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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Forester's Daughter
+       A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range
+
+Author: Hamlin Garland
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2008 [EBook #26239]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HER FACE SHONE AS SHE CALLED OUT: "WELL, HOW DO YOU
+STACK UP THIS MORNING?" (See page 31)]
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range
+
+By
+HAMLIN GARLAND
+
+Author of
+"The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop"
+"Main-Travelled Roads" Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+New York and London
+MCMXIV
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY HAMLIN GARLAND
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+Published February, 1914
+A-O
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                PAGE
+      I  The Happy Girl                   1
+     II  A Ride In The Rain              19
+    III  Wayland Receives a Warning      46
+     IV  The Supervisor of the Forest    68
+      V  The Golden Pathway              82
+     VI  Storm-Bound                    110
+    VII  The Walk in the Rain           123
+   VIII  The Other Girl                 142
+     IX  Further Perplexities           159
+      X  The Camp on the Pass           173
+     XI  The Death-Grapple              195
+    XII  Berrie's Vigil                 204
+   XIII  The Gossips Awake              223
+    XIV  The Summons                    247
+     XV  A Matter of Millinery          260
+    XVI  The Private Car                274
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+HER FACE SHONE AS SHE CALLED OUT: "WELL, HOW DO YOU
+STACK UP THIS MORNING?"                               Frontispiece
+
+THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD
+AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY                                        6
+
+SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE
+OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS                                       140
+
+THE SLENDER YOUTH WENT DOWN BEFORE THE BIG RANCHER
+AS THOUGH STRUCK BY A CATAPULT                                 195
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
+
+This little story is the outcome of two trips (neither of which was in
+the Bear Tooth Forest) during the years 1909 and 1910. Its main claim on
+the reader's interest will lie, no doubt, in the character of Berea
+McFarlane; but I find myself re-living with keen pleasure the splendid
+drama of wind and cloud and swaying forest which made the expeditions
+memorable.
+
+The golden trail is an actuality for me. The camp on the lake was mine.
+The rain, the snow I met. The prying camp-robbers, the grouse, the
+muskrats, the beaver were my companions. But Berrie was with me only in
+imagination. She is a fiction, born of a momentary, powerful hand-clasp
+of a Western rancher's daughter. The story of Wayland Norcross is fiction
+also. But the McFarlane ranch, the mill, and the lonely ranger-stations
+are closely drawn pictures of realities. Although the stage of my comedy
+is Colorado, I have not held to any one locality. The scene is
+composite.
+
+It was my intention, originally, to write a much longer and more
+important book concerning Supervisor McFarlane, but Berrie took the story
+into her own strong hands and made of it something so intimate and so
+idyllic that I could not bring the more prosaic element into it. It
+remained personal and youthful in spite of my plans, a divergence for
+which, perhaps, most of my readers will be grateful.
+
+As for its title, I had little to do with its selection. My daughter,
+Mary Isabel, aged ten, selected it from among a half-dozen others, and
+for luck I let it stand, although it sounds somewhat like that of a
+paper-bound German romance. For the sub-title my publishers are
+responsible.
+
+Finally, I warn the reader that this is merely the very slender story of
+a young Western girl who, being desired of three strong men, bestows her
+love on a "tourist" whose weakness is at once her allurement and her
+care. The administration problem, the sociologic theme, which was to have
+made the novel worth while, got lost in some way on the low trail and
+never caught up with the lovers. I'm sorry--but so it was!
+
+Chicago, January, 1914.
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+I
+
+THE HAPPY GIRL
+
+
+The stage line which ran from Williams to Bear Tooth (one of the most
+authentic then to be found in all the West) possessed at least one
+genuine Concord coach, so faded, so saddened, so cracked, and so
+splintered that its passengers entered it under protest, and alighted
+from it with thanksgiving, and yet it must have been built by honorable
+men, for in 190- it still made the run of one hundred and twenty miles
+twice each week without loss of wheel or even so much as moulting a scrap
+of paint.
+
+And yet, whatever it may have been in its youth, it was in its age no
+longer a gay dash of color in the landscape. On the contrary, it fitted
+into the dust-brown and sage-green plain as defensively as a beetle in a
+dusty path. Nevertheless, it was an indispensable part of a very moving
+picture as it crept, creaking and groaning (or it may be it was the
+suffering passenger creaking and groaning), along the hillside.
+
+After leaving the Grande River the road winds up a pretty high divide
+before plunging down into Ute Park, as they call all that region lying
+between the Continental Range on the east and the Bear Tooth plateau on
+the west. It was a big spread of land, and very far from an Eastern man's
+conception of a park. From Dome Peak it seems a plain; but, in fact, when
+clouds shut off the high summits to the west, this "valley" becomes a
+veritable mountain land, a tumbled, lonely country, over which an
+occasional horseman crawls, a minute but persistent insect. It is, to be
+exact, a succession of ridges and ravines, sculptured (in some far-off,
+post-glacial time) by floods of water, covered now, rather sparsely, with
+pinons, cedars, and aspens, a dry, forbidding, but majestic landscape.
+
+In late August the hills become iridescent, opaline with the translucent
+yellow of the aspen, the coral and crimson of the fire-weed, the
+blood-red of huckleberry beds, and the royal purple of the asters, while
+flowing round all, as solvent and neutral setting, lies the gray-green of
+the ever-present and ever-enduring sage-brush. On the loftier heights
+these colors are arranged in most intricate and cunning patterns, with
+nothing hard, nothing flaring in the prospect. All is harmonious and
+restful. It is, moreover, silent, silent as a dream world, and so flooded
+with light that the senses ache with the stress of it.
+
+Through this gorgeous land of mist, of stillness, and of death, a few
+years ago a pale young man (seated beside the driver) rode one summer day
+in a voiceless rapture which made Bill McCoy weary.
+
+"If you'd had as much of this as I have you'd talk of something else," he
+growled, after a half dozen attempts at conversation. Bill wasn't much to
+look at, but he was a good driver and the stranger respected him for it.
+
+Eventually this simple-minded horseman became curious about the slim
+young fellow sitting beside him.
+
+"What you doing out here, anyhow--fishing or just rebuilding a lung?"
+
+"Rebuilding two lungs," answered the tourist.
+
+"Well, this climate will just about put lungs into a coffee-can,"
+retorted Bill, with official loyalty to his country.
+
+To his discerning eye "the tourist" now became "a lunger." "Where do you
+live when you're to home?"
+
+"Connecticut."
+
+"I knew it."
+
+"How did you know it?" The youth seemed really interested to know.
+
+"I drove another fellow up here last fall that dealt out the same kind of
+brogue you do."
+
+This amused the tourist. "You think I have a 'brogue,' do you?"
+
+"I don't think it--I know it!" Bill replied, shortly.
+
+He was prevented at the moment from pursuing this line of inquiry by the
+discovery of a couple of horsemen racing from a distant ranch toward the
+road. It was plain, even to the stranger, that they intended to intercept
+the stage, and Bill plied the lash with sudden vigor.
+
+"I'll give 'em a chase," said he, grimly.
+
+The other appeared a little alarmed, "What are they--bandits?"
+
+"Bandits!" sneered Bill. "Your eyesight is piercing. Them's _girls_."
+
+The traveler apologized. "My eyes aren't very good," he said, hurriedly.
+
+He was, however, quite justified in his mistake, for both riders wore
+wide-rimmed sombreros and rode astride at a furious pace, bandanas
+fluttering, skirts streaming, and one was calling in shrill command, "OH,
+BILL!"
+
+As they neared the gate the driver drew up with a word of surprise. "Why,
+howdy, girls, howdy!" he said, with an assumption of innocence. "Were you
+wishin' fer to speak to me?"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" commanded one of the girls, a round-faced, freckled romp.
+"You know perfectly well that Berrie is going home to-day--we told you
+all about it yesterday."
+
+"Sure thing!" exclaimed Bill. "I'd forgot all about it."
+
+"Like nothin'!" exclaimed the maid. "You've been countin' the hours till
+you got here--I know you."
+
+Meanwhile her companion had slipped from her horse. "Well, good-by,
+Molly, wish I could stay longer."
+
+"Good-by. Run down again."
+
+"I will. You come up."
+
+The young passenger sprang to the ground and politely said: "May I help
+you in?"
+
+Bill stared, the girl smiled, and her companion called: "Be careful,
+Berrie, don't hurt yourself, the wagon might pitch."
+
+The youth, perceiving that he had made another mistake, stammered an
+apology.
+
+The girl perceived his embarrassment and sweetly accepted his hand. "I am
+much obliged, all the same."
+
+Bill shook with malicious laughter. "Out in this country girls are
+warranted to jump clean over a measly little hack like this," he
+explained.
+
+The girl took a seat in the back corner of the dusty vehicle, and Bill
+opened conversation with her by asking what kind of a time she had been
+having "in the East."
+
+"Fine," said she.
+
+"Did ye get as far back as my old town?"
+
+"What town is that, Bill?"
+
+"Oh, come off! You know I'm from Omaha."
+
+"No, I only got as far as South Bend."
+
+The picture which the girl had made as she dashed up to the pasture gate
+(her hat-rim blown away from her brown face and sparkling eyes), united
+with the kindliness in her voice as she accepted his gallant aid, entered
+a deep impression on the tourist's mind; but he did not turn his head to
+look at her--perhaps he feared Bill's elbow quite as much as his
+guffaw--but he listened closely, and by listening learned that she had
+been "East" for several weeks, and also that she was known, and favorably
+known, all along the line, for whenever they met a team or passed a ranch
+some one called out, "Hello, Berrie!" in cordial salute, and the men, old
+and young, were especially pleased to see her.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD
+AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY]
+
+Meanwhile the stage rose and fell over the gigantic swells like a tiny
+boat on a monster sea, while the sun blazed ever more fervently from the
+splendid sky, and the hills glowed with ever-increasing tumult of color.
+Through this land of color, of repose, of romance, the young traveler
+rode, drinking deep of the germless air, feeling that the girl behind him
+was a wondrous part of this wild and unaccountable country.
+
+He had no chance to study her face again till the coach rolled down the
+hill to "Yancy's," where they were to take dinner and change horses.
+
+Yancy's ranch-house stood on the bank of a fine stream which purled--in
+keen defiance of the hot sun--over a gravel bed, so near to the mountain
+snows that their coolness still lingered in the ripples. The house, a
+long, low, log hut, was fenced with antlers of the elk, adorned with
+morning-glory vines, and shaded by lofty cottonwood-trees, and its green
+grass-plat--after the sun-smit hills of the long morning's ride--was very
+grateful to the Eastern man's eyes.
+
+With intent to show Bill that he did not greatly fear his smiles, the
+youth sprang down and offered a hand to assist his charming
+fellow-passenger to alight; and she, with kindly understanding, again
+accepted his aid--to Bill's chagrin--and they walked up the path side by
+side.
+
+"This is all very new and wonderful to me," the young man said in
+explanation; "but I suppose it's quite commonplace to you--and Bill."
+
+"Oh no--it's home!"
+
+"You were born here?"
+
+"No, I was born in the East; but I've lived here ever since I was three
+years old."
+
+"By East you mean Kansas?"
+
+"No, Missouri," she laughed back at him.
+
+She was taller than most women, and gave out an air of fine unconscious
+health which made her good to see, although her face was too broad to be
+pretty. She smiled easily, and her teeth were white and even. Her hand he
+noticed was as strong as steel and brown as leather. Her neck rose from
+her shoulders like that of an acrobat, and she walked with the sense of
+security which comes from self-reliant strength.
+
+She was met at the door by old lady Yancy, who pumped her hand up and
+down, exclaiming: "My stars, I'm glad to see ye back! 'Pears like the
+country is just naturally goin' to the dogs without you. The dance last
+Saturday was a frost, so I hear, no snap to the fiddlin', no gimp to the
+jiggin'. It shorely was pitiful."
+
+Yancy himself, tall, grizzled, succinct, shook her hand in his turn.
+"Ma's right, girl, the country needs ye. I'm scared every time ye go away
+fer fear some feller will snap ye up."
+
+She laughed. "No danger. Well, how are ye all, anyway?" she asked.
+
+"All well, 'ceptin' me," said the little old woman. "I'm just about able
+to pick at my vittles."
+
+"She does her share o' the work, and half the cook's besides,"
+volunteered Yancy.
+
+"I know her," retorted Berrie, as she laid off her hat. "It's me for a
+dip. Gee, but it's dusty on the road!"
+
+The young tourist--he signed W. W. Norcross in Yancy's register--watched
+her closely and listened to every word she spoke with an intensity of
+interest which led Mrs. Yancy to say, privately:
+
+"'Pears like that young 'lunger' ain't goin' to forgit you if he can help
+it."
+
+"What makes you think he's a 'lunger'?"
+
+"Don't haf to think. One look at him is enough."
+
+Thereafter a softer light--the light of pity--shone in the eyes of the
+girl. "Poor fellow, he does look kind o' peaked; but this climate will
+bring him up to the scratch," she added, with optimistic faith in her
+beloved hills.
+
+A moment later the down-coming stage pulled in, loaded to the side-lines,
+and everybody on it seemed to know Berea McFarlane. It was hello here and
+hello there, and how are ye between, with smacks from the women and open
+cries of "pass it around" on the part of the men, till Norcross marveled
+at the display.
+
+"She seems a great favorite," he observed to Yancy.
+
+"Who--Berrie? She's the whole works up at Bear Tooth. Good thing she
+don't want to go to Congress--she'd lay Jim Worthy on the shelf."
+
+Berea's popularity was not so remarkable as her manner of receiving it.
+She took it all as a sort of joke--a good, kindly joke. She shook hands
+with her male admirers, and smacked the cheeks of her female friends with
+an air of modest deprecation. "Oh, you don't mean it," was one of her
+phrases. She enjoyed this display of affection, but it seemed not to
+touch her deeply, and her impartial, humorous acceptance of the courtship
+of the men was equally charming, though this was due, according to
+remark, to the claims of some rancher up the line.
+
+She continued to be the theme of conversation at the dinner-table and yet
+remained unembarrassed, and gave back quite as good as she received.
+
+"If I was Cliff," declared one lanky admirer, "I'd be shot if I let you
+out of my sight. It ain't safe."
+
+She smiled broadly. "I don't feel scared."
+
+"Oh, _you're_ all right! It's the other feller--like me--that gets
+hurt."
+
+"Don't worry, you're old enough and tough enough to turn a steel-jacketed
+bullet."
+
+This raised a laugh, and Mrs. Yancy, who was waiting on the table, put in
+a word: "I'll board ye free, Berrie, if you'll jest naturally turn up
+here regular at meal-time. You do take the fellers' appetites. It's the
+only time I make a cent."
+
+To the Eastern man this was all very unrestrained and deeply diverting.
+The people seemed to know all about one another notwithstanding the fact
+that they came from ranches scattered up and down the stage line twenty,
+thirty miles apart--to be neighbors in this country means to be anywhere
+within a sixty-mile ride--and they gossiped of the countryside as
+minutely as the residents of a village in Wisconsin discuss their kind.
+News was scarce.
+
+The north-bound coach got away first, and as the girl came out to take
+her place, Norcross said: "Won't you have my seat with the driver?"
+
+She dropped her voice humorously. "No, thank you, I can't stand for
+Bill's clack."
+
+Norcross understood. She didn't relish the notion of being so close to
+the frankly amorous driver, who neglected no opportunity to be personal;
+therefore, he helped her to her seat inside and resumed his place in
+front.
+
+Bill, now broadly communicative, minutely detailed his tastes in food,
+horses, liquors, and saddles in a long monologue which would have been
+tiresome to any one but an imaginative young Eastern student. Bill had a
+vast knowledge of the West, but a distressing habit of repetition. He was
+self-conscious, too, for the reason that he was really talking for the
+benefit of the girl sitting in critical silence behind him, who, though
+he frequently turned to her for confirmation of some of the more
+startling of his statements, refused to be drawn into controversy.
+
+In this informing way some ten miles were traversed, the road climbing
+ever higher, and the mountains to right and left increasing in grandeur
+each hour, till of a sudden and in a deep valley on the bank of another
+swift stream, they came upon a squalid saloon and a minute post-office.
+This was the town of Moskow.
+
+Bill, lumbering down over the wheel, took a bag of mail from the boot and
+dragged it into the cabin. The girl rose, stretched herself, and said:
+"This stagin' is slow business. I'm cramped. I'm going to walk on
+ahead."
+
+"May I go with you?" asked Norcross.
+
+"Sure thing! Come along."
+
+As they crossed the little pole bridge which spanned the flood, the
+tourist exclaimed: "What exquisite water! It's like melted opals."
+
+"Comes right down from the snow," she answered, impressed by the poetry
+of his simile.
+
+He would gladly have lingered, listening to the song of the water, but as
+she passed on, he followed. The opposite hill was sharp and the road
+stony, but as they reached the top the young Easterner called out, "See
+the savins!"
+
+Before them stood a grove of cedars, old, gray, and drear, as weirdly
+impressive as the cacti in a Mexican desert. Torn by winds, scarred by
+lightnings, deeply rooted, tenacious as tradition, unlovely as Egyptian
+mummies, fantastic, dwarfed and blackened, these unaccountable creatures
+clung to the ledges. The dead mingled horribly with the living, and when
+the wind arose--the wind that was robustly cheerful on the high
+hills--these hags cried out with low moans of infinite despair. It was as
+if they pleaded for water or for deliverance from a life that was a kind
+of death.
+
+The pale young man shuddered. "What a ghostly place!" he exclaimed, in a
+low voice. "It seems the burial-place of a vanished race."
+
+Something in his face, some note in his voice profoundly moved the girl.
+For the first time her face showed something other than childish good
+nature and a sense of humor. "I don't like these trees myself," she
+answered. "They look too much like poor old squaws."
+
+For a few moments the man and the maid studied the forest of immemorial,
+gaunt, and withered trees--bright, impermanent youth confronting
+time-defaced and wind-torn age. Then the girl spoke: "Let's get out of
+here. I shall cry if we don't."
+
+In a few moments the dolorous voices were left behind, and the cheerful
+light of the plain reasserted itself. Norcross, looking back down upon
+the cedars, which at a distance resembled a tufted, bronze-green carpet,
+musingly asked: "What do you suppose planted those trees there?"
+
+The girl was deeply impressed by the novelty of this query. "I never
+thought to ask. I reckon they just grew."
+
+"No, there's a reason for all these plantings," he insisted.
+
+"We don't worry ourselves much about such things out here," she replied,
+with charming humor. "We don't even worry about the weather. We just take
+things as they come."
+
+They walked on talking with new intimacy. "Where is your home?" he
+asked.
+
+"A few miles out of Bear Tooth. You're from the East, Bill says--'the far
+East,' we call it."
+
+"From New Haven. I've just finished at Yale. Have you ever been to New
+York?"
+
+"Oh, good Lord, no!" she answered, as though he had named the ends of the
+earth. "My mother came from the South--she was born in Kentucky--that
+accounts for my name, and my father is a Missourian. Let's see, Yale is
+in the state of Connecticut, isn't it?"
+
+"Connecticut is no longer a state; it is only a suburb of New York
+City."
+
+"Is that so? My geography calls it 'The Nutmeg State.'"
+
+"Your geography is behind the times. New York has absorbed all of
+Connecticut and part of Jersey."
+
+"Well, it's all the same to us out here. Your whole country looks like
+the small end of a slice of pie to us."
+
+"Have you ever been in a city?"
+
+"Oh yes, I go to Denver once in a while, and I saw St. Louis once; but I
+was only a yearling, and don't remember much about it. What are you doing
+out here, if it's a fair question?"
+
+He looked away at the mountains. "I got rather used up last spring, and
+my doctor said I'd better come out here for a while and build up. I'm
+going up to Meeker's Mill. Do you know where that is?"
+
+"I know every stove-pipe in this park," she answered. "Joe Meeker is kind
+o' related to me--uncle by marriage. He lives about fifteen miles over
+the hill from Bear Tooth."
+
+This fact seemed to bring them still closer together. "I'm glad of that,"
+he said, pointedly. "Perhaps I shall be permitted to see you now and
+again? I'm going to be lonesome for a while, I'm afraid."
+
+"Don't you believe it! Joe Meeker's boys will keep you interested," she
+assured him.
+
+The stage overtook them at this point, and Bill surlily remarked: "If
+you'd been alone, young feller, I'd 'a' give you a chase." His resentment
+of the outsider's growing favor with the girl was ludicrously evident.
+
+As they rose into the higher levels the aspen shook its yellowish leaves
+in the breeze, and the purple foot-hills gained in majesty. Great new
+peaks came into view on the right, and the lofty cliffs of the Bear Tooth
+range loomed in naked grandeur high above the blue-green of the pines
+which clothed their sloping eastern sides.
+
+At intervals the road passed small log ranches crouching low on the banks
+of creeks; but aside from these--and the sparse animal life around
+them--no sign of settlement could be seen. The valley lay as it had lain
+for thousands of years, repeating its forests as the meadows of the lower
+levels send forth their annual grasses. Norcross said to himself: "I have
+circled the track of progress and have re-entered the border America,
+where the stage-coach is still the one stirring thing beneath the sun."
+
+At last the driver, with a note of exultation, called out: "Grab a root,
+everybody, it's all the way down-hill and time to feed."
+
+And so, as the dusk came over the mighty spread of the hills to the east,
+and the peaks to the west darkened from violet to purple-black, the stage
+rumbled and rattled and rushed down the winding road through thickening
+signs of civilization, and just at nightfall rolled into the little town
+of Bear Tooth, which is the eastern gateway of the Ute Plateau.
+
+Norcross had given a great deal of thought to the young girl behind him,
+and thought had deepened her charm. Her frankness, her humor, her superb
+physical strength and her calm self-reliance appealed to him, and the
+more dangerously, because he was so well aware of his own weakness and
+loneliness, and as the stage drew up before the hotel, he fervently said:
+"I hope I shall see you again?"
+
+Before she could reply a man's voice called: "Hello, there!" and a tall
+fellow stepped up to her with confident mien.
+
+Norcross awkwardly shrank away. This was her cowboy lover, of course. It
+was impossible that so attractive a girl should be unattached, and the
+knowledge produced in him a faint but very definite pang of envy and
+regret.
+
+The happy girl, even in the excitement of meeting her lover, did not
+forget the stranger. She gave him her hand in parting, and again he
+thrilled to its amazing power. It was small, but it was like a steel
+clamp. "Stop in on your way to Meeker's," she said, as a kindly man would
+have done. "You pass our gate. My father is Joseph McFarlane, the Forest
+Supervisor. Good night."
+
+"Good night," he returned, with sincere liking.
+
+"Who is that?" Norcross heard her companion ask.
+
+She replied in a low voice, but he overheard her answer, "A poor
+'lunger,' bound for Meeker's--and Kingdom Come, I'm afraid. He seems a
+nice young feller, too."
+
+"They always wait till the last minute," remarked the rancher, with
+indifferent tone.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+A RIDE IN THE RAIN
+
+
+There are two Colorados within the boundaries of the state of that name,
+distinct, almost irreconcilable. One is a plain (smooth, dry,
+monotonous), gently declining to the east, a land of sage-brush,
+wheat-fields, and alfalfa meadows--a rather commonplace region now, given
+over to humdrum folk intent on digging a living from the soil; but the
+other is an army of peaks, a region of storms, a spread of dark and
+tangled forests. In the one, shallow rivers trickle on their sandy way to
+the Gulf of Mexico; from the other, the waters rush, uniting to make the
+mighty stream whose silt-laden floods are slowly filling the Gulf of
+California.
+
+If you stand on one of the great naked crests which form the dividing
+wall, the rampart of the plains, you can see the Colorado of tradition to
+the west, still rolling in wave after wave of stupendous altitudes, each
+range cutting into the sky with a purple saw-tooth edge. The landscape
+seems to contain nothing but rocks and towering crags, a treasure-house
+for those who mine. But this is illusive. Between these purple heights
+charming valleys wind and meadows lie in which rich grasses grow and
+cattle feed.
+
+On certain slopes--where the devastating miners have not yet played their
+relentless game--dark forests rise to the high, bold summits of the
+chiefest mountains, and it is to guard these timbered tracts, growing
+each year more valuable, that the government has established its Forest
+Service to protect and develop the wealth-producing power of the
+watersheds.
+
+Chief among the wooded areas of this mighty inland empire of crag and
+stream is the Bear Tooth Forest, containing nearly eight hundred thousand
+acres of rock and trees, whose seat of administration is Bear Tooth
+Springs, the small town in which our young traveler found himself.
+
+He carefully explained to the landlord of the Cottage Hotel that he had
+never been in this valley before, and that he was filled with
+astonishment and delight of the scenery.
+
+"Scenery! Yes, too much scenery. What we want is settlers," retorted the
+landlord, who was shabby and sour and rather contemptuous, for the reason
+that he considered Norcross a poor consumptive, and a fool to boot--"one
+of those chaps who wait till they are nearly dead, then come out here
+expecting to live on climate."
+
+The hotel was hardly larger than the log shanty of a railway-grading
+camp; but the meat was edible, and just outside the door roared Bear
+Creek, which came down directly from Dome Mountain, and the young
+Easterner went to sleep beneath its singing that night. He should have
+dreamed of the happy mountain girl, but he did not; on the contrary, he
+imagined himself back at college in the midst of innumerable freshmen,
+yelling, "Bill McCoy, Bill McCoy!"
+
+He woke a little bewildered by his strange surroundings, and when he
+became aware of the cheap bed, the flimsy wash-stand, the ugly wallpaper,
+and thought how far he was from home and friends, he not only sighed, he
+shivered. The room was chill, the pitcher of water cold almost to the
+freezing-point, and his joints were stiff and painful from his ride. What
+folly to come so far into the wilderness at this time.
+
+As he crawled from his bed and looked from the window he was still
+further disheartened. In the foreground stood a half dozen frame
+buildings, graceless and cheap, without tree or shrub to give shadow or
+charm of line--all was bare, bleak, sere; but under his window the stream
+was singing its glorious mountain song, and away to the west rose the
+aspiring peaks from which it came. Romance brooded in that shadow, and on
+the lower foot-hills the frost-touched foliage glowed like a mosaic of
+jewels.
+
+Dressing hurriedly he went down to the small bar-room, whose litter of
+duffle-bags, guns, saddles, and camp utensils gave evidence of the
+presence of many hunters and fishermen. The slovenly landlord was poring
+over a newspaper, while a discouraged half-grown youth was sludging the
+floor with a mop; but a cheerful clamor from an open door at the back of
+the hall told that breakfast was on.
+
+Venturing over the threshold, Norcross found himself seated at table with
+some five or six men in corduroy jackets and laced boots, who were, in
+fact, merchants and professional men from Denver and Pueblo out for fish
+and such game as the law allowed, and all in holiday mood. They joked the
+waiter-girls, and joshed one another in noisy good-fellowship, ignoring
+the slim youth in English riding-suit, who came in with an air of mingled
+melancholy and timidity and took a seat at the lower corner of the long
+table.
+
+The landlady, tall, thin, worried, and inquisitive, was New
+England--Norcross recognized her type even before she came to him with a
+question on her lips. "So you're from the East, are you?"
+
+"I've been at school there."
+
+"Well, I'm glad to see you. My folks came from York State. I don't often
+get any one from the _real_ East. Come out to fish, I s'pose?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, thinking this the easiest way out.
+
+"Well, they's plenty of fishing--and they's plenty of air, not much of
+anything else."
+
+As he looked about the room, the tourist's eye was attracted by four
+young fellows seated at a small table to his right. They wore rough
+shirts of an olive-green shade, and their faces were wind-scorched; but
+their voices held a pleasant tone, and something in the manner of the
+landlady toward them made them noticeable. Norcross asked her who they
+were.
+
+"They're forestry boys."
+
+"Forestry boys?"
+
+"Yes; the Supervisor's office is here, and these are his help."
+
+This information added to Norcross's interest and cheered him a little.
+He knew something of the Forest Service, and had been told that many of
+the rangers were college men. He resolved to make their acquaintance. "If
+I'm to stay here they will help me endure the exile," he said.
+
+After breakfast he went forth to find the post-office, expecting a letter
+of instructions from Meeker. He found nothing of the sort, and this quite
+disconcerted him.
+
+"The stage is gone," the postmistress told him, "and you can't get up
+till day after to-morrow. You might reach Meeker by using the government
+'phone, however."
+
+"Where will I find the government 'phone?"
+
+"Down in the Supervisor's office. They're very accommodating; they'll let
+you use it, if you tell them who you want to reach."
+
+It was impossible to miss the forestry building for the reason that a
+handsome flag fluttered above it. The door being open, Norcross perceived
+from the threshold a young clerk at work on a typewriter, while in a
+corner close by the window another and older man was working intently on
+a map.
+
+"Is this the office of the Forest Supervisor?" asked the youth.
+
+The man at the machine looked up, and pleasantly answered: "It is, but
+the Supervisor is not in yet. Is there anything I can do for you?"
+
+"It may be you can. I am on my way to Meeker's Mill for a little outing.
+Perhaps you could tell me where Meeker's Mill is, and how I can best get
+there."
+
+The man at the map meditated. "It's not far, some eighteen or twenty
+miles; but it's over a pretty rough trail."
+
+"What kind of a place is it?"
+
+"Very charming. You'll like it. Real mountain country."
+
+This officer was a plain-featured man of about thirty-five, with keen and
+clear eyes. His voice, though strongly nasal, possessed a note of manly
+sincerity. As he studied his visitor, he smiled.
+
+"You look brand-new--haven't had time to season-check, have you?"
+
+"No; I'm a stranger in a strange land."
+
+"Out for your health?"
+
+"Yes. My name is Norcross. I'm just getting over a severe illness, and
+I'm up here to lay around and fish and recuperate--if I can."
+
+"You can--you will. You can't help it," the other assured him. "Join one
+of our surveying crews for a week and I'll mellow that suit of yours and
+make a real mountaineer of you. I see you wear a _Sigma Chi_ pin. What
+was your school?"
+
+"I am a 'Son of Eli.' Last year's class."
+
+The other man displayed his fob. "I'm ten classes ahead of you. My name
+is Nash. I'm what they call an 'expert.' I'm up here doing some
+estimating and surveying for a big ditch they're putting in. I was rather
+in hopes you had come to join our ranks. We sons of Eli are holding the
+conservation fort these days, and we need help."
+
+"My knowledge of your work is rather vague," admitted Norcross. "My
+father is in the lumber business; but his point of view isn't exactly
+yours."
+
+"He slays 'em, does he?"
+
+"He did. He helped devastate Michigan."
+
+"After me the deluge! I know the kind. Why not make yourself a sort of
+vicarious atonement?"
+
+Norcross smiled. "I had not thought of that. It would help some, wouldn't
+it?"
+
+"It certainly would. There's no great money in the work; but it's about
+the most enlightened of all the governmental bureaus."
+
+Norcross was strongly drawn to this forester, whose tone was that of a
+highly trained specialist. "I rode up on the stage yesterday with Miss
+Berrie McFarlane."
+
+"The Supervisor's daughter?"
+
+"She seemed a fine Western type."
+
+"She's not a type; she's an individual. She hasn't her like anywhere I've
+gone. She cuts a wide swath up here. Being an only child she's both son
+and daughter to McFarlane. She knows more about forestry than her father.
+In fact, half the time he depends on her judgment."
+
+Norcross was interested, but did not want to take up valuable time. He
+said: "Will you let me use your telephone to Meeker's?"
+
+"Very sorry, but our line is out of order. You'll have to wait a day or
+so--or use the mails. You're too late for to-day's stage, but it's only a
+short ride across. Come outside and I'll show you."
+
+Norcross followed him to the walk, and stood in silence while his guide
+indicated the pass over the range. It all looked very formidable to the
+Eastern youth. Thunderous clouds hung low upon the peaks, and the great
+crags to left and right of the notch were stern and barren. "I think I'll
+wait for the stage," he said, with candid weakness. "I couldn't make that
+trip alone."
+
+"You'll have to take many such a ride over that range in the _night_--if
+you join the service," Nash warningly replied.
+
+As they were standing there a girl came galloping up to the hitching-post
+and slid from her horse. It was Berea McFarlane. "Good morning, Emery,"
+she called to the surveyor. "Good morning," she nodded at Norcross. "How
+do you find yourself this morning?"
+
+"Homesick," he replied, smilingly.
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I'm disappointed in the town."
+
+"What's the matter with the town?"
+
+"It's so commonplace. I expected it to be--well, different. It's just
+like any other plains town."
+
+Berrie looked round at the forlorn shops, the irregular sidewalks, the
+grassless yards. "It isn't very pretty, that's a fact; but you can always
+forget it by just looking up at the high country. When you going up to
+the mill?"
+
+"I don't know. I haven't had any word from Meeker, and I can't reach him
+by telephone."
+
+"I know, the line is short-circuited somewhere; but they've sent a man
+out. He may close it any minute."
+
+"Where's the Supervisor?" asked Nash.
+
+"He's gone over to Moore's cutting. How are you getting on with those
+plats?"
+
+"Very well. I'll have 'em all in shape by Saturday."
+
+"Come in and make yourself at home," said the girl to Norcross. "You'll
+find the papers two or three days old," she smiled. "We never know about
+anything here till other people have forgotten it."
+
+Norcross followed her into the office, curious to know more about her.
+She was so changed from his previous conception of her that he was
+puzzled. She had the directness and the brevity of phrase of a business
+man, as she opened letters and discussed their contents with the men.
+
+"Truly she _is_ different," thought Norcross, and yet she lost something
+by reason of the display of her proficiency as a clerk. "I wish she would
+leave business to some one else," he inwardly grumbled as he rose to go.
+
+She looked up from her desk. "Come in again later. We may be able to
+reach the mill."
+
+He thanked her and went back to his hotel, where he overhauled his outfit
+and wrote some letters. His disgust of the town was lessened by the
+presence of that handsome girl, and the hope that he might see her at
+luncheon made him impatient of the clock.
+
+She did not appear in the dining-room, and when Norcross inquired of Nash
+whether she took her meals at the hotel or not, the expert replied: "No,
+she goes home. The ranch is only a few miles down the valley.
+Occasionally we invite her, but she don't think much of the cooking."
+
+One of the young surveyors put in a word: "I shouldn't think she would.
+I'd ride ten miles any time to eat one of Mrs. McFarlane's dinners."
+
+"Yes," agreed Nash with a reflective look in his eyes. "She's a mighty
+fine girl, and I join the boys in wishing her better luck than marrying
+Cliff Belden."
+
+"Is it settled that way?" asked Norcross.
+
+"Yes; the Supervisor warned us all, but even he never has any good words
+for Belden. He's a surly cuss, and violently opposed to the service. His
+brother is one of the proprietors of the Meeker mill, and they have all
+tried to bulldoze Landon, our ranger over there. By the way, you'll like
+Landon. He's a Harvard man, and a good ranger. His shack is only a
+half-mile from Meeker's house. It's a pretty well-known fact that Alec
+Belden is part proprietor of a saloon over there that worries the
+Supervisor worse than anything. Cliff swears he's not connected with it;
+but he's more or less sympathetic with the crowd."
+
+Norcross, already deeply interested in the present and future of a girl
+whom he had met for the first time only the day before, was quite ready
+to give up his trip to Meeker. After the men went back to work he
+wandered about the town for an hour or two, and then dropped in at the
+office to inquire if the telephone line had been repaired.
+
+"No, it's still dead."
+
+"Did Miss McFarlane return?"
