CHAPTER 16.
Pierre stared at his companion with almost open-mouthed astonishment.
"I?
A dance ?" And then his head tilted back and he laughed.
"My good times, Dick, come out of the hills and the skyline, and the gallop of Mary.

But as for women, they bore me, Dick." "Even Jack ?" "She's more man than woman." It was the turn of Wilbur to laugh, and he responded uproariously until Pierre frowned and flushed a little.
"When I see you out here on your horse with your rifle in the boot and your six-gun swinging low in the scabbard, and riding the fastest bit of horseflesh on the ranges," explained Wilbur, "I get to thinking that you're pretty much king of the mountains; but in certain respects, Pierre, you're a child." Pierre stirred uneasily in his saddle.

A man must be well over thirty before he can withstand ridicule.
He said dryly: "I've an idea that I know Jack's about as well as the next man." "Let it drop," said Wilbur, sober again, for he shared with all of Boone's crew a deep-rooted unwillingness to press Red Pierre beyond a certain point.

"The one subject I won't quarrel about is Jack, God bless her." "She's the best pal," said Pierre soberly, "and the nearest to a man I've ever met." "Nearest to a man ?" queried Wilbur, and smiled, but so furtively that even the sharp eye of Red Pierre did not perceive the mockery.

He went on: "But the dance, what of that?
It's a masquerade.