She planned exactly what she would say, and how she would for once avoid quarreling with him.

It would be a good plan, she thought, to appeal to his conscience--if he had one, which she rather doubted.

She would point out to him, in a kind, firm tone, that his first duty, indeed, his only duty, lay in serving the Rolling R faithfully.

Trying to build flying machines on the sly was not serving the Rolling R, and Johnny could not fail to see it once she pointed it out to him.
But Johnny was far afield, appeasing his conscience by riding the range and locating the horse herds.

He did not return to camp at noon, for he found it physically impossible to ride past the rock wall without turning into the niche to see what Bland Halliday was doing, and to make sure that the airplane was a reality and not one of his dreams.
Bland was down under the corner of the damaged wing, swearing to himself and tacking linen to mend the jagged hole broken through the covering by the skid.