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"Now, girl, you needn't fire up thet way Set down an' don't--"

"Dare y'u insinuate my father has--"

"Ellen, I ain't insinuatin' nothin'," interrupted the old rown into a young woot sense Thar's bad times ahead, Ellen An' I hate to see you mix in the tears in her eyes "Y'u make me unhappy Oh, I know my dad is not liked in this cattle country But it's unjust He happened to go in for sheep raising I wish he hadn't It was a mistake Dad alas a cattleman till we came heah He made enemies--ho ruined him And everywhere misfortune crossed his trail But, oh, Uncle John, my dad is an honest man"

"Wal, child, I--I didn't ly, and he averted his troubled gaze "Never mind what I said I'm an old e what's goin' to happen If only you wasn't a girl!Thar I go ag'in Ellen, face your future an' fight your way All youngsters hev to do thet An' it's the right kind of fight thet ht kind of man or woman Only you must be sure to find yourself An' by thet I mean to find the real, true, honest-to-God best in you an' stick to it an' die fightin' for it You're a young woman, almost, an' a blamed handsoht This country ain't easy on a woman when once slander has marked her

"What do I care for the talk down in that Basin?" returned Ellen "I know they think I'm a hussy I've let the, child," said Sprague, earnestly "Pride an' temper! You must never let anyone think bad of you, much less help them to"

"I hate everybody down there," cried Ellen, passionately "I hate theed to the best blood in Texas I ahter I know WHO AND WHAT I AM That uplifts me whenever I meet the sneaky, sly suspicions of these Basin people It shows lory in"

"Ellen, you're a wild, headstrong child," rejoined the old ood naiven cause fer thet?"