For a minute Creede sat silent, surveying the little lady from beneath his shaggy hair.
“Well,” he said judicially, “I think I’d do one of two things: I’d either marry some nice kind man whose judgment I could trust, and turn the job over to him,”––he glanced sideways at Hardy as he spoke,––“or I’d hire some real mean, plug-ugly 304 feller to wade in and clean ’em out. Failin’ in that, I think I’d turn the whole outfit over to Rufe here and go away and fergit about it.”
He added these last words with a frank directness which left no doubt as to his own convictions in the matter, and Lucy turned an inquiring eye upon Hardy. He was busily engaged in pounding a hole in the ground with a rock, and Lucy noted for the first time a trace of silver in his hair. The setting sun cast deep shadows in the set lines of his face and when he finally looked up his eyes were bloodshot and haggard.
“There’s no use in talking to me about that job,” he said morosely. “I’ve got tired of taking orders from a man that doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and I want to use my own judgment for a while. We won’t let anything happen to your cattle, Miss Lucy, and I thank you very much, but I’m afraid I can’t do it.”
He stopped, and bowed his head, hammering moodily away at his hole in the rocky ground.
“Excuse me a minute, Miss Ware,” said Creede, rising to his feet as the silence became oppressive. “Come over here, Rufe, I want to talk with you.”
They stood with their heads together, Jeff tapping the little man on the chest with every word, and still there was the same dogged resistance. “Well, come 305 on and let’s find out,” protested Creede at last, impatiently dragging him back.
“Miss Ware,” he said politely, “what do you expect of this here supe? I might want that job myself, later on,” he observed importantly.
Lucy smiled at the bare-faced fraud and hastened to abet it.
“I expect him to look after my cattle,” she responded promptly, “and to protect my best interests according to his own judgment. The only thing I insist upon is that he leave his gun at home.”