Behind her smile the tears lay close. “You’re the best friend. How can we ever thank you for what you’re doing for Sam?”
A steer had escaped from the corral and was galloping down the track in front of the grandstand with its tail up. The young man’s eyes followed the animal absently as he answered in a low voice.
“Do you reckon I have forgot how a girl took a rope from my neck one night? Do you reckon I ever forget that?”
“It was nothing. I just spoke to the boys.”
“Or that I don’t remember how the man I had shot went bail for a rustler he did not know?”
“Dick knew you. He told us about you.”
“Could he tell you any good about me? Could he say anything except that I was a worthless no-’count——?”
She put her hand on his arm and stopped him. “Don’t! I won’t have you say such things about yourself. You were just a boy in trouble.”
“How many would have remembered that? But you did. You fought good for my life that night. I’ll pay my debt, part of it. The whole I never could pay.”
His voice trembled in spite of the best he could do. Their eyes did not meet, but each felt the thrill of joy waves surging through their veins.