“When you think you’re able, I’ll put you back with the sheep you had. I’ll be takin’ Reid over to the ranch to put him in charge of the hospital band.”
“I’m able to handle them now, I think.”
“But take your time, take it easy. Reid gets on with Swan, bein’ more experienced with men than you, I guess. Well, a schoolteacher don’t meet men the way other people do; he’s shut up with the childer all the day, and he gets so he measures men by them. That won’t do on the sheep range, lad. But I guess you’re findin’ it out.”
“I’m learning a little, right along.”
“Yes, you’ve got the makin’ of a sheepman in you; I said you had it in you the first time I put my eyes on your face. Well, I’ll be leavin’ you now, lad. And remember the bargain about my Mary. You’ll be a sheepman in your own way the day you marry her. When a man’s marryin’ a sheep ranch what difference is it to him whether it’s a Mary or a Joan?”
“No difference––when he’s marrying a sheep ranch,” Mackenzie returned.