Does it always affect you so when you get this view of the valley?" "No. But, well, somehow it's different this morning--maybe it's because you are here!" he blurted out hurriedly. "Please," she said, starting Old Blue toward the west along the crest of the ridge, "don't be sentimental. I'm afraid--" she added, intending to say it would spoil their ride. "You needn't be, with me along!" Skinny interrupted hastily, misinterpreting her meaning. She laughed and without explaining urged her horse forward. Skinny followed pensively on Old Pie Face.