+
+"No. She said she had work to do at home. This is ironing-day, I
+believe."
+
+"She plays all the parts, don't she?"
+
+"She sure does; and she plays one part as well as another. She can rope
+and tie a steer or bake a cake as well as play the piano."
+
+"Don't tell me she plays the piano!"
+
+Nash laughed. "She does; but it's one of those you operate with your
+feet."
+
+"I'm relieved to hear that. She seems almost weirdly gifted as it is."
+After a moment he broke in with: "What can a man do in this town?"
+
+"Work, nothing else."
+
+"What do you do for amusement?"
+
+"Once in a while there is a dance in the hall over the drug-store, and on
+Sunday you can listen to a wretched sermon in the log church. The rest of
+the time you work or loaf in the saloons--or read. Old Nature has done
+her part here. But man--! Ever been in the Tyrol?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, some day the people of the plains will have sense enough to use
+these mountains, these streams, the way they do over there."
+
+It required only a few hours for Norcross to size up the valley and its
+people. Aside from Nash and his associates, and one or two families
+connected with the mill to the north, the villagers were poor,
+thriftless, and uninteresting. They were lacking in the picturesque
+quality of ranchers and miners, and had not yet the grace of
+town-dwellers. They were, indeed, depressingly nondescript.
+
+Early on the second morning he went to the post-office--which was also
+the telephone station--to get a letter or message from Meeker. He found
+neither; but as he was standing in the door undecided about taking the
+stage, Berea came into town riding a fine bay pony, and leading a
+blaze-face buckskin behind her.
+
+Her face shone cordially, as she called out: "Well, how do you stack up
+this morning?"
+
+"Tip-top," he answered, in an attempt to match her cheery greeting.
+
+"Do you like our town better?"
+
+"Not a bit! But the hills are magnificent."
+
+"Anybody turned up from the mill?"
+
+"No, I haven't heard a word from there. The telephone is still out of
+commission."
+
+"They can't locate the break. Uncle Joe sent word by the stage-driver
+asking us to keep an eye out for you and send you over. I've come to take
+you over myself."
+
+"That's mighty good of you; but it's a good deal to ask."
+
+"I want to see Uncle Joe on business, anyhow, and you'll like the ride
+better than the journey by stage."
+
+Leaving the horses standing with their bridle-reins hanging on the
+ground, she led the way to the office.
+
+"When father comes in, tell him where I've gone, and send Mr. Norcross's
+packs by the first wagon. Is your outfit ready?" she asked.
+
+"Not quite. I can get it ready soon."
+
+He hurried away in pleasant excitement, and in twenty minutes was at the
+door ready to ride.
+
+"You'd better take my bay," said Berea. "Old Paint-face there is a little
+notional."
+
+Norcross approached his mount with a caution which indicated that he had
+at least been instructed in range-horse psychology, and as he gathered
+his reins together to mount, Berrie remarked:
+
+"I hope you're saddle-wise."
+
+"I had a few lessons in a riding-school," he replied, modestly.
+
+Young Downing approached the girl with a low-voiced protest: "You
+oughtn't to ride old Paint. He nearly pitched the Supervisor the other
+day."
+
+"I'm not worried," she said, and swung to her saddle.
+
+The ugly beast made off in a tearing sidewise rush, but she smilingly
+called back: "All set." And Norcross followed her in high admiration.
+
+Eventually she brought her bronco to subjection, and they trotted off
+together along the wagon-road quite comfortably. By this time the youth
+had forgotten his depression, his homesickness of the morning. The valley
+was again enchanted ground. Its vistas led to lofty heights. The air was
+regenerative, and though a part of this elation was due, no doubt, to the
+power of his singularly attractive guide, he laid it discreetly to the
+climate.
+
+After shacking along between some rather sorry fields of grain for a mile
+or two, Berea swung into a side-trail. "I want you to meet my mother,"
+she said.
+
+The grassy road led to a long, one-story, half-log, half-slab house,
+which stood on the bank of a small, swift, willow-bordered stream.
+
+"This is our ranch," she explained. "All the meadow in sight belongs to
+us."
+
+The young Easterner looked about in astonishment. Not a tree bigger than
+his thumb gave shade. The gate of the cattle corral stood but a few feet
+from the kitchen door, and rusty beef-bones, bleaching skulls, and scraps
+of sun-dried hides littered the ground or hung upon the fence. Exteriorly
+the low cabin made a drab, depressing picture; but as he alighted--upon
+Berea's invitation--and entered the house, he was met by a sweet-faced,
+brown-haired little woman in a neat gown, whose bearing was not in the
+least awkward or embarrassed.
+
+"This is Mr. Norcross, the tourist I told you about," explained Berrie.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane extended her small hand with friendly impulse. "I'm very
+glad to meet you, sir. Are you going to spend some time at the Mill?"
+
+"I don't know. I have a letter to Mr. Meeker from a friend of mine who
+hunted with him last year--a Mr. Sutler."
+
+"Mr. Sutler! Oh, we know him very well. Won't you sit down?"
+
+The interior of the house was not only well kept, but presented many
+evidences of refinement. A mechanical piano stood against the log wall,
+and books and magazines, dog-eared with use, littered the table; and
+Norcross, feeling the force of Nash's half-expressed criticism of his
+"superior," listened intently to Mrs. McFarlane's apologies for the
+condition of the farmyard.
+
+"Well," said Berea, sharply, "if we're to reach Uncle Joe's for dinner
+we'd better be scratching the hills." And to her mother she added: "I'll
+pull in about dark."
+
+The mother offered no objection to her daughter's plan, and the young
+people rode off together directly toward the high peaks to the east.
+
+"I'm going by way of the cut-off," Berrie explained; and Norcross,
+content and unafraid, nodded in acquiescence. "Here is the line," she
+called a few minutes later, pointing at a sign nailed to a tree at the
+foot of the first wooded hill.
+
+The notice, printed in black ink on a white square of cloth, proclaimed
+this to be the boundary of the Bear Tooth National Forest, and pleaded
+with all men to be watchful of fires. Its tone was not at all that of a
+strong government; it was deprecatory.
+
+The trail, hardly more than a wood road, grew wilder and lonelier as they
+climbed. Cattle fed on the hillsides in scattered bands like elk. Here
+and there a small cabin stood on the bank of a stream; but, for the most
+part, the trail mounted the high slopes in perfect solitude.
+
+The girl talked easily and leisurely, reading the brands of the ranchers,
+revealing the number of cattle they owned, quite as a young farmer would
+have done. She seemed not to be embarrassed in the slightest degree by
+the fact that she was guiding a strange man over a lonely road, and gave
+no outward sign of special interest in him till she suddenly turned to
+ask: "What kind of a slicker--I mean a raincoat--did you bring?"
+
+He looked blank. "I don't believe I brought any. I've a leather
+shooting-jacket, however."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders and looked up at the sky. "We're in for a
+storm. You'd ought 'o have a slicker, no fancy 'raincoat,' but a real
+old-fashioned cow-puncher's oilskin. They make a business of shedding
+rain. Leather's no good, neither is canvas; I've tried 'em all."
+
+She rode on for a few minutes in silence, as if disgusted with his folly,
+but she was really worrying about him. "Poor chap," she said to herself.
+"He can't stand a chill. I ought to have thought of his slicker myself.
+He's helpless as a baby."
+
+They were climbing fast now, winding upward along the bank of a stream,
+and the sky had grown suddenly gray, and the woodland path was dark and
+chill. The mountains were not less beautiful; but they were decidedly
+less amiable, and the youth shivered, casting an apprehensive eye at the
+thickening clouds.
+
+Berea perceived something of his dismay, and, drawing rein, dismounted.
+Behind her saddle was a tightly rolled bundle which, being untied and
+shaken out, proved to be a horseman's rainproof oilskin coat. "Put this
+on!" she commanded.
+
+"Oh no," he protested, "I can't take your coat."
+
+"Yes you can! You must! Don't you worry about me, I'm used to weather.
+Put this on over your jacket and all. You'll need it. Rain won't hurt
+_me_; but it will just about finish you."
+
+The worst of this lay in its truth, and Norcross lost all his pride of
+sex for the moment. A wetting would not dim this girl's splendid color,
+nor reduce her vitality one degree, while to him it might be a
+death-warrant. "You could throw me over my own horse," he admitted, in a
+kind of bitter admiration, and slipped the coat on, shivering with cold
+as he did so.
+
+"You think me a poor excuse of a trailer, don't you?" he said, ruefully,
+as the thunder began to roll.
+
+"You've got to be all made over new," she replied, tolerantly. "Stay here
+a year and you'll be able to stand anything."
+
+Remounting, she again led the way with cheery cry. The rain came dashing
+down in fitful, misty streams; but she merely pulled the rim of her
+sombrero closer over her eyes, and rode steadily on, while he followed,
+plunged in gloom as cold and gray as the storm. The splitting crashes of
+thunder echoed from the high peaks like the voices of siege-guns, and the
+lightning stabbed here and there as though blindly seeking some hidden
+foe. Long veils of falling water twisted and trailed through the valleys
+with swishing roar.
+
+"These mountain showers don't last long," the girl called back, her face
+shining like a rose. "We'll get the sun in a few minutes."
+
+And so it turned out. In less than an hour they rode into the warm light
+again, and in spite of himself Norcross returned her smile, though he
+said: "I feel like a selfish fool. You are soaked."
+
+"Hardly wet through," she reassured him. "My jacket and skirt turn water
+pretty well. I'll be dry in a jiffy. It does a body good to be wet once
+in a while."
+
+The shame of his action remained; but a closer friendship was
+established, and as he took off the coat and handed it back to her, he
+again apologized. "I feel like a pig. I don't see how I came to do it.
+The thunder and the chill scared me, that's the truth of it. You
+hypnotized me into taking it. How wet you _are_!" he exclaimed,
+remorsefully. "You'll surely take cold."
+
+"I never take cold," she returned. "I'm used to all kinds of weather.
+Don't you bother about me."
+
+Topping a low divide the youth caught a glimpse of the range to the
+southeast, which took his breath. "Isn't that superb!" he exclaimed.
+"It's like the shining roof of the world!"
+
+"Yes, that's the Continental Divide," she confirmed, casually; but the
+lyrical note which he struck again reached her heart. The men she knew
+had so few words for the beautiful in life. She wondered whether this
+man's illness had given him this refinement or whether it was native to
+his kind. "I'm glad he took my coat," was her thought.
+
+She pushed on down the slope, riding hard, but it was nearly two o'clock
+when they drew up at Meeker's house, which was a long, low, stone
+structure built along the north side of the road. The place was
+distinguished not merely by its masonry, but also by its picket fence,
+which had once been whitewashed. Farm-wagons of various degrees of decay
+stood by the gate, and in the barn-yard plows and harrows--deeply buried
+by the weeds--were rusting forlornly away. A little farther up the stream
+the tall pipe of a sawmill rose above the firs.
+
+A pack of dogs of all sizes and signs came clamoring to the fence,
+followed by a big, slovenly dressed, red-bearded man of sixty or
+thereabouts.
+
+"Hello, Uncle Joe," called the girl, in offhand boyish fashion. "How are
+you _to-day_?"
+
+"Howdy, girl," answered Meeker, gravely. "What brings you up here this
+time?"
+
+She laughed. "Here's a boarder who wants to learn how to raise cattle."
+
+Meeker's face lightened. "I reckon you're Mr. Norcross? I'm glad to see
+ye. Light off and make yourself to home. Turn your horses into the
+corral, the boys will feed 'em."
+
+"Am I in America?" Norcross asked himself, as he followed the slouchy old
+rancher into the unkempt yard. "This certainly is a long way from New
+Haven."
+
+Without ceremony Meeker led his guests directly into the dining-room, a
+long and rather narrow room, wherein a woman and six or seven roughly
+dressed young men were sitting at a rudely appointed table.
+
+"Earth and seas!" exclaimed Mrs. Meeker. "Here's Berrie, and I'll bet
+that's Sutler's friend, our boarder."
+
+"That's what, mother," admitted her husband. "Berrie brought him up."
+
+"You'd ought 'o gone for him yourself, you big lump," she retorted.
+
+Mrs. Meeker, who was as big as her husband, greeted Norcross warmly, and
+made a place for him beside her own chair.
+
+"Highst along there, boys, and give the company a chance," she commanded,
+sharply. "Our dinner's turrible late to-day."
+
+The boys--they were in reality full-grown cubs of eighteen or twenty--did
+as they were bid with much noise, chaffing Berrie with blunt humor. The
+table was covered with a red oil-cloth, and set with heavy blue-and-white
+china. The forks were two-tined, steel-pronged, and not very polished,
+and the food was of the simplest sort; but the girl seemed at home
+there--as she did everywhere--and was soon deep in a discussion of the
+price of beef, and whether it was advisable to ship now or wait a month.
+
+Meeker read Sutler's letter, which Norcross had handed him, and, after
+deliberation, remarked: "All right, we'll do the best we can for you, Mr.
+Norcross; but we haven't any fancy accommodations."
+
+"He don't expect any," replied Berrie. "What he needs is a little
+roughing it."
+
+"There's plinty of that to be had," said one of the herders, who sat
+below the salt. "'is the soft life I'm nadin'."
+
+"Pat's strong on soft jobs," said another; and Berea joined the laugh
+which followed this pointless joke. She appeared to be one of them, and
+it troubled Norcross a little. She had so little the sex feeling and
+demanded so few of the rights and privileges of a girl. The men all
+admired her, that was evident, almost too evident, and one or two of the
+older men felt the charm of her young womanhood too deeply even to meet
+her eyes; but of this Norcross was happily ignorant. Already in these two
+days he had acquired a distinct sense of proprietorship in her, a feeling
+which made him jealous of her good name.
+
+Meeker, it turned out, was an Englishman by way of Canada, and this was
+his second American wife. His first had been a sister to Mrs. McFarlane.
+He was a man of much reading--of the periodical sort--and the big
+sitting-room was littered with magazines both English and American, and
+his talk abounded in radical and rather foolish utterances. Norcross
+considered it the most disorderly home he had ever seen, and yet it was
+not without a certain dignity. The rooms were large and amply provided
+with furniture of a very mixed and gaudy sort, and the table was spread
+with abundance.
+
+One of the lads, Frank Meeker, a dark, intense youth of about twenty, was
+Berea's full cousin. The others were merely hired hands, but they all
+eyed the new-comer with disfavor. The fact that Berrie had brought him
+and that she seemed interested in him added to the effect of the smart
+riding-suit which he wore. "I'd like to roll him in the creek," muttered
+one of them to his neighbor.
+
+This dislike Berrie perceived--in some degree--and to Frank she privately
+said: "Now you fellows have got to treat Mr. Norcross right. He's been
+very sick."
+
+Frank maliciously grinned. "Oh, we'll treat him _right_. We won't do a
+thing to him!"
+
+"Now, Frank," she warned, "if you try any of your tricks on him you'll
+hear from me."
+
+"Why all this worry on your part?" he asked, keenly. "How long since you
+found him?"
+
+"We rode up on the stage day before yesterday, and he seemed so kind o'
+blue and lonesome I couldn't help trying to chirk him up."
+
+"How will Cliff take all this chirking business?"
+
+"Cliff ain't my guardian--yet," she laughingly responded. "Mr. Norcross
+is a college man, and not used to our ways--"
+
+"_Mister_ Norcross--what's his front name?"
+
+"Wayland."
+
+He snorted. "Wayland! If he gets past us without being called 'pasty'
+he's in luck. He's a 'lunger' if there ever was one."
+
+The girl was shrewd enough to see that the more she sought to soften the
+wind to her Eastern tenderfoot the more surely he was to be shorn, so she
+gave over her effort in that direction, and turned to the old folks. To
+Mrs. Meeker she privately said: "Mr. Norcross ain't used to rough ways,
+and he's not very rugged, you ought 'o kind o' favor him for a while."
+
+The girl herself did not understand the vital and almost painful interest
+which this young man had roused in her. He was both child and poet to
+her, and as she watched him trying to make friends with the men, her
+indignation rose against their clownish offishness. She understood fully
+that his neat speech, his Eastern accent, together with his tailor-cut
+clothing and the delicacy of his table manners, would surely mark him for
+slaughter among the cow-hands, and the wish to shield him made her face
+graver than anybody had ever seen it.
+
+"I don't feel right in leaving you here," she said, at last; "but I must
+be ridin'." And while Meeker ordered her horse brought out, she walked to
+the gate with Norcross at her side.
+
+"I'm tremendously obliged to you," he said, and his voice was vibrant.
+"You have been most kind. How can I repay you?"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," she replied, in true Western fashion. "I wanted
+to see the folks up here, anyhow. This is no jaunt at all for me." And,
+looking at her powerful figure, and feeling the trap-like grip of her
+cinch hand, he knew she spoke the truth.
+
+Frank had saddled his own horse, and was planning to ride over the hill
+with her; but to this she objected. "I'm going to leave Pete here for Mr.
+Norcross to ride," she said, "and there's no need of your going."
+
+Frank's face soured, and with instant perception of the effect her
+refusal might have on the fortunes of the stranger, she reconsidered.
+
+"Oh, come along! I reckon you want to get shut of some mean job."
+
+And so she rode away, leaving her ward to adjust himself to his new and
+strange surroundings as best he could, and with her going the whole
+valley darkened for the convalescent.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+WAYLAND RECEIVES A WARNING
+
+
+Distance is no barrier to gossip. It amazed young Norcross to observe how
+minutely the ranchers of the valley followed one another's most intimate
+domestic affairs. Not merely was each man in full possession of the color
+and number of every calf in his neighbor's herd, it seemed that nothing
+could happen in the most remote cabin and remain concealed. Any event
+which broke the monotony of their life loomed large, and in all matters
+of courtship curiosity was something more than keen, it was remorseless.
+
+Living miles apart, and riding the roads but seldom, these lonely gossips
+tore to tatters every scrap of rumor. No citizen came or went without
+being studied, characterized, accounted for, and every woman was
+scrutinized as closely as a stray horse, and if there was within her, the
+slightest wayward impulse some lawless centaur came to know it, to exult
+over it, to make test of it. Her every word, her minutest expression of a
+natural coquetry was enlarged upon as a sign of weakness, of yielding.
+Every personable female was the focus of a natural desire, intensified by
+lonely brooding on the part of the men.
+
+It was soon apparent to the Eastern observer that the entire male
+population for thirty miles around not only knew McFarlane's girl; but
+that every unmarried man--and some who were both husbands and
+fathers--kept a deeply interested eye upon her daily motion, and certain
+shameless ones openly boasted among their fellows of their intention to
+win her favor, while the shy ones reveled in secret exultation over every
+chance meeting with her. She was the topic of every lumber-camp, and the
+shining lure of every dance to which the ranch hands often rode over long
+and lonely trails.
+
+Part of this intense interest was due, naturally, to the scarcity of
+desirable women, but a larger part was called out by Berea's frank
+freedom of manner. Her ready camaraderie was taken for carelessness, and
+the candid grip of her hand was often misunderstood; and yet most of the
+men respected her, and some feared her. After her avowed choice of
+Clifford Belden they all kept aloof, for he was hot-tempered and
+formidably swift to avenge an insult.
+
+At the end of a week Norcross found himself restless and discontented
+with the Meekers. He was tired of fishing, tired of the old man's endless
+arguments, and tired of the obscene cow-hands. The men around the mill
+did not interest him, and their Saturday night spree at the saloon
+disgusted him. The one person who piqued his curiosity was Landon, the
+ranger who was stationed not far away, and who could be seen occasionally
+riding by on a handsome black horse. There was something in his bearing,
+in his neat and serviceable drab uniform, which attracted the
+convalescent, and on Sunday morning he decided to venture a call,
+although Frank Meeker had said the ranger was a "grouch."
+
+His cabin, a neat log structure, stood just above the road on a huge
+natural terrace of grassy boulders, and the flag which fluttered from a
+tall staff before it could be seen for several miles--the bright sign of
+federal control, the symbol of law and order, just as the saloon and the
+mill were signs of lawless vice and destructive greed. Around the door
+flowers bloomed and kittens played; while at the door of the dive broken
+bottles, swarms of flies, and heaps of refuse menaced every corner, and
+the mill immured itself in its own debris like a foul beast.
+
+It was strangely moving to come upon this flower-like place and this
+garden in the wilderness. A spring, which crept from the high wall back
+of "the station" (as these ranger headquarters are called), gave its
+delicious water into several winding ditches, trickled musically down the
+other side of the terrace in little life-giving cascades, and so finally,
+reunited in a single current, fell away into the creek. It was plain that
+loving care, and much of it, had been given to this tiny system of
+irrigation.
+
+The cabin's interior pleased Wayland almost as much as the garden. It was
+built of pine logs neatly matched and hewed on one side. There were but
+two rooms--one which served as sleeping-chamber and office, and one which
+was at once kitchen and dining-room. In the larger room a quaint
+fireplace with a flat arch, a bunk, a table supporting a typewriter, and
+several shelves full of books made up the furnishing. On the walls hung a
+rifle, a revolver in its belt, a couple of uniforms, and a yellow oilskin
+raincoat.
+
+The ranger, spurred and belted, with his cuffs turned back, was pounding
+the typewriter when Wayland appeared at the open door; but he rose with
+grave courtesy. "Come in," he said, and his voice had a pleasant
+inflection.
+
+"I'm interrupting."
+
+"Nothing serious, just a letter. There's no hurry. I'm always glad of an
+excuse to rest from this job." He was at once keenly interested in his
+visitor, for he perceived in him the gentleman and, of course, the
+alien.
+
+Wayland, with something of the feeling of a civilian reporting to an
+officer, explained his presence in the neighborhood.
+
+"I've heard of you," responded the ranger, "and I've been hoping you'd
+look in on me. The Supervisor's daughter has just written me to look
+after you. She said you were not very well."
+
+Again Wayland protested that he was not a consumptive, only a student who
+needed mountain air; but he added: "It is very kind of Miss McFarlane to
+think of me."
+
+"Oh, she thinks of everybody," the young fellow declared. "She's one of
+the most unselfish creatures in the world."
+
+Something in the music of this speech, and something in the look of the
+ranger's eyes, caused Wayland to wonder if here were not still another of
+Berrie's subjects. He became certain of it as the young officer went on,
+with pleasing frankness, and it was not long before he had conveyed to
+Wayland his cause for sadness. "She's engaged to a man that is not her
+equal. In a certain sense no man is her equal; but Belden is a pretty
+hard type, and I believe, although I can't prove it, that he is part
+owner of the saloon over there."
+
+"How does that saloon happen to be here?"
+
+"It's on patented land--a so-called 'placer claim'--experts have reported
+against it. McFarlane has protested against it, but nothing is done. The
+mill is also on deeded land, and together they are a plague spot. I'm
+their enemy, and they know it; and they've threatened to burn me out. Of
+course they won't do that, but they're ready to play any kind of trick on
+me."
+
+"I can well believe that, for I am getting my share of practical jokes at
+Meeker's."
+
+"They're not a bad lot over there--only just rowdy. I suppose they're
+initiating you," said Landon.
+
+"I didn't come out here to be a cowboy," responded Norcross. "But Frank
+Meeker seems to be anxious to show me all the good old cowboy courtesies.
+On Monday he slipped a burr under my horse's saddle, and I came near to
+having my neck broken. Then he or some one else concealed a frog in my
+bed, and fouled my hair-brushes. In fact, I go to sleep each night in
+expectation of some new attack; but the air and the riding are doing me a
+great deal of good, and so I stay."
+
+"Come and bunk with me," urged Landon. "I'll be glad to have you. I get
+terribly lonesome here sometimes, although I'm supposed to have the best
+station in the forest. Bring your outfit and stay as long as you like."
+
+This offer touched Norcross deeply. "That's very kind of you; but I guess
+I'll stick it out. I hate to let those hoodlums drive me out."
+
+"All right, but come and see me often. I get so blue some days I wonder
+what's the use of it all. There's one fatal condition about this ranger
+business--it's a solitary job, it cuts out marriage for most of us. Many
+of the stations are fifteen or twenty miles from a post-office; then,
+too, the lines of promotion are few. I guess I'll have to get out,
+although I like the work. Come in any time and take a snack with me."
+
+Thereafter Wayland spent nearly every day with the ranger, either in his
+cabin or riding the trail, and during these hours confidence grew until
+at last Landon confessed that his unrest arose from his rejection by
+Berrie.
+
+"She was not to blame. She's so kind and free with every one, I thought I
+had a chance. I was conceited enough to feel sorry for the other fellows,
+and now I can't even feel sorry for myself. I'm just dazed and hanging to
+the ropes. She was mighty gentle about it--you know how sunny her face
+is--well, she just got grave and kind o' faint-voiced, and said--Oh, you
+know what she said! She let me know there was another man. I didn't ask
+her who, and when I found out, I lost my grip entirely. At first I
+thought I'd resign and get out of the country; but I couldn't do it--I
+can't yet. The chance of seeing her--of hearing from her once in a
+while--she never writes except on business for her father; but--you'll
+laugh--I can't see her signature without a tremor." He smiled, but his
+eyes were desperately sad. "I ought to resign, because I can't do my work
+as well as I ought to. As I ride the trail I'm thinking of her. I sit
+here half the night writing imaginary letters to her. And when I see her,
+and she takes my hand in hers--you know what a hand she has--my mind goes
+blank. Oh, I'm crazy! I admit it. I didn't know such a thing could happen
+to me; but it has."
+
+"I suppose it's being alone so much," Wayland started to argue, but the
+other would not have it so.
+
+"No, it's the girl herself. She's not only beautiful in body, she's all
+sweetness and sincerity in mind. There isn't a petty thing about her. And
+her happy smile--do you know, I have times when I resent that smile? How
+can she be so happy without me? That's crazy, too, but I think it,
+sometimes. Then I think of the time when she will not smile--when that
+brute Belden will begin to treat her as he does his sisters--then I get
+murderous."
+
+As Wayland listened to this outpouring he wondered at the intensity of
+the forester's passion. He marveled, too, at Berrie's choice, for there
+was something fine and high in Landon's worship. A college man with a
+mining engineer's training, he should go high in the service. "He made
+the mistake of being too precipitate as a lover," concluded Wayland. "His
+forthright courtship repelled her."
+
+Meanwhile his own troubles increased. Frank's dislike had grown to an
+impish vindictiveness, and if the old man Meeker had any knowledge of his
+son's deviltries, he gave no sign. Mrs. Meeker, however, openly reproved
+the scamp.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of worrying a sick man," she protested,
+indignantly.
+
+"He ain't so sick as all that; and, besides, he needs the starch taken
+out of him," was the boy's pitiless answer.
+
+"I don't know why I stay," Wayland wrote to Berea. "I'm disgusted with
+the men up here--they're all tiresome except Landon--but I hate to slink
+away, and besides, the country is glorious. I'd like to come down and see
+you this week. May I do so? Please send word that I may."
+
+She did not reply, and wondering whether she had received his letter or
+not, he mounted his horse one beautiful morning and rode away up the
+trail with a sense of elation, of eager joy, with intent to call upon her
+at the ranch as he went by.
+
+Hardly had he vanished among the pines when Clifford Belden rode in from
+his ranch on Hat Creek, and called at Meeker's for his mail.
+
+Frank Meeker was in the office, and as he both feared and disliked this
+big contemptuous young cattleman, he set to work to make him jealous.
+
+"You want to watch this one-lung boarder of ours," he warned, with a
+grin. "He's been writing to Berrie, and he's just gone down to see her.
+His highfalutin ways, and his fine white hands, have put her on the
+slant."
+
+Belden fixed a pair of cold, gray-blue eyes on his tormentor, and said:
+"You be careful of your tongue or I'll put _you_ on the slant."
+
+"I'm her own cousin," retorted Frank. "I reckon I can say what I please
+about her. I don't want that dude Easterner to cut you out. She guided
+him over here, and gave him her slicker to keep him dry, and I can see
+she's terribly taken with him. She's headstrong as a mule, once she gets
+started, and if she takes a notion to Norcross it's all up with you."
+
+"I'm not worrying," retorted Belden.
+
+"You'd better be. I was down there the other day, and it 'peared like she
+couldn't talk of anything else but Mister Norcross, Mister Norcross, till
+I was sick of his name."
+
+An hour later Belden left the mill and set off up the trail behind
+Norcross, his face fallen into stern lines. Frank writhed in delight.
+"There goes Cliff, hot under the collar, chasing Norcross. If he finds
+out that Berrie is interested in him, he'll just about wring that dude's
+neck."
+
+Meanwhile Wayland was riding through the pass with lightening heart, his
+thought dwelling on the girl at the end of his journey. Aside from Landon
+and Nash, she was the one soul in all this mountain world in whom he took
+the slightest interest. Her pity still hurt him, but he hoped to show her
+such change of color, such gain in horsemanship, that she could no longer
+consider him an invalid. His mind kept so closely to these interior
+matters that he hardly saw the path, but his horse led him safely back
+with precise knowledge and eager haste.
+
+As he reached the McFarlane ranch it seemed deserted of men, but a faint
+column of smoke rising from the roof of the kitchen gave evidence of a
+cook, and at his knock Berrie came to the door with a boyish word of
+frank surprise and pleasure. She was dressed in a blue-and-white calico
+gown with the collar turned in and the sleeves rolled up; but she seemed
+quite unembarrassed, and her pleasure in his coming quite repaid him for
+his long and tiresome ride.
+
+"I've been wondering about you," she said. "I'm mighty glad to see you.
+How do you stand it?"
+
+"You got my letter?"
+
+"I did--and I was going to write and tell you to come down, but I've had
+some special work to do at the office."
+
+She took the horse's rein from him, and together they started toward
+the stables. As she stepped over and around the old hoofs and
+meat-bones--which littered the way--without comment, Wayland again
+wondered at her apparent failure to realize the disgusting disorder of
+the yard. "Why don't she urge the men to clean it up?" he thought.
+
+This action of stabling the horses--a perfectly innocent and natural one
+for her--led one of the hands, a coarse-minded sneak, to watch them from
+a corral. "I wonder how Cliff would like that?" he evilly remarked.
+
+Berea was frankly pleased to see Wayland, and spoke of the improvement
+which had taken place in him. "You're looking fine," she said, as they
+were returning to the house. "But how do you get on with the boys?"
+
+"Not very well," he admitted. "They seem to have it in for me. It's a
+constant fight."
+
+"How about Frank?"
+
+"He's the worst of them all. He never speaks to me that he doesn't insult
+me. I don't know why. I've tried my best to get into his good graces, but
+I can't. Your uncle I like, and Mrs. Meeker is very kind; but all the
+others seem to be sworn enemies. I don't think I could stand it if it
+weren't for Landon. I spend a good deal of time with him."
+
+Her face grew grave. "I reckon you got started wrong," she said at last.
+"They'll like you better when you get browned up, and your clothes get
+dirty--you're a little too fancy for them just now."
+
+"But you see," he said, "I'm not trying for their admiration. I haven't
+the slightest ambition to shine as a cow-puncher, and if those fellows
+are fair samples I don't want anybody to mistake me for one."
+
+"Don't let that get around," she smilingly replied. "They'd run you out
+if they knew you despised them."
+
+"I've come down here to confer with you," he declared, as they reached
+the door. "I don't believe I want any more of their company. What's the
+use? As you say, I've started wrong with them, and I don't see any
+prospect of getting right; and, besides, I like the rangers better.
+Landon thinks I might work into the service. I wonder if I could? It
+would give me something to do."
+
+She considered a moment. "We'll think about that. Come into the kitchen.
+I'm cook to-day, mother's gone to town."
+
+The kitchen was clean and ample, and the delicious odor of new-made bread
+filled it with cheer. As the girl resumed her apron, Wayland settled into
+a chair with a sigh of content. "I like this," he said aloud. "There's
+nothing cowgirl about you now, you're the Anglo-Saxon housewife. You
+might be a Michigan or Connecticut girl at this moment."
+
+Her cheeks were ruddy with the heat, and her eyes intent on her work; but
+she caught enough of his meaning to be pleased with it. "Oh, I have to
+take a hand at the pots and pans now and then. I can't give all my time
+to the service; but I'd like to."
+
+He boldly announced his errand. "I wish you'd take me to board? I'm sure
+your cooking would build up my shattered system a good deal quicker than
+your aunt's."
+
+She laughed, but shook her head. "You ought to be on the hills riding
+hard every day. What you need is the high country and the air of the
+pines."
+
+"I'm not feeling any lack of scenery or pine-tree air," he retorted. "I'm
+perfectly satisfied right here. Civilized bread and the sight of you will
+do me more good than boiled beans and camp bread. I hate to say it, but
+the Meeker menu runs largely to beef. Moreover, just seeing you would
+help my recovery."
+
+She became self-conscious at this, and he hastened to add:
+
+"Not that I'm really sick. Mrs. Meeker, like yourself, persists in
+treating me as if I were. I'm feeling fine--perfectly well, only I'm not
+as rugged as I want to be."
+
+She had read that victims of the white plague always talk in this
+cheerful way about themselves, and she worked on without replying, and
+this gave him an excellent opportunity to study her closely. She was
+taller than most women and lithely powerful. There was nothing delicate
+about her--nothing spirituelle--on the contrary, she was markedly
+full-veined, cheerful and humorous, and yet she had responded several
+times to an allusive phrase with surprising quickness. She did so now as
+he remarked: "Somebody, I think it was Lowell, has said 'Nature is all
+very well for a vacation, but a poor substitute for the society of good
+men and women.' It's beautiful up at the mill, but I want some one to
+enjoy it with, and there is no one to turn to, except Landon, and he's
+rather sad and self-absorbed--you know why. If I were here--in the
+valley--you and I could ride together now and then, and you could show me
+all the trails. Why not let me come here and board? I'm going to ask your
+mother, if I may not do so?"
+
+Quite naturally he grew more and more personal. He told her of his
+father, the busy director of a lumber company, and of his mother, sickly
+and inert.
+
+"She ought never to have married," he said, with darkened brow. "Not one
+of her children has even a decent constitution. I'm the most robust of
+them all, and I must seem a pretty poor lot to you. However, I wasn't
+always like this, and if that young devil, Frank Meeker, hadn't tormented
+me out of my sleep, I would have shown you still greater improvement.
+Don't you see that it is your duty to let me stay here where I can build
+up on your cooking?"
+
+She turned this aside. "Mother don't think much of my cooking. She says I
+can handle a brandin'-iron a heap better than I can a rollin'-pin."
+
+"You certainly can ride," he replied, with admiring accent. "I shall
+never forget the picture you made that first time I saw you racing to
+intercept the stage. Do you _know_ how fine you are physically? You're a
+wonder." She uttered some protest, but he went on: "When I think of my
+mother and sisters in comparison with you, they seem like caricatures of
+women. I know I oughtn't to say such things of my mother--she really is
+an exceptional person--but a woman should be something more than mind. My
+sisters could no more do what you do than a lame duck can lead a ballet.
+I suppose it is because I have had to live with a lot of ailing women all
+my life that I feel as I do toward you. I worship your health and
+strength. I really do. Your care of me on that trip was very sweet--and
+yet it stung."
+
+"I didn't mean to hurt you."
+
+"I know you didn't, and I'm not complaining. I'm only wishing I could
+come here and be 'bossed' by you until I could hold my own against any
+weather. You make me feel just as I used to do when I went to a circus
+and watched the athletes, men and women, file past me in the sawdust.
