He did not say a word; therefore he put the Kid upon the defensive and set his young wits to devising arguments in his favor.
"A woman never knows when a fellow begins to grow up.

Doctor Dell is the nicest girl in the world, but she needn't think I'm a baby yet.

I can ride a buckin' horse, and I went on round-up last spring--and made a hand, too! I can swing a rope as good as any of the bunch; you seen me whirl a loop and jump through it, and there's more stunts than that I can do--it was dinner time, so I had to quit before I showed you." The Kid paused.

He had not yet produced any effect whatever upon that surprised, pitying, disappointed look in Luck's face, and the Kid began to feel worried.
"Well, I was just bluffing when I said I'd run away--if she told you that." He stopped; the look was still there, only it now seemed to have contempt added to it.

"I don't say I know more'n anybody on the ranch, and I don't say I'm boss of the ranch yet.