"
She laughed and put back the straggling locks: "It is terrible! Just
look at it! Isn't it awful?"
"Why, no: I reckons not," he replied critically. "It looks sort of
free an' easy thataway."
"Well, it's no matter, it cannot be helped," she laughed. "Let's
race!" she cried and was off like a shot.
He humored her until he saw that her mount was getting unmanageable,
when he quietly overtook her and closed her pony's nostrils with his
hand, the operation having a most gratifying effect.
"Joe hadn't oughter let yu had this cayuse," he said.
"Why, how do you know of whom I procured it?" She asked. "By th'
brand: it's a O-Bar-O, canceled, with J. H. over it. He buys all of
his cayuses from th' O-Bar-O."
She found out his name, and, after an interval of silence, she
turned to him with eyes full of inquiry: "What is that thorny shrub
just ahead?" She asked.
"That's mesquite," he replied eagerly.
"Tell me all about it," she commanded.
"Why, there ain't much to tell," he replied, "only it's a valuable
tree out here. Th' Apaches use it a whole lot of ways. They get honey
from th' blossoms an' glue an' gum, an' they use th' bark for tannin'
hide. Th' dried pods an' leaves are used to feed their cattle, an' th'
wood makes corrals to keep `em in. They use th' wood for making other
things, too, an' it is of two colors.
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