Skinny was so dejected Carolyn June felt half-guilty and tried to cheer him up. She began talking, in a low voice, directly to the melancholy-looking cowboy. "To-day--or some time--when the others are away," she said caressingly, "you and I will dance all the dances by ourselves!" His heart leaped joyously. He was sorry, now, that he had not put on the white shirt. He resolved, after a while, to sneak out to the bunk-house and change. The confidential talk between Carolyn June and Skinny galled Chuck. He decided to break it up. "What was your idea in riding the Gold Dust maverick last night?" he said abruptly to the Ramblin' Kid. There was a general pause for the answer. Carolyn June stopped in the middle of a sentence and looked curiously at the Ramblin' Kid. He took his time to reply. "Because I wanted to!" was the slow unsatisfactory retort. "Why didn't you wait till to-day, so the rest of us could see how she acted?" Charley asked. "What do you think you are"--he started to say--"a bunch of lawyers cross-examinin' a witness?" thought better of it and with a careless laugh answered: "If you're huntin' entertainment, why don't you go up to Eagle Butte to th' picture show? Th' maverick an' me ain't no exhibition!" "Did she buck?" Charley continued, ignoring the sarcastic remark. "Some," the Ramblin' Kid drawled. "What you going to do with the filly while we're out on the beef hunt?" Chuck queried, wishing to keep the conversation general. "Ride her!" was the laconic reply. "Ain't you afraid she'll break away from the _caballero_ and you'll lose her again?" Charley asked. "When I ain't usin' her I'll 'neck' her to Captain Jack," the Ramblin' Kid answered patiently, referring to the method of fastening a wild horse to one that is gentle and prevent its running away, by attaching a short length of rope to the neck of each. "I don't believe she'd leave th' stallion anyhow!" "By golly," Chuck said earnestly and half-pleadingly, "I wish you'd put her against that Y-Bar outfit's Thunderbolt horse in the two-mile sweepstakes this year! It would be--" "Fun to see her run!" the Ramblin' Kid interrupted, looking up quickly and straight into the eyes of Carolyn June as he finished the contemptuous quotation of her words, spoken the day before at the corral. She flushed, but gazed back at him without flinching. "Well," he continued, "I reckon you'll get your wish--th' maverick is goin' to run against th' Vermejo horse!" "The Fourth of July is a week from next Wednesday," Charley said calculatingly. "The Rodeo starts on Tuesday, the roping and bucking finals come on Thursday. That makes the big race come Friday--a week from next Friday, ain't it?" "That's right," Bert concurred. "Th' Ramblin' Kid's got nearly two weeks to get the maverick in shape."