"Perhaps I like to be asked--by--Louise."
"You're just flattering me, I know! But uncle, if you had seen the boy jump in front of Mr. Tenlow's horse when Dick shot at the tramp,--and afterwards when the boy helped me with Dick and stuck right to him clear to his house,--why, you couldn't help but admire him. Then they arrested him--for what? It's a shame! I told him to run when I saw the doctor's buggy coming."
"Yes, Louise; the boy may be brave and likable enough, but how are we to know what he really is? I don't like to take the risk. I don't like to meddle in such affairs."
"Uncle Walter! Risk! And the risks you used to take when you were a young man. Oh, Aunty Eleanor has told me all about your riding bronchos and the Panamint--and lots of things. I won't tell you all, for you'd be flattered to pieces, and I want you in one whole lump to-day."
"Oh, maybe for to-morrow, and to-morrow and to-morrow. But, uncle, only last week you said at breakfast that the present system of arrest and imprisonment was all wrong. That was because they arrested that editor who was a friend of yours. But now, when you have a chance to prove that you were in earnest, you don't seem a bit interested."
"Now _you_ are quibbling. And does 'sweetness,' mean me, or what you said at breakfast? Because you said 'the whole damn system'; and there were two ladies at the table. Of course, that was before breakfast. After breakfast you picked a rose for aunty, and kissed me."
Walter Stone laughed heartily. "But I do take a great deal of interest in anything that interests you."
Louise slipped lithely from the porch-rail and swung up on the broad arm of his chair, snuggling against him impetuously. "I know you do, uncle. I just love you! I'll stop teasing."
"I surrender. I'm a pretty fair soldier at long range, but this"--and his arm went round her affectionately--"this is utter defeat. I strike my colors. Then, you always give in so gracefully."
"To you, perhaps, Uncle Walter. But I haven't given in this time. I'm just as interested as ever."
"And you think they are the men we saw out on the Mojave by the water-tank?"
"Oh, I know it! They remembered the rose. They spoke of it right away, before I did."
"Yes, Louise. And you remember, too, that they were arrested at Barstow--for murder, the conductor said?"