“I do the same thing when I’ve any one who listens to me—­or talks to me.”

“Queer how many habits we got the same, eh?”

“It is.  But after all, most of us are more alike than we care to imagine.”

“Yes, there ain’t much difference; sometimes the difference ain’t as much as a split-second watch would catch, but it may mean that one feller passes out and the other goes on.”

They lay half facing each other, each with his head pillowed on an arm.

“By Jove! lucky we reached this shelter before the rain came.”

“Yep.  A couple of hours of this and the rivers will be up—­may take up all day to get back to the ranch if we have to ride up to the ford on the Saverack.”

“Then we’ll swim ’em.”

The other smiled drily.

“Swim the Saverack when she’s up?  No, lad, we won’t do that.”

“Then I’ll have to work it alone, I suppose.  You see, I have that date in Eldara for tomorrow night.”

Nash set his teeth, to choke back the cough.  He produced papers and tobacco, rolled a cigarette with lightning speed, lighted it, and inhaled a long puff.

“Sure, you ought to keep that date, but maybe Sally would wait till the night after.”

“She impressed me, on the whole, as not being of the waiting kind.”

“H-m!  A little delay does ’em good; gives ’em a chance to think.”

“Why, every man has his own way with women, I suppose, but my idea is, keep them busy—­never give them a chance to think.  If you do, they generally waste the chance and forget you altogether.”

Another coughing spell overtook Nash and left him frowning down at the glowing end of his butt.

“She ain’t like the rest.”

“I wonder?” mused the Easterner.

He had an infinite advantage in this duel of words, for he could watch from under the shadow of his long, dark lashes the effect of his speeches on the cowboy, yet never seem to be looking.  For he was wondering whether the enmity of Nash, which he felt as one feels an unknown eye upon him in the dark, came from their rivalry about the girl, or from some deeper cause.  He was inclined to think that the girl was the bottom of everything, but he left his mind open on the subject.

And Nash, pondering darkly and silently, measured the strength of the slender stranger and felt that if he were the club the other was the knife which made less sound but might prove more deadly.  Above all he was conscious of the Easterner’s superiority of language, which might turn the balance against him in the ear of Sally Fortune.  He dropped the subject of the girl.

“You was huntin’ over on the old place on the other side of the range?”

“Yes.”

“Pretty fair run of game?”

“Rather.”

“I think you said something about Logan?”

“Did I?  I’ve been thinking a good deal about him.  He gave me the wrong tip about the way to Eldara.  When I get back to the old place—­”