"We might be back on time for that; this is only Friday night, you know," persisted Polly, clinging to the hope of riding to Top Notch.

"No girl or woman is going--let that end the argument!" now said Mr.

Brewster, with finality.

There was silence for a moment, then Polly laughingly said to Eleanor: "Nolla, you and I will ride over to visit some old friends of mine to-morrow. We will take our lunch and spend the day with them. As it is half-way on the Bear Forks road we might as well ride with our boys when they go."

"Polly, we plan to leave here before dawn so we can be on the climb when day breaks. Nolla and you will please remember to be fast asleep at that time. Good-night!"

With these words, Sam Brewster got up and started to go to his room, but Polly would not allow her daddy to leave her in that frame of mind. So she ran over and jumped up to throw her arms about his neck in her usual fashion. What she whispered in his ear no one knew but he smiled and nodded his head in meek acquiescence.

"Poll--did he say we might go?" whispered Eleanor.

"No--he won't give in that far, but he said we could ride with them as far as Bear Forks, if we were up in time. I'm bound to wake up, so now I'm going right to bed," said Polly.

But Polly and Eleanor did not wake up in the morning until seven o'clock. The riders were far up along the trail by that time, so the girls had to make the best of the day.

When the men riders were well along the trail, Jeb motioned to Mr.

Brewster that he wished to speak with him, so they permitted their horses to slow up and drop behind for a time.

"Ah'm thinkin', Mis'r Brewster, thet Ah'll have to give notice that Ah'm quittin' your ranch. Not what Ah've got any kick comin' about the fam'ly--thar never w'ar a nicer one. But Ah've got ta save mahself."

"Jeb!" gasped Sam Brewster in unbelief. "You _couldn't_ leave us! Why, man, you're one of the family."

"Yeh, Ah knows all that, Mis'r Brewster, but Ah jus' dasent stay where a female badgers my peace o' mind."

"Tell me what is wrong, Jeb, and Ah'll fix it if Ah can," anxiously promised Sam Brewster.

Jeb gazed wildly about for some one to explain for him, and in gazing, his eye rested on John. Big splendid John who had only been a little shaver when he went to Pebbly Pit to work.

"Oh John! Cain't you-all drop back and tell your Paw what ails me?"

shouted Jeb, certain that John, who had been to college, could do anything.

John dropped behind his companions, and Sam Brewster hurriedly explained that Jeb seemed to have a queer belief that he would be done for if he remained at Pebbly Pit.

"Oh, did Jeb bother you about that story, Dad? Here, you ride on in my place, and let me get this thing straightened out."

Alone with Jeb, John said persuasively: "Now tell me all about it, Jeb--begin from the beginning."

"Wall, seein' es how you-all is in love, mebbe you-all kin understand about this love-stuff.

"Now, yuh see, John, when that Sary Dodd come to Pebbly Pit es a widder, to help housework, she never cast an eye around fer a likely 'second'

until that derned old dance at the school-house. It wuz that time when she perked up in all that borrered finery that she landed a rich ole bachelor-rancher on her ticket to dinner. But he gave one look and run.

He never showed up again that night.

"Seein' like-es-how her partner vamoosed, she grabbed me to do the Grand March with her. Mebbe it w'ar the way Ah danced, that took her fancy.

But whatever it w'ar, she's ben locooed after me sence that night.

"Now, John, yuh know Sary ain't no prize-winner fer looks, en Ah knows a good looker when Ah seez one, cuz Ah hev sat and seen lots of pritty gals on the movie sheet in Oak Crick. Gosh! Some of them peaches Ah see'd would make yuh leave a stiddy job like Pebbly Pit. So Ah saved and _saved_ till now Ah've got a tidy bit laid by fer some pritty gal, like them in the Movies.

"Ef Sary Dodd knew Ah had money saved! Phew! She'd get at it whar Ah hid it in a hole under the barn-rafters, then she'd hold it out to tempt me, like-es-how yuh lead a balky cow to be milked. But that is one thing Sary _don't_ know!"

John laughed loud and long at the picture Jeb graphically sketched of Sary and himself, but the orator cared nothing for John's laughing. He was too concerned over his freedom.

"Sary's got some good points--yuh've got to hand it to her, even ef she hain't got a figger like Miss Anne's, and hair like Miss Polly's. But she can cook! Gosh, _cain't_ she cook and clean. So ef it w'ar a housekeeper er a business partner Ah wanted, Ah coulden pick a better one than Sary Dodd.

"But yuh unnerstand me, John, don't yuh, when Ah says Ah wants something pritty sittin' afore the pianner to sing to me, or dressin' up in finery like Miss Bob's and playin' a lady? Ah've ben a hired man and worked on a ranch all mah life, but now Ah've got a bit saved up Ah kin go to the city and pick th' gal Ah wants.

