“Yes, ma’am,” and Bug Eye, sighing profoundly, walked meekly forward. As he passed the still form of his beloved Hortense, with the rope, like a long, thin tail, still hanging from her, he shook his head and muttered: “You weren’t long for this world, old girl! Motor busted clean off the chassis. Well--” “Bug Eye, what do you mean by sending that engine of destruction on to my flower bed?” “I didn’t go for to send it on to the flower bed, ma’am,” Bug Eye answered gently. “That was her own doin’s. I aimed her across the yard, an’ the rest she did herself. Reckon she got tired of the straight an’ narrow.” Speechless, Mrs. Ball stared at him. Then with a what-can-you-do-with-a-man-like-that gesture of her hands, she turned and entered the house. The girls, who had stood watching the scene, let out peals of laughter. The woebegone expression on Bug Eye’s face changed not a bit as he rested a hand on one of Hortense’s wheels. To think that he, himself, had been the cause of his beloved’s untimely decease was an added reason for sadness. “Cheer up, Bug Eye. You may be able to fix her,” Teddy called, struggling hard against laughter. “Nope--she’ll never be the same,” the puncher sighed. “Her life is finished. But I sure saved the lilies, didn’t I?” he added in a brighter tone. “You certainly did,” Roy agreed. “I never saw a neater exhibition of roping in my life. Think he ought to get a prize, girls?” he called to Belle and her friends. “He should--and I’ll see that he does!” Nell promised. “If I have to bake it myself. Which do you like, Bug Eye--apple or lemon?” “Huh? Oh, that’s all right. I’m used to tough breaks. Don’t worry about me. Maybe it’s better off this way, anyhow.” “He’s still thinking about Hortense,” Ethel whispered to Nell. “He was so anxious to show Teddy and Roy how it worked, and the first time he took it out it smashed. Let’s go in and leave him to his dead darling!” Bug Eye, with the help of Teddy and Roy, at last carted the remains away. And before they had decently disposed of her behind the bunkhouse Bug Eye was aflame with a new idea--a way to utilize the parts for which Hortense had no more use. “Off with the old love--on with the new!” Teddy laughed. “What’s this one to be, Bug Eye?” “I’m not sure yet,” the puncher answered musingly. “Maybe a fire extinguisher. Maybe--well, anything. But I know one thing! It won’t have no way to move about!” Teddy and Roy, with faces that were prone to grin suddenly when some incident of the runaway Hortense was recalled, wandered about the yard, leaving Bug Eye to his thoughts. They had decided to start back in an hour or so, in order to be at the X Bar X for supper. Anxious as they were to prolong their visit, so that they might talk to Nell and Ethel, they knew there was plenty to be done at home. Round-up season is a busy time for all.