If the Block S riders wondered at the lightning change in wagon bosses they wondered silently and accepted Robin at his face value. They knew that he had somehow beaten Shining Mark and any man who could do that was to be respected in any capacity. Robin had no strain put on his authority. The Block S crew knew its business. They knew a cowman when they saw him. Robin was born to the range and running a round-up was only a logical step up. Wherefore he had no need to either train or watch his men. Mark Steele had left few loose ends behind him. There was only the regular routine of getting ready. Robin had time to burn. Some of it May helped him to consume. Somehow they did not need to talk much to achieve understanding. Robin was no fool. He knew he had his spurs to win. He did not know how Adam Sutherland would take him as a prospective son-in-law. When he voiced that doubt to May she only smiled. “Do you remember saying to me that I’d probably marry a French count or an English lord and live in a castle and wear silk dresses all the time?” she teased. “Do you suppose dad has that sort of ambition for me?” “Would it make any difference to you--far as I’m concerned--if he had?” He had his arm around her at that moment. May looked up into his earnest face. “Nobody ever quite knows what’s in my father’s mind,” she answered slowly. “He never gives himself away. He keeps his own counsel and acts. But I know what’s in my mind--and in my heart. He’s been good to me in so many different ways. But when it comes to this--there’s no use borrowing trouble, Robin. Wait and see. I’m yours. You’re mine. Nobody can get around that.” “Is it real?” he asked. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s just a fancy of yours--or if I’m dreaming.” She stopped his mouth with a kiss by way of answer. “I’ll penalize you if you say things like that,” she threatened. “If it’s a dream I never want to wake up.” Robin, sometimes when he was alone, would look away south over the foothills, to the dark line that marked the course of Birch Creek in which nestled the Bar M Bar, recalling a dream out of which he had wakened with a bitter taste in his mouth. But this--this was different. He would try to peer into the future. When he did it seemed unreckonable. There was still a tangle to unravel, enemies to cope with. Life hadn’t become less complicated because he was off with an old love and on with a new. It became even more complicated before long. At noon of the third day Adam Sutherland arrived. Robin rode over from camp when he saw the bay team and top buggy roll into the ranch yard. “Come up to the house,” Sutherland invited. “I got to augur with you awhile.” They walked across the yard, Sutherland silent and thoughtful. May met them on the porch. Old Adam held her at arm’s length admiringly. “You look like a new twenty-dollar gold piece,” he said. “The mountain air sure agrees with you.” Color deepened on the girl’s cheeks. “It always did,” she laughed.