"And lem'me tell yuh, John! In the Movies them gals what looks so pritty make _fine_ farm-wives. Gosh, but one city gal with yaller curls hadn't a cent to live on when she met a feller what owned a little ranch in Arizony. They hooked up and she was that happy on the farm! She churned the b.u.t.ter and fed chickens and did all the ch.o.r.es. And he looked after the stock. Evenin's she played and sang fer him and he sat in a big arm-chair and smiled at her.

"That's the kind of wife Ah wants, John--and how kin Ah sit and listen to Sary sing? Mebbe she kin _churn_ better'n that one I saw in the Movies, but Ah bet a plugged penny that she cain't play a pianner!"

Jeb's tone was so emphatic at the last accusation of Sary's short-comings, that John almost rolled from his horse with laughter.

Now Jeb had said all that he had to say, so he waited patiently for John to get over his spasm of laughter. Then he looked at him as if to ask what had he to say about such positive evidence as he had brought forth, regarding the Movie girl making the best kind of a rancher's wife?

"Oh, Jeb! How I love your innocence!" gasped John, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "I shall certainly sue the Movies for betraying your trust and faith in womankind. For they sure did more than amuse you for your dime. You took for a solid fact, all the silly mush you saw on the screen as real life. But, it was _reel_ life, Jeb, spelled with two 'e's' instead of the genuine r-e-a-l way.

"Jeb, how'd you like to spend every nickel you've saved, on a girl with dyed hair, belladonna eyes, painted lips you could never kiss, blackened eye-lashes and eye-brows, and goodness only knows what else she puts on and takes off to look pretty in the pictures?"

Jeb listened with loose jaw and wide-opened eyes to this strange description of all the lady-loves he knew on the screen.

"Why, Jeb, these blonde Movie beauties have a different husband every few months. The ones who play star-leads make the biggest splash in the puddles, but the little ones try to mimic the big stars and get into all sorts of trouble. I haven't heard of but two or three who could treat a good husband decently. As for sitting at home playing and singing for you--ha, ha, ha! It costs about five hundred dollars each evening to entertain one of them.

"Churn? Did you say she looked so cute in a big bungalow ap.r.o.n churning the b.u.t.ter on a vine-clad porch? Didn't the porch open right out on a little pasture and tidy barnyard, where her devoted husband could stand admiring her? Was it a dear little one-and-a-half story vine-clad house painted white, with green wooden shutters?"

"Uh, huh! Just so! Did you see that gal, John?" eagerly asked Jeb.

"Jeb, the Movies use that same little house and painted scenery for every farm-picture they make. Sometimes a deserted wife hangs to the post of the porch and plans to kill herself. Or sometimes it is the husband who hears how his head man ran away with his foolish little wife. But, Jeb, never believe anything you see in the Movies, for they have turned more heads than you can count, by their subtle ways.

Everything always ends right in the Movies, but it is seldom so in real life.

"Now do you want my best advice, Jeb?"

"Ah sh.o.r.e do, John, cuz you-all knows what's what!"

"Then listen, Jeb, and think things over well before you leave Pebbly Pit and take your money away to spend on a pretty Movie gal.

"You say that Sary is a right smart cook and houseworker. You admit that she is thrifty, and will save that money you've got hidden away in the barn.

"Now look at that good-fer-nothing Bill Dodd she married! In less than a year she had him working on a ranch that she saved up for. Didn't she keep him at it until it was most paid up? If he hadn't gone with the flu, that ranch'd been paid for in another year.

"Sary isn't so feeble, neither. She can save twenty more ranches before she cripples up. Any man who has ambition would make no mistake in choosing Sary. Now I believe Sary would make a big man of you, Jeb.

"She may not dye her hair or paint her face, but she's got a square look, and we-all know what sound stock she comes of. There isn't a better family in all Colorado than the Morson's. And Sary Morson is all there! She has sterling qualities that will last after beauty and singing is worn thread-bare.

"Of course she isn't anything like Anne Stewart--there never was any girl like her! But you make a big mistake if you go away to find a pretty girl, all dolled up like the Movie Queens, for your wife. She'd take all your money and laugh at you the next moment.

"I've lived in big cities, Jeb, and seen a lot of the ways of pretty girls who dress up and pose for the boys, but not one of that kind is worth a shake. Take it from me, Jeb, you'd be happy and contented if you had a ranch of your own, and a sensible wife to make you toe the mark. You're too easy for any other sort, Jeb, although you figure that you need an ideal. Not so, my man!"