“All right. I’ll ask him. We don’t need to decide my future now. There will be lots of time after you have gone.” Rowan drew her to a chair, and sat down with her in his arms. For once his tongue was not tied. The ten minutes that were left he packed full of all the love that had so long been waiting in his heart for expression. When she said good-bye to him it was with a wan, twitchy little smile on her face. But as soon as he was out of the room she flung herself down, weeping, beside the lounge. She was still lying crouched there when McCoy climbed to the vestibule of the through train. He moved awkwardly because his left wrist was shackled to the right one of Cole. CHAPTER XXIV AT THE CIRCLE DIAMOND ROWAN’S decision to sell the ranch was on the face of it a wise one. Ruth recognized this. She knew nothing of cattle, nothing of farming. But she told herself she could learn. Her interest was very greatly engaged in saving the Circle Diamond for Rowan. Other women had done well homesteading. She knew one widow who raised cattle, another who made money on sheep. Why should she not do the same? It was all very well to say that she had no business experience, but she had as much as other people had when they began. If she did not succeed, the failure would hurt her rather than Rowan. She talked it all over with Flanders, a long-headed business man who knew cattle from hoof to horn. “The cattleman sure has his troubles aplenty,” he told her. “Short summers, long winters, deep snows, blizzards, bad roads, heavy railroad rates, a packers’ trust to buck, drought, and now sheep. A cowman has got to bet before the draw; he can’t ever tell whether he’s going to finish with a hand all blue or a busted flush.” “Yes, but I’ve heard you say yourself that cattle-raising used to be a gamble and that from now on it’s going to be a business instead,” she reminded him. He took off his big white hat and rubbed a polka-dot handkerchief over his bald head. “Tha’s right, too. Government reports show there’s several million fewer cattle in the country than there was five years ago. That spells good prices. There’s a good side to this forest-reserve business, too. It keeps the range from being overcrowded, and it settles the sheep and cattle war. I’ve got a hunch there would be money in leasing the range and putting cattle to run on it.” “Well, then?” she demanded triumphantly. “That ain’t saying _you_ could make money. Jennings is a good foreman, but it takes a boss to run any shebang right.” “When the boss is in doubt she could telephone to you.”