+They seemed like demigods. As I sit here now I have a fierce desire to be
+as well, as strong, as full of life as you are. I hate being thin and
+timid. You have the physical perfection that queens ought to have."
+
+Her face was flushed with inward heat as she listened to his strange
+words, which sprang, she feared, from the heart of a man hopelessly ill;
+but she again protested. "It's all right to be able to throw a rope and
+ride a mean horse, but you have got something else--something I can never
+get. Learning is a thousand times finer than muscle."
+
+"Learning does not compensate for nine-inch shoulders and spindle legs,"
+he answered. "But I'm going to get well. Knowing you has given me renewed
+desire to be a man. I'm going to ride and rough it, and sleep out of
+doors till I can follow you anywhere. You'll be proud of me before the
+month is out. But I'm going to cut the Meeker outfit. I won't subject
+myself to their vulgarities another day. Why should I? It's false pride
+in me to hang on up there any longer."
+
+"Of course you can come here," she said. "Mother will be glad to have
+you, although our ranch isn't a bit pretty. Perhaps father will send you
+out with one of the rangers as a fire-guard. I'll ask him to-night."
+
+"I wish you would. I like these foresters. What I've seen of them. I
+wouldn't mind serving under a man like Landon. He's fine."
+
+Upon this pleasant conference Cliff Belden unexpectedly burst. Pushing
+the door open with a slam, he confronted Berrie with dark and angry
+face.
+
+"Why, Cliff, where did you come from?" she asked, rising in some
+confusion. "I didn't hear you ride up."
+
+"Apparently not," he sneeringly answered. "I reckon you were too much
+occupied."
+
+She tried to laugh away his black mood. "That's right, I was. I'm chief
+cook to-day. Come in and sit down. Mother's gone to town, and I'm playing
+her part," she explained, ignoring his sullen displeasure. "Cliff, this
+is Mr. Norcross, who is visiting Uncle Joe. Mr. Norcross, shake hands
+with Mr. Belden." She made this introduction with some awkwardness, for
+her lover's failure to even say, "Howdy," informed her that his jealous
+heart was aflame, and she went on, quickly: "Mr. Norcross dropped in on
+his way to the post-office, and I'm collecting a snack for him."
+
+Recognizing Belden's claims upon the girl, Wayland rose. "I must be
+going. It's a long ride over the hill."
+
+"Come again soon," urged Berrie; "father wants to see you."
+
+"Thank you. I will look in very shortly," he replied, and went out with
+such dignity as he could command, feeling, however, very much like a dog
+that has been kicked over the threshold.
+
+Closing the door behind him, Belden turned upon the girl. "What's that
+consumptive 'dogie' doing here? He 'peared to be very much at home with
+you--too dern much at home!"
+
+She was prepared for his displeasure, but not for words like these. She
+answered, quietly: "He just dropped in on his way to town, and he's not a
+dogie!" She resented his tone as well as his words.
+
+"I've heard about you taking him over to Meeker's and lending him your
+only slicker," he went on; "but I didn't expect to find him sittin' here
+like he owned you and the place. You're taking altogether too much pains
+with him. Can't he put his own horse out? Do you have to go to the stable
+with him? You never did have any sense about your actions with men.
+You've all along been too free of your reputation, and now I'm going to
+take care of it for you. I won't have you nursin' this runt any longer!"
+
+She perceived now the full measure of his base rage, and her face grew
+pale and set. "You're making a perfect fool of yourself, Cliff," she
+said, with portentous calmness.
+
+"Am I?" he asked.
+
+"You sure are, and you'll see it yourself by and by. You've no call to
+get wire-edged about Mr. Norcross. He's not very strong. He's just
+getting well of a long sickness. I knew a chill would finish him, that's
+why I gave him my slicker. It didn't hurt me, and maybe it saved his
+life. I'd do it again if necessary."
+
+"Since when did you start a hospital for Eastern tenderfeet?" he sneered;
+then his tone changed to one of downright command. "You want to cut this
+all out, I tell you! I won't have any more of it! The boys up at the mill
+are all talkin' about your interest in this little whelp, and I'm getting
+the branding-iron from every one I meet. Sam saw you go into the barn
+with that dude, and _that_ would have been all over the country
+to-morrow, if I hadn't told him I'd sew his mouth up if he said a word
+about it. Of course, I don't think you mean anything by this coddlin'."
+
+"Oh, thank you," she interrupted, with flaming, quick, indignant fury.
+"That's mighty nice of you. I went to the barn to show Mr. Norcross where
+to stall his horse. I didn't know Sam was here."
+
+He sneered: "No, I bet you didn't."
+
+She fired at this. "Come now! Spit it out! Something nasty is in your
+mind. Go on! What have I done? What makes you so hot?"
+
+He began to weaken. "I don't accuse you of anything. I--but I--"
+
+"Yes you do--in your heart you distrust me--you just as much as said
+so!"
+
+He was losing his high air of command. "Never mind what I said, Berrie,
+I--"
+
+She was blazing now. "But I _do_ mind--I mind a whole lot--I didn't think
+it of you," she added, as she realized his cheapness, his coarseness. "I
+didn't suppose you could even _think_ such things of me. I don't like
+it," she repeated, and her tone hardened, "and I guess you'd better pull
+out of here--for good. If you've no more faith in me than that, I want
+you to go and never come back."
+
+"You don't mean that!"
+
+"Yes, I do! You've shown this yellow streak before, and I'm tired of it.
+This is the limit. I'm done with you."
+
+She stood between tears and benumbing anger now, and he was scared.
+"Don't say that, Berrie!" he pleaded, trying to put his arm about her.
+
+"Keep away from me!" She dashed his hands aside. "I hate you. I never
+want to see you again!" She ran into her own room and slammed the door
+behind her.
+
+Belden stood for a long time with his back against the wall, the heat of
+his resentment utterly gone, an empty, aching place in his heart. He
+called her twice, but she made no answer, and so, at last, he mounted his
+horse and rode away.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE SUPERVISOR OF THE FOREST
+
+
+Young Norcross, much as he admired Berrie, was not seeking to exchange
+her favor for her lover's enmity, and he rode away with an uneasy feeling
+of having innocently made trouble for himself, as well as for a fine,
+true-hearted girl. "What a good friendly talk we were having," he said,
+regretfully, "and to think she is to marry that big, scowling brute. How
+could she turn Landon down for a savage like that?"
+
+He was just leaving the outer gate when Belden came clattering up and
+reined his horse across the path and called out: "See here, you young
+skunk, you're a poor, white-livered tenderfoot, and I can't bust you as I
+would a full-grown man, but I reckon you better not ride this trail any
+more."
+
+"Why not?" inquired Wayland.
+
+Belden glared. "Because I tell you so. Your sympathy-hunting game has
+just about run into the ground. You've worked this baby dodge about long
+enough. You're not so almighty sick as you put up to be, and you'd better
+hunt some other cure for lonesomeness, or I'll just about cave your chest
+in."
+
+All this was shockingly plain talk for a slender young scholar to listen
+to, but Norcross remained calm. "I think you're unnecessarily excited,"
+he remarked. "I have no desire to make trouble. I'm considering Miss
+Berea, who is too fine to be worried by us."
+
+His tone was conciliating, and the cowman, in spite of himself, responded
+to it. "That's why I advise you to go. She was all right till you came.
+Colorado's a big place, and there are plenty other fine ranges for men of
+your complaint--why not try Routt County? This is certain, you can't stay
+in the same valley with my girl. I serve notice of that."
+
+"You're making a prodigious ass of yourself," observed Wayland, with calm
+contempt.
+
+"You think so--do you? Well, I'll make a jack-rabbit out of you if I find
+you on this ranch again. You've worked on my girl in some way till she's
+jest about quit me. I don't see how you did it, you measly little pup,
+but you surely have turned her against me!" His rage burst into flame as
+he thought of her last words. "If you were so much as half a man I'd
+break you in two pieces right now; but you're not, you're nothing but a
+dead-on-the-hoof lunger, and there's nothing to do but run you out. So
+take this as your final notice. You straddle a horse and head east and
+keep a-ridin', and if I catch you with my girl again, I'll deal you a
+whole hatful of misery--now that's right!"
+
+Thereupon, with a final glance of hate in his face, he whirled his horse
+and galloped away, leaving Norcross dumb with resentment, intermingled
+with wonder.
+
+"Truly the West is a dramatic country! Here I am, involved in a lover's
+wrath, and under sentence of banishment, all within a month! Well, I
+suppose there's nothing to do but carry out Belden's orders. He's the
+boss," he said as he rode on. "I wonder just what happened after I left?
+Something stormy, evidently. She must have given him a sharp rebuff, or
+he wouldn't have been so furious with me. Perhaps she even broke her
+engagement with him. I sincerely hope she did. She's too good for him.
+That's the truth."
+
+And so, from point to point, he progressed till with fine indignation he
+reached a resolution to stay and meet whatever came. "I certainly would
+be a timorous animal if I let myself be scared into flight by that big
+bonehead," he said at last. "I have as much right here as he has, and the
+law must protect me. It can't be that this country is entirely
+barbaric."
+
+Nevertheless, he felt very weak and very much depressed as he rode up the
+street of the little town and dismounted at the hotel. The sidewalks were
+littered with loafing cowboys and lumber-jacks, and some of them quite
+openly ridiculed his riding-breeches and his thin legs. Others merely
+grinned, but in their grins lay something more insulting than words. "To
+them I am a poor thing," he admitted; but as he lifted his eyes to the
+mighty semicircular wall of the Bear Tooth Range, over which the daily
+storm was playing, he forgot his small worries. What gorgeous pageantry!
+What life-giving air! "If only civilized men and women possessed this
+glorious valley, what a place it would be!" he exclaimed, and in the heat
+of his indignant contempt he would have swept the valley clean.
+
+As his eyes caught the flutter of the flag on its staff above the Forest
+Service building, his heart went out to the men who unselfishly wrought
+beneath that symbol of federal unity for the good of the future. "That is
+civilized," he said; "that is prophetic," and alighted at the door in a
+glow of confidence.
+
+Nash, who was alone in the office, looked up from his work. "Come in," he
+called, heartily. "Come in and report."
+
+"Thank you. I'd like to do so; and may I use your desk? I have a letter
+to write."
+
+"Make yourself at home. Take any desk you like. The men are all out on
+duty."
+
+"You're very kind," replied Wayland, gratefully. There was something
+reassuring in this greeting, and in the many signs of skill and
+scientific reading which the place displayed. It was like a bit of
+Washington in the midst of a careless, slovenly, lawless mountain town,
+and Norcross took his seat and wrote his letter with a sense of
+proprietorship.
+
+"I'm getting up an enthusiasm for the Service just from hearing Alec
+Belden rave against it," he said a few minutes later, as he looked up
+from his letter.
+
+Nash grinned. "How did you like Meeker?"
+
+"He's a good man, but he has his peculiarities. Belden is your real
+enemy. He is blue with malignity--so are most of the cowmen I met up
+there. I wish I could do something for the Service. I'm a thoroughly
+up-to-date analytical chemist and a passable mining engineer, and my
+doctor says that for a year at least I must work in the open air. _Is_
+there anything in this Forest Service for a weakling like me?"
+
+Nash considered. "The Supervisor might put you on as a temporary guard.
+I'll speak to him if you like?"
+
+"I wish you would. Tell him to forget the pay. I'm not in need of money,
+but I do require some incentive--something to do--something to give me
+direction. It bores me stiff to fish, and I'm sick of loafing. If
+McFarlane can employ me I shall be happy. The country is glorious, but I
+can't live on scenery."
+
+"I think we can employ you, but you'll have to go on as fire-guard or
+something like that for the first year. You see, the work is getting to
+be more and more technical each year. As a matter of fact"--here he
+lowered his voice a little--"McFarlane is one of the old guard, and will
+have to give way. He don't know a thing about forestry, and is too old to
+learn. His girl knows more about it than he does. She helps him out on
+office work, too."
+
+Wayland wondered a little at the freedom of expression on the part of
+Nash; but said: "If he runs his office as he runs his ranch he surely is
+condemned to go."
+
+"There's where the girl comes in. She keeps the boys in the office lined
+up and maintains things in pretty fair shape. She knows the old man is in
+danger of losing his job, and she's doing her best to hold him to it.
+She's like a son to him and he relies on her judgment when a close
+decision comes up. But it's only a matter of time when he and all he
+represents must drift by. This is a big movement we're mixed with."
+
+"I begin to feel that that's why I'd like to take it up. It's the only
+thing out here that interests me--and I've got to do something. I can't
+loaf."
+
+"Well, you get Berrie to take up your case and you're all right. She has
+the say about who goes on the force in this forest."
+
+It was late in the afternoon before Wayland started back to Meeker's with
+intent to repack his belongings and leave the ranch for good. He had
+decided not to call at McFarlane's, a decision which came not so much
+from fear of Clifford Belden as from a desire to shield Berea from
+further trouble, but as he was passing the gate, the girl rose from
+behind a clump of willows and called to him: "Oh, Mr. Norcross! Wait a
+moment."
+
+He drew rein, and, slipping from his horse, approached her. "What is it,
+Miss Berrie?" he asked, with wondering politeness.
+
+She confronted him with gravity. "It's too late for you to cross the
+ridge. It'll be dark long before you reach the cut-off. You'd better not
+try to make it."
+
+"I think I can find my way," he answered, touched by her consideration.
+"I'm not so helpless as I was when I came."
+
+"Just the same you mustn't go on," she insisted. "Father told me to ask
+you to come in and stay all night. He wants to meet you. I was afraid you
+might ride by after what happened to-day, and so I came up here to head
+you off." She took his horse by the rein, and flashed a smiling glance up
+at him. "Come now, do as the Supervisor tells you."
+
+"Wait a moment," he pleaded. "On second thought, I don't believe it's a
+good thing for me to go home with you. It will only make further trouble
+for--for us both."
+
+She was almost as direct as Belden had been. "I know what you mean. I saw
+Cliff follow you. He jumped you, didn't he?"
+
+"He overtook me--yes."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+He hesitated. "He was pretty hot, and said things he'll be sorry for when
+he cools off."
+
+"He told you not to come here any more--advised you to hit the out-going
+trail--didn't he?"
+
+He flushed with returning shame of it all, but quietly answered: "Yes, he
+said something about riding east."
+
+"Are you going to do it?"
+
+"Not to-day; but I guess I'd better keep away from here."
+
+She looked at him steadily. "Why?"
+
+"Because you've been very kind to me, and I wouldn't for the world do
+anything to hurt or embarrass you."
+
+"Don't you mind about me," she responded, bluntly. "What happened this
+morning wasn't your fault nor mine. Cliff made a mighty coarse play,
+something he'll have to pay for. He knows that right now. He'll be back
+in a day or two begging my pardon, and he won't get it. Don't you worry
+about me, not for a minute--I can take care of myself--I grew up that
+way, and don't you be chased out of the country by anybody. Come, father
+will be looking for you."
+
+With a feeling that he was involving both the girl and himself in still
+darker storms, the young fellow yielded to her command, and together they
+walked along the weed-bordered path, while she continued:
+
+"This isn't the first time Cliff has started in to discipline me; but
+it's obliged to be the last. He's the kind that think they own a girl
+just as soon as they get her to wear an engagement ring; but Cliff don't
+own me. I told him I wouldn't stand for his coarse ways, and I won't!"
+
+Wayland tried to bring her back to humor. "You're a kind of 'new
+woman.'"
+
+She turned a stern look on him. "You bet I am! I was raised a free
+citizen. No man can make a slave of me. I thought he understood that; but
+it seems he didn't. He's all right in many ways--one of the best riders
+in the country--but he's pretty tolerable domineering--I've always known
+that--still, I never expected him to talk to me like he did to-day. It
+certainly was raw." She broke off abruptly. "You mustn't let Frank Meeker
+get the best of you, either," she advised. "He's a mean little weasel if
+he gets started. I'll bet he put Cliff up to this business."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Yes, he just as good as told me he'd do it. I know Frank, he's my own
+cousin, and someways I like him; but he's the limit when he gets going.
+You see, he wanted to get even with Cliff and took that way of doing it.
+I'll ride up there and give him a little good advice some Saturday."
+
+He was no longer amused by her blunt speech, and her dark look saddened
+him. She seemed so unlike the happy girl he met that first day, and the
+change in her subtended a big, rough, and pitiless world of men against
+which she was forced to contend all her life.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane greeted Norcross with cordial word and earnest hand-clasp.
+"I'm glad to see you looking so well," she said, with charming
+sincerity.
+
+"I'm browner, anyway," he answered, and turned to meet McFarlane, a
+short, black-bearded man, with fine dark eyes and shapely hands--hands
+that had never done anything more toilsome than to lift a bridle rein or
+to clutch the handle of a gun. He was the horseman in all his training,
+and though he owned hundreds of acres of land, he had never so much as
+held a plow or plied a spade. His manner was that of the cow-boss, the
+lord of great herds, the claimant of empires of government grass-land.
+Poor as his house looked, he was in reality rich. Narrow-minded in
+respect to his own interests, he was well in advance of his neighbors on
+matters relating to the general welfare, a curious mixture of greed and
+generosity, as most men are, and though he had been made Supervisor at a
+time when political pull still crippled the Service, he was loyal to the
+flag. "I'm mighty glad to see you," he heartily began. "We don't often
+get a man from the sea-level, and when we do we squeeze him dry."
+
+His voice, low, languid, and soft, was most insinuating, and for hours he
+kept his guest talking of the East and its industries and prejudices; and
+Berrie and her mother listened with deep admiration, for the youngster
+had seen a good deal of the old world, and was unusually well read on
+historical lines of inquiry. He talked well, too, inspired by his
+attentive audience.
+
+Berrie's eyes, wide and eager, were fixed upon him unwaveringly. He felt
+her wonder, her admiration, and was inspired to do his best. Something in
+her absorbed attention led him to speak of things so personal that he
+wondered at himself for uttering them.
+
+"I've been dilettante all my life," was one of his confessions. "I've
+traveled; I've studied in a tepid sort of fashion; I went through college
+without any idea of doing anything with what I got; I had a sort of pride
+in keeping up with my fellows; and I had no idea of preparing for any
+work in the world. Then came my breakdown, and my doctor ordered me out
+here. I came intending to fish and loaf around, but I can't do that. I've
+got to do something or go back home. I expected to have a chum of mine
+with me, but his father was injured in an automobile accident, so he went
+into the office to help out."
+
+As he talked the girl discovered new graces, new allurements in him. His
+smile, so subtly self-derisive, and his voice so flexible and so quietly
+eloquent, completed her subjugation. She had no further care concerning
+Clifford--indeed, she had forgotten him--for the time at least. The other
+part of her--the highly civilized latent power drawn from her mother--was
+in action. She lost her air of command, her sense of chieftainship, and
+sat humbly at the feet of this shining visitor from the East.
+
+At last Mrs. McFarlane rose, and Berea, reluctantly, like a child loath
+to miss a fairy story, held out her hand to say good night, and the young
+man saw on her face that look of adoration which marks the birth of
+sudden love; but his voice was frank and his glance kindly as he said:
+
+"Here I've done all the talking when I wanted you to tell _me_ all sorts
+of things."
+
+"I can't tell you anything."
+
+"Oh yes, you can; and, besides, I want you to intercede for me with your
+father and get me into the Service. But we'll talk about that to-morrow.
+Good night."
+
+After the women left the room Norcross said:
+
+"I really am in earnest about entering the Forest Service. Landon filled
+me with enthusiasm about it. Never mind the pay. I'm not in immediate
+need of money; but I do need an interest in life."
+
+McFarlane stared at him with kindly perplexity. "I don't know exactly
+what you can do, but I'll work you in somehow. You ought to work under a
+man like Settle, one that could put you through a training in the
+rudiments of the game. I'll see what can be done."
+
+"Thank you for that half promise," said Wayland, and he went to his bed
+happier than at any moment since leaving home.
+
+Berrie, on her part, did not analyze her feeling for Wayland, she only
+knew that he was as different from the men she knew as a hawk from a
+sage-hen, and that he appealed to her in a higher way than any other had
+done. His talk filled her with visions of great cities, and with thoughts
+of books, for though she was profoundly loyal to her mountain valley, she
+held other, more secret admirations. She was, in fact, compounded of two
+opposing tendencies. Her quiet little mother longing--in secret--for the
+placid, refined life of her native Kentucky town, had dowered her
+daughter with some part of her desire. She had always hated the slovenly,
+wasteful, and purposeless life of the cattle-rancher, and though she
+still patiently bore with her husband's shortcomings, she covertly hoped
+that Berea might find some other and more civilized lover than Clifford
+Belden. She understood her daughter too well to attempt to dictate her
+action; she merely said to her, as they were alone for a few moments: "I
+don't wonder your father is interested in Mr. Norcross, he's very
+intelligent--and very considerate."
+
+"Too considerate," said Berrie, shortly; "he makes other men seem like
+bears or pigs."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane said no more, but she knew that Cliff was, for the time,
+among the bears.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE GOLDEN PATHWAY
+
+
+Young Norcross soon became vitally engaged with the problems which
+confronted McFarlane, and his possible enrolment as a guard filled him
+with a sense of proprietorship in the forest, which made him quite
+content with Bear Tooth. He set to work at once to acquire a better
+knowledge of the extent and boundaries of the reservation. It was,
+indeed, a noble possession. Containing nearly eight hundred thousand
+acres of woodland, and reaching to the summits of the snow-lined peaks to
+the east, south, and west, it appealed to him with silent majesty. It
+drew upon his patriotism. Remembering how the timber of his own state had
+been slashed and burned, he began to feel a sense of personal
+responsibility. He had but to ride into it a few miles in order to
+appreciate in some degree its grandeur, considered merely as the source
+of a hundred swift streams, whose waters enriched the valleys lying
+below.
+
+He bought a horse of his own--although Berrie insisted upon his retaining
+Pete--and sent for a saddle of the army type, and from sheer desire to
+keep entirely clear of the cowboy equipment procured puttees like those
+worn by cavalry officers, and when he presented himself completely
+uniformed, he looked not unlike a slender, young lieutenant of the
+cavalry on field duty, and in Berrie's eyes was wondrous alluring.
+
+He took quarters at the hotel, but spent a larger part of each day in
+Berrie's company--a fact which was duly reported to Clifford Belden.
+Hardly a day passed without his taking at least one meal at the
+Supervisor's home.
+
+As he met the rangers one by one, he perceived by their outfits, as well
+as by their speech, that they were sharply divided upon old lines and
+new. The experts, the men of college training, were quite ready to be
+known as Uncle Sam's men. They held a pride in their duties, a respect
+for their superiors, and an understanding of the governmental policy
+which gave them dignity and a quiet authority. They were less policemen
+than trusted agents of a federal department. Nevertheless, there was much
+to admire in the older men, who possessed a self-reliance, a knowledge of
+nature, and a certain rough grace which made them interesting companions,
+and rendered them effective teachers of camping and trailing, and while
+they were secretly a little contemptuous of the "schoolboys"; they were
+all quite ready to ask for expert aid when knotty problems arose. It was
+no longer a question of grazing, it was a question of lumbering and
+reforestration.
+
+Nash, who took an almost brotherly interest in his apprentice,
+warningly said: "You want to go well clothed and well shod. You'll have
+to meet all kinds of weather. Every man in the service, I don't care
+what his technical job is, should be schooled in taking care of himself
+in the forest and on the trail. I often meet surveyors and civil
+engineers--experts--who are helpless as children in camp, and when I
+want them to go into the hills and do field work, they are almost
+useless. The old-style ranger has his virtues. Settle is just the kind
+of instructor you young fellows need."
+
+Berrie also had keen eyes for his outfit and his training, and under her
+direction he learned to pack a horse, set a tent, build a fire in the
+rain, and other duties.
+
+"You want to remember that you carry your bed and board with you," she
+said, "and you must be prepared to camp anywhere and at any time."
+
+The girl's skill in these particulars was marvelous to him, and added to
+the admiration he already felt for her. Her hand was as deft, as sure, as
+the best of them, and her knowledge of cayuse psychology more profound
+than any of the men excepting her father.
+
+One day, toward the end of his second week in the village, the Supervisor
+said: "Well, now, if you're ready to experiment I'll send you over to
+Settle, the ranger, on the Horseshoe. He's a little lame on his pen-hand
+side, and you may be able to help him out. Maybe I'll ride over there
+with you. I want to line out some timber sales on the west side of
+Ptarmigan."
+
+This commission delighted Norcross greatly. "I'm ready, sir, this
+moment," he answered, saluting soldier-wise.
+
+That night, as he sat in the saddle-littered, boot-haunted front room of
+Nash's little shack, his host said, quaintly: "Don't think you are
+inheriting a soft snap, son. The ranger's job was a man's job in the old
+days when it was a mere matter of patrolling; but it's worse and more of
+it to-day. A ranger must be ready and willing to build bridges, fight
+fire, scale logs, chop a hole through a windfall, use a pick in a ditch,
+build his own house, cook, launder, and do any other old trick that comes
+along. But you'll know more about all this at the end of ten days than I
+can tell you in a year."
+
+"I'm eager for duty," replied Wayland.
+
+The next morning, as he rode down to the office to meet the Supervisor,
+he was surprised and delighted to find Berea there. "I'm riding, too,"
+she announced, delightedly. "I've never been over that new trail, and
+father has agreed to let me go along." Then she added, earnestly: "I
+think it's fine you're going in for the Service; but it's hard work, and
+you must be careful till you're hardened to it. It's a long way to a
+doctor from Settle's station."
+
+He was annoyed as well as touched by her warning, for it proclaimed that
+he was still far from looking the brave forester he felt himself to be.
+He replied: "I'm not going to try anything wild, but I do intend to
+master the trailer's craft."
+
+"I'll teach you how to camp, if you'll let me," she continued. "I've been
+on lots of surveys with father, and I always take my share of the work. I
+threw that hitch alone." She nodded toward the pack-horse, whose neat
+load gave evidence of her skill. "I told father this was to be a real
+camping expedition, and as the grouse season is on we'll live on the
+country. Can you fish?"
+
+"Just about that," he laughed. "Good thing you didn't ask me if I could
+_catch_ fish?" He was recovering his spirits. "It will be great fun to
+have you as instructor in camp science. I seem to be in for all kinds of
+good luck."
+
+They both grew uneasy as time passed, for fear something or some one
+would intervene to prevent this trip, which grew in interest each moment;
+but at last the Supervisor came out and mounted his horse, the
+pack-ponies fell in behind, Berrie followed, and the student of woodcraft
+brought up to rear.
+
+"I hope it won't rain," the girl called back at him, "at least not till
+we get over the divide. It's a fine ride up the hill, and the foliage is
+at its best."
+
+It seemed to him the most glorious morning of his life. A few large white
+clouds were drifting like snow-laden war-vessels from west to east,
+silent and solemn, and on the highest peaks a gray vapor was lightly
+clinging. The near-by hills, still transcendently beautiful with the
+flaming gold of the aspen, burned against the dark green of the farther
+forest, and far beyond the deep purple of the shadowed slopes rose to
+smoky blue and tawny yellow. It was a season, an hour, to create raptures
+in a poet, so radiant, so wide-reaching, so tumultuous was the landscape.
+Nothing sad, nothing discouraging, showed itself. The wind was brisk, the
+air cool and clear, and jewel-like small, frost-painted vines and ripened
+shrubberies blazed upward from the ground. As he rode the youth silently
+repeated: "Beautiful! Beautiful!"
+
+For several miles they rode upward through golden forests of aspens. On
+either hand rose thick walls of snow-white boles, and in the mystic glow
+of their gilded leaves the face of the girl shone with unearthly beauty.
+It was as if the very air had become auriferous. Magic coins dangled from
+the branches. Filmy shadows fell over her hair and down her strong young
+arms like priceless lace. Gold, gold! Everywhere gold, gold and fire!
+
+Twice she stopped to gaze into Wayland's face to say, with hushed
+intensity: "Isn't it wonderful! Don't you wish it would last forever?"
+
+Her words were poor, ineffectual; but her look, her breathless voice made
+up for their lack of originality. Once she said: "I never saw it so
+lovely before; it is an enchanted land!" with no suspicion that the
+larger part of her ecstasy arose from the presence of her young and
+sympathetic companion. He, too, responded to the beauty of the day, of
+the golden forest as one who had taken new hold on life after long
+illness.
+
+Meanwhile the Supervisor was calmly leading the way upward, vaguely
+conscious of the magical air and mystic landscape in which his young folk
+floated as if on wings, thinking busily of the improvements which were
+still necessary in the trail, and weighing with care the clouds which
+still lingered upon the tallest summits, as if debating whether to go or
+to stay. He had never been an imaginative soul, and now that age had
+somewhat dimmed his eyes and blunted his senses he was placidly content
+with his path. The rapture of the lover, the song of the poet, had long
+since abandoned his heart. And yet he was not completely oblivious. To
+him it was a nice day, but a "weather breeder."
+
+"I wonder if I shall ever ride through this mountain world as unmoved as
+he seems to be?" Norcross asked himself, after some jarring prosaic
+remark from his chief. "I am glad Berrie responds to it."
+
+At last they left these lower, wondrous forest aisles and entered the
+unbroken cloak of firs whose dark and silent deeps had a stern beauty all
+their own; but the young people looked back upon the glowing world below
+with wistful hearts. Back and forth across a long, down-sweeping ridge
+they wove their toilsome way toward the clouds, which grew each hour more
+formidable, awesome with their weight, ponderous as continents in their
+majesty of movement. The horses began to labor with roaring breath, and
+Wayland, dismounting to lighten his pony's burden, was dismayed to
+discover how thin the air had become. Even to walk unburdened gave him a
+smothering pain in his breast.
+
+"Better stay on," called the girl. "My rule is to ride the hill going up
+and walk it going down. Down hill is harder on a horse than going up."
+
+Nevertheless he persisted in clambering up some of the steepest parts of
+the trail, and was increasingly dismayed by the endless upward reaches of
+the foot-hills. A dozen times he thought, "We must be nearly at the top,"
+and then other and far higher ridges suddenly developed. Occasionally the
+Supervisor was forced to unsling an ax and chop his way through a fallen
+tree, and each time the student hurried to the spot, ready to aid, but
+was quite useless. He admired the ease and skill with which the older man
+put his shining blade through the largest bole, and wondered if he could
+ever learn to do as well.
+
+"One of the first essentials of a ranger's training is to learn to swing
+an ax," remarked McFarlane, "and you never want to be without a real
+tool. _I_ won't stand for a hatchet ranger."
+
+Berrie called attention to the marks on the trees. "This is the
+government sign--a long blaze with two notches above it. You can trust
+these trails; they lead somewhere."
+
+"As you ride a trail study how to improve it," added the Supervisor,
+sheathing his ax. "They can all be improved."
+
+Wayland was sure of this a few steps farther on, when the Supervisor's
+horse went down in a small bog-hole, and Berrie's pony escaped only by
+the most desperate plunging. The girl laughed, but Wayland was appalled
+and stood transfixed watching McFarlane as he calmly extricated himself
+from the saddle of the fallen horse and chirped for him to rise.
+
+"You act as if this were a regular part of the journey," Wayland said to
+Berrie.
+
+"It's all in the day's work," she replied; "but I despise a bog worse
+than anything else on the trail. I'll show you how to go round this one."
+Thereupon she slid from her horse and came tiptoeing back along the edge
+of the mud-hole.
+
+McFarlane cut a stake and plunged it vertically in the mud. "That means
+'no bottom,'" he explained. "We must cut a new trail."
+
+Wayland was dismounting when Berrie said: "Stay on. Now put your horse
+right through where those rocks are. It's hard bottom there."
+
+He felt like a child; but he did as she bid, and so came safely through,
+while McFarlane set to work to blaze a new route which should avoid the
+slough which was already a bottomless horror to the city man.
+
+This mishap delayed them nearly half an hour, and the air grew dark and
+chill as they stood there, and the amateur ranger began to understand how
+serious a lone night journey might sometimes be. "What would I do if when
+riding in the dark my horse should go down like that and pin me in the
+mud?" he asked himself. "Eternal watchfulness is certainly one of the
+forester's first principles."
+
+The sky was overshadowed now, and a thin drizzle of rain filled the air.
+The novice hastened to throw his raincoat over his shoulders; but
+McFarlane rode steadily on, clad only in his shirtsleeves, unmindful of
+the wet. Berrie, however, approved Wayland's caution. "That's right; keep
+dry," she called back. "Don't pay attention to father, he'd rather get
+soaked any day than unroll his slicker. You mustn't take him for model
+yet awhile."
+
+He no longer resented her sweet solicitude, although he considered
+himself unentitled to it, and he rejoiced under the shelter of his fine
+new coat. He began to perceive that one could be defended against a
+storm.
+
+After passing two depressing marshes, they came to a hillside so steep,
+so slippery, so dark, so forbidding, that one of the pack-horses balked,
+shook his head, and reared furiously, as if to say "I can't do it, and I
+won't try." And Wayland sympathized with him. The forest was gloomy and
+cold, and apparently endless.
+
+After coaxing him for a time with admirable gentleness, the Supervisor,
+at Berrie's suggestion, shifted part of the load to her own saddle-horse,
+and they went on.
+
+Wayland, though incapable of comment--so great was the demand upon his
+lungs--was not too tired to admire the power and resolution of the girl,
+who seemed not to suffer any special inconvenience from the rarefied air.
+The dryness of his open mouth, the throbbing of his troubled pulse, the
+roaring of his breath, brought to him with increasing dismay the fact
+that he had overlooked another phase of the ranger's job. "I couldn't
+chop a hole through one of these windfalls in a week," he admitted, as
+McFarlane's blade again liberated them from a fallen tree. "To do office
+work at six thousand feet is quite different from swinging an ax up here
+at timber-line," he said to the girl. "I guess my chest is too narrow for
+high altitudes."
+
+"Oh, you'll get used to it," she replied, cheerily. "I always feel it a
+little at first; but I really think it's good for a body, kind o'
+stretches the lungs." Nevertheless, she eyed him with furtive anxiety.
+
+He was beginning to be hungry also--he had eaten a very early
+breakfast--and he fell to wondering just where and when they were to
+camp; but he endured in silence. "So long as Berrie makes no complaint my
+mouth is shut," he told himself. "Surely I can stand it if she can." And
+so struggled on.
+
+Up and up the pathway looped, crossing minute little boggy meadows, on
+whose bottomless ooze the grass shook like a blanket, descending steep
+ravines and climbing back to dark and muddy slopes. The forest was
+dripping, green, and silent now, a mysterious menacing jungle. All the
+warmth and magic of the golden forest below was lost as though it
+belonged to another and sunnier world. Nothing could be seen of the high,
+snow-flecked peaks which had allured them from the valley. All about them
+drifted the clouds, and yet through the mist the flushed face of the girl
+glowed like a dew-wet rose, and the imperturbable Supervisor jogged his
+remorseless, unhesitating way toward the dense, ascending night.
+
+"I'm glad I'm not riding this pass alone," Wayland said, as they paused
+again for breath.
+
+"So am I," she answered; but her thought was not his. She was happy at
+the prospect of teaching him how to camp.
+
+At last they reached the ragged edge of timber-line, and there, rolling
+away under the mist, lay the bare, grassy, upward-climbing, naked neck of
+the great peak. The wind had grown keener moment by moment, and when they
+left the storm-twisted pines below, its breath had a wintry nip. The rain
+had ceased to fall, but the clouds still hung densely to the loftiest
+summits. It was a sinister yet beautiful world--a world as silent as a
+dream, and through the short, thick grass the slender trail ran like a
+timid serpent. The hour seemed to have neither daytime nor season. All
+was obscure, mysterious, engulfing, and hostile. Had he been alone the
+youth would have been appalled by the prospect.
