He watched her narrowly, and continued:

“You ought to get into a game that has some ginger in it. This here life is too tame for a girl like you.”

Without looking at him she asked:

“What kind of a game?” Her voice was lifeless, guttural.

“It’s agin my principles to empty my sack to a woman; but you’re diff’rent—you’re game—you are, Susie.” His voice dropped to a whisper, and the weight of his hand made her shoulder sag. “Let’s you and me rustle a bunch of horses.”

Susie did not betray surprise at the startling proposition by so much as the twitching of an eyelid.

“What for?”

Smith replied:

“Just for the hell of it!”

She grunted, but neither in assent nor dissent; so Smith went on in an eager, persuasive whisper: