But instantly the spell of her laughter was broken an uneasy thought came upon Hardy, and he glanced up at the soaring sun.
“Jeff will be worried about you,” he said at last. “He will think you are lost and give up the rodéo to hunt for you. We must not stay here so long.”
He turned his head instinctively as he spoke, and Kitty knew he was thinking of the sheep.
“Cattle and sheep––cattle and sheep,” she repeated slowly. “Is there nothing else that counts, Rufus, in all this broad land? Must friendship, love, companionship, all go down before cattle and 286 sheep? I never knew before what a poor creature a woman was until I came to Arizona.”
She glanced at him from beneath her drooping lashes, and saw his jaws set tense.
“And yet only yesterday,” he said, with a sombre smile, “you had twenty men risking their lives to give you some snake-tails for playthings.”
“But my old friend Rufus was not among them,” rejoined Kitty quietly; and once more she watched the venom working in his blood.
“No,” he replied, “he refuses to compete with Bill Lightfoot at any price.”
“Oh, Rufus,” cried Kitty, turning upon him angrily, “aren’t you ashamed? I want you to stop being jealous of all my friends. It is the meanest and most contemptible thing a man can do. I––I won’t stand it!”
He glanced at her again with the same set look of disapproval still upon his face.