+
+"Now we're on the divide," called Berea; and as she spoke they seemed to
+enter upon a boundless Alpine plain of velvet-russet grass. "This is the
+Bear Tooth plateau." Low monuments of loose rock stood on small ledges,
+as though to mark the course, and in the hollows dark ponds of icy water
+lay, half surrounded by masses of compact snow.
+
+"This is a stormy place in winter," McFarlane explained. "These piles of
+stone are mighty valuable in a blizzard. I've crossed this divide in
+August in snow so thick I could not see a rod."
+
+Half an hour later they began to descend. Wind-twisted, storm-bleached
+dwarf pines were first to show, then the firs, then the blue-green
+spruces, and then the sheltering deeps of the undespoiled forest opened,
+and the roar of a splendid stream was heard; but still the Supervisor
+kept his resolute way, making no promises as to dinner, though his
+daughter called: "We'd better go into camp at Beaver Lake. I hope you're
+not starved," she called to Wayland.
+
+"But I am," he replied, so frankly that she never knew how faint he
+really was. His knees were trembling with weakness, and he stumbled
+dangerously as he trod the loose rocks in the path.
+
+They were all afoot now descending swiftly, and the horses ramped down
+the trail with expectant haste, so that in less than an hour from
+timber-line they were back into the sunshine of the lower valley, and at
+three o'clock or thereabouts they came out upon the bank of an exquisite
+lake, and with a cheery shout McFarlane called out: "Here we are, out of
+the wilderness!" Then to Wayland: "Well, boy, how did you stand it?"
+
+"Just middling," replied Wayland, reticent from weariness and with joy of
+their camping-place. The lake, dark as topaz and smooth as steel, lay in
+a frame of golden willows--as a jewel is filigreed with gold--and above
+it the cliffs rose three thousand feet in sheer majesty, their upper
+slopes glowing with autumnal grasses. A swift stream roared down a low
+ledge and fell into the pond near their feet. Grassy, pine-shadowed
+knolls afforded pasture for the horses, and two giant firs, at the edge
+of a little glade, made a natural shelter for their tent.
+
+With businesslike certitude Berrie unsaddled her horse, turned him loose,
+and lent a skilful hand at removing the panniers from the pack-animals,
+while Wayland, willing but a little uncertain, stood awkwardly about.
+Under her instruction he collected dead branches of a standing fir, and
+from these and a few cones kindled a blaze, while the Supervisor hobbled
+the horses and set the tent.
+
+"If the work of a forester were all like this it wouldn't be so bad," he
+remarked, wanly. "I think I know several fellows who would be glad to do
+it without a cent of pay."
+
+"Wait till you get to heaving a pick," she retorted, "or scaling lumber
+in a rain, or building a corduroy bridge."
+
+"I don't want to think of anything so dreadful. I want to enjoy this
+moment. I never was hungrier or happier in my life."
+
+"Do ye good," interjected McFarlane, who had paused to straighten up the
+coffee-pot. "Most people don't know what hunger means. There's nothing
+finer in the world than good old-fashioned hunger, provided you've got
+something to throw into yourself when you come into camp. This is a great
+place for fish. I think I'll see if I can't jerk a few out."
+
+"Better wait till night," said his daughter. "Mr. Norcross is starving,
+and so am I. Plain bacon will do me."
+
+The coffee came to a boil, the skillet gave off a wondrous savor, and
+when the corn and beans began to sizzle, the trailers sat down to their
+feast in hearty content, with one of the panniers for a table, and the
+fir-tree for roof. "This is one of the most perfectly appointed
+dining-rooms in the world," exclaimed the alien.
+
+The girl met his look with a tender smile. "I'm glad you like it, for
+perhaps we'll stay a week."
+
+"It looks stormy," the Supervisor announced, after a glance at the
+crests. "I'd like to see a soaking rain--it would end all our worry about
+fires. The country's very dry on this side the range, and your duty for
+the present will be to help Tony patrol."
+
+While he talked on, telling the youth how to beat out a small blaze and
+how to head off a large one, Wayland listened, but heard his instructions
+only as he sensed the brook, as an accompaniment to Berea's voice, for as
+she busied herself clearing away the dishes and putting the camp to
+rights, she sang.
+
+"You're to have the tent," said her father, "and we two huskies will
+sleep under the shade of this big fir. If you're ever caught out," he
+remarked to Wayland, "hunt for one of these balsam firs; there's always a
+dry spot under them. See here!" And he showed him the sheltered circle
+beneath the tree. "You can always get twigs for kindling from their inner
+branches," he added, "or you can hew into one of these dead trees and get
+some pitchy splinters. There's material for everything you want if you
+know where to find it. Shelter, food, fire are all here for us as they
+were for the Indians. A ranger who needs a roof all the time is not worth
+his bacon."
+
+So, one by one, the principles of camping were taught by the kindly old
+rancher; but the hints which the girl gave were quite as valuable, for
+Wayland was eager to show her that he could be, and intended to be, a
+forester of the first class or perish in the attempt.
+
+McFarlane went farther and talked freely of the forest and what it meant
+to the government. "We're all green at the work," he said, "and we old
+chaps are only holding the fort against the thieves till you youngsters
+learn how to make the best use of the domain."
+
+"I can see that it takes more than technical training to enable a man to
+be Supervisor of a forest," conceded Wayland.
+
+McFarlane was pleased with this remark. "That's true, too. It's a big
+responsibility. When I first came on, it was mainly patrolling; but now,
+with a half dozen sawmills, and these 'June Eleventh Homesteads,' and the
+new ways of marking timber, and the grazing and free-use permits, the
+office work has doubled. And this is only the beginning. Wait till
+Colorado has two millions of people, and all these lower valleys are
+clamoring for water. Then you'll see a new party spring up--right here in
+our state."
+
+Berrie was glowing with happiness. "Let's stay here till the end of the
+week," she suggested. "I've always wanted to camp on this lake, and now
+I'm here I want time to enjoy it."
+
+"We'll stay a day or two," said her father; "but I must get over to that
+ditch survey which is being made at the head of Poplar, and then Moore is
+coming over to look at some timber on Porcupine."
+
+The young people cut willow rods and went angling at the outlet of the
+lake with prodigious success. The water rippled with trout, and in half
+an hour they had all they could use for supper and breakfast, and,
+behold, even as they were returning with their spoil they met a covey of
+grouse strolling leisurely down to the lake's edge. "Isn't it a wonderful
+place!" exclaimed the happy girl. "I wish we could stay a month."
+
+"It's like being on the Swiss Family Robinson's Island. I never was more
+content," he said, fervently. "I wouldn't mind staying here all winter."
+
+"I would!" she laughed. "The snow falls four feet deep up here. It's
+likely there's snow on the divide this minute, and camping in the snow
+isn't so funny. Some people got snowed in over at Deep Lake last year and
+nearly all their horses starved before they could get them out. This is a
+fierce old place in winter-time."
+
+"I can't imagine it," he said, indicating the glowing amphitheater which
+inclosed the lake. "See how warmly the sun falls into that high basin!
+It's all as beautiful as the Tyrol."
+
+The air at the moment was golden October, and the dark clouds which lay
+to the east seemed the wings of a departing rather than an approaching
+storm; and even as they looked, a rainbow sprang into being, arching the
+lake as if in assurance of peace and plenty, and the young people, as
+they turned to face it, stood so close together that each felt the glow
+of the other's shoulder. The beauty of the scene seemed to bring them
+together in body as in spirit, and they fell silent.
+
+McFarlane seemed quite unconscious of any necromancy at work upon his
+daughter. He smoked his pipe, made notes in his field-book, directing an
+occasional remark toward his apprentice, enjoying in his tranquil,
+middle-age way the beauty and serenity of the hour.
+
+"This is the kind of thing that makes up for a hard day's ride," he said,
+jocosely.
+
+As the sunset came on, the young people again loitered down to the
+water's edge, and there, seated side by side, on a rocky knoll, watched
+the phantom gold lift from the willows and climb slowly to the cliffs
+above, while the water deepened in shadow, and busy muskrats marked its
+glossy surface with long silvery lines. Mischievous camp-birds peered at
+the couple from the branches of the pines uttering satirical comment,
+while squirrels, frankly insolent, dropped cones upon their heads and
+barked in saucy glee.
+
+Wayland forgot all the outside world, forgot that he was studying to be a
+forest ranger, and was alive only to the fact that in this most
+bewitching place, in this most entrancing hour, he had the companionship
+of a girl whose eyes sought his with every new phase of the silent and
+wonderful scene which shifted swiftly before their eyes like a noiseless
+yet prodigious drama. The blood in his thin body warmed. He forgot his
+fatigue, his weakness. He was the poet and the forest lover, and this the
+heart of the range.
+
+Lightly the golden glory rose till only the highest peaks retained its
+flame; then it leapt to the clouds behind the peaks, and gorgeously lit
+their somber sulphurous masses. The edges of the pool grew black as
+night; the voice of the stream grew stern; and a cold wind began to fall
+from the heights, sliding like an invisible but palpable icy cataract.
+
+At last the girl rose. "It is getting dark. I must go back and get
+supper."
+
+"We don't need any supper," he protested.
+
+"Father does, and you'll be hungry before morning," she retorted, with
+sure knowledge of men.
+
+He turned from the scene reluctantly; but once at the camp-fire
+cheerfully gave his best efforts to the work in hand, seconding Berrie's
+skill as best he could.
+
+The trout, deliciously crisp, and some potatoes and batter-cakes made a
+meal that tempted even his faint appetite, and when the dishes were
+washed and the towels hung out to dry, deep night possessed even the high
+summit of stately Ptarmigan.
+
+McFarlane then said: "I'll just take a little turn to see that the horses
+are all right, and then I think we'd better close in for the night."
+
+When they were alone in the light of the fire, Wayland turned to Berrie:
+"I'm glad you're here. It must be awesome to camp alone in a wilderness;
+and yet, I suppose, I must learn to do it."
+
+"Yes, the ranger often has to camp alone, ride alone, and work alone for
+weeks at a time," she assured him. "A good trailer don't mind a night
+trip any more than he does a day trip, or if he does he never admits it.
+Rain, snow, darkness, is all the same to him. Most of the boys are
+fifteen to forty miles from the post-office."
+
+He smiled ruefully. "I begin to have new doubts about this ranger
+business. It's a little more vigorous than I thought it was. Suppose a
+fellow breaks a leg on one of those high trails?"
+
+"He mustn't!" she hastened to say. "He can't afford really to take
+reckless chances; but then father won't expect as much of you as he does
+of the old-stagers. You'll have plenty of time to get used to it."
+
+"I may be like the old man's cow and the green shavings, just as I'm
+getting used to it I'll die."
+
+She didn't laugh at this. "You mustn't be rash; don't jump into any hard
+jobs for the present; let the other fellow do it."
+
+"But that's not very manly. If I go into the work I ought to be able to
+take my share of any task that turns up."
+
+"You'd better go slow," she argued. "Wait till you get hardened to it.
+You need something over your shoulders now," she added; and rose and laid
+a blanket over him. "You're tired; you'll take a chill if you're not
+careful."
+
+"You're very considerate," he said, looking up at her gratefully. "But it
+makes me feel like a child to think I need such care. If honestly trying,
+if going up against these hills and winds with Spartan courage will do me
+good, I'm for it. I'm resolved to show to you and your good father that I
+can learn to ride and pack and cut trail, and do all the rest of
+it--there's some honor in qualifying as a forester, and I'm going to do
+it."
+
+"Of course there isn't much in it for you. The pay, even of a full
+ranger, isn't much, after you count out his outlay for horses and saddles
+and their feed, and his own feed. It don't leave so very much of his
+ninety dollars a month."
+
+"I'm not thinking of that," he retorted. "If you had once seen a doctor
+shake his head over you, as I have, you'd think just being here in this
+glorious spot, as I am to-night, would be compensation enough. It's a joy
+to be in the world, and a delight to have you for my teacher."
+
+She was silent under the pleasure of his praise, and he went on: "I
+_know_ I'm better, and, I'm perfectly certain I can regain my strength.
+The very odor of these pines and the power of these winds will bring it
+back to me. See me now, and think how I looked when I came here six weeks
+ago."
+
+She looked at him with fond agreement. "You _are_ better. When I saw you
+first I surely thought you were--"
+
+"I know what you thought--and forget it, _please_! Think of me as one who
+has touched mother earth again and is on the way to being made a giant.
+You can't imagine how marvelous, how life-giving all this is to me. It is
+poetry, it is prophecy, it is fulfilment. I am fully alive again."
+
+McFarlane, upon his return, gave some advice relating to the care of
+horses. "All this stock which is accustomed to a barn or a pasture will
+quit you," he warned. "Watch your broncos. Put them on the outward side
+of your camp when you bed down, and pitch your tent near the trail, then
+you will hear the brutes if they start back. Some men tie their stock all
+up; but I usually picket my saddle-horse and hobble the rest."
+
+It was a delightful hour for schooling, and Wayland would have been
+content to sit there till morning listening; but the air bit, and at last
+the Supervisor asked: "Have you made your bed? If you have, turn in. I
+shall get you out early to-morrow." As he saw the bed, he added: "I see
+you've laid out a bed of boughs. That shows how Eastern you are. We don't
+do that out here. It's too cold in this climate, and it's too much work.
+You want to hug the ground--if it's dry."
+
+The weary youth went to his couch with a sense of timorous elation, for
+he had never before slept beneath the open sky. Over him the giant
+fir--tall as a steeple--dropped protecting shadow, and looking up he
+could see the firelight flickering on the wide-spread branches. His bed
+seemed to promise all the dreams and restful drowse which the books on
+outdoor life had described, and close by in her tiny little canvas house
+he could hear the girl in low-voiced conversation with her sire. All
+conditions seemed right for slumber, and yet slumber refused to come!
+
+After the Supervisor had rolled himself in the blanket, long after all
+sounds had ceased in the tent, there still remained for the youth a score
+of manifold excitations to wakefulness. Down on the lake the muskrats and
+beavers were at their work. Nocturnal birds uttered uncanny, disturbing
+cries. Some animal with stealthy crackling tread was ranging the
+hillside, and the roar of the little fall, so far from lulling him to
+sleep--as he had imagined it would--stimulated his imagination till he
+could discern in it the beat of scurrying wings and the patter of
+pernicious padded feet. "If I am appalled by the wilderness now, what
+would it seem to me were I alone!" he whispered.
+
+Then, too, his bed of boughs discovered unforeseen humps and knobs, and
+by the time he had adjusted himself to their discomfort, it became
+evident that his blankets were both too thin and too short. And the gelid
+air sweeping down from the high places submerged him as if with a flood
+of icy water. In vain he turned and twisted within his robes. No sooner
+were his shoulders covered and comfortable than his hip-bones began to
+ache. Later on the blood of his feet congealed, and in the effort to wrap
+them more closely, he uncovered his neck and shoulders. The frost became
+a wolf, the night an oppressor. "I must have a different outfit," he
+decided. And then thinking that this was but early autumn, he added:
+"What will it be a month later?" He began to doubt his ability to measure
+up to the heroic standard of a forest patrol.
+
+The firelight flickered low, and a prowling animal daringly sniffed about
+the camp, pawing at the castaway fragments of the evening meal. The youth
+was rigid with fear. "Is it a bear? Shall I call the Supervisor?" he
+asked himself.
+
+He felt sadly unprotected, and wished McFarlane nearer at hand. "It may
+be a lion, but probably it is only a coyote, or a porcupine," he
+concluded, and lay still for what seemed like hours waiting for the beast
+to gorge himself and go away.
+
+He longed for morning with intense desire, and watched an amazingly
+luminous star which hung above the eastern cliff, hoping to see it pale
+and die in dawn light, but it did not; and the wind bit even sharper. His
+legs ached almost to the cramping-point, and his hip-bones protruded like
+knots on a log. "I didn't know I had door-knobs on my hips," he remarked,
+with painful humor, and, looking down at his feet, he saw that a thick
+rime was gathering on his blanket. "This sleeping out at night isn't what
+the books crack it up to be," he groaned again, drawing his feet up to
+the middle of his bed to warm them. "Shall I resign to-morrow? No, I'll
+stay with it; but I'll have more clothing. I'll have blankets six inches
+thick. Heaps of blankets--the fleecy kind--I'll have an air-mattress."
+His mind luxuriated in these details till he fell into an uneasy drowse.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+STORM-BOUND
+
+
+Wayland was awakened by the mellow voice of his chief calling: "_All out!
+All out! Daylight down the creek!_" Breathing a prayer of thankfulness,
+the boy sat up and looked about him. "The long night is over at last, and
+I am alive!" he said, and congratulated himself.
+
+He drew on his shoes and, stiff and shivering, stood about in helpless
+misery, while McFarlane kicked the scattered, charred logs together, and
+fanned the embers into a blaze with his hat. It was heartening to see the
+flames leap up, flinging wide their gorgeous banners of heat and light,
+and in their glow the tenderfoot ranger rapidly recovered his courage,
+though his teeth still chattered and the forest was dark.
+
+"How did you sleep?" asked the Supervisor.
+
+"First rate--at least during the latter part of the night," Wayland
+briskly lied.
+
+"That's good. I was afraid that Adirondack bed of yours might let the
+white wolf in."
+
+"My blankets did seem a trifle thin," confessed Norcross.
+
+"It don't pay to sleep cold," the Supervisor went on. "A man wants to
+wake up refreshed, not tired out with fighting the night wind and frost.
+I always carry a good bed."
+
+It was instructive to see how quietly and methodically the old
+mountaineer went about his task of getting the breakfast. First he cut
+and laid a couple of eight-inch logs on either side of the fire, so that
+the wind drew through them properly, then placing his dutch-oven cover on
+the fire, he laid the bottom part where the flames touched it. Next he
+filled his coffee-pot with water, and set it on the coals. From his
+pannier he took his dishes and the flour and salt and pepper, arranging
+them all within reach, and at last laid some slices of bacon in the
+skillet.
+
+At this stage of the work a smothered cry, half yawn, half complaint,
+came from the tent. "Oh, hum! Is it morning?" inquired Berrie.
+
+"Morning!" replied her father. "It's going toward noon. You get up or
+you'll have no breakfast."
+
+Thereupon Wayland called: "Can I get you anything, Miss Berrie? Would you
+like some warm water?"
+
+"What for?" interposed McFarlane, before the girl could reply.
+
+"To bathe in," replied the youth.
+
+"To bathe in! If a daughter of mine should ask for warm water to wash
+with I'd throw her in the creek."
+
+Berrie chuckled. "Sometimes I think daddy has no feeling for me. I reckon
+he thinks I'm a boy."
+
+"Hot water is debilitating, and very bad for the complexion," retorted
+her father. "Ice-cold water is what you need. And if you don't get out o'
+there in five minutes I'll dowse you with a dipperful."
+
+This reminded Wayland that he had not yet made his own toilet, and,
+seizing soap, towel, and brushes, he hurried away down to the beach where
+he came face to face with the dawn. The splendor of it smote him full in
+the eyes. From the waveless surface of the water a spectral mist was
+rising, a light veil, through which the stupendous cliffs loomed three
+thousand feet in height, darkly shadowed, dim and far. The willows along
+the western marge burned as if dipped in liquid gold, and on the lofty
+crags the sun's coming created keen-edged shadows, violet as ink. Truly
+this forestry business was not so bad after all. It had its
+compensations.
+
+Back at the camp-fire he found Berrie at work, glowing, vigorous,
+laughing. Her comradeship with her father was very charming, and at the
+moment she was rallying him on his method of bread-mixing. "You should
+rub the lard into the flour," she said. "Don't be afraid to get your
+hands into it--after they are clean. You can't mix bread with a spoon."
+
+"Sis, I made camp bread for twenty years afore you were born."
+
+"It's a wonder you lived to tell of it," she retorted, and took the pan
+away from him. "That's another thing _you_ must learn," she said to
+Wayland. "You must know how to make bread. You can't expect to find
+bake-shops or ranchers along the way."
+
+In the heat of the fire, in the charm of the girl's presence, the young
+man forgot the discomforts of the night, and as they sat at breakfast,
+and the sun rising over the high summits flooded them with warmth and
+good cheer, and the frost melted like magic from the tent, the experience
+had all the satisfying elements of a picnic. It seemed that nothing
+remained to do; but McFarlane said: "Well, now, you youngsters wash up
+and pack whilst I reconnoiter the stock." And with his saddle and bridle
+on his shoulder he went away down the trail.
+
+Under Berrie's direction Wayland worked busily putting the camp equipment
+in proper parcels, taking no special thought of time till the tent was
+down and folded, the panniers filled and closed, and the fire carefully
+covered. Then the girl said: "I hope the horses haven't been stampeded.
+There are bears in this valley, and horses are afraid of bears. Father
+ought to have been back before this. I hope they haven't quit us."
+
+"Shall I go and see?"
+
+"No, he'll bring 'em--if they're in the land of the living. He picketed
+his saddle-horse, so he's not afoot. Nobody can teach him anything about
+trailing horses, and, besides, you might get lost. You'd better keep
+close to camp."
+
+Thereupon Wayland put aside all responsibility. "Let's see if we can
+catch some more fish," he urged.
+
+To this she agreed, and together they went again to the outlet of the
+lake--where the trout could be seen darting to and fro on the clear, dark
+flood--and there cast their flies till they had secured ten good-sized
+fish.
+
+"We'll stop now," declared the girl. "I don't believe in being
+wasteful."
+
+Once more at the camp they prepared the fish for the pan. The sun
+suddenly burned hot and the lake was still as brass, but great, splendid,
+leisurely, gleaming clouds were sailing in from the west, all centering
+about Chief Audobon, and the experienced girl looked often at the sky. "I
+don't like the feel of the air. See that gray cloud spreading out over
+the summits of the range, that means something more than a shower. I do
+hope daddy will overtake the horses before they cross the divide. It's
+going to pour up there."
+
+"What can I do?"
+
+"Nothing. We'll stay right here and get dinner for him. He'll be hungry
+when he gets back."
+
+As they were unpacking the panniers and getting out the dishes, thunder
+broke from the high crags above the lake, and the girl called out:
+
+"Quick! It's going to rain! We must reset the tent and get things under
+cover."
+
+Once more he was put to shame by the decision, the skill, and the
+strength with which she went about re-establishing the camp. She led, he
+followed in every action. In ten minutes the canvas was up, the beds
+rolled, the panniers protected, the food stored safely; but they were
+none too soon, for the thick gray veil of rain, which had clothed the
+loftiest crags for half an hour, swung out over the water--leaden-gray
+under its folds--and with a roar which began in the tall pines--a roar
+which deepened, hushed only when the thunder crashed resoundingly from
+crag to crest--the tempest fell upon the camp and the world of sun and
+odorous pine vanished almost instantly, and a dark, threatening, and
+forbidding world took its place.
+
+But the young people--huddled close together beneath the tent--would have
+enjoyed the change had it not been for the thought of the Supervisor. "I
+hope he took his slicker," the girl said, between the tearing, ripping
+flashes of the lightning. "It's raining hard up there."
+
+"How quickly it came. Who would have thought it could rain like this
+after so beautiful a morning?"
+
+"It storms when it storms--in the mountains," she responded, with the
+sententious air of her father. "You never can tell what the sky is going
+to do up here. It is probably snowing on the high divide. Looks now as
+though those cayuses pulled out sometime in the night and have hit the
+trail for home. That's the trouble with stall-fed stock. They'll quit you
+any time they feel cold and hungry. Here comes the hail!" she shouted, as
+a sharper, more spiteful roar sounded far away and approaching. "Now keep
+from under!"
+
+"What will your father do?" he called.
+
+"Don't worry about him. He's at home any place there's a tree. He's
+probably under a balsam somewhere, waiting for this ice to spill out. The
+only point is, they may get over the divide, and if they do it will be
+slippery coming back."
+
+For the first time the thought that the Supervisor might not be able to
+return entered Wayland's mind; but he said nothing of his fear.
+
+The hail soon changed to snow, great, clinging, drowsy, soft, slow-moving
+flakes, and with their coming the roar died away and the forest became as
+silent as a grave of bronze. Nothing moved, save the thick-falling,
+feathery, frozen vapor, and the world was again very beautiful and very
+mysterious.
+
+"We must keep the fire going," warned the girl. "It will be hard to start
+after this soaking."
+
+He threw upon the fire all of the wood which lay near, and Berrie, taking
+the ax, went to the big fir and began to chop off the dry branches which
+hung beneath, working almost as effectively as a man. Wayland insisted on
+taking a turn with the tool; but his efforts were so awkward that she
+laughed and took it away again. "You'll have to take lessons in swinging
+an ax," she said. "That's part of the job."
+
+Gradually the storm lightened, the snow changed back into rain, and
+finally to mist; but up on the heights the clouds still rolled wildly,
+and through their openings the white drifts bleakly shone.
+
+"It's all in the trip," said Berrie. "You have to take the weather as it
+comes on the trail." As the storm lessened she resumed the business of
+cooking the midday meal, and at two o'clock they were able to eat in
+comparative comfort, though the unmelted snow still covered the trees,
+and water dripped from the branches.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful!" exclaimed Wayland, with glowing boyish face. "The
+landscape is like a Christmas card. In its way it's quite as beautiful as
+that golden forest we rode through."
+
+"It wouldn't be so beautiful if you had to wallow through ten miles of
+it," she sagely responded. "Daddy will be wet to the skin, for I found he
+didn't take his slicker. However, the sun may be out before night. That's
+the way the thing goes in the hills."
+
+To the youth, though the peaks were storm-hid, the afternoon was joyous.
+Berrie was a sweet companion. Under her supervision he practised at
+chopping wood and took a hand at cooking. At her suggestion he stripped
+the tarpaulin from her father's bed and stretched it over a rope before
+the tent, thus providing a commodious kitchen and dining-room. Under this
+roof they sat and talked of everything except what they should do if the
+father did not return, and as they talked they grew to even closer
+understanding.
+
+Though quite unlearned of books, she had something which was much more
+piquant than anything which theaters and novels could give--she possessed
+a marvelous understanding of the natural world in which she lived. As the
+companion of her father on many of his trips, she had absorbed from him,
+as well as from the forest, a thousand observations of plant and animal
+life. Seemingly she had nothing of the woman's fear of the wilderness,
+she scarcely acknowledged any awe of it. Of the bears, and other
+predatory beasts, she spoke carelessly.
+
+"Bears are harmless if you let 'em alone," she said, "and the
+mountain-lion is a great big bluff. He won't fight, you can't make him
+fight; but the mother lion will. She's dangerous when she has cubs--most
+animals are. I was out hunting grouse one day with a little twenty-two
+rifle, when all at once, as I looked up along a rocky point I was
+crossing, I saw a mountain-lion looking at me. First I thought I'd let
+drive at him; but the chances were against my getting him from there, so
+I climbed up above him--or where I thought he was--and while I was
+looking for him I happened to glance to my right, and there he was about
+fifty feet away looking at me pleasant as you please. Didn't seem to be
+mad at all--'peared like he was just wondering what I'd do next. I jerked
+my gun into place, but he faded away. I crawled around to get behind him,
+and just when I reached the ledge on which he had been standing a few
+minutes before, I saw him just where I'd been. He had traded places with
+me. I began to have that creepy feeling. He was so silent and so kind of
+pleasant-looking I got leery of him. It just seemed like as though I'd
+dreamed him. He didn't seem real."
+
+Wayland shuddered. "You foolish girl! Why didn't you run?"
+
+"I did. I began to figure then that this was a mother lion, and that her
+cubs were close by, and that she could just as well sneak up and drop on
+me from above as not. So I got down and left her alone. It was her
+popping up now here and now there like a ghost that locoed me. I was sure
+scared."
+
+Wayland did not enjoy this tale. "I never heard of such folly. Did your
+father learn of that adventure?"
+
+"Yes, I told him."
+
+"Didn't he forbid your hunting any more?"
+
+"No, indeed! Why should he? He just said it probably was a lioness, and
+that it was just as well to let her alone. He knows I'm no chicken."
+
+"How about your mother--does she approve of such expeditions?"
+
+"No, mother worries more or less when I'm away; but then she knows it
+don't do any good. I'm taking all kinds of chances every day, anyhow."
+
+He had to admit that she was better able to care for herself in the
+wilderness than most men--even Western men--and though he had not yet
+witnessed a display of her skill with a rifle, he was ready to believe
+that she could shoot as well as her sire. Nevertheless, he liked her
+better when engaged in purely feminine duties, and he led the talk back
+to subjects concerning which her speech was less blunt and manlike.
+
+He liked her when she was joking, for delicious little curves of laughter
+played about her lips. She became very amusing, as she told of her
+"visits East," and of her embarrassments in the homes of city friends. "I
+just have to own up that about all the schooling I've got is from the
+magazines. Sometimes I wish I had pulled out for town when I was about
+fourteen; but, you see, I didn't feel like leaving mother, and she didn't
+feel like letting me go--and so I just got what I could at Bear Tooth."
+She sprang up. "There's a patch of blue sky. Let's go see if we can't get
+a grouse."
+
+The snow had nearly all sunk into the ground on their level; but it still
+lay deep on the heights above, and the torn masses of vapor still clouded
+the range. "Father has surely had to go over the divide," she said, as
+they walked down the path along the lake shore. "He'll be late getting
+back, and a plate of hot chicken will seem good to him."
+
+Together they strolled along the edge of the willows. "The grouse come
+down to feed about this time," she said. "We'll put up a covey soon."
+
+It seemed to him as though he were re-living the experiences of his
+ancestors--the pioneers of Michigan--as he walked this wilderness with
+this intrepid huntress whose alert eyes took note of every moving thing.
+She was delightfully unconscious of self, of sex, of any doubt or fear. A
+lovely Diana--strong and true and sweet.
+
+Within a quarter of a mile they found their birds, and she killed four
+with five shots. "This is all we need," she said, "and I don't believe in
+killing for the sake of killing. Rangers should set good examples in way
+of game preservation. They are deputy game-wardens in most states, and
+good ones, too."
+
+They stopped for a time on a high bank above the lake, while the sunset
+turned the storm-clouds into mountains of brass and iron, with sulphurous
+caves and molten glowing ledges. This grandiose picture lasted but a few
+minutes, and then the Western gates closed and all was again gray and
+forbidding. "Open and shut is a sign of wet," quoted Berrie, cheerily.
+
+The night rose formidably from the valley while they ate their supper;
+but Berrie remained tranquil. "Those horses probably went clean back to
+the ranch. If they did, daddy can't possibly get back before eight
+o'clock, and he may not get back till to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE WALK IN THE RAIN
+
+
+Norcross, with his city training, was acutely conscious of the delicacy
+of the situation. In his sister's circle a girl left alone in this way
+with a man would have been very seriously embarrassed; but it was evident
+that Berrie took it all joyously, innocently. Their being together was
+something which had happened in the natural course of weather, a
+condition for which they were in no way responsible. Therefore she
+permitted herself to be frankly happy in the charm of their enforced
+intimacy.
+
+She had never known a youth of his quality. He was so considerate, so
+refined, so quick of understanding, and so swift to serve. He filled her
+mind to the exclusion of unimportant matters like the snow, which was
+beginning again; indeed, her only anxiety concerned his health, and as he
+toiled amid the falling flakes, intent upon heaping up wood enough to
+last out the night, she became solicitous.
+
+"You will be soaked," she warningly cried. "Don't stay out any more. Come
+to the fire. I'll bring in the wood."
+
+Something primeval, some strength he did not know he possessed sustained
+him, and he toiled on. "Suppose this snow keeps falling?" he retorted.
+"The Supervisor will not be able to get back to-night--perhaps not for a
+couple of nights. We will need a lot of fuel."
+
+He did not voice the fear of the storm which filled his thought; but the
+girl understood it. "It won't be very cold," she calmly replied. "It
+never is during these early blizzards; and, besides, all we need to do is
+to drop down the trail ten miles and we'll be entirely out of it."
+
+"I'll feel safer with plenty of wood," he argued; but soon found it
+necessary to rest from his labors. Coming in to camp, he seated himself
+beside her on a roll of blankets, and so together they tended the fire
+and watched the darkness roll over the lake till the shining crystals
+seemed to drop from a measureless black arch, soundless and oppressive.
+The wind died away, and the trees stood as if turned into bronze,
+moveless, save when a small branch gave way and dropped its rimy burden,
+or a squirrel leaped from one top to another. Even the voice of the
+waterfall seemed muffled and remote.
+
+"I'm a long way from home and mother," Wayland said, with a smile;
+"but--I like it."
+
+"Isn't it fun?" she responded. "In a way it's nicer on account of the
+storm. But you are not dressed right; you should have waterproof boots.
+You never can tell when you may be set afoot. You should always go
+prepared for rain and snow, and, above all, have an extra pair of thick
+stockings. Your feet are soaked now, aren't they?"
+
+"They are; but your father told me to always dry my boots on my feet,
+otherwise they'd shrink out of shape."
+
+"That's right, too; but you'd better take 'em off and wring out your
+socks or else put on dry ones."
+
+"You insist on my playing the invalid," he complained, "and that makes me
+angry. When I've been over here a month you'll find me a glutton for
+hardship. I shall be a bear, a grizzly, fearful to contemplate. My roar
+will affright you."
+
+She laughed like a child at his ferocity. "You'll have to change a whole
+lot," she said, and drew the blanket closer about his shoulders. "Just
+now your job is to keep warm and dry. I hope you won't get lonesome over
+here."
+
+"I'm not going to open a book or read a newspaper. I'm not going to write
+to a single soul except you. I'll be obliged to report to you, won't I?"
+
+"I'm not the Supervisor."
+
+"You're the next thing to it," he quickly retorted. "You've been my board
+of health from the very first. I should have fled for home long ago had
+it not been for you."
+
+Her eyes fell under his glance. "You'll get pretty tired of things over
+here. It's one of the lonesomest stations in the forest."
+
+"I'll get lonesome for you; but not for the East." This remark, or rather
+the tone in which it was uttered, brought another flush of consciousness
+to the girl's face.
+
+"What time is it now?" she asked, abruptly.
+
+He looked at his watch. "Half after eight."
+
+"If father isn't on this side of the divide now he won't try to cross. If
+he's coming down the slope he'll be here in an hour, although that trail
+is a tolerably tough proposition this minute. A patch of dead timber on a
+dark night is sure a nuisance, even to a good man. He may not make it."
+
+"Shall I fire my gun?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"As a signal to him."
+
+This amused her. "Daddy don't need any hint about direction--what he
+needs is a light to see the twist of the trail through those fallen
+logs."
+
+"Couldn't I rig up a torch and go to meet him?"
+
+She put her hand on his arm. "You stay right here!" she commanded. "You
+couldn't follow that trail five minutes."
+
+"You have a very poor opinion of my skill."
+
+"No, I haven't; but I know how hard it is to keep direction on a night
+like this and I don't want you wandering around in the timber. Father can
+take care of himself. He's probably sitting under a big tree smoking his
+pipe before his fire--or else he's at home. He knows we're all right, and
+we are. We have wood and grub, and plenty of blankets, and a roof over
+us. You can make your bed under this fly," she said, looking up at the
+canvas. "It beats the old balsam as a roof. You mustn't sleep cold
+again."
+
+"I think I'd better sit up and keep the fire going," he replied,
+heroically. "There's a big log out there that I'm going to bring in to
+roll up on the windward side."
+
+"It'll be cold and wet early in the morning, and I don't like to hunt
+kindling in the snow," she said. "I always get everything ready the night
+before. I wish you had a better bed. It seems selfish of me to have the
+tent while you are cold."
+
+One by one--under her supervision--he made preparations for morning. He
+cut some shavings from a dead, dry branch of fir and put them under the
+fly, and brought a bucket of water from the creek, and then together they
+dragged up the dead tree.
+
+Had the young man been other than he was, the girl's purity, candor, and
+self-reliance would have conquered him, and when she withdrew to the
+little tent and let fall the frail barrier between them, she was as safe
+from intrusion as if she had taken refuge behind gates of triple brass.
+Nothing in all his life had moved him so deeply as her solicitude, her
+sweet trust in his honor, and he sat long in profound meditation. Any man
+would be rich in the ownership of her love, he admitted. That he
+possessed her pity and her friendship he knew, and he began to wonder if
+he had made a deeper appeal to her than this.
+
+"Can it be that I am really a man to her," he thought, "I who am only a
+poor weakling whom the rain and snow can appall?"
+
+Then he thought of the effect of this night upon her life. What would
+Clifford Belden do now? To what deeps would his rage descend if he should
+come to know of it?
+
+Berrie was serene. Twice she spoke from her couch to say: "You'd better
+go to bed. Daddy can't get here till to-morrow now."
+
+"I'll stay up awhile yet. My boots aren't entirely dried out."
+
+As the flame sank low the cold bit, and he built up the half-burned logs
+so that they blazed again. He worked as silently as he could; but the
+girl again spoke, with sweet authority: "Haven't you gone to bed yet?"
+
+"Oh yes, I've been asleep. I only got up to rebuild the fire."
+
+"I'm afraid you're cold."
+
+"I'm as comfortable as I deserve; it's all schooling, you know. Please go
+to sleep again." His teeth were chattering as he spoke, but he added:
+"I'm all right."
+
+After a silence she said: "You must not get chilled. Bring your bed into
+the tent. There is room for you."
+
+"Oh no, that isn't necessary. I'm standing it very well."
+
+"You'll be sick!" she urged, in a voice of alarm. "Please drag your bed
+inside the door. What would I do if you should have pneumonia to-morrow?
+You must not take any risk of a fever."
+
+The thought of a sheltered spot, of something to break the remorseless
+wind, overcame his scruples, and he drew his bed inside the tent and
+rearranged it there.
+
+"You're half frozen," she said. "Your teeth are chattering."
+
+"It isn't so much the cold," he stammered. "I'm tired."
+
+"You poor boy!" she exclaimed, and rose in her bed. "I'll get up and heat
+some water for you."
+
+"I'll be all right, in a few moments," he said. "Please go to sleep. I
+shall be snug as a bug in a moment."
+
+She watched his shadowy motions from her bed, and when at last he had
+nestled into his blankets, she said: "If you don't lose your chill I'll
+heat a rock and put at your feet."
+
+He was ready to cry out in shame of his weakness; but he lay silent till
+he could command his voice, then he said: "That would drive me from the
+country in disgrace. Think of what the fellows down below will say when
+they know of my cold feet."
+
+"They won't hear of it; and, besides, it is better to carry a hot-water
+bag than to be laid up with a fever."
+
+Her anxiety lessened as his voice resumed its pleasant tenor flow. "Dear
+girl," he said, "no one could have been sweeter--more like a guardian
+angel to me. Don't place me under any greater obligation. Go to sleep. I
+am better--much better now."
+
+She did not speak for a few moments, then in a voice that conveyed to him
+a knowledge that his words of endearment had deeply moved her, she softly
+said: "Good night."
+
+He heard her sigh drowsily thereafter once or twice, and then she slept,
+and her slumber redoubled in him his sense of guardianship, of
+responsibility. Lying there in the shelter of her tent, the whole
+situation seemed simple, innocent, and poetic; but looked at from the
+standpoint of Clifford Belden it held an accusation.
+
+"It cannot be helped," he said. "The only thing we can do is to conceal
+the fact that we spent the night beneath this tent alone."
+
+In the belief that the way would clear with the dawn, he, too, fell
+asleep, while the fire sputtered and smudged in the fitful mountain
+wind.
+
+The second dawn came slowly, as though crippled by the storm and walled
+back by the clouds. Gradually, austerely, the bleak, white peaks began to
+define themselves above the firs. The camp-birds called cheerily from the
+wet branches which overhung the smoldering embers of the fire, and so at
+last day was abroad in the sky.
+
+With a dull ache in his bones, Wayland crept out to the fire and set to
+work fanning the coals with his hat, as he had seen the Supervisor do. He
+worked desperately till one of the embers began to angrily sparkle and to
+smoke. Then slipping away out of earshot he broke an armful of dry fir
+branches to heap above the wet, charred logs. Soon these twigs broke into
+flame, and Berrie, awakened by the crackle of the pine branches, called
+out: "Is it daylight?"
+
+"Yes, but it's a very _dark_ daylight. Don't leave your warm bed for the
+dampness and cold out here; stay where you are; I'll get breakfast."
+
+"How are you this morning? Did you sleep?"
+
+"Fine!"
+
+"I'm afraid you had a bad night," she insisted, in a tone which indicated
+her knowledge of his suffering.
+
+"Camp life has its disadvantages," he admitted, as he put the coffee-pot
+on the fire. "But I'm feeling better now. I never fried a bird in my
+life, but I'm going to try it this morning. I have some water heating for
+your bath." He put the soap, towel, and basin of hot water just inside
+the tent flap. "Here it is. I'm going to bathe in the lake. I must show
+my hardihood."
+
+He heard her protesting as he went off down the bank, but his heart was
+resolute. "I'm not dead yet," he said, grimly. "An invalid who can spend
+two such nights as these, and still face a cold wind, has some vitality
+in his bones after all."
+
+When he returned he found the girl full dressed, alert, and glowing; but
+she greeted him with a touch of shyness and self-consciousness new to
+her, and her eyes veiled themselves before his glance.
+
+"_Now_, where do you suppose the Supervisor is?" he asked.
+
+"I hope he's at home," she replied, quite seriously. "I'd hate to think
+of him camped in the high country without bedding or tent."
+
+"Oughtn't I to take a turn up the trail and see? I feel guilty somehow--I
+must do something!"
+
+"You can't help matters any by hoofing about in the mud. No, we'll just
+hold the fort till he comes, that's what he'll expect us to do."
+
+He submitted once more to the force of her argument, and they ate
+breakfast in such intimacy and good cheer that the night's discomforts
+and anxieties counted for little. As the sun broke through the clouds
+Berrie hung out the bedding in order that its dampness might be warmed
+away.
+
+"We may have to camp here again to-night," she explained, demurely.
+
+"Worse things could happen than that," he gallantly answered. "I wouldn't
+mind a month of it, only I shouldn't want it to rain or snow all the
+time."
+
+"Poor boy! You did suffer, didn't you? I was afraid you would. Did you
+sleep at all?" she asked, tenderly.
+
+"Oh yes, after I came inside; but, of course, I was more or less restless
+expecting your father to ride up, and then it's all rather exciting
+business to a novice. I could hear all sorts of birds and beasts stepping
+and fluttering about. I was scared in spite of my best resolution."
+
+"That's funny; I never feel that way. I slept like a log after I knew you
+were comfortable. You must have a better bed and more blankets. It's
+always cold up here."
+
+The sunlight was short-lived. The clouds settled over the peaks, and
+ragged wisps of gray vapor dropped down the timbered slopes of the
+prodigious amphitheater in which the lake lay. Again Berrie made
+everything snug while her young woodsman toiled at bringing logs for the
+fire.
+
+In truth, he was more elated than he had been since leaving school, for
+he was not only doing a man's work in the world, he was serving a woman
+in the immemorial way of the hewer of wood and the carrier of water. His
+fatigue and the chill of the morning wore away, and he took vast pride in
+dragging long poles down the hillside, forcing Berrie to acknowledge that
+he was astonishingly strong. "But don't overdo it," she warned.
+
+At last fully provided for, they sat contentedly side by side under the
+awning and watched the falling rain as it splashed and sizzled on the
+sturdy fire. "It's a little like being shipwrecked on a desert island,
+isn't it?" he said. "As if our boats had drifted away."
+
+At noon she again prepared an elaborate meal. She served potatoes and
+grouse, hot biscuit with sugar syrup, and canned peaches, and coffee done
+to just the right color and aroma. He declared it wonderful, and they ate
+with repeated wishes that the Supervisor might turn up in time to share
+their feast; but he did not. Then Berrie said, firmly: "Now you must take
+a snooze, you look tired."
+
+He was, in truth, not only drowsy but lame and tired. Therefore, he
+yielded to her suggestion.
+
+She covered him with blankets and put him away like a child. "Now you
+have a good sleep," she said, tenderly. "I'll call you when daddy
+comes."
+
+With a delicious sense of her protecting care he lay for a few moments
+listening to the drip of the water on the tent, then drifted away into
+peace and silence.
+
+When he woke the ground was again covered with snow, and the girl was
+feeding the fire with wood which her own hands had supplied.
+
+Hearing him stir, she turned and fixed her eyes upon him with clear, soft
+gaze. "How do you feel by now?" she asked.
+
+"Quite made over," he replied, rising alertly.
+
+His cheer, however, was only pretense. He was greatly worried. "Something
+has happened to your father," he said. "His horse has thrown him, or he
+has slipped and fallen." His peace and exultation were gone. "How far is
+it down to the ranger station?"
+
+"About twelve miles."
+
+"Don't you think we'd better close camp and go down there? It is now
+three o'clock; we can walk it in five hours."
+
+She shook her head. "No, I think we'd better stay right here. It's a
+long, hard walk, and the trail is muddy."
+
+"But, dear girl," he began, desperately, "it won't do for us to camp
+here--alone--in this way another night. What will Cliff say?"
+
+She flamed red, then whitened. "I don't care what Cliff thinks--I'm done
+with him--and no one that I really care about would blame us." She was
+fully aware of his anxiety now. "It isn't our fault."
+
+"It will be _my_ fault if I keep you here longer!" he answered. "We must
+reach a telephone and send word out. Something may have happened to your
+father."
+
+"I'm not worried a bit about him. It may be that there's been a big
+snowfall up above us--or else a windstorm. The trail may be blocked; but
+don't worry. He may have to go round by Lost Lake pass." She pondered a
+moment. "I reckon you're right. We'd better pack up and rack down the
+trail to the ranger's cabin. Not on my account, but on yours. I'm afraid
+you've taken cold."
+
+"I'm all right, except I'm very lame; but I am anxious to go on. By the
+way, is this ranger Settle married?"
+
+"No, his station is one of the lonesomest cabins on the forest. No woman
+will stay there."
+
+This made Wayland ponder. "Nevertheless," he decided, "we'll go. After
+all, the man is a forest officer, and you are the Supervisor's
+daughter."
+
+She made no further protest, but busied herself closing the panniers and
+putting away the camp utensils. She seemed to recognize that his judgment
+was sound.
+
+It was after three when they left the tent and started down the trail,
+carrying nothing but a few toilet articles.
+
+He stopped at the edge of the clearing. "Should we have left a note for
+the Supervisor?"
+
+She pointed to their footprints. "There's all the writing he needs," she
+assured him, leading the way at a pace which made him ache. She plashed
+plumply into the first puddle in the path. "No use dodging 'em," she
+called over her shoulder, and he soon saw that she was right.
+
+The trees were dripping, the willows heavy with water, and the mud
+ankle-deep--in places--but she pushed on steadily, and he, following in
+her tracks, could only marvel at her strength and sturdy self-reliance.
+The swing of her shoulders, the poise of her head, and the lithe movement
+of her waist, made his own body seem a poor thing.
+
+For two hours they zigzagged down a narrow cañon heavily timbered with
+fir and spruce--a dark, stern avenue, crossed by roaring streams, and
+filled with frequent boggy meadows whereon the water lay mid-leg deep.
+
+"We'll get out of this very soon," she called, cheerily.
+
+By degrees the gorge widened, grew more open, more genial. Aspen thickets
+of pale-gold flashed upon their eyes like sunlight, and grassy bunches
+afforded firmer footing, but on the slopes their feet slipped and slid
+painfully. Still Berea kept her stride. "We must get to the middle fork
+before dark," she stopped to explain, "for I don't know the trail down
+there, and there's a lot of down timber just above the station. Now that
+we're cut loose from our camp I feel nervous. As long as I have a tent I
+am all right; but now we are in the open I worry. How are you standing
+it?" She studied him with keen and anxious glance, her hand upon his
+arm.
+
+"Fine as a fiddle," he replied, assuming a spirit he did not possess,
+"but you are marvelous. I thought cowgirls couldn't walk?"
+
+"I can do anything when I have to," she replied. "We've got three hours
+more of it." And she warningly exclaimed: "Look back there!"
+
+They had reached a point from which the range could be seen, and behold
+it was covered deep with a seamless robe of new snow.
+
+"That's why dad didn't get back last night. He's probably wallowing along
+up there this minute." And she set off again with resolute stride.
+Wayland's pale face and labored breath alarmed her. She was filled with
+love and pity, but she pressed forward desperately.
+
+As he grew tired, Wayland's boots, loaded with mud, became fetters, and
+every slope greasy with mire seemed an almost insurmountable barricade.
+He fell several times, but made no outcry. "I will not add to her
+anxiety," he said to himself.
+
+At last they came to the valley floor, over which a devastating fire had
+run some years before, and which was still covered with fallen trees in
+desolate confusion. Here the girl made her first mistake. She kept on
+toward the river, although Wayland called attention to a trail leading to
+the right up over the low grassy hills. For a mile the path was clear,
+but she soon found herself confronted by an endless maze of blackened
+tree-trunks, and at last the path ended abruptly.
+
+Dismayed and halting, she said: "We've got to go back to that trail which
+branched off to the right. I reckon that was the highland trail which
+Settle made to keep out of the swamp. I thought it was a trail from
+Cameron Peak, but it wasn't. Back we go."
+
+She was suffering keenly now, not on her own account, but on his, for she
+could see that he was very tired, and to climb up that hill again was
+like punishing him a second time.
+
+When she picked up the blazed trail it was so dark that she could
+scarcely follow it; but she felt her way onward, turning often to be sure
+that he was following. Once she saw him fall, and cried out: "It's a
+shame to make you climb this hill again. It's all my fault. I ought to
+have known that that lower road led down into the timber."
+
+Standing close beside him in the darkness, knowing that he was weary,
+wet, and ill, she permitted herself the expression of her love and pity.
+Putting her arm about him, she drew his cheek against her own, saying:
+"Poor boy, your hands are cold as ice." She took them in her own warm
+clasp. "Oh, I wish we had never left the camp! What does it matter what
+people say?" Then she broke down and wailed. "I shall never forgive
+myself if you--" Her voice failed her.
+
+[Illustration: SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE
+OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS]
+
+He bravely reassured her: "I'm not defeated, I'm just tired. That's all.
+I can go on."
+
+"But you are shaking."
+
+"That is merely a nervous chill. I'm good for another hour. It's better
+to keep moving, anyhow."
+
+She thrust her hand under his coat and laid it over his heart. "You are
+tired out," she said, and there was anguish in her voice. "Your heart is
+pounding terribly. You mustn't do any more climbing. And, hark, there's a
+wolf!"
+
+He listened. "I hear him; but we are both armed. There's no danger from
+wild animals."
+
+"Come!" she said, instantly recovering her natural resolution. "We can't
+stand here. The station can't be far away. We must go on."
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE OTHER GIRL
+
+
+The girl's voice stirred the benumbed youth into action again, and he
+followed her mechanically. His slender stock of physical strength was
+almost gone, but his will remained unbroken. At every rough place she
+came back to him to support him, to hearten him, and so he crept on
+through the darkness, falling often, stumbling against the trees,
+slipping and sliding, till at last his guide, pitching down a sharp
+slope, came directly upon a wire fence.
+
+"Glory be!" she called. "Here is a fence, and the cabin should be near,
+although I see no light. Hello! Tony!"
+
+No voice replied, and, keeping Wayland's hand, she felt her way along the
+fence till it revealed a gate; then she turned toward the roaring of the
+stream, which grew louder as they advanced. "The cabin is near the falls,
+that much I know," she assured him. Then a moment later she joyfully
+cried out: "Here it is!"
+
+Out of the darkness a blacker, sharper shadow rose. Again she called, but
+no one answered. "The ranger is away," she exclaimed, in a voice of
+indignant alarm. "I do hope he left the door unlocked."
+
+Too numb with fatigue, and too dazed by the darkness to offer any aid,
+Wayland waited--swaying unsteadily on his feet--while she tried the door.
+It was bolted, and with but a moment's hesitation, she said: "It looks
+like a case of breaking and entering. I'll try a window." The windows,
+too, were securely fastened. After trying them all, she came back to
+where Wayland stood. "Tony didn't intend to have anybody pushing in," she
+decided. "But if the windows will not raise they will smash."
+
+A crash of glass followed, and with a feeling that it was all part of a
+dream, Wayland waited while the girl made way through the broken sash
+into the dark interior. Her next utterance was a cry of joy: "Oh, but
+it's nice and warm in here! I can't open the door. You'll have to come in
+the same way I did."
+
+He was too weak and too irresolute to respond immediately, and, reaching
+out, she took him by the arms and dragged him across the sill. Her
+strength seemed prodigious. A delicious warmth, a grateful dryness, a
+sense of shelter enfolded him like a garment. The place smelled
+deliciously of food, of fire, of tobacco.
+
+Leading him toward the middle of the room, Berrie said: "Stand here till
+I strike a light."
+
+As her match flamed up Norcross found himself in a rough-walled cabin, in
+which stood a square cook-stove, a rude table littered with dishes, and
+three stools made of slabs. It was all very rude; but it had all the
+value of a palace at the moment.
+
+The girl's quick eye saw much else. She located an oil-lamp, some
+pine-wood, and a corner cupboard. In a few moments the lamp was lit, the
+stove refilled with fuel, and she was stripping Wayland's wet coat from
+his back, cheerily discoursing as she did so. "Here's one of Tony's old
+jackets, put that on while I see if I can't find some dry stockings for
+you. Sit right down here by the stove; put your feet in the oven. I'll
+have a fire in a jiffy. There, that's right. Now I'll start the
+coffee-pot." She soon found the coffee, but it was unground. "Wonder,
+where he keeps his coffee-mill." She rummaged about for a few minutes,
+then gave up the search. "Well, no matter, here's the coffee, and here's
+a hammer. One of the laws of the trail is this: If you can't do a thing
+one way, do it another."
+
+She poured the coffee beans into an empty tomato-can and began to pound
+them with the end of the hammer handle, laughing at Wayland's look of
+wonder and admiration. "Necessity sure is the mother of invention out
+here. How do you feel by now? Isn't it nice to own a roof and four walls?
+I'm going to close up that window as soon as I get the coffee started.
+Are you warming up?"
+
+"Oh yes, I'm all right now," he replied; but he didn't look it, and her
+own cheer was rather forced. He was in the grasp of a nervous chill, and
+she was deeply apprehensive of what the result of his exposure might be.
+It seemed as if the coffee would never come to a boil.
+
+"I depend on that to brace you up," she said.
+
+After hanging a blanket over the broken window, she set out some cold
+meat and a half dozen baking-powder biscuits, which she found in the
+cupboard, and as soon as the coffee was ready she poured it for him; but
+she would not let him leave the fire. She brought his supper to him and
+sat beside him while he ate and drank.
+
+"You must go right to bed," she urged, as she studied his weary eyes.
+"You ought to sleep for twenty-four hours."
+
+The hot, strong coffee revived him physically and brought back a little
+of his courage, and he said: "I'm ashamed to be such a weakling."
+
+"Now hush," she commanded. "It's not your fault that you are weak. Now,
+while I am eating my supper you slip off your wet clothes and creep into
+Tony's bunk, and I'll fill one of these syrup-cans with hot water to put
+at your feet."
+
+It was of no use for him to protest against her further care. She
+insisted, and while she ate he meekly carried out her instructions, and
+from the delicious warmth and security of his bed watched her moving
+about the stove till the shadows of the room became one with the dusky
+figures of his sleep.
+
+A moment later something falling on the floor woke him with a start, and,
+looking up, he found the sun shining, and Berrie confronting him with
+anxious face. "Did I waken you?" she asked. "I'm awfully sorry. I'm
+trying to be extra quiet. I dropped a pan. How do you feel this
+_morning_?"
+
+He pondered this question a moment. "Is it to-morrow or the next week?"
+
+She laughed happily. "It's only the next day. Just keep where you are
+till the sun gets a little higher." She drew near and put a hand on his
+brow. "You don't feel feverish. Oh, I hope this trip hasn't set you
+back."
+
+He laid his hands together, and then felt of his pulse. "I don't seem to
+have a temperature. I just feel lazy, limp and lazy; but I'm going to get
+up, if you'll just leave the room for a moment--"
+
+"Don't try it now. Wait till you have had your breakfast. You'll feel
+stronger then."
+
+He yielded again to the force of her will, and fell back into a luxurious
+drowse hearing the stove roar and the bacon sizzle in the pan. There was
+something primitive and broadly poetic in the girl's actions. Through the
+haze of the kitchen smoke she enlarged till she became the typical
+frontier wife, the goddess of the skillet and the coffee-pot, the consort
+of the pioneer, equally skilled with the rifle and the rolling-pin. How
+many millions of times had this scene been enacted on the long march of
+the borderman from the Susquehanna to the Bear Tooth Range?
+
+Into his epic vision the pitiful absurdity of his own part in the play
+broke like a sad discord. "Of course, it is not my fault that I am a
+weakling," he argued. "Only it was foolish for me to thrust myself into
+this stern world. If I come safely out of this adventure I will go back
+to the sheltered places where I belong."
+
+At this point came again the disturbing realization that this night of
+struggle, and the ministrations of his brave companion had involved him
+deeper in a mesh from which honorable escape was almost impossible. The
+ranger's cabin, so far from being an end of their compromising intimacy,
+had added and was still adding to the weight of evidence against them
+both. The presence of the ranger or the Supervisor himself could not now
+save Berea from the gossips.
+
+She brought his breakfast to him, and sat beside him while he ate,
+chatting the while of their good fortune. "It is glorious outside, and I
+am sure daddy will get across to-day, and Tony is certain to turn up
+before noon. He probably went down to Coal City to get his mail."
+
+"I must get up at once," he said, in a panic of fear and shame. "The
+Supervisor must not find me laid out on my back. Please leave me alone
+for a moment."
+
+She went out, closing the door behind her, and as he crawled from his bed
+every muscle in his body seemed to cry out against being moved.
+Nevertheless, he persisted, and at last succeeded in putting on his
+clothes, even his shoes--though he found tying the laces the hardest task
+of all--and he was at the wash-basin bathing his face and hands when
+Berrie hurriedly re-entered. "Some tourists are coming," she announced,
+in an excited tone. "A party of five or six people, a woman among them,
+is just coming down the slope. Now, who do you suppose it can be? It
+would be just our luck if it should turn out to be some one from the
+Mill."
+
+He divined at once the reason for her dismay. The visit of a woman at
+this moment would not merely embarrass them both, it would torture
+Berrie. "What is to be done?" he asked, roused to alertness.
+
+"Nothing; all we can do is to stand pat and act as if we belonged here."
+
+"Very well," he replied, moving stiffly toward the door. "Here's where I
+can be of some service. I am an excellent white liar."
+
+As our hero crawled out into the brilliant sunshine some part of his
+courage came back to him. Though lame in every muscle, he was not ill.
+That was the surprising thing. His head was clear, and his breath full
+and deep. "My lungs are all right," he said to himself. "I'm not going to
+collapse." And he looked round him with a new-born admiration of the
+wooded hills which rose in somber majesty on either side the roaring
+stream. "How different it all looks this morning," he said, remembering
+the deep blackness of the night.
+
+The beat of hoofs upon the bridge drew his attention to the cavalcade,
+which the keen eyes of the girl had detected as it came over the ridge to
+the east. The party consisted of two men and two women and three
+pack-horses completely outfitted for the trail.
+
+One of the women, spurring her horse to the front, rode serenely up to
+where Wayland stood, and called out: "Good morning. Are you the ranger?"
+
+"No, I'm only the guard. The ranger has gone down the trail."
+
+He perceived at once that the speaker was an alien like himself, for she
+wore tan-colored riding-boots, a divided skirt of expensive cloth, and a
+jaunty, wide-rimmed sombrero. She looked, indeed, precisely like the
+heroine of the prevalent Western drama. Her sleeves, rolled to the elbow,
+disclosed shapely brown arms, and her neck, bare to her bosom, was
+equally sun-smit; but she was so round-cheeked, so childishly charming,
+that the most critical observer could find no fault with her make-up.
+
+One of the men rode up. "Hello, Norcross. What are you doing over here?"
+
+The youth smiled blandly. "Good morning, Mr. Belden. I'm serving my
+apprenticeship. I'm in the service now."
+
+"The mischief you are!" exclaimed the other. "Where's Tony?"
+
+"Gone for his mail. He'll return soon. What are _you_ doing over here,
+may I ask?"
+
+"I'm here as guide to Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore, this is Norcross, one of
+McFarlane's men. Mr. Moore is connected with the tie-camp operations of
+the railway."
+
+Moore was a tall, thin man with a gray beard and keen blue eyes. "Where's
+McFarlane? We were to meet him here. Didn't he come over with you?"
+
+"We started together, but the horses got away, and he was obliged to go
+back after them. He also is likely to turn up soon."
+
+"I am frightfully hungry," interrupted the girl. "Can't you hand me out a
+hunk of bread and meat? We've been riding since daylight."
+
+Berrie suddenly appeared at the door. "Sure thing," she called out.
+"Slide down and come in."
+
+Moore removed his hat and bowed. "Good morning, Miss McFarlane, I didn't
+know you were here. You know my daughter Siona?"
+
+Berrie nodded coldly. "I've met her."
+
+He indicated the other woman. "And Mrs. Belden, of course, you know."
+
+Mrs. Belden, the fourth member of the party, a middle-aged, rather flabby
+person, just being eased down from her horse, turned on Berrie with a
+battery of questions. "Good Lord! Berrie McFarlane, what are you doing
+over in this forsaken hole? Where's your dad? And where is Tony? If Cliff
+had known you was over here he'd have come, too."
+
+Berrie retained her self-possession. "Come in and get some coffee, and
+we'll straighten things out."
+
+Apparently Mrs. Belden did not know that Cliff and Berrie had quarreled,
+for she treated the girl with maternal familiarity. She was a
+good-natured, well-intentioned old sloven, but a most renowned tattler,
+and the girl feared her more than she feared any other woman in the
+valley. She had always avoided her, but she showed nothing of this
+dislike at the moment.
+
+Wayland drew the younger woman's attention by saying: "It's plain that
+you, like myself, do not belong to these parts, Miss Moore."
+
+"What makes you think so?" she brightly queried.
+
+"Your costume is too appropriate. Haven't you noticed that the women who
+live out here carefully avoid convenient and artistic dress? Now your
+outfit is precisely what they should wear and don't."
+
+This amused her. "I know, but they all say they have to wear out their
+Sunday go-to-meeting clothes, whereas I can 'rag out proper.' I'm glad
+you like my 'rig.'"
+
+"When I look at you," he said, "I'm back on old Broadway at the Herald
+Square Theater. The play is 'Little Blossom, or the Cowgirl's Revenge.'
+The heroine has just come into the miner's cabin--"
+
+"Oh, go 'long," she replied, seizing her cue and speaking in character,
+"you're stringin' me."
+
+"Not on your life! Your outfit is a peacherino," he declared. "I am glad
+you rode by."
+
+At the moment he was bent on drawing the girl's attention from Berrie,
+but as she went on he came to like her. She said: "No, I don't belong
+here; but I come out every year during vacation with my father. I love
+this country. It's so big and wide and wild. Father has built a little
+bungalow down at the lower mill, and we enjoy every day of our stay."
+
+"You're a Smith girl," he abruptly asserted.
+
+"What makes you think so?"
+
+"Oh, there's something about you Smith girls that gives you dead away."
+
+"Gives us away! I like that!"
+
+"My phrase was unfortunate. I like Smith girls," he hastened to say; and
+in five minutes they were on the friendliest terms--talking of mutual
+acquaintances--a fact which both puzzled and hurt Berea. Their laughter
+angered her, and whenever she glanced at them and detected Siona looking
+into Wayland's face with coquettish simper, she was embittered. She was
+glad when Moore came in and interrupted the dialogue.
+
+Norcross did not relax, though he considered the dangers of
+cross-examination almost entirely passed. In this he was mistaken, for no
+sooner was the keen edge of Mrs. Belden's hunger dulled than her
+curiosity sharpened.
+
+"Where did you say the Supervisor was?" she repeated.
+
+"The horses got away, and he had to go back after them," again responded
+Berrie, who found the scrutiny of the other girl deeply disconcerting.
+
+"When do you expect him back?"
+
+"Any minute now," she replied, and in this she was not deceiving them,
+although she did not intend to volunteer any information which might
+embarrass either Wayland or herself.
+
+Norcross tried to create a diversion. "Isn't this a charming valley?"
+
+Siona took up the cue. "Isn't it! It's romantic enough to be the
+back-drop in a Bret Harte play. I love it!"
+
+Moore turned to Wayland. "I know a Norcross, a Michigan lumberman,
+Vice-President of the Association. Is he, by any chance, a relative?"
+
+"Only a father," retorted Wayland, with a smile. "But don't hold me
+responsible for anything he has done. We seldom agree."
+
+Moore's manner changed abruptly. "Indeed! And what is the son of W. W.
+Norcross doing out here in the Forest Service?"
+
+The change in her father's tone was not lost upon Siona, who ceased her
+banter and studied the young man with deeper interest, while Mrs. Belden,
+detecting some restraint in Berrie's tone, renewed her questioning:
+"Where did you camp last night?"
+
+"Right here."
+
+"I don't see how the horses got away. There's a pasture here, for we rode
+right through it."
+
+Berrie was aware that each moment of delay in explaining the situation
+looked like evasion, and deepened the significance of her predicament,
+and yet she could not bring herself to the task of minutely accounting
+for her time during the last two days.
+
+Belden came to her relief. "Well, well! We'll have to be moving on. We're
+going into camp at the mouth of the West Fork," he said, as he rose.
+"Tell Tony and the Supervisor that we want to line out that timber at the
+earliest possible moment."
+
+Siona, who was now distinctly coquetting with Wayland, held out her hand.
+"I hope you'll find time to come up and see us. I know we have other
+mutual friends, if we had time to get at them."
+
+His answer was humorous. "I am a soldier. I am on duty. I'm not at all
+sure that I shall have a moment's leave; but I will call if I can
+possibly do so."
+
+They started off at last without having learned in detail anything of the
+intimate relationship into which the Supervisor's daughter and young
+Norcross had been thrown, and Mrs. Belden was still so much in the dark
+that she called to Berrie: "I'm going to send word to Cliff that you are
+over here. He'll be crazy to come the minute he finds it out."
+
+"Don't do that!" protested Berrie.
+
+Wayland turned to Berrie. "That would be pleasant," he said, smilingly.
+
+But she did not return his smile. On the contrary, she remained very
+grave. "I wish that old tale-bearer had kept away. She's going to make
+trouble for us all. And that girl, isn't she a spectacle? I never could
+bear her."
+
+"Why, what's wrong with her? She seems a very nice, sprightly person."
+
+"She's a regular play actor. I don't like made-up people. Why does she go
+around with her sleeves rolled up that way, and--and her dress open at
+the throat?"
+
+"Oh, those are the affectations of the moment. She wants to look tough
+and boisterous. That's the fad with all the girls, just now. It's only a
+harmless piece of foolishness."
+
+She could not tell him how deeply she resented his ready tone of
+camaraderie with the other girl; but she was secretly suffering. It hurt
+her to think that he could forget his aches and be so free and easy with
+a stranger at a moment's notice. Under the influence of that girl's smile
+he seemed to have quite forgotten his exhaustion and his pain. It was
+wonderful how cheerful he had been while she was in sight.
+
+In all this Berrie did him an injustice. He had been keenly conscious,
+during every moment of the time, not only of his bodily ills, but of
+Berrie, and he had kept a brave face in order that he might prevent
+further questioning on the part of a malicious girl. It was his only way
+of being heroic. Now that the crisis was passed he was quite as much of a
+wreck as ever.
+
+A new anxiety beset her. "I hope they won't happen to meet father on the
+trail."
+
+"Perhaps I should go with them and warn him."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter," she wearily answered. "Old Mrs. Belden will
+never rest till she finds out just where we've been, and just what we've
+done. She's that kind. She knows everything that goes on."
+
+He understood her fear, and yet he was unable to comfort her in the only
+way she could be comforted. That brief encounter with Siona Moore--a girl
+of his own world--had made all thought of marriage with Berea suddenly
+absurd. Without losing in any degree the sense of gratitude he felt for
+her protecting care, and with full acknowledgment of her heroic support
+of his faltering feet, he revolted from putting into words a proposal of
+marriage. "I love her," he confessed to himself, "and she is a dear,
+brave girl; but I do not love her as a man should love the woman he is to
+marry."
+
+A gray shadow had plainly fallen between them. Berea sensed the change in
+his attitude, and traced it to the influence of the coquette whose
+smiling eyes and bared arms had openly challenged admiration. It saddened
+her to think that one so fine as he had seemed could yield even momentary
+tribute to an open and silly coquette.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+FURTHER PERPLEXITIES
+
+
+Wayland, for his part, was not deceived by Siona Moore. He knew her kind,
+and understood her method of attack. He liked her pert ways, for they
+brought back his days at college, when dozens of just such misses lent
+grace and humor and romance to the tennis court and to the football
+field. She carried with her the aroma of care-free, athletic girlhood.
+Flirtation was in her as charming and almost as meaningless as the
+preening of birds on the bank of a pool in the meadow.
+
+Speaking aloud, he said: "Miss Moore travels the trail with all known
+accessories, and I've no doubt she thinks she is a grand campaigner; but
+I am wondering how she would stand such a trip as that you took last
+night. I don't believe she could have done as well as I. She's the
+imitation--you're the real thing."
+
+The praise involved in this speech brought back a little of Berrie's
+humor. "I reckon those brown boots of hers would have melted," she said,
+with quaint smile.
+
+He became very grave. "If it had not been for you, dear girl, I would be
+lying up there in the forest this minute. Nothing but your indomitable
+spirit kept me moving. I shall be deeply hurt if any harm comes to you on
+account of me."
+
+"If it hadn't been for me you wouldn't have started on that trip last
+night. It was perfectly useless. It would have been better for us both if
+we had stayed in camp, for we wouldn't have met these people."
+
+"That's true," he replied; "but we didn't know that at the time. We acted
+for the best, and we must not blame ourselves, no matter what comes of
+it."
+
+They fell silent at this point, for each was again conscious of their new
+relationship. She, vaguely suffering, waited for him to resume the
+lover's tone, while he, oppressed by the sense of his own shortcomings
+and weakness, was planning an escape. "It's all nonsense, my remaining in
+the forest. I'm not fitted for it. It's too severe. I'll tell McFarlane
+so and get out."
+
+Perceiving his returning weakness and depression, Berea insisted on his
+lying down again while she set to work preparing dinner. "There is no
+telling when father will get here," she said. "And Tony will be hungry
+when he comes. Lie down and rest."
+
+He obeyed her silently, and, going to the bunk, at once fell asleep. How
+long he slept he could not tell, but he was awakened by the voice of the
+ranger, who was standing in the doorway and regarding Berrie with a
+round-eyed stare.
+
+He was a tall, awkward fellow of about thirty-five, plainly of the
+frontier type; but a man of intelligence. At the end of a brief
+explanation Berrie said, with an air of authority: "Now you'd better ride
+up the trail and bring our camp outfit down. We can't go back that way,
+anyhow."
+
+The ranger glanced toward Wayland. "All right, Miss Berrie, but perhaps
+your tenderfoot needs a doctor."
+
+Wayland rose painfully but resolutely. "Oh no, I am not sick. I'm a
+little lame, that's all. I'll go along with you."
+
+"No," said Berrie, decisively. "You're not well enough for that. Get up
+your horses, Tony, and by that time I'll have some dinner ready."
+
+"All right, Miss Berrie," replied the man, and turned away.
+
+Hardly had he crossed the bridge on his way to the pasture, when Berrie
+cried out: "There comes daddy."
+
+Wayland joined her at the door, and stood beside her watching the
+Supervisor, as he came zigzagging down the steep hill to the east, with
+all his horses trailing behind him roped together head-to-tail.
+
+"He's had to come round by Lost Lake," she exclaimed. "He'll be tired
+out, and absolutely starved. Wahoo!" she shouted in greeting, and the
+Supervisor waved his hand.
+
+There was something superb in the calm seat of the veteran as he slid
+down the slope. He kept his place in the saddle with the air of the rider
+to whom hunger, fatigue, windfalls, and snowslides were all a part of the
+day's work; and when he reined in before the door and dropped from his
+horse, he put his arm about his daughter's neck with quiet word: "I
+thought I'd find you here. How is everything?"
+
+"All right, daddy; but what about you? Where have you been?"
+
+"Clean back to Mill Park. The blamed cayuses kept just ahead of me all
+the way."
+
+"Poor old dad! And on top of that came the snow."
+
+"Yes, and a whole hatful. I couldn't get back over the high pass. Had to
+go round by Lost Lake, and to cap all, Old Baldy took a notion not to
+lead. Oh, I've had a peach of a time; but here I am. Have you seen Moore
+and his party?"
+
+"Yes, they're in camp up the trail. He and Alec Belden and two women. Are
+you hungry?"
+
+He turned a comical glance upon her. "Am I hungry? Sister, I am a wolf.
+Norcross, take my horses down to the pasture."
+
+She hastened to interpose. "Let me do that, daddy, Mr. Norcross is badly
+used up. You see, we started down here late yesterday afternoon. It was
+raining and horribly muddy, and I took the wrong trail. The darkness
+caught us and we didn't reach the station till nearly midnight."
+
+Wayland acknowledged his weakness. "I guess I made a mistake, Supervisor;
+I'm not fitted for this strenuous life."
+
+McFarlane was quick to understand. "I didn't intend to pitchfork you into
+the forest life quite so suddenly," he said. "Don't give up yet awhile.
+You'll harden to it."
+
+"Here comes Tony," said Berrie. "He'll look after the ponies."
+
+Nevertheless Wayland went out, believing that Berrie wished to be alone
+with her father for a short time.
+
+As he took his seat McFarlane said: "You stayed in camp till yesterday
+afternoon, did you?"
+
+"Yes, we were expecting you every moment."
+
+He saw nothing in this to remark upon. "Did it snow at the lake?"
+
+"Yes, a little; it mostly rained."
+
+"It stormed up on the divide like a January blizzard. When did Moore and
+his party arrive?"
+
+"About ten o'clock this morning."
+
+"I'll ride right up and see them. What about the outfit? That's at the
+lake, I reckon?"
+
+"Yes, I was just sending Tony after it. But, father, if you go up to
+Moore's camp, don't say too much about what has happened. Don't tell them
+just when you took the back-trail, and just how long Wayland and I were
+in camp."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+She reddened with confusion. "Because--You know what an old gossip Mrs.
+Belden is. I don't want her to know. She's an awful talker, and our being
+together up there all that time will give her a chance."
+
+A light broke in on the Supervisor's brain. In the midst of his
+preoccupation as a forester he suddenly became the father. His eyes
+narrowed and his face darkened. "That's so. The old rip could make a
+whole lot of capital out of your being left in camp that way. At the same
+time I don't believe in dodging. The worst thing we could do would be to
+try to blind the trail. Was Tony here last night when you came?"
+
+"No, he was down the valley after his mail."
+
+His face darkened again. "That's another piece of bad luck, too. How much
+does the old woman know at present?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"Didn't she cross-examine you?"
+
+"Sure she did; but Wayland side-tracked her. Of course it only delays
+things. She'll know all about it sooner or later. She's great at putting
+two and two together. Two and two with her always make five."
+
+McFarlane mused. "Cliff will be plumb crazy if she gets his ear first."
+
+"I don't care anything about Cliff, daddy. I don't care what he thinks or
+does, if he will only let Wayland alone."
+
+"See here, daughter, you do seem to be terribly interested in this
+tourist."
+
+"He's the finest man I ever knew, father."
+
+He looked at her with tender, trusting glance. "He isn't your kind,
+daughter. He's a nice clean boy, but he's different. He don't belong in
+our world. He's only just stopping here. Don't forget that."
+
+"I'm not forgetting that, daddy. I know he's different, that's why I like
+him." After a pause she added: "Nobody could have been nicer all through
+these days than he has been. He was like a brother."
+
+McFarlane fixed a keen glance upon her. "Has he said anything to you? Did
+you come to an understanding?"
+
+Her eyes fell. "Not the way you mean, daddy; but I think he--likes me.
+But do you know who he is? He's the son of W. W. Norcross, that big
+Michigan lumberman."
+
+McFarlane started. "How do you know that?"
+
+"Mr. Moore asked him if he was any relation to W.W. Norcross, and he
+said, 'Yes, a son.' You should have seen how that Moore girl changed her
+tune the moment he admitted that. She'd been very free with him up to
+that time; but when she found out he was a rich man's son she became as
+quiet and innocent as a kitten. I hate her; she's a deceitful snip."
+
+"Well, now, daughter, that being the case, it's all the more certain that
+he don't belong to our world, and you mustn't fix your mind on keeping
+him here."
+
+"A girl can't help fixing her mind, daddy."
+
+"Or changing it." He smiled a little. "You used to like Cliff. You liked
+him well enough to promise to marry him."
+
+"I know I did; but I despise him now."
+
+"Poor Cliff! He isn't so much to blame after all. Any man is likely to
+flare out when he finds another fellow cutting in ahead of him. Why, here
+you are wanting to kill Siona Moore just for making up to your young
+tourist."
+
+"But that's different."
+
+He laughed. "Of course it is. But the thing we've got to guard against is
+old lady Belden's tongue. She and that Belden gang have it in for me, and
+all that has kept them from open war has been Cliff's relationship to
+you. They'll take a keen delight in making the worst of all this camping
+business." McFarlane was now very grave. "I wish your mother was here
+this minute. I guess we had better cut out this timber cruise and go
+right back."
+
+"No, you mustn't do that; that would only make more talk. Go on with your
+plans. I'll stay here with you. It won't take you but a couple of days to
+do the work, and Wayland needs the rest."
+
+"But suppose Cliff hears of this business between you and Norcross and
+comes galloping over the ridge?"
+
+"Well, let him, he has no claim on me."
+
+He rose uneasily. "It's all mighty risky business, and it's my fault. I
+should never have permitted you to start on this trip."
+
+"Don't you worry about me, daddy, I'll pull through somehow. Anybody that
+knows me will understand how little there is in--in old lady Belden's
+gab. I've had a beautiful trip, and I won't let her nor anybody else
+spoil it for me."
+
+McFarlane was not merely troubled. He was distracted. He was afraid to
+meet the Beldens. He dreaded their questions, their innuendoes. He had
+perfect faith in his daughter's purity and honesty, and he liked and
+trusted Norcross, and yet he knew that should Belden find it to his
+advantage to slander these young people, and to read into their action
+the lawlessness of his own youth, Berea's reputation, high as it was,
+would suffer, and her mother's heart be rent with anxiety. In his growing
+pain and perplexity he decided to speak frankly to young Norcross
+himself. "He's a gentleman, and knows the way of the world. Perhaps he'll
+have some suggestion to offer." In his heart he hoped to learn that
+Wayland loved his daughter and wished to marry her.
+
+Wayland was down on the bridge leaning over the rail, listening to the
+song of the water.
+
+McFarlane approached gravely, but when he spoke it was in his usual soft
+monotone. "Mr. Norcross," he began, with candid inflection, "I am very
+sorry to say it; but I wish you and my daughter had never started on this
+trip."
+
+"I know what you mean, Supervisor, and I feel as you do about it. Of
+course, none of us foresaw any such complication as this, but now that we
+are snarled up in it we'll have to make the best of it. No one of us is
+to blame. It was all accidental."
+
+The youth's frank words and his sympathetic voice disarmed McFarlane
+completely. Even the slight resentment he felt melted away. "It's no use
+saying _if_," he remarked, at length. "What we've got to meet is Seth
+Belden's report--Berrie has cut loose from Cliff, and he's red-headed
+already. When he drops onto this story, when he learns that I had to
+chase back after the horses, and that you and Berrie were alone together
+for three days, he'll have a fine club to swing, and he'll swing it; and
+Alec will help him. They're all waiting a chance to get me, and they're
+mean enough to get me through my girl."
+
+"What can I do?" asked Wayland.
+
+McFarlane pondered. "I'll try to head off Marm Belden, and I'll have a
+talk with Moore. He's a pretty reasonable chap."
+
+"But you forget there's another tale-bearer. Moore's daughter is with
+them."
+
+"That's so. I'd forgotten her. Good Lord! we are in for it. There's no
+use trying to cover anything up."
+
+Here was the place for Norcross to speak up and say: "Never mind, I'm
+going to ask Berrie to be my wife." But he couldn't do it. Something rose
+in his throat which prevented speech. A strange repugnance, a kind of
+sullen resentment at being forced into a declaration, kept him silent,
+and McFarlane, disappointed, wondering and hurt, kept silence also.
+
+Norcross was the first to speak. "Of course those who know your daughter
+will not listen for an instant to the story of an unclean old thing like
+Mrs. Belden."
+
+"I'm not so sure about that," replied the father, gloomily. "People
+always listen to such stories, and a girl always gets the worst of a
+situation like this. Berrie's been brought up to take care of herself,
+and she's kept clear of criticism so far; but with Cliff on edge and this
+old rip snooping around--" His mind suddenly changed. "Your being the son
+of a rich man won't help any. Why didn't you tell me who you were?"
+
+"I didn't think it necessary. What difference does it make? I have
+nothing to do with my father's business. His notions of forest
+speculation are not mine."
+
+"It would have made a difference with me, and it might have made a
+difference with Berrie. She mightn't have been so free with you at the
+start, if she'd known who you were. You looked sick and kind of lonesome,
+and that worked on her sympathy."
+
+"I _was_ sick and I was lonesome, and she has been very sweet and lovely
+to me, and it breaks my heart to think that her kindness and your
+friendship should bring all this trouble and suspicion upon her. Let's go
+up to the Moore camp and have it out with them. I'll make any statement
+you think best."
+
+"I reckon the less said about it the better," responded the older man.
+"I'm going up to the camp, but not to talk about my daughter."
+
+"How can you help it? They'll force the topic."
+
+"If they do, I'll force them to let it alone," retorted McFarlane; but he
+went away disappointed and sorrowful. The young man's evident avoidance
+of the subject of marriage hurt him. He did not perceive, as Norcross
+did, that to make an announcement of his daughter's engagement at this
+moment would be taken as a confession of shameful need. It is probable
+that Berrie herself would not have seen this further complication.
+
+Each hour added to Wayland's sense of helplessness and bitterness. "I am
+in a trap. I can neither help Berrie nor help myself. Nothing remains for
+me but flight, and flight will also be a confession of guilt."
+
+Once again, and in far more definite terms, he perceived the injustice of
+the world toward women. Here with Berrie, as in ages upon ages of other
+times, the maiden must bear the burden of reproach. "In me it will be
+considered a joke, a romantic episode, in her a degrading misdemeanor.
+And yet what can I do?"
+
+When he re-entered the cabin the Supervisor had returned from the camp,
+and something in his manner, as well as in Berrie's, revealed the fact
+that the situation had not improved.
+
+"They forced me into a corner," McFarlane said to Wayland, peevishly. "I
+lied out of one night; but they know that you were here last night. Of
+course, they were respectful enough so long as I had an eye on them, but
+their tongues are wagging now."
+
+The rest of the evening was spent in talk on the forest, and in going
+over the ranger's books, for the Supervisor continued to plan for
+Wayland's stay at this station, and the young fellow thought it best not
+to refuse at the moment.
+
+As bedtime drew near Settle took a blanket and went to the corral, and
+Berrie insisted that her father and Wayland occupy the bunk.
+
+Norcross protested; but the Supervisor said: "Let her alone. She's better
+able to sleep on the floor than either of us."
+
+This was perfectly true; but, in spite of his bruised and aching body,
+the youth would gladly have taken her place beside the stove. It seemed
+pitifully unjust that she should have this physical hardship in addition
+to her uneasiness of mind.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE CAMP ON THE PASS
+
+
+Berea suffered a restless night, the most painful and broken she had
+known in all her life. She acknowledged that Siona Moore was prettier,
+and that she stood more nearly on Wayland's plane than herself; but the
+realization of this fact did not bring surrender--she was not of that
+temper. All her life she had been called upon to combat the elements, to
+hold her own amidst rude men and inconsiderate women, and she had no
+intention of yielding her place to a pert coquette, no matter what the
+gossips might say. She had seen this girl many times, but had refused to
+visit her house. She had held her in contempt, now she quite cordially
+hated her.
+
+"She shall not have her way with Wayland," she decided. "I know what she
+wants--she wants him at her side to-morrow; but I will not have it so.
+She is trying to get him away from me."
+
+The more she dwelt on this the hotter her jealous fever burned. The floor
+on which she lay was full of knots. She could not lose herself in sleep,
+tired as she was. The planks no longer turned their soft spots to her
+flesh, and she rolled from side to side in torment. She would have arisen
+and dressed only she did not care to disturb the men. The night seemed
+interminable.
+
+Her plan of action was simple. "I shall go home the morrow and take
+Wayland with me. I will not have him going with that girl--that's
+settled!" The very thought of his taking Siona's hand in greeting angered
+her beyond reason.
+
+She had put Cliff Belden completely out of her mind, and this was
+characteristic of her. She had no divided interests, no subtleties, no
+subterfuges. Forthright, hot-blooded, frank and simple, she had centered
+all her care, all her desires, on this pale youth whose appeal was at
+once mystic and maternal; but her pity was changing to something deeper,
+for she was convinced that he was gaining in strength, that he was in no
+danger of relapse. The hard trip of the day before had seemingly done him
+no permanent injury; on the contrary, a few hours' rest had almost
+restored him to his normal self. "To-morrow he will be able to ride
+again." And this thought reconciled her to her hard bed. She did not look
+beyond the long, delicious day which they must spend in returning to the
+Springs.
+
+She fell asleep at last, and was awakened only by her father tinkering
+about the stove.
+
+She rose alertly, signing to the Supervisor not to disturb her patient.
+
+However, Norcross also heard the rattle of the poker, opened his eyes and
+regarded Berrie with sleepy smile. "Good morning, if it _is_ morning," he
+said, slowly.
+
+She laughed back at him. "It's almost sunup."
+
+"You don't tell me! How could I have overslept like this? Makes me think
+of the Irishman who, upon being awakened to an early breakfast like this,
+ate it, then said to his employer, an extra thrifty farmer, 'Two suppers
+in wan night--and hurrah for bed again.'"
+
+This amused her greatly. "It's too bad. I hope you got some sleep?"
+
+"All there was time for." His voice changed. "I feel like a hound-pup, to
+be snoring on a downy couch like this while you were roughing it on the
+floor. How did I come to do it? It's shameful!"
+
+"Don't worry about me. How are you feeling this morning?"
+
+He stretched and yawned. "Fine! That is, I'm sore here and there, but I'm
+feeling wonderfully well. Do you know, I begin to hope that I can finally
+dominate the wilderness. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I got so I could
+ride and walk as you do, for instance? The fact that I'm not dead this
+morning is encouraging." He drew on his shoes as he talked, while she
+went about her toilet, which was quite as simple as his own. She had
+spent two nights in her day dress with almost no bathing facilities; but
+that didn't trouble her. It was a part of the game. She washed her face
+and hands in Settle's tin basin, but drew the line at his rubber comb.
+
+There was a distinct charm in seeing her thus adapting herself to the
+cabin, a charm quite as powerful as that which emanated from Siona
+Moore's dainty and theatrical personality. What it was he could not
+define, but the forester's daughter had something primeval about her,
+something close to the soil, something which aureoles the old Saxon
+words--_wife_ and _home_ and _fireplace_. Seeing her through the savory
+steam of the bacon she was frying, he forgot her marvelous skill as
+horsewoman and pathfinder, and thought of her only as the housewife. She
+belonged here, in this cabin. She was fitted to this landscape, whereas
+the other woman was alien and dissonant.
+
+He moved his arms about and shook his legs with comical effect of trying
+to see if they were still properly hinged. "It's miraculous! I'm not lame
+at all. No one can accuse me of being a 'lunger' now. Last night's sleep
+has made a new man of me. I've met the forest and it is mine."
+
+She beamed upon him with happy pride. "I'm mighty glad to hear you say
+that. I was terribly afraid that long, hard walk in the rain had been too
+much for you. I reckon you're all right for the work now."
+
+He recalled, as she spoke, her anguish of pity while they stood in the
+darkness of the trail, and it seemed that he could go no farther, and he
+said, soberly: "It must have seemed to you one while as if I were all in.
+I felt that way myself. I was numb from head to heel. I couldn't have
+gone another mile."
+
+Her face clouded with retrospective pain. "You mustn't try any more such
+stunts--not for a few weeks, anyway. But get ready for breakfast."
+
+He went out into the morning exultantly, and ran down to the river to
+bathe his face and hands, allured by its splendid voice. The world seemed
+very bright and beautiful and health-giving once more.
+
+As soon as she was alone with her father, Berrie said: "I'm going home
+to-day, dad."
+
+"Going home! What for?"
+
+"I've had enough of it."
+
+He glanced at her bed on the floor. "I can't say I blame you any. This
+has been a rough trip; but we'll go up and bring down the outfit, and
+then we men can sleep in the tent and let you have the bunk--you'll be
+comfortable to-night."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind sleeping on the floor," she replied; "but I want to get
+back. I don't want to meet those women. Another thing, you'd better use
+Mr. Norcross at the Springs instead of leaving him here with Tony."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Well, he isn't quite well enough to run the risk. It's a long way from
+here to a doctor."
+
+"He 'pears to be on deck this morning. Besides, I haven't anything in the
+office to offer him."
+
+"Then send him up to Meeker. Landon needs help, and he's a better
+forester than Tony, anyway."
+
+"How about Cliff? He may make trouble."
+
+Her face darkened. "Cliff will reach him if he wants to--no matter where
+he is. And then, too, Landon likes Mr. Norcross and will see that he is
+not abused."
+
+McFarlane ruminated over her suggestion, well knowing that she was
+planning this change in order that she might have Norcross a little
+nearer, a little more accessible.
+
+"I don't know but you're right. Landon is almost as good a hustler as
+Tony, and a much better forester. I thought of sending Norcross up there
+at first, but he told me that Frank and his gang had it in for him. Of
+course, he's only nominally in the service; but I want him to begin
+right."
+
+Berrie went further. "I want him to ride back with me to-day."
+
+He looked at her with grave inquiry. "Do you think that a wise thing to
+do? Won't that make more talk?"
+
+"We'll start early and ride straight through."
+
+"You'll have to go by Lost Lake, and that means a long, hard hike. Can he
+stand it?"
+
+"Oh yes. He rides well. It's the walking at a high altitude that does him
+up. Furthermore, Cliff may turn up here, and I don't want another
+mix-up."
+
+McFarlane was troubled. "I ought to go back with you; but Moore is over
+here to line out a cutting, and I must stay on for a couple of days.
+Suppose I send Tony along?"
+
+"No, Tony would be a nuisance and would do no good. Another day on the
+trail won't add to Mrs. Belden's story. If she wants to be mean she's got
+all the material for it already."
+
+In the end she had her way. McFarlane, perceiving that she had set her
+heart on this ride, and having perfect faith in her skill and judgment on
+the trail, finally said: "Well, if you do so, the quicker you start the
+better. With the best of luck you can't pull in before eight o'clock, and
+you'll have to ride hard to do that."
+
+"If I find we can't make it I'll pull into a ranch. But I'm sure we
+can."
+
+When Wayland came in the Supervisor inquired: "Do you feel able to ride
+back over the hill to-day?"
+
+"Entirely so. It isn't the riding that uses me up; it is the walking;
+and, besides, as candidate for promotion I must obey orders--especially
+orders to march."
+
+They breakfasted hurriedly, and while McFarlane and Tony were bringing in
+the horses Wayland and Berrie set the cabin to rights. Working thus side
+by side, she recovered her dominion over him, and at the same time
+regained her own cheerful self-confidence.
+
+"You're a wonder!" he exclaimed, as he watched her deft adjustment of the
+dishes and furniture. "You're ambidextrous."
+
+"I have to be to hold my job," she laughingly replied. "A feller must
+play all the parts when he's up here."
+
+It was still early morning as they mounted and set off up the trail; but
+Moore's camp was astir, and as McFarlane turned in--much against Berrie's
+will--the lumberman and his daughter both came out to meet them. "Come in
+and have some breakfast," said Siona, with cordial inclusiveness, while
+her eyes met Wayland's glance with mocking glee.
+
+"Thank you," said McFarlane, "we can't stop. I'm going to set my daughter
+over the divide. She has had enough camping, and Norcross is pretty well
+battered up, so I'm going to help them across. I'll be back to-night, and
+we'll take our turn up the valley to-morrow. Nash will be here then."
+
+Berrie did not mind her father's explanation; on the contrary, she took a
+distinct pleasure in letting the other girl know of the long and intimate
+day she was about to spend with her young lover.
+
+Siona, too adroit to display her disappointment, expressed polite regret.
+"I hope you won't get storm-bound," she said, showing her white teeth in
+a meaning smile.
+
+"If there is any sign of a storm we won't cross," declared McFarlane.
+"We're going round by the lower pass, anyhow. If I'm not here by dark,
+you may know I've stayed to set 'em down at the Mill."
+
+There was charm in Siona's alert poise, and in the neatness of her camp
+dress. Her dainty tent, with its stools and rugs, made the wilderness
+seem but a park. She reminded Norcross of the troops of tourists of the
+Tyrol, and her tent was of a kind to harmonize with the tea-houses on the
+path to the summit of the Matterhorn. Then, too, something triumphantly
+feminine shone in her bright eyes and glowed in her softly rounded
+cheeks. Her hand was little and pointed, not fitted like Berrie's for
+tightening a cinch or wielding an ax, and as he said "Good-by," he added:
+"I hope I shall see you again soon," and at the moment he meant it.
+
+"We'll return to the Springs in a few days," she replied. "Come and see
+us. Our bungalow is on the other side of the river--and you, too," she
+addressed Berrie; but her tone was so conventionally polite that the
+ranch-girl, burning with jealous heat, made no reply.
+
+McFarlane led the way to the lake rapidly and in silence. The splendors
+of the foliage, subdued by the rains, the grandeur of the peaks, the song
+of the glorious stream--all were lost on Berrie, for she now felt herself
+to be nothing but a big, clumsy, coarse-handed tomboy. Her worn gloves,
+her faded skirt, and her man's shoes had been made hateful to her by that
+smug, graceful, play-acting tourist with the cool, keen eyes and smirking
+lips. "She pretends to be a kitten; but she isn't; she's a sly grown-up
+cat," she bitterly accused, but she could not deny the charm of her
+personality.
+
+Wayland was forced to acknowledge that Berrie in this dark mood was not
+the delightful companion she had hitherto been. Something sweet and
+confiding had gone out of their relationship, and he was too keen-witted
+not to know what it was. He estimated precisely the value of the
+malicious parting words of Siona Moore. "She's a natural tease, the kind
+of woman who loves to torment other and less fortunate women. She cares
+nothing for me, of course, it's just her way of paying off old scores. It
+would seem that Berrie has not encouraged her advances in times past."
+
+That Berrie was suffering, and that her jealousy touchingly proved the
+depth of her love for him, brought no elation, only perplexity. He was
+not seeking such devotion. As a companion on the trail she had been a
+joy--as a jealous sweetheart she was less admirable. He realized
+perfectly that this return journey was of her arrangement, not
+McFarlane's, and while he was not resentful of her care, he was in doubt
+of the outcome. It hurried him into a further intimacy which might prove
+embarrassing.
+
+At the camp by the lake the Supervisor became sharply commanding. "Now
+let's throw these packs on lively. It will be slippery on the high trail,
+and you'll just naturally have to hit leather hard and keep jouncing if
+you reach the wagon-road before dark. But you'll make it."
+
+"Make it!" said Berrie. "Of course we'll make it. Don't you worry about
+that for a minute. Once I get out of the green timber the dark won't
+worry me. We'll push right through."
+
+In packing the camp stuff on the saddles, Berrie, almost as swift and
+powerful as her father, acted with perfect understanding of every task,
+and Wayland's admiration of her skill increased mightily.
+
+She insisted on her father's turning back. "We don't need you," she said.
+"I can find the pass."
+
+McFarlane's faith in his daughter had been tested many times, and yet he
+was a little loath to have her start off on a trail new to her. He argued
+against it briefly, but she laughed at his fears. "I can go anywhere you
+can," she said. "Stand clear!" With final admonition he stood clear.
+
+"You'll have to keep off the boggy meadows," he warned; "these rains will
+have softened all those muck-holes on the other side; they'll be
+bottomless pits; watch out for 'em. Good-by! If you meet Nash hurry him
+along. Moore is anxious to run those lines. Keep in touch with Landon,
+and if anybody turns up from the district office say I'll be back on
+Friday. Good luck."
+
+"Same to you. So long."
+
+Berea led the way, and Norcross fell in behind the pack-horses, feeling
+as unimportant as a small boy at the heels of a circus parade. His girl
+captain was so competent, so self-reliant, and so sure that nothing he
+could say or do assisted in the slightest degree. Her leadership was a
+curiously close reproduction of her father's unhurried and graceful
+action. Her seat in the saddle was as easy as Landon's, and her eyes were
+alert to every rock and stream in the road. She was at home here, where
+the other girl would have been a bewildered child, and his words of
+praise lifted the shadow from her face.
+
+The sky was cloudy, and a delicious feeling of autumn was in the
+air--autumn that might turn to winter with a passing cloud, and the
+forest was dankly gloomy and grimly silent, save from the roaring stream
+which ran at times foam-white with speed. The high peaks, gray and
+streaked with new-fallen snow, shone grandly, bleakly through the firs.
+The radiant beauty of the road from the Springs, the golden glow of four
+days before was utterly gone, and yet there was exultation in this ride.
+A distinct pleasure, a delight of another sort, lay in thus daring the
+majesty of an unknown wind-swept pass.
+
+Wayland called out: "The air feels like Thanksgiving morning, doesn't
+it?"
+
+"It _is_ Thanksgiving for me, and I'm going to get a grouse for dinner,"
+she replied; and in less than an hour the snap of her rifle made good her
+promise.
+
+After leaving the upper lake she turned to the right and followed the
+course of a swift and splendid stream, which came churning through a
+cheerless, mossy swamp of spruce-trees. Inexperienced as he was, Wayland
+knew that this was not a well-marked trail; but his confidence in his
+guide was too great to permit of any worry over the pass, and he amused
+himself by watching the water-robins as they flitted from stone to stone
+in the torrent, and in calculating just where he would drop a line for
+trout if he had time to do so, and in recovered serenity enjoyed his
+ride. Gradually he put aside his perplexities concerning the future,
+permitting his mind to prefigure nothing but his duties with Landon at
+Meeker's Mill.
+
+He was rather glad of the decision to send him there, for it promised
+absorbing sport. "I shall see how Landon and Belden work out their
+problem," he said. He had no fear of Frank Meeker now. "As a forest guard
+with official duties to perform I can meet that young savage on other and
+more nearly equal terms," he assured himself.
+
+The trail grew slippery and in places ran full of water. "But there's a
+bottom, somewhere," Berrie confidently declared, and pushed ahead with
+resolute mien. It was noon when they rose above timber and entered upon
+the wide, smooth slopes of the pass. Snow filled the grass here, and the
+wind, keen, cutting, unhindered, came out of the desolate west with
+savage fury; but the sun occasionally shone through the clouds with vivid
+splendor. "It is December now," shouted Wayland, as he put on his slicker
+and cowered low to his saddle. "It will be January soon."
+
+"We will make it Christmas dinner," she laughed, and her glowing good
+humor warmed his heart. She was entirely her cheerful self again.
+
+As they rose, the view became magnificent, wintry, sparkling. The great
+clouds, drifting like ancient warships heavy with armament, sent down
+chill showers of hail over the frosted gold of the grassy slopes; but
+when the shadows passed the sunlight descended in silent cataracts
+deliriously spring-like. The conies squeaked from the rocky ridges, and a
+brace of eagles circling about a lone crag, as if exulting in their
+sovereign mastery of the air, screamed in shrill ecstatic duo. The sheer
+cliffs, on their shadowed sides, were violently purple. Everywhere the
+landscape exhibited crashing contrasts of primary pigments which bit into
+consciousness like the flare of a martial band.
+
+The youth would have lingered in spite of the cold; but the girl kept
+steadily on, knowing well that the hardest part of their journey was
+still before them, and he, though longing to ride by her side, and to
+enjoy the views with her, was forced to remain in the rear in order to
+hurry the reluctant pack-animals forward. They had now reached a point
+twelve thousand feet above the sea, and range beyond range, to the west
+and south, rose into sight like stupendous waves of a purple-green sea.
+To the east the park lay level as a floor and carpeted in tawny velvet.
+
+It was nearly two o'clock when they began to drop down behind the rocky
+ridges of the eastern slope, and soon, in the bottom of a warm and
+sheltered hollow just at timber-line, Berrie drew her horse to a stand
+and slipped from the saddle. "We'll rest here an hour," she said, "and
+cook our grouse; or are you too hungry to wait?"
+
+"I can wait," he answered, dramatically. "But it seems as if I had never
+eaten."
+
+"Well, then, we'll save the grouse till to-morrow; but I'll make some
+coffee. You bring some water while I start a fire."
+
+And so, while the tired horses cropped the russet grass, she boiled some
+coffee and laid out some bread and meat, while he sat by watching her and
+absorbing the beauty of the scene, the charm of the hour. "It is exactly
+like a warm afternoon in April," he said, "and here are some of the
+spring flowers."
+
+"There now, sit by and eat," she said, with humor; and in perfectly
+restored tranquillity they ate and drank, with no thought of critics or
+of rivals. They were alone, and content to be so.
+
+It was deliciously sweet and restful there in that sunny hollow on the
+breast of the mountain. The wind swept through the worn branches of the
+dwarfed spruce with immemorial wistfulness; but these young souls heard
+it only as a far-off song. Side by side on the soft Alpine clover they
+rested and talked, looking away at the shining peaks, and down over the
+dark-green billows of fir beneath them. Half the forest was under their
+eyes at the moment, and the man said: "Is it not magnificent! It makes me
+proud of my country. Just think, all this glorious spread of hill and
+valley is under your father's direction. I may say under _your_
+direction, for I notice he does just about what you tell him to do."
+
+"You've noticed that?" she laughed. "If I were a man I'd rather be
+Supervisor of this forest than Congressman."
+
+"So would I," he agreed. "Nash says you _are_ the Supervisor. I wonder if
+your father realizes how efficient you are? Does he ever sorrow over your
+not being a boy?"
+
+Her eyes shone with mirth. "Not that I can notice. He 'pears contented."
+
+"You're a good deal like a son to him, I imagine. You can do about all
+that a boy can do, anyhow--more than I could ever do. Does he realize how
+much you have to do with the management of his forest? I've never seen
+your like. I really believe you _could_ carry on the work as well as
+he."
+
+She flushed with pleasure. "You seem to think I'm a district forester in
+disguise."
+
+"I have eyes, Miss Supervisor, and also ears--which leads me to ask: Why
+don't you clean out that saloon gang? Landon is sure there's crooked work
+going on at that mill--certainly that open bar is a disgraceful and
+corrupting thing."
+
+Her face clouded. "We've tried to cut out that saloon, but it can't be
+done. You see, it's on a patented claim--the claim was bogus, of course,
+and we've made complaint, but the matter is hung up, and that gives 'em a
+chance to go on."
+
+"Well, let's not talk of that. It's too delicious an hour for any
+question of business. It is a moment for poetry. I wish I could write
+what I feel this moment. Why don't we camp here and watch the sun go down
+and the moon rise? From our lofty vantage-ground the coming of dawn would
+be an epic."
+
+"We mustn't think of that," she protested. "We must be going."
+
+"Not yet. The hour is too perfect. It may never come again. The wind in
+the pines, the sunshine, the conies crying from their rocks, the
+butterflies on the clover--my heart aches with the beauty of it. It's
+been a wonderful trip. Even that staggering walk in the rain had its
+splendid quality. I couldn't see the poetry in it then; but I do now.
+These few days have made us comrades, haven't they--comrades of the
+trail? You have been very considerate of me." He took her hand. "I've
+never seen such hands. They are like steel, and yet they are feminine."
+
+She drew her hands away. "I'm ashamed of my hands--they are so big and
+rough and dingy."
+
+"They're brown, of course, and calloused--a little--but they are not big,
+and they are beautifully modeled." He looked at her speculatively. "I am
+wondering how you would look in conventional dress."
+
+"Do you mean--" She hesitated. "I'd look like a gawk in one of those
+low-necked outfits. I'd never dare--and those tight skirts would sure
+cripple me."
+
+"Oh no, they wouldn't. You'd have to modify your stride a little; but
+you'd negotiate it. You're equal to anything."
+
+"You're making fun of me!"
+
+"No, I'm not. I'm in earnest. You're the kind of American girl that can
+go anywhere and do anything. My sisters would mortgage their share of the
+golden streets for your abounding health--and so would I."
+
+"You are all right now," she smiled. "You don't look or talk as you
+did."
+
+"It's this sunlight." He lifted a spread hand as if to clutch and hold
+something. "I feel it soaking into me like some magical oil. No more
+moping and whining for me. I've proved that hardship is good for me."
+
+"Don't crow till you're out of the woods. It's a long ride down the hill,
+and going down is harder on the tenderfoot than going up."
+
+"I'm no longer a tenderfoot. All I need is another trip like this with
+you and I shall be a master trailer."
+
+All this was very sweet to her, and though she knew they should be going,
+she lingered. Childishly reckless of the sinking sun, she played with the
+wild flowers at her side and listened to his voice in complete content.
+He was right. The hour was too beautiful to be shortened, although she
+saw no reason why others equally delightful might not come to them both.
+He was more of the lover than he had ever been before, that she knew, and
+in the light of his eyes all that was not girlish and charming melted
+away. She forgot her heavy shoes, her rough hands and sun-tanned face,
+and listened with wondering joy and pride to his words, which were of a
+fineness such as she had never heard spoken--only books contained such
+unusual and exquisite phrases.
+
+A cloud passing across the sun flung down a shadow of portentous chill
+and darkness. She started to her feet with startled recollection of the
+place and the hour.
+
+"We _must_ be going--at once!" she commanded.
+
+"Not yet," he pleaded. "It's only a cloud. The sun is coming out again. I
+have perfect confidence in your woodcraft. Why not spend another night on
+the trail? It may be our last trip together."
+
+He tempted her strongly, so frank and boyish and lovable were his glances
+and his words. But she was vaguely afraid of herself, and though the long
+ride at the moment seemed hard and dull, the thought of her mother
+waiting decided her action.
+
+"No, no!" she responded, firmly. "We've wasted too much time already. We
+must ride."
+
+He looked up at her with challenging glance. "Suppose I refuse--suppose I
+decide to stay here?"
+
+Upon her, as he talked, a sweet hesitation fell, a dream which held more
+of happiness than she had ever known. "It is a long, hard ride," she
+thought, "and another night on the trail will not matter." And so the
+moments passed on velvet feet, and still she lingered, reluctant to break
+the spell.
+
+Suddenly, into their idyllic drowse of content, so sweet, so youthful,
+and so pure of heart, broke the sound of a horse's hurrying, clashing,
+steel-shod feet, and looking up Berrie saw a mounted man coming down the
+mountainside with furious, reckless haste.
+
+"It is Cliff!" she cried out. "He's on our trail!" And into her face came
+a look of alarm. Her lips paled, her eyes widened. "He's mad--he's
+dangerous! Leave him to me," she added, in a low, tense voice.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE DEATH-GRAPPLE
+
+
+There was something so sinister in the rider's disregard of stone and
+tree and pace, something so menacing in the forward thrust of his body,
+that Berrie was able to divine his wrath, and was smitten into
+irresolution--all her hardy, boyish self-reliance swallowed up in the
+weakness of the woman. She forgot the pistol at her belt, and awaited the
+assault with rigid pose.
+
+As Belden neared them Norcross also perceived that the rider's face was
+distorted with passion, and that his glance was not directed upon Berrie,
+but upon himself, and he braced himself for the attack.
+
+Leaving his saddle with one flying leap, which the cowboy practises at
+play, Belden hurled himself upon his rival with the fury of a panther.
+
+The slender youth went down before the big rancher as though struck by a
+catapult; and the force of his fall against the stony earth stunned him
+so that he lay beneath his enemy as helpless as a child.
+
+[Illustration: THE SLENDER YOUTH WENT DOWN BEFORE THE BIG RANCHER
+AS THOUGH STRUCK BY A CATAPULT]
+
+Belden snarled between his teeth: "I told you I'd kill you, and I will."
+
+But this was not to be. Berea suddenly recovered her native force. With a
+cry of pain, of anger, she flung herself on the maddened man's back. Her
+hands encircled his neck like a collar of bronze. Hardened by incessant
+use of the cinch and the rope, her fingers sank into the sinews of his
+great throat, shutting off both blood and breath.
+
+"Let go!" she commanded, with deadly intensity. "Let go, or I'll choke
+the life out of you! Let go, I say!"
+
+He raised a hand to beat her off, but she was too strong, too desperate
+to be driven away. She was as blind to pain as a mother eagle, and bent
+above him so closely that he could not bring the full weight of his fist
+to bear. With one determined hand still clutching his throat, she ran the
+fingers of her other hand into his hair and twisted his head upward with
+a power which he could not resist. And so, looking into his upturned,
+ferocious eyes, she repeated with remorseless fury: "_Let go_, I say!"
+
+His swollen face grew rigid, his mouth gaped, his tongue protruded, and
+at last, releasing his hold on his victim, he rose, flinging Berrie off
+with a final desperate effort. "I'll kill you, too!" he gasped.
+
+Up to this moment the girl had felt no fear of herself; but now she
+resorted to other weapons. Snatching her pistol from its holster, she
+leveled it at his forehead. "Stop!" she said; and something in her voice
+froze him into calm. He was not a fiend; he was not a deliberate
+assassin; he was only a jealous, despairing, insane lover, and as he
+looked into the face he knew so well, and realized that nothing but hate
+and deadly resolution lit the eyes he had so often kissed, his heart gave
+way, and, dropping his head, he said: "Kill me if you want to. I've
+nothing left to live for."
+
+There was something unreal, appalling in this sudden reversion to
+weakness, and Berrie could not credit his remorse. "Give me your gun,"
+she said.
+
+He surrendered it to her and she threw it aside; then turned to Wayland,
+who was lying white and still with face upturned to the sky. With a moan
+of anguish she bent above him and called upon his name. He did not stir,
+and when she lifted his head to her lap his hair, streaming with blood,
+stained her dress. She kissed him and called again to him, then turned
+with accusing frenzy to Belden: "You've killed him! Do you hear? You've
+killed him!"
+
+The agony, the fury of hate in her voice reached the heart of the
+conquered man. He raised his head and stared at her with mingled fear and
+remorse. And so across that limp body these two souls, so lately lovers,
+looked into each other's eyes as though nothing but words of hate and
+loathing had ever passed between them. The girl saw in him only a savage,
+vengeful, bloodthirsty beast; the man confronted in her an accusing
+angel.
+
+"I didn't mean to kill him," he muttered.
+
+"Yes, you did! You meant it. You crushed his life out with your big
+hands--and now I'm going to kill you for it!"
+
+A fierce calm had come upon her. Some far-off ancestral deep of passion
+called for blood revenge. She lifted the weapon with steady hand and
+pointed it at his heart.
+
+His fear passed as his wrath had passed. His head drooped, his glance
+wavered. "Shoot!" he commanded, sullenly. "I'd sooner die than
+live--now."
+
+His words, his tone, brought back to her a vision of the man he had
+seemed when she first met and admired him. Her hand fell, the woman in
+her reasserted itself. A wave of weakness, of indecision, of passionate
+grief overwhelmed her. "Oh, Cliff!" she moaned. "Why did you do it? He
+was so gentle and sweet."
+
+He did not answer. His glance wandered to his horse, serenely cropping
+the grass in utter disregard of this tumultuous human drama; but the
+wind, less insensate than the brute, swept through the grove of dwarfed,
+distorted pines with a desolate, sympathetic moan which filled the man's
+heart with a new and exalted sorrow. "You're right," he said. "I was
+crazy. I deserve killing."
+
+But Berrie was now too deep in her own desolation to care what he said or
+did. She kissed the cold lips of the still youth, murmuring passionately:
+"I don't care to live without you--I shall go with you!"
+
+Belden's hand was on her wrist before she could raise her weapon. "Don't,
+for God's sake, don't do that! He may not be dead."
+
+She responded but dully to the suggestion. "No, no. He's gone. His breath
+is gone."
+
+"Maybe not. Let me see."
+
+Again she bent to the quiet face on which the sunlight fell with mocking
+splendor. It seemed all a dream till she felt once more the stain of his
+blood upon her hands. It was all so incredibly sudden. Only just now he
+was exulting over the warmth and beauty of the day--and now--
+
+How beautiful he was. He seemed asleep. The conies crying from their
+runways suddenly took on poignant pathos. They appeared to be grieving
+with her; but the eagles spoke of revenge.
+
+A sharp cry, a note of joy sprang from her lips. "He _is_ alive! I saw
+his eyelids quiver--quick! Bring some water."
+
+The man leaped to his feet, and, running down to the pool, filled his
+sombrero with icy water. He was as eager now to save his rival as he had
+been mad to destroy him. "Let me help," he pleaded. But she would not
+permit him to touch the body.
+
+Again, while splashing the water upon his face, the girl called upon her
+love to return. "He hears me!" she exulted to her enemy. "He is breathing
+now. He is opening his eyes."
+
+The wounded man did, indeed, open his eyes, but his look was a blank,
+uncomprehending stare, which plunged her back into despair. "He don't
+know me!" she said, with piteous accent. She now perceived the source of
+the blood upon her arm. It came from a wound in the boy's head which had
+been dashed upon a stone.
+
+The sight of this wound brought back the blaze of accusing anger to her
+eyes. "See what you did!" she said, with cold malignity. Then by sudden
+shift she bent to the sweet face in her arms and kissed it passionately.
+"Open your eyes, darling. You must not die! I won't let you die! Can't
+you hear me? Don't you know where you are?"
+
+He opened his eyes once more, quietly, and looked up into her face with a
+faint, drowsy smile. He could not yet locate himself in space and time,
+but he knew her and was comforted. He wondered why he should be looking
+up into a sunny sky. He heard the wind and the sound of a horse cropping
+grass, and the voice of the girl penetratingly sweet as that of a young
+mother calling her baby back to life, and slowly his benumbed brain began
+to resolve the mystery.
+
+Belden, forgotten, ignored as completely as the conies, sat with choking
+throat and smarting eyes. For him the world was only dust and ashes--a
+ruin which his own barbaric spirit had brought upon itself.
+
+Slowly the youth's eyes took on expression. "Are we still on the hill?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes, dearest," she assured him. Then to Belden, "He knows where he is!"
+
+Wayland again struggled with reality. "What has happened to me?"
+
+"You fell and hurt your head."
+
+He turned slightly and observed the other man looking down at her with
+dark and tragic glance. "Hello, Belden," he said, feebly. "How came you
+here?" Then noting Berrie's look, he added: "I remember. He tried to kill
+me." He again searched his antagonist's face. "Why didn't you finish the
+job?"
+
+The girl tried to turn his thought aside. "It's all right now, darling.
+He won't make any more trouble. Don't mind him. I don't care for anybody
+now you are coming back to me."
+
+Wayland wonderingly regarded the face of the girl. "And you--are you
+hurt?"
+
+"No, I'm not hurt. I am perfectly happy now." She turned to Belden with
+quick, authoritative command. "Unsaddle the horses and set up the tent.
+We won't be able to leave here to-night."
+
+He rose with instant obedience, glad of a chance to serve her, and soon
+had the tent pegged to its place and the bedding unrolled. Together they
+lifted the wounded youth and laid him upon his blankets beneath the low
+canvas roof which seemed heavenly helpful to Berea.
+
+"There!" she said, caressingly. "Now you are safe, no matter whether it
+rains or not."
+
+He smiled. "It seems I'm to have my way after all. I hope I shall be able
+to see the sun rise. I've sort of lost my interest in the sunset."
+
+"Now, Cliff," she said, as soon as the camp was in order and a fire
+started, "I reckon you'd better ride on. I haven't any further use for
+you."
+
+"Don't say that, Berrie," he pleaded. "I can't leave you here alone with
+a sick man. Let me stay and help."
+
+She looked at him for a long time before she replied. "I shall never be
+able to look at you again without hating you," she said. "I shall always
+remember you as you looked when you were killing that boy. So you'd
+better ride on and keep a-riding. I'm going to forget all this just as
+soon as I can, and it don't help me any to have you around. I never want
+to see you or hear your name again."
+
+"You don't mean that, Berrie!"
+
+"Yes, I do," she asserted, bitterly. "I mean just that. So saddle up and
+pull out. All I ask of you is to say nothing about what has happened
+here. You'd better leave the state. If Wayland should get worse it might
+go hard with you."
+
+He accepted his banishment. "All right. If you feel that way I'll ride.
+But I'd like to do something for you before I go. I'll pile up some
+wood--"
+
+"No. I'll take care of that." And without another word of farewell she
+turned away and re-entered the tent.
+
+Mounting his horse with painful slowness, as though suddenly grown old,
+the reprieved assassin rode away up the mountain, his head low, his eyes
+upon the ground.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+BERRIE'S VIGIL
+
+
+The situation in which Berea now found herself would have disheartened
+most women of mature age, but she remained not only composed, she was
+filled with an irrational delight. The nurse that is in every woman was
+aroused in her, and she looked forward with joy to a night of vigil,
+confident that Wayland was not seriously injured and that he would soon
+be able to ride. She had no fear of the forest or of the night. Nature
+held no menace now that her tent was set and her fire alight.
+
+Wayland, without really knowing anything about it, suspected that he owed
+his life to her intervention, and this belief deepened the feeling of
+admiration which he had hitherto felt toward her. He listened to her at
+work around the fire with a deepening sense of his indebtedness to her,
+and when she looked in to ask if she could do anything for him, his
+throat filled with an emotion which rendered his answer difficult.
+
+As his mind cleared he became very curious to know precisely what had
+taken place, but he did not feel free to ask her. "She will tell me if
+she wishes me to know." That she had vanquished Belden and sent him on
+his way was evident, although he had not been able to hear what she had
+said to him at the last. What lay between the enemy's furious onslaught
+and the aid he lent in making the camp could only be surmised. "I wonder
+if she used her pistol?" Wayland asked himself. "Something like death
+must have stared him in the face."
+
+"Strange how everything seems to throw me ever deeper into her debt," he
+thought, a little later. But he did not quite dare put into words the
+resentment which mingled with his gratitude. He hated to be put so
+constantly into the position of the one protected, defended. And yet it
+was his own fault. He had put himself among people and conditions where
+she was the stronger. Having ventured out of his world into hers he must
+take the consequences.
+
+That she loved him with the complete passion of her powerful and simple
+nature he knew, for her voice had reached through the daze of his
+semi-unconsciousness with thrilling power. The touch of her lips to his,
+the close clasp of her strong arms were of ever greater convincing
+quality. And yet he wished the revelation had come in some other way. His
+pride was abraded. His manhood seemed somehow lessened. It was a
+disconcerting reversal of the ordinary relations between hero and
+heroine, and he saw no way of re-establishing the normal attitude of the
+male.
+
+Entirely unaware of what was passing in the mind of her patient, Berrie
+went about her duties with a cheerfulness which astonished the sufferer
+in the tent. She seemed about to hum a song as she set the skillet on the
+fire, but a moment later she called out, in a tone of irritation: "Here
+comes Nash!"
+
+"I'm glad of that," answered Wayland, although he perceived something of
+her displeasure.
+
+Nash, on his way to join the Supervisor, raised a friendly greeting as he
+saw the girl, and drew rein. "I expected to meet you farther down the
+hill," he said. "Tony 'phoned that you had started. Where did you leave
+the Supervisor?"
+
+"Over at the station waiting for you. Where's your outfit?"
+
+"Camped down the trail a mile or so. I thought I'd better push through
+to-night. What about Norcross? Isn't he with you?"
+
+She hesitated an instant. "He's in the tent. He fell and struck his head
+on a rock, and I had to go into camp here."
+
+Nash was deeply concerned. "Is that so? Well, that's hard luck. Is he
+badly hurt?"
+
+"Well, he had a terrible fall. But he's easier now. I think he's
+asleep."
+
+"May I look in on him?"
+
+"I don't think you'd better take the time. It's a long, hard ride from
+here to the station. It will be deep night before you can make it--"
+
+"Don't you think the Supervisor would want me to camp here to-night and
+do what I could for you? If Norcross is badly injured you will need me."
+
+She liked Nash, and she knew he was right, and yet she was reluctant to
+give up the pleasure of her lone vigil. "He's not in any danger, and
+we'll be able to ride on in the morning."
+
+Nash, thinking of her as Clifford Belden's promised wife, had no
+suspicion of her feeling toward Norcross. Therefore he gently urged that
+to go on was quite out of order. "I _can't_ think of leaving you here
+alone--certainly not till I see Norcross and find out how badly he is
+hurt."
+
+She yielded. "I reckon you're right," she said. "I'll go see if he is
+awake."
+
+He followed her to the door of the tent, apprehending something new and
+inexplicable in her attitude. In the music of her voice as she spoke to
+the sick man was the love-note of the mate. "You may come in," she called
+back, and Nash, stooping, entered the small tent.
+
+"Hello, old man, what you been doing with yourself? Hitting the high
+spots?"
+
+Norcross smiled feebly. "No, the hill flew up and bumped _me_."
+
+"How did it all happen?"
+
+"I don't exactly know. It all came of a sudden. I had no share in it--I
+didn't go for to do it."
+
+"Whether you did or not, you seem to have made a good job of it."
+
+Nash examined the wounded man carefully, and his skill and strength in
+handling Norcross pleased Berrie, though she was jealous of the warm
+friendship which seemed to exist between the men.
+
+She had always liked Nash, but she resented him now, especially as he
+insisted on taking charge of the case; but she gave way finally, and went
+back to her pots and pans with pensive countenance.
+
+A little later, when Nash came out to make report, she was not very
+gracious in her manner. "He's pretty badly hurt," he said. "There's an
+ugly gash in his scalp, and the shock has produced a good deal of pain
+and confusion in his head; but he's going to be all right in a day or
+two. For a man seeking rest and recuperation he certainly has had a tough
+run of weather."
+
+Though a serious-minded, honorable forester, determined to keep sternly
+in mind that he was in the presence of the daughter of his chief, and
+that she was engaged to marry another, Nash was, after all, a man, and
+the witchery of the hour, the charm of the girl's graceful figure,
+asserted their power over him. His eyes grew tender, and his voice
+eloquent in spite of himself. His words he could guard, but it was hard
+to keep from his speech the song of the lover. The thought that he was to
+camp in her company, to help her about the fire, to see her from moment
+to moment, with full liberty to speak to her, to meet her glance, pleased
+him. It was the most romantic and moving episode in his life, and though
+of a rather dry and analytic temperament he had a sense of poesy.
+
+The night, black, oppressive, and silent, brought a closer bond of mutual
+help and understanding between them. He built a fire of dry branches
+close to the tent door, and there sat, side by side with the girl, in the
+glow of embers, so close to the injured youth that they could talk
+together, and as he spoke freely, yet modestly, of his experiences Berrie
+found him more deeply interesting than she had hitherto believed him to
+be. True, he saw things less poetically than Wayland, but he was finely
+observant, and a man of studious and refined habits.
+
+She grew friendlier, and asked him about his work, and especially about
+his ambitions and plans for the future. They discussed the forest and its
+enemies, and he wondered at her freedom in speaking of the Mill and
+saloon. He said: "Of course you know that Alec Belden is a partner in
+that business, and I'm told--of course I don't know this--that Clifford
+Belden is also interested."
+
+She offered no defense of young Belden, and this unconcern puzzled him.
+He had expected indignant protest, but she merely replied: "I don't care
+who owns it. It should be rooted out. I hate that kind of thing. It's
+just another way of robbing those poor tie-jacks."
+
+"Clifford should get out of it. Can't you persuade him to do so?"
+
+"I don't think I can."
+
+"His relationship to you--"
+
+"He is not related to me."
+
+Her tone amazed him. "You know what I mean."
+
+"Of course I do, but you're mistaken. We're not related that way any
+longer."
+
+This silenced him for a few moments, then he said: "I'm rather glad of
+that. He isn't anything like the man you thought he was--I couldn't say
+these things before--but he is as greedy as Alec, only not so open about
+it."
+
+All this comment, which moved the forester so deeply to utter, seemed not
+to interest Berea. She sat staring at the fire with the calm brow of an
+Indian. Clifford Belden had passed out of her life as completely as he
+had vanished out of the landscape. She felt an immense relief at being
+rid of him, and resented his being brought back even as a subject of
+conversation.
+
+Wayland, listening, fancied he understood her desire, and said nothing
+that might arouse Nash's curiosity.
+
+Nash, on his part, knowing that she had broken with Belden, began to
+understand the tenderness, the anxious care of her face and voice, as she
+bent above young Norcross. As the night deepened and the cold air stung,
+he asked: "Have you plenty of blankets for a bed?"
+
+"Oh yes," she answered, "but I don't intend to sleep."
+
+"Oh, you must!" he declared. "Go to bed. I will keep the fire going."
+
+At last she consented. "I will make my bed right here at the mouth of the
+tent close to the fire," she said, "and you can call me if you need me."
+
+"Why not put your bed in the tent? It's going to be cold up here."
+
+"I am all right outside," she protested.
+
+"Put your bed inside, Miss Berrie. We can't let conventions count above
+timber-line. I shall rest better if I know you are properly sheltered."
+
+And so it happened that for the third time she shared the same roof with
+her lover; but the nurse was uppermost in her now. At eleven thousand
+feet above the sea--with a cold drizzle of fine rain in the air--one does
+not consider the course of gossip as carefully as in a village, and
+Berrie slept unbrokenly till daylight.
+
+Nash was the first to arise in the dusk of dawn, and Berrie, awakened by
+the crackle of his fire, soon joined him. There is no sweeter sound than
+the voice of the flame at such a time, in such a place. It endows the
+bleak mountainside with comfort, makes the ledge a hearthstone. It holds
+the promise of savory meats and fragrant liquor, and robs the frosty air
+of its terrors.
+
+Wayland, hearing their voices, called out, with feeble humor: "Will some
+one please turn on the steam in my room?"
+
+Berrie uttered a happy word. "How do you feel this morning?" she asked.
+
+"Not precisely like a pugilist--well, yes, I believe I do--like the
+fellow who got second money."
+
+"How is the bump?" inquired Nash, thrusting his head inside the door.
+
+"Reduced to the size of a golf-ball as near as I can judge of it. I doubt
+if I can wear a hat; but I'm feeling fine. I'm going to get up."
+
+Berrie was greatly relieved. "I'm so glad! Do you feel like riding down
+the hill?"
+
+"Sure thing! I'm hungry, and as soon as I am fed I'm ready to start."
+
+Berrie joined the surveyor at the fire.
+
+"If you'll round up our horses, Mr. Nash, I'll rustle breakfast and we'll
+get going," she said.
+
+Nash, enthralled, lingered while she twisted her hair into place, then
+went out to bring in the ponies.
+
+Wayland came out a little uncertainly, but looking very well. "I think I
+shall discourage my friends from coming to this region for their health,"
+he said, ruefully. "If I were a novelist now all this would be grist for
+my mill."
+
+Beneath his joking he was profoundly chagrined. He had hoped by this time
+to be as sinewy, as alert as Nash, instead of which here he sat,
+shivering over the fire like a sick girl, his head swollen, his blood
+sluggish; but this discouragement only increased Berea's tenderness--a
+tenderness which melted all his reserve.
+
+"I'm not worth all your care," he said to her, with poignant glance.
+
+The sun rose clear and warm, and the fire, the coffee, put new courage
+into him as well as into the others, and while the morning was yet early
+and the forest chill and damp with rain, the surveyor brought up the
+horses and started packing the outfit.
+
+In this Berrie again took part, doing her half of the work quite as
+dextrously as Nash himself. Indeed, the forester was noticeably confused
+and not quite up to his usual level of adroit ease.
+
+At last both packs were on, and as they stood together for a moment, Nash
+said: "This has been a great experience--one I shall remember as long as
+I live."
+
+She stirred uneasily under his frank admiration. "I'm mightily obliged to
+you," she replied, as heartily as she could command.
+
+"Don't thank me, I'm indebted to you. There is so little in my life of
+such companionship as you and Norcross give me."
+
+"You'll find it lonesome over at the station, I'm afraid," said she. "But
+Moore intends to put a crew of tie-cutters in over there--that will help
+some." She smiled.
+
+"I'm not partial to the society of tie-jacks."
+
+"If you ride hard you may find that Moore girl in camp. She was there
+when we left." There was a sparkle of mischief in her glance.
+
+"I'm not interested in the Moore girl," he retorted.
+
+"Do you know her?"
+
+"I've seen her at the post-office once or twice; _she_ is not my kind."
+
+She gave him her hand. "Well, good-by. I'm all right now that Wayland can
+ride."
+
+He held her hand an instant. "I believe I'll ride back with you as far as
+the camp."
+
+"You'd better go on. Father is waiting for you. I'll send the men along."
+There was dismissal in her voice, and yet she recognized as never before
+the fine qualities that were his. "Please don't say anything of this to
+others, and tell my father not to worry about us. We'll pull in all
+right."
+
+He helped Norcross mount his horse, and as he put the lead rope into
+Berrie's hand, he said: with much feeling: "Good luck to you. I shall
+remember this night all the rest of my life."
+
+"I hate to be going to the rear," called Wayland, whose bare, bandaged
+head made him look like a wounded young officer. "But I guess it's better
+for me to lay off for a week or two and recover my tone."
+
+And so they parted, the surveyor riding his determined way up the naked
+mountainside toward the clouds, while Berrie and her ward plunged at once
+into the dark and dripping forest below. "If you can stand the grief,"
+she said, "we'll go clear through."
+
+Wayland had his misgivings, but did not say so. His confidence in his
+guide was complete. She would do her part, that was certain. Several
+times she was forced to dismount and blaze out a new path in order to
+avoid some bog; but she sternly refused his aid. "You must not get off,"
+she warned; "stay where you are. I can do this work better alone."
+
+They were again in that green, gloomy, and silent zone of the range,
+where giant spruces grow, and springs, oozing from the rocks, trickle
+over the trail. It was very beautiful, but menacing, by reason of its
+apparently endless thickets cut by stony ridges. It was here she met the
+two young men, Downing and Travis, bringing forward the surveying outfit,
+but she paused only to say: "Push along steadily. You are needed on the
+other side."
+
+After leaving the men, and with a knowledge that the remaining leagues of
+the trail were solitary, Norcross grew fearful. "The fall of a horse, an
+accident to that brave girl, and we would be helpless," he thought. "I
+wish Nash had returned with us." Once his blood chilled with horror as he
+watched his guide striking out across the marge of a grassy lake. This
+meadow, as he divined, was really a carpet of sod floating above a
+bottomless pool of muck, for it shook beneath her horse's feet.
+
+"Come on, it's all right," she called back, cheerily. "We'll soon pick up
+the other trail."
+
+He wondered how she knew, for to him each hill was precisely like
+another, each thicket a maze.
+
+Her caution was all for him. She tried each dangerous slough first, and
+thus was able to advise him which way was safest. His head throbbed with
+pain and his knees were weary, but he rode on, manifesting such cheer as
+he could, resolving not to complain at any cost; but his self-respect
+ebbed steadily, leaving him in bitter, silent dejection.
+
+At last they came into open ground on a high ridge, and were gladdened by
+the valley outspread below them, for it was still radiant with color,
+though not as brilliant as before the rain. It had been dimmed, but not
+darkened. And yet it seemed that a month had passed since their ecstatic
+ride upward through the golden forest, and Wayland said as much while
+they stood for a moment surveying the majestic park with its wall of
+guardian peaks.
+
+But Berrie replied: "It seems only a few hours to me."
+
+From this point the traveling was good, and they descended rapidly,
+zigzagging from side to side of a long, sweeping ridge. By noon they were
+once more down amid the aspens, basking in a world of sad gold leaves and
+delicious September sunshine.
+
+At one o'clock, on the bank of a clear stream, the girl halted. "I reckon
+we'd better camp awhile. You look tired, and I am hungry."
+
+He gratefully acquiesced in this stop, for his knees were trembling with
+the strain of the stirrups; but he would not permit her to ease him down
+from his saddle. Turning a wan glance upon her, he bitterly asked: "Must
+I always play the weakling before you? I am ashamed of myself. Ride on
+and leave me to rot here in the grass. I'm not worth keeping alive."
+
+"You must not talk like that," she gently admonished him. "You're not to
+blame."
+
+"Yes, I am. I should never have ventured into this man's country."
+
+"I'm glad you did," she answered, as if she were comforting a child. "For
+if you hadn't I should never have known you."
+
+"That would have been no loss--to you," he bitterly responded.
+
+She unsaddled one pack-animal and spread some blankets on the grass. "Lie
+down and rest while I boil some coffee," she commanded; and he obeyed,
+too tired to make pretension toward assisting.
+
+Lying so, feeling the magic of the sun, hearing the music of the water,
+and watching the girl, he regained a serener mood, and when she came back
+with his food he thanked her for it with a glance before which her eyes
+fell. "I don't see why you are so kind to me, I really believe you _like_
+to do things for me." Her head drooped to hide her face, and he went on:
+"Why do you care for me? Tell me!"
+
+"I don't know," she murmured. Then she added, with a flash of bravery:
+"But I do."
+
+"What a mystery it all is! You turn from a splendid fellow like Landon to
+a 'skate' like me. Landon worships you--you know that--don't you?"
+
+"I know--he--" she ended, vaguely distressed.
+
+"Did he ask you to marry him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why didn't you? He's just the mate for you. He's a man of high character
+and education." She made no answer to this, and he went on: "Dear girl,
+I'm not worth your care--truly I'm not. I resented your engagement to
+Belden, for he was a brute; but Landon is different. He thinks the world
+of you. He'll go high in the service. I've never done anything in the
+world--I never shall. It will be better for you if I go--to-morrow."
+
+She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek, then, putting her arm
+about his neck, drew him to her bosom and kissed him passionately. "You
+break my heart when you talk like that," she protested, with tears. "You
+mustn't say such gloomy things--I won't let you give up. You shall come
+right home with me, and I will nurse you till you are well. It was all my
+fault. If we had only stayed in camp at the lake daddy would have joined
+us that night, and if I had not loitered on the mountain yesterday Cliff
+would not have overtaken us. It's all my fault."
+
+"I will not have it go that way," he said. "I've brought you only care
+and unhappiness thus far. I'm an alien--my ways are not your ways."
+
+"I can change," she answered. "I hate my ways, and I like yours."
+
+As they argued she felt no shame, and he voiced no resentment. She knew
+his mood. She understood his doubt, his depression. She pleaded as a man
+might have done, ready to prove her love, eager to restore his
+self-respect, while he remained both bitter and sadly contemptuous.
+
+A cow-hand riding up the trail greeted Berrie respectfully, but a cynical
+smile broke out on his lips as he passed on. Another witness--another
+gossip.
+
+She did not care. She had no further concern of the valley's comment. Her
+life's happiness hung on the drooping eyelashes of this wounded boy, and
+to win him back to cheerful acceptance of life was her only concern.
+
+"I've never had any motives," he confessed. "I've always done what
+pleased me at the moment--or because it was easier to do as others were
+doing. I went to college that way. Truth is, I never had any surplus
+vitality, and my father never demanded anything of me. I haven't any
+motives now. A few days ago I was interested in forestry. At this time it
+all seems futile. What's the use of my trying to live?"
+
+Part of all this despairing cry arose from weariness, and part from a
+luxurious desire to be comforted, for it was sweet to feel her sympathy.
+He even took a morbid pleasure in the distress of her eyes and lips while
+her rich voice murmured in soothing protest.
+
+She, on her part, was frightened for him, and as she thought of the long
+ride still before them she wrung her hands. "Oh, what shall I do? What
+shall I do?" she moaned.
+
+Instantly smitten into shame, into manlier mood, he said: "Don't worry
+about me, please don't. I can ride. I'm feeling better. You must not
+weaken. Please forgive my selfish complaints. I'm done! You'll never hear
+it again. Come, let us go on. I can ride."
+
+"If we can reach Miller's ranch--"
+
+"I can ride to _your_ ranch," he declared, and rose with such new-found
+resolution that she stared at him in wonder.
+
+He was able to smile. "I've had my little crying spell. I've relieved my
+heart of its load. I didn't mean to agonize you. It was only a slump." He
+put his hand to his head. "I must be a comical figure. Wonder what that
+cowboy thought of me?"
+
+His sudden reversal to cheer was a little alarming to her, but at length
+she perceived that he had in truth mastered his depression, and bringing
+up the horses she saddled them, and helped him to mount. "If you get
+tired or feel worse, tell me, and we'll go into camp," she urged as they
+were about to start.
+
+"You keep going till I give the sign," he replied; and his voice was so
+firm and clear that her own sunny smile came back. "I don't know what to
+make of you," she said. "I reckon you must be a poet."
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE GOSSIPS AWAKE
+
+
+It was dark when they reached the village, but Wayland declared his
+ability to go on, although his wounded head was throbbing with fever and
+he was clinging to the pommel of his saddle; so Berrie rode on.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, hearing the horses on the bridge, was at the door and
+received her daughter with wondering question, while the stable-hands,
+quick to detect an injured man, hurried to lift Norcross down from his
+saddle.
+
+"What's the matter?" repeated Mrs. McFarlane.
+
+"He fell and struck his head on a stone," Berea hastily explained. "Take
+the horses, boys, mother and I will look out for Mr. Norcross."
+
+The men obeyed her and fell back, but they were consumed with curiosity,
+and their glances irritated the girl. "Slip the packs at once," she
+insisted.
+
+With instant sympathy her mother came to her aid in supporting the
+wounded, weary youth indoors, and as he stretched out on the couch in the
+sitting-room, he remarked, with a faint, ironic smile: "This beats any
+bed of balsam boughs."
+
+"Where's your father?" asked Mrs. McFarlane of her daughter.
+
+"He's over on the Ptarmigan. I've a powerful lot to tell you, mother; but
+not now; we must look after Wayland. He's nearly done up, and so am I."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane winced a little at her daughter's use of Norcross's first
+name, but she said nothing further at the moment, although she watched
+Berrie closely while she took off Wayland's shoes and stockings and
+rubbed his icy feet. "Get him something hot as quick as you can!" she
+commanded; and Mrs. McFarlane obeyed without a word.
+
+Gradually the tremor passed out of his limbs and a delicious sense of
+warmth, of safety, stole over him, and he closed his eyes in the comfort
+of her presence and care. "Rigorous business this life of the pioneer,"
+he said, with mocking inflection. "I think I prefer a place in the lumber
+trust."
+
+"Don't talk," she said. Then, with a rush of tender remorse: "Why didn't
+you tell me to stop? I didn't realize that you were so tired. We could
+have stopped at the Springs."
+
+"I didn't know how tired I was till I got here. Gee," he said, boyishly,
+"that door-knob at the back of my head is red-hot! You're good to me," he
+added, humbly.
+
+She hated to have him resume that tone of self-depreciation, and,
+kneeling to him, she kissed his cheek, and laid her head beside his.
+"You're splendid," she insisted. "Nobody could be braver; but you should
+have told me you were exhausted. You fooled me with your cheerful
+answers."
+
+He accepted her loving praise, her clasping arms, as a part of the rescue
+from the darkness and pain of the long ride, careless of what it might
+bring to him in the future. He ate his toast and drank his coffee, and
+permitted the women to lead him to his room, and then being alone he
+crept into his bed and fell instantly asleep.
+
+Berrie and her mother went back to the sitting-room, and Mrs. McFarlane
+closed the door behind them. "Now tell me all about it," she said, in the
+tone of one not to be denied.
+
+The story went along very smoothly till the girl came to the second night
+in camp beside the lake; there her voice faltered, and the reflective
+look in the mother's eyes deepened as she learned that her daughter had
+shared her tent with the young man. "It was the only thing to do,
+mother," Berrie bravely said. "It was cold and wet outside, and you know
+he isn't very strong, and his teeth were chattering, he was so chilled. I
+know it sounds strange down here; but up there in the woods in the storm
+what I did seemed right and natural. You know what I mean, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, I understand. I don't blame you--only--if others should hear of
+it--"
+
+"But they won't. No one knows of our being alone there except Tony and
+father."
+
+"Are you sure? Doesn't Mrs. Belden know?"
+
+"I don't think so--not yet."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's nervousness grew. "I wish you hadn't gone on this trip.
+If the Beldens find out you were alone with Mr. Norcross they'll make
+much of it. It will give them a chance at your father." Her mind turned
+upon another point. "When did Mr. Norcross get his fall?"
+
+"On the way back." Here Berrie hesitated again. "I don't like to tell
+you, mother, but he didn't fall, Cliff jumped him and tried to kill
+him."
+
+The mother doubted her ears. "Cliff did? How did he happen to meet you?"
+
+Berrie was quick to answer. "I don't know how he found out we were on the
+trail. I suppose the old lady 'phoned him. Anyhow, while we were camped
+for noon yesterday"--her face flamed again at thought of that tender,
+beautiful moment when they were resting on the grass--"while we were at
+our lunch he came tearing down the hill on that big bay horse of his and
+took a flying jump at Wayland. As Wayland went down he struck his head on
+a stone. I thought he was dead, and I was paralyzed for a second. Then I
+flew at Cliff and just about choked the life out of him. I'd have ended
+him right there if he hadn't let go."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, looking upon her daughter in amazement, saw on her face
+the shadow of the deadly rage which had burned in her heart as she
+clenched young Belden's throat.
+
+"What then? What happened then?"
+
+"He let go, you bet." Her smile came back. "And when he realized what
+he'd done--_he_ thought Wayland was dead--he began to weaken. Then I took
+my gun and was all for putting an end to him right there, when I saw
+Wayland's eyelids move. After that I didn't care what became of Cliff. I
+told him to ride on and keep a-ridin', and I reckon he's clear out of the
+state by this time. If he ever shows up I'll put him where he'll have all
+night to be sorry in."
+
+"When did this take place?"
+
+"Yesterday about two. Of course Wayland couldn't ride, he was so dizzy
+and kind o' confused, and so I went into camp right there at timber-line.
+Along about sunset Nash came riding up from this side, and insisted on
+staying to help me--so I let him."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's tense attitude relaxed. "Nash is not the kind that
+tattles. I'm glad he turned up."
+
+"And this morning I saddled and came down."
+
+"Did Nash go on?"
+
+"Yes, daddy was waiting for him, so I sent him along."
+
+"It's all sad business," groaned Mrs. McFarlane, "and I can see you're
+keeping something back. How did Cliff happen to know just where you were?
+And what started you back without your father?"
+
+For the first time Berrie showed signs of weakness and distress. "Why,
+you see, Alec Belden and Mr. Moore were over there to look at some
+timber, and old Marm Belden and that Moore girl went along. I suppose
+they sent word to Cliff, and I presume that Moore girl put him on our
+trail. Leastwise that's the way I figure it out. That's the worst of the
+whole business." She admitted this with darkened brow. "Mrs. Belden's
+tongue is hung in the middle and loose at both ends--and that Moore girl
+is spiteful mean." She could not keep the contempt out of her voice. "She
+saw us start off, and she is sure to follow it up and find out what
+happened on the way home; even if they don't see Cliff they'll _talk_."
+
+"Oh, I _wish_ you hadn't gone!" exclaimed the worried mother.
+
+"It can't be helped now, and it hasn't done me any real harm. It's all in
+the day's work, anyhow. I've always gone with daddy before, and this trip
+isn't going to spoil me. The boys all know me, and they will treat me
+fair."
+
+"Yes, but Mr. Norcross is an outsider--a city man. They will all think
+evil of him on that account."
+
+"I know; that's what troubles me. No one will know how fine and
+considerate he was. Mother, I've never known any one like him. He's a
+poet! He's taught me to see things I never saw before. Everything
+interests him--the birds, the clouds, the voices in the fire. I never was
+so happy in my life as I was during those first two days, and that night
+in camp before he began to worry--it was just wonderful." Words failed
+her, but her shining face and the forward straining pose of her body
+enlightened the mother. "I don't care what people say of me if only they
+will be just to him. They've _got_ to treat him right," she added,
+firmly.
+
+"Did he speak to you--are you engaged?"
+
+Her head drooped. "Not really engaged, mother; but he told me how much he
+liked me--and--it's all right, mother, I _know_ it is. I'm not fine
+enough for him, but I'm going to try to change my ways so he won't be
+ashamed of me."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's face cleared. "He surely is a fine young fellow, and can
+be trusted to do the right thing. Well, we might as well go to bed. We
+can't settle anything till your father gets home," she said.
+
+Wayland rose next morning free from dizziness and almost free from pain,
+and when he came out of his room his expression was cheerful. "I feel as
+if I'd slept a week, and I'm hungry. I don't know why I should be, but I
+am."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane met him with something very intimate, something almost
+maternal in her look; but her words were as few and as restrained as
+ever. He divined that she had been talking with Berrie, and that a fairly
+clear understanding of the situation had been reached. That this
+understanding involved him closely he was aware; but nothing in his
+manner acknowledged it.
+
+She did not ask any questions, believing that sooner or later the whole
+story must come out. The fact that Siona Moore and Mrs. Belden knew that
+Berrie had started back on Thursday with young Norcross made it easy for
+the villagers to discover that she had not reached the ranch till
+Saturday. "What could Joe have been thinking of to allow them to go?" she
+said. "Mr. Nash's presence in the camp must be made known; but then there
+is Clifford's assault upon Mr. Norcross, can that be kept secret, too?"
+And so while the young people chatted, the troubled mother waited in
+fear, knowing that in a day or two the countryside would be aflame with
+accusation.
+
+In a landscape like this, as she well knew, nothing moves unobserved. The
+native--man or woman--is able to perceive and name objects scarcely
+discernible to the eye of the alien. A minute speck is discovered on the
+hillside. "Hello, there's Jim Sanders on his roan," says one, or "Here
+comes Kit Jenkins with her flea-bit gray. I wonder who's on the bay
+alongside of her," remarks another, and each of these observations is
+taken quite as a matter of course. With a wide and empty field of vision,
+and with trained, unspoiled optic nerves, the plainsman is marvelously
+penetrating of glance. Hence, Mrs. McFarlane was perfectly certain that
+not one but several of her neighbors had seen and recognized Berrie and
+young Norcross as they came down the hill. In a day or two every man
+would know just where they camped, and what had taken place in camp. Mrs.
+Belden would not rest till she had ferreted out every crook and turn of
+that trail, and her speech was quite as coarse as that of any of her male
+associates.
+
+Easy-going with regard to many things, these citizens were abnormally
+alive to all matters relating to courtship, and popular as she believed
+Berrie to be, Mrs. McFarlane could not hope that her daughter would be
+spared--especially by the Beldens, who would naturally feel that Clifford
+had been cheated. She sighed deeply. "Well, nothing can be done till Joe
+returns," she repeated.
+
+A long day's rest, a second night's sleep, set Wayland on his feet. He
+came to breakfast quite gay. "Barring the hickory-nut on the back of my
+head," he explained, "I'm feeling fine, almost ready for another
+expedition. I may make a ranger yet."
+
+Berrie, though equally gay, was not so sure of his ability to return to
+work. "I reckon you'd better go easy till daddy gets back; but if you
+feel like it we'll ride up to the post-office this afternoon."
+
+"I want to start right in to learn to throw that hitch, and I'm going to
+practise with an ax till I can strike twice in the same place. This trip
+was an eye-opener. Great man I'd be in a windfall--wouldn't I?"
+
+He was persuaded to remain very quiet for another day, and part of it was
+spent in conversation with Mrs. McFarlane--whom he liked very much--and
+an hour or more in writing a long letter wherein he announced to his
+father his intention of going into the Forest Service. "I've got to build
+up a constitution," he said, "and I don't know of a better place to do it
+in. Besides, I'm beginning to be interested in the scheme. I like the
+Supervisor. I'm living in his house at the present time, and I'm feeling
+contented and happy, so don't worry about me."
+
+He was indeed quite comfortable, save when he realized that Mrs.
+McFarlane was taking altogether too much for granted in their
+relationship. It was delightful to be so watched over, so waited upon, so
+instructed. "But where is it all leading me?" he continued to ask
+himself--and still that wall of reserve troubled and saddened Berrie.
+
+They expected McFarlane that night, and waited supper for him, but he did
+not come, and so they ate without him, and afterward Wayland helped
+Berrie do up the dishes while the mother bent above her sewing by the
+kitchen lamp.
+
+There was something very sweet and gentle about Mrs. McFarlane, and the
+exile took almost as much pleasure in talking with her as with her
+daughter. He led her to tell of her early experiences in the valley, and
+of the strange types of men and women with whom she had crossed the
+range.
+
+"Some of them are here yet," she said. "In fact the most violent of all
+the opponents to the Service are these old adventurers. I don't think
+they deserve to be called pioneers. They never did any work in clearing
+the land or in building homes. Some of them, who own big herds of cattle,
+still live in dug-outs. They raged at Mr. McFarlane for going into the
+Service--called him a traitor. Old Jake Proudfoot was especially
+furious--"
+
+"You should see where old Jake lives," interrupted Berrie. "He sleeps on
+the floor in one corner of his cabin, and never changes his shirt."
+
+"Hush!" warned Mrs. McFarlane.
+
+"That's what the men all say. Daddy declares if they were to scrape Jake
+they'd find at least five layers of shirts. His wife left him fifteen
+years ago, couldn't stand his habits, and he's got worse ever since.
+Naturally he is opposed to the Service."
+
+"Of course," her mother explained, "those who oppose the Supervisor
+aren't all like Jake; but it makes me angry to have the papers all
+quoting Jake as 'one of the leading ranchers of the valley.'"
+
+She could not bring herself to take up the most vital subject of all--the
+question of her daughter's future. "I'll wait till father gets home," she
+decided.
+
+On the fourth morning the 'phone rang, and the squawking voice of Mrs.
+Belden came over the wire. "I wanted to know if Berrie and her feller got
+home all right?"
+
+"Yes, they arrived safely."
+
+The old woman chuckled. "Last I see of Cliff he was hot on their
+trail--looked like he expected to take a hand in that expedition. Did he
+overtake 'em?"
+
+"I don't hear very well--where are you?"
+
+"I'm at the Scott ranch--we're coming round 'the horn' to-day."
+
+"Where is the Supervisor?"
+
+"He headed across yesterday. Say, Cliff was mad as a hornet when he
+started. I'd like to know what happened--"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane hung up the receiver. The old woman's nasty chuckle was
+intolerable; but in silencing the 'phone Mrs. McFarlane was perfectly
+aware that she was not silencing the gossip; on the contrary, she was
+certain that the Beldens would leave a trail of poisonous comment from
+the Ptarmigan to Bear Tooth. It was all sweet material for them.
+
+Berrie wanted to know who was speaking, and Mrs. McFarlane replied: "Mrs.
+Belden wanted to know if you got through all right."
+
+"She said something else, something to heat you up," persisted the girl,
+who perceived her mother's agitation. "What did she say--something about
+me--and Cliff?"
+
+The mother did not answer, for Wayland entered the room at the moment;
+but Berrie knew that traducers were already busy with her affairs. "I
+don't care anything about old lady Belden," she said, later; "but I hate
+to have that Moore girl telling lies about me."
+
+As for Wayland, the nights in the camp by the lake, and, indeed, all the
+experiences of his trip in the high places were becoming each moment more
+remote, more unreal. Camp life at timber-line did not seem to him subject
+to ordinary conventional laws of human conduct, and the fact that he and
+Berrie had shared the same tent under the stress of cold and snow, now
+seemed so far away as to be only a complication in a splendid mountain
+drama. Surely no blame could attach to the frank and generous girl, even
+though the jealous assault of Cliff Belden should throw the valley into a
+fever of chatter. "Furthermore, I don't believe he will be in haste to
+speak of his share in the play," he added. "It was too nearly criminal."
+
+It was almost noon of the fourth day when the Supervisor called up to say
+that he was at the office, and would reach the ranch at six o'clock.
+
+"I wish you would come home at once," his wife argued; and something in
+her voice convinced him that he was more needed at home, than in the
+town.
+
+"All right, mother. Hold the fort an hour and I'll be there."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane met him at the hitching-bar, and it required but a glance
+for him to read in her face a troubled state of mind.
+
+"This has been a disastrous trip for Berrie," she said, after one of the
+hands had relieved the Supervisor of his horse.
+
+"In what way?"
+
+She was a bit impatient. "Mrs. Belden is filling the valley with the
+story of Berrie's stay in camp with Mr. Norcross."
+
+His face showed a graver line. "It couldn't be helped. The horses had to
+be followed, and that youngster couldn't do it--and, besides, I expected
+to get back that night. Nobody but an old snoop like Seth Belden would
+think evil of our girl. And, besides, Norcross is a man to be trusted."
+
+"Of course he is, but the Beldens are ready to think evil of any one
+connected with us. And Cliff's assault on Wayland--"
+
+He looked up quickly. "Assault? Did he make trouble?"
+
+"Yes, he overtook them on the trail, and would have killed Norcross if
+Berrie hadn't interfered. He was crazy with jealousy."
+
+"Nash didn't say anything about any assault."
+
+"He didn't know it. Berrie told him that Norcross fell from his horse."
+
+McFarlane was deeply stirred. "I saw Cliff leave camp, but I didn't think
+anything of it. Why should he jump Norcross?"
+
+"I suppose Mrs. Belden filled him with distrust of Berrie. He was already
+jealous, and when he came up with them and found them lunching together,
+he lost his head and rushed at Wayland like a wild beast. Of course he
+couldn't stand against a big man like Cliff, and his head struck on a
+stone; and if Berrie hadn't throttled the brute he would have murdered
+the poor boy right there before her eyes."
+
+"Good God! I never suspected a word of this. I didn't think he'd do
+that."
+
+The Supervisor was now very grave. These domestic matters at once threw
+his work as forester into the region of vague and unimportant
+abstractions. He began to understand the danger into which Berea had
+fallen, and step by step he took up the trails which had brought them all
+to this pass.
+
+He fixed another penetrating look upon her face, and his voice was vibrant
+with anxiety as he said: "You don't think there's anything--wrong?"
+
+"No, nothing wrong; but she's profoundly in love with him. I never have
+seen her so wrapped up in any one. She thinks of nothing else. It scares
+me to see it, for I've studied him closely and I can't believe he feels
+the same toward her. His world is so different from ours. I don't know
+what to do or say. I fear she is in for a period of great unhappiness."
+
+She was at the beginning of tears, and he sought to comfort her. "Don't
+worry, honey, she's got too much horse sense to do anything foolish.
+She's grown up. I suppose it's his being so different from the other boys
+that catches her. We've always been good chums--let me talk with her. She
+mustn't make a mistake."
+
+The return of the crew from the corral cut short this conference, and
+when McFarlane went in Berrie greeted him with such frank and joyous
+expression that all his fears vanished.
+
+"Did you come over the high trail?" she asked.
+
+"No, I came your way. I didn't want to take any chances on getting mired.
+It's still raining up there," he answered, then turned to Wayland:
+"Here's your mail, Norcross, a whole hatful of it--and one telegram in
+the bunch. Hope it isn't serious."
+
+Wayland took the bundle of letters and retired to his room, glad to
+escape the persistent stare of the cow-hands. The despatch was from his
+father, and was curt and specific as a command: "Shall be in Denver on
+the 23d, meet me at the Palmer House. Am on my way to California. Come
+prepared to join me on the trip."
+
+With the letters unopened in his lap he sat in silent thought, profoundly
+troubled by the instant decision which this message demanded of him. At
+first glance nothing was simpler than to pack up and go. He was only a
+tourist in the valley with no intention of staying; but there was Berea!
+To go meant a violent end of their pleasant romance. To think of flight
+saddened him, and yet his better judgment was clearly on the side of
+going. "Much as I like her, much as I admire her, I cannot marry her. The
+simplest way is to frankly tell her so and go. It seems cowardly, but in
+the end she will be happier."
+
+His letters carried him back into his own world. One was from Will
+Halliday, who was going with Professor Holsman on an exploring trip up
+the Nile. "You must join us. Holsman has promised to take you on."
+Another classmate wrote to know if he did not want to go into a land deal
+on the Gulf of Mexico. A girl asked: "Are you to be in New York this
+winter? I am. I've decided to go into this Suffrage Movement." And so,
+one by one, the threads which bound him to Eastern city life re-spun
+their filaments. After all, this Colorado outing, even though it should
+last two years, would only be a vacation--his real life was in the cities
+of the East. Charming as Berea was, potent as she seemed, she was after
+all a fixed part of the mountain land, and not to be taken from it. At
+the moment marriage with her appeared absurd.
+
+A knock at his door and the Supervisor's voice gave him a keen shock.
+"Come in," he called, springing to his feet with a thrill of dread, of
+alarm.
+
+McFarlane entered slowly and shut the door behind him. His manner was
+serious, and his voice gravely gentle as he said: "I hope that telegram
+does not call you away?"
+
+"It is from my father, asking me to meet him in Denver," answered
+Norcross, with faltering breath. "He's on his way to California. Won't
+you sit down?"
+
+The older man took a seat with quiet dignity. "Seems like a mighty fine
+chance, don't it? I've always wanted to see the Coast. When do you plan
+for to pull out?"
+
+Wayland was not deceived by the Supervisor's casual tone; there was
+something ominously calm in his manner, something which expressed an
+almost dangerous interest in the subject.
+
+"I haven't decided to go at all. I'm still dazed by the suddenness of it.
+I didn't know my father was planning this trip."
+
+"I see. Well, before you decide to go I'd like to have a little talk with
+you. My daughter has told me part of what happened to you on the trail. I
+want to know _all_ of it. You're young, but you've been out in the world,
+and you know what people can say about you and my girl." His voice became
+level and menacing, as he added: "And I don't intend to have her put in
+wrong on account of you."
+
+Norcross was quick to reply. "Nobody will dare accuse her of wrongdoing.
+She's a noble girl. No one will dare to criticize her for what she could
+not prevent."
+
+"You don't know the Beldens. My girl's character will be on trial in
+every house in the county to-morrow. The Belden side of it will appear in
+the city papers. Sympathy will be with Clifford. Berrie will be made an
+issue by my enemies. They'll get me through her."
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed Norcross, in sudden realization of the gravity of
+the case. "What beasts they are!"
+
+"Moore's gang will seize upon it and work it hard," McFarlane went on,
+with calm insistence. "They want to bring the district forester down on
+me. This is a fine chance to badger me. They will make a great deal of my
+putting you on the roll. Our little camping trip is likely to prove a
+serious matter to us all."
+
+"Surely you don't consider me at fault?"
+
+Worried as he was, the father was just. "No, you're not to blame--no one
+is to blame. It all dates back to the horses quitting camp; but you've
+got to stand pat now--for Berrie's sake."
+
+"But what can I do? I'm at your service. What rôle shall I play? Tell me
+what to do, and I will do it."
+
+McFarlane was staggered, but he answered: "You can at least stay on the
+ground and help fight. This is no time to stampede."
+
+"You're right. I'll stay, and I'll make any statement you see fit. I'll
+do anything that will protect Berrie."
+
+McFarlane again looked him squarely in the eyes. "Is there a--an
+agreement between you?"
+
+"Nothing formal--that is--I mean I admire her, and I told her--" He
+stopped, feeling himself on the verge of the irrevocable. "She's a
+splendid girl," he went on. "I like her exceedingly, but I've known her
+only a few weeks."
+
+McFarlane interrupted. "Girls are flighty critters," he said, sadly. "I
+don't know why she's taken to you so terrible strong; but she has. She
+don't seem to care what people say so long as they do not blame you; but
+if you should pull out you might just as well cut her heart to pieces--"
+His voice broke, and it was a long time before he could finish. "You're
+not at fault, I know that, but if you _can_ stay on a little while and
+make it an ounce or two easier for her and for her mother, I wish you'd
+do it."
+
+Wayland extended his hand impulsively. "Of course I'll stay. I never
+really thought of leaving." In the grip of McFarlane's hand was something
+warm and tender.
+
+He rose. "I'm terribly obliged," he said; "but we mustn't let her suspect
+for a minute that we've been discussing her. She hates being pitied or
+helped."
+
+"She shall not experience a moment's uneasiness that I can prevent,"
+replied the youth; and at the moment he meant it.
+
+Berrie could not be entirely deceived. She read in her father's face a
+subtle change of line which she related to something Wayland had said.
+"Did he tell you what was in the telegram? Has he got to go away?" she
+asked, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, he said it was from his father."
+
+"What does his father want of him?"
+
+"He's on his way to California and wants Wayland to go with him; but
+Wayland says he's not going."
+
+A pang shot through Berrie's heart. "He mustn't go--he isn't able to go,"
+she exclaimed, and her pain, her fear, came out in her sharpened,
+constricted tone. "I won't let him go--till he's well."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane gently interposed. "He'll have to go, honey, if his father
+needs him."
+
+"Let his father come here." She rose, and, going to his door, decisively
+knocked. "May I come in?" she demanded, rather than asked, before her
+mother could protest. "I must see you."
+
+Wayland opened the door, and she entered, leaving her parents facing each
+other in mute helplessness.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane turned toward her husband with a face of despair. "She's
+ours no longer, Joe. Our time of bereavement has come."
+
+He took her in his arms. "There, there, mother. Don't cry. It can't be
+helped. You cut loose from your parents and came to me in just the same
+way. Our daughter's a grown woman, and must have her own life. All we can
+do is to defend her against the coyotes who are busy with her name."
+
+"But what of _him_, Joe; he don't care for her as she does for him--can't
+you see that?"
+
+"He'll do the right thing, mother; he told me he would. He knows how much
+depends on his staying here now, and he intends to do it."
+
+"But in the end, Joe, after this scandal is lived down, can he--will
+he--marry her? And if he marries her can they live together and be happy?
+His way of life is so different. He can't content himself here, and she
+can't fit in where he belongs. It all seems hopeless to me. Wouldn't it
+be better for her to suffer for a little while now than to make a mistake
+that may last a lifetime?"
+
+"Mebbe it would, mother, but the decision is not ours. She's too strong
+for us to control. She's of age, and if she comes to a full understanding
+of the situation, she can decide the question a whole lot better than
+either of us."
+
+"That's true," she sighed. "In some ways she's bigger and stronger than
+both of us. Sometimes I wish she were not so self-reliant."
+
+"Well, that's the way life is, sometimes, and I reckon there's nothin'
+left for you an' me but to draw closer together and try to fill up the
+empty place she's going to leave between us."
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE SUMMONS
+
+
+When Wayland caught the startled look on Berrie's face he knew that she
+had learned from her father the contents of his telegram, and that she
+would require an explanation.
+
+"Are you going away?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. At least, I must go down to Denver to see my father. I shall be
+gone only over night."
+
+"And will you tell him about our trip?" she pursued, with unflinching
+directness. "And about--me?"
+
+He gave her a chair, and took a seat himself before replying. "Yes, I
+shall tell him all about it, and about you and your father and mother. He
+shall know how kind you've all been to me."
+
+He said this bravely, and at the moment he meant it; but as his father's
+big, impassive face and cold, keen eyes came back to him his courage
+sank, and in spite of his firm resolution some part of his secret anxiety
+communicated itself to the girl, who asked many questions, with intent to
+find out more particularly what kind of man the elder Norcross was.
+
+Wayland's replies did not entirely reassure her. He admitted that his
+father was harsh and domineering in character, and that he was ambitious
+to have his son take up and carry forward his work. "He was willing
+enough to have me go to college till he found I was specializing on wrong
+lines. Then I had to fight in order to keep my place. He's glad I'm out
+here, for he thinks I'm regaining my strength. But just as soon as I'm
+well enough he expects me to go to Chicago and take charge of the Western
+office. Of course, I don't want to do that. I'd rather work out some
+problem in chemistry that interests me; but I may have to give in, for a
+time at least."
+
+"Will your mother and sisters be with your father?"
+
+"No, indeed! You couldn't get any one of them west of the Hudson River
+with a log-chain. My sisters were both born in Michigan, but they want to
+forget it--they pretend they have forgotten it. They both have
+New-Yorkitis. Nothing but the Plaza will do them now."
+
+"I suppose they think we're all 'Injuns' out here?"
+
+"Oh no, not so bad as that; but they wouldn't comprehend anything about
+you except your muscle. That would catch 'em. They'd worship your
+splendid health, just as I do. It's pitiful the way they both try to put
+on weight. They're always testing some new food, some new tonic--they'll
+do anything except exercise regularly and go to bed at ten o'clock."
+
+All that he said of his family deepened her dismay. Their interests were
+so alien to her own.
+
+"I'm afraid to have you go even for a day," she admitted, with simple
+honesty, which moved him deeply. "I don't know what I should do if you
+went away. I think of nothing but you now."
+
+Her face was pitiful, and he put his arm about her neck as if she were a
+child. "You mustn't do that. You must go on with your life just as if I'd
+never been. Think of your father's job--of the forest and the ranch."
+
+"I can't do it. I've lost interest in the service. I never want to go
+into the high country again, and I don't want you to go, either. It's too
+savage and cruel."
+
+"That is only a mood," he said, confidently. "It is splendid up there. I
+shall certainly go back some time."
+
+He could not divine, and she could not tell him, how poignantly she had
+sensed the menace of the cold and darkness during his illness. For the
+first time in her life she had realized to the full the unrelenting
+enmity of the clouds, the wind, the night; and during that interminable
+ride toward home, when she saw him bending lower and lower over his
+saddle-bow, her allegiance to the trail, her devotion to the stirrup was
+broken. His weariness and pain had changed the universe for her. Never
+again would she look upon the range with the eyes of the care-free girl.
+The other, the civilized, the domestic, side of her was now dominant. A
+new desire, a bigger aspiration, had taken possession of her.
+
+Little by little he realized this change in her, and was touched with the
+wonder of it. He had never had any great self-love either as man or
+scholar, and the thought of this fine, self-sufficient womanly soul
+centering all its interests on him was humbling. Each moment his
+responsibility deepened, and he heard her voice but dimly as she went
+on.
+
+"Of course we are not rich; but we are not poor, and my mother's family
+is one of the oldest in Kentucky." She uttered this with a touch of her
+mother's quiet dignity. "Your father need not despise us."
+
+"So far as my father is concerned, family don't count, and neither does
+money. But he confidently expects me to take up his business in Chicago,
+and I suppose it is my duty to do so. If he finds me looking fit he may
+order me into the ranks at once."
+
+"I'll go there--I'll do anything you want me to do," she urged. "You can
+tell your father that I'll help you in the office. I can learn. I'm ready
+to use a typewriter--anything."
+
+He was silent in the face of her naïve expression of self-sacrificing
+love, and after a moment she added, hesitatingly: "I wish I could meet
+your father. Perhaps he'd come up here if you asked him to do so?"
+
+He seized upon the suggestion. "By George! I believe he would. I don't
+want to go to town. I just believe I'll wire him that I'm laid up here
+and can't come." Then a shade of new trouble came over his face. How
+would the stern, methodical old business man regard this slovenly ranch
+and its primitive ways? She felt the question in his face.
+
+"You're afraid to have him come," she said, with the same disconcerting
+penetration which had marked every moment of her interview thus far.
+"You're afraid he wouldn't like me?"
+
+With almost equal frankness he replied: "No. I think he'd like _you_, but
+this town and the people up here would gall him. Order is a religion with
+him. Then he's got a vicious slant against all this conservation
+business--calls it tommy-rot. He and your father might lock horns first
+crack out of the box. But I'll risk it. I'll wire him at once."
+
+A knock at the door interrupted him, and Mrs. McFarlane's voice, filled
+with new excitement, called out: "Berrie, the District office is on the
+wire."
+
+Berrie opened the door and confronted her mother, who said: "Mr. Evingham
+'phones that the afternoon papers contain an account of a fight at Coal
+City between Settle and one of Alec Belden's men, and that the District
+Forester is coming down to investigate it."
+
+"Let him come," answered Berrie, defiantly. "He can't do us any harm.
+What was the row about?"
+
+"I didn't hear much of it. Your father was at the 'phone."
+
+McFarlane, with the receiver to his ear, was saying: "Don't know a thing
+about it, Mr. Evingham. Settle was at the station when I left. I didn't
+know he was going down to Coal City. No, that's a mistake. My daughter
+was never engaged to Alec Belden. Alec Belden is the older of the
+brothers, and is married. I can't go into that just now. If you come down
+I'll explain fully."
+
+He hung up the receiver and slowly turned toward his wife and daughter.
+"This sure is our day of trouble," he said, with dejected countenance.
+
+"What is it all about?" asked Berrie.
+
+"Why, it seems that after I left yesterday Settle rode down the valley
+with Belden's outfit, and they all got to drinking, ending in a row, and
+Tony beat one of Belden's men almost to death. The sheriff has gone over
+to get Tony, and the Beldens declare they're going to railroad him. That
+means we'll all be brought into it. Belden has seized the moment to
+prefer charges against me for keeping Settle in the service and for
+putting a non-resident on the roll as guard. The whelp will dig up
+everything he can to queer me with the office. All that kept him from
+doing it before was Cliff's interest in you."
+
+"He can't make any of his charges stick," declared Berrie.
+
+"Of course he can't. He knows that. But he can bring us all into court.
+You and Mr. Norcross will both be called as witnesses, for it seems that
+Tony was defending your name. The papers call it 'a fight for a girl.'
+Oh, it's a sweet mess."
+
+For the first time Berrie betrayed alarm. "What shall we do? I can't go
+on the stand! They can't make me do that, can they?" She turned to
+Wayland. "Now you _must_ go away. It is a shame to have you mixed up in
+such a trial."
+
+"I shall not run away and leave you and the Supervisor to bear all the
+burden of this fight."
+
+He anticipated in imagination--as they all did--some of the consequences
+of this trial. The entire story of the camping trip would be dragged in,
+distorted into a scandal, and flashed over the country as a disgraceful
+episode. The country would ring with laughter and coarse jest. Berrie's
+testimony would be a feast for court-room loafers.
+
+"There's only one thing to do," said McFarlane, after a few moments of
+thought. "You and Berrie and Mrs. McFarlane must get out of here before
+you are subpoenaed."
+
+"And leave you to fight it out alone?" exclaimed his wife. "I shall do
+nothing of the kind. Berrie and Mr. Norcross can go."
+
+"That won't do," retorted McFarlane, quickly. "That won't do at all. You
+must go with them. I can take care of myself. I will not have you dragged
+into this muck-hole. We've got to think quick and act quick. There won't
+be any delay about their side of the game. I don't think they'll do
+anything to-day; but you've got to fade out of the valley. You all get
+ready and I'll have one of the boys hook up the surrey as if for a little
+drive, and you can pull out over the old stage-road to Flume and catch
+the narrow-gage morning train for Denver. You've been wanting for some
+time to go down the line. Now here's a good time to start."
+
+Berrie now argued against running away. Her blood was up. She joined her
+mother. "We won't leave you to inherit all this trouble. Who will look
+after the ranch? Who will keep house for you?"
+
+McFarlane remained firm. "I'll manage. Don't worry about me. Just get out
+of reach. The more I consider this thing, the more worrisome it gets.
+Suppose Cliff should come back to testify?"
+
+"He won't. If he does I'll have him arrested for trying to kill Wayland,"
+retorted Berrie.
+
+"And make the whole thing worse! No. You are all going to cross the
+range. You can start out as if for a little turn round the valley, and
+just naturally keep going. It can't do any harm, and it may save a nasty
+time in court."
+
+"One would think we were a lot of criminals," remarked Wayland.
+
+"That's the way you'll be treated," retorted McFarlane. "Belden has
+retained old Whitby, the foulest old brute in the business, and he'll
+bring you all into it if he can."
+
+"But running away from it will not prevent talk," argued his wife.
+
+"Not entirely; but talk and testimony are two different things. Suppose
+they call daughter to the stand? Do you want her cross-examined as to
+what basis there was for this gossip? They know something of Cliff's
+being let out, and that will inflame them. He may be at the mill this
+minute."
+
+"I guess you're right," said Norcross, sadly. "Our delightful excursion
+into the forest has led us into a predicament from which there is only
+one way of escape, and that is flight."
+
+Back of all this talk, this argument, there remained still unanswered the
+most vital, most important question: "Shall I speak of marriage at this
+time? Would it be a source of comfort to them as well as a joy to her?"
+At the moment he was ready to speak, for he felt himself to be the direct
+cause of all their embarrassment. But closer thought made it clear that a
+hasty ceremony would only be considered a cloak to cover something
+illicit. "I'll leave it to the future," he decided.
+
+McFarlane was again called to the telephone. Landon, with characteristic
+brevity, conveyed to him the fact that Mrs. Belden was at home and busily
+'phoning scandalous stories about the country. "If you don't stop her
+she's going to poison every ear in the valley," ended the ranger.
+
+"You'd think they'd all know my daughter well enough not to believe
+anything Mrs. Belden says," responded McFarlane, bitterly.
+
+"All the boys are ready to do what Tony did. But nobody can stop this old
+fool's mouth but you. Cliff has disappeared, and that adds to the
+excitement."
+
+"Thank the boys for me," said McFarlane, "and tell them not to fight.
+Tell 'em to keep cool. It will all be cleared up soon."
+
+As McFarlane went out to order the horses hooked up, Wayland followed him
+as far as the bars. "I'm conscience-smitten over this thing, Supervisor,
+for I am aware that I am the cause of all your trouble."
+
+"Don't let that worry you," responded the older man. But he spoke with
+effort. "It can't be helped. It was all unavoidable."
+
+"The most appalling thing to me is the fact that not even your daughter's
+popularity can neutralize the gossip of a woman like Mrs. Belden. My
+being an outsider counts against Berrie, and I'm ready to do
+anything--anything," he repeated, earnestly. "I love your daughter, Mr.
+McFarlane, and I'm ready to marry her at once if you think best. She's a
+noble girl, and I cannot bear to be the cause of her calumniation."
+
+There was mist in the Supervisor's eyes as he turned them on the young
+man. "I'm right glad to hear you say that, my boy." He reached out his
+hand, and Wayland took it. "I knew you'd say the word when the time came.
+I didn't know how strongly she felt toward you till to-day. I knew she
+liked you, of course, for she said so, but I didn't know that she had
+plum set her heart on you. I didn't expect her to marry a city man;
+but--I like you and--well, she's the doctor! What suits her suits me.
+Don't you be afraid of her not meeting all comers." He went on after a
+pause, "She's never seen much of city life, but she'll hold her own
+anywhere, you can gamble on that."
+
+"She has wonderful adaptability, I know," answered Wayland, slowly. "But
+I don't like to take her away from here--from you."
+
+"If you hadn't come she would have married Cliff--and what kind of a life
+would she have led with him?" demanded McFarlane. "I knew Cliff was
+rough, but I couldn't convince her that he was cheap. I live only for her
+happiness, my boy, and, though I know you will take her away from me, I
+believe you can make her happy, and so--I give her over to you. As to
+time and place, arrange that--with--her mother." He turned and walked
+away, unable to utter another word.
+
+Wayland's throat was aching also, and he went back into the house with a
+sense of responsibility which exalted him into sturdier manhood.
+
+Berea met him in a pretty gown, a dress he had never seen her wear, a
+costume which transformed her into something entirely feminine.
+
+She seemed to have put away the self-reliant manner of the trail, and in
+its stead presented the lambent gaze, the tremulous lips of the bride. As
+he looked at her thus transfigured his heart cast out its hesitancy and
+he entered upon his new adventure without further question or regret.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+A MATTER OF MILLINERY
+
+
+It was three o'clock of a fine, clear, golden afternoon as they said
+good-by to McFarlane and started eastward, as if for a little drive.
+Berrie held the reins in spite of Wayland's protestations. "These
+bronchos are only about half busted," she said. "They need watching. I
+know them better than you do." Therefore he submitted, well knowing that
+she was entirely competent and fully informed.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, while looking back at her husband, sadly exclaimed: "I
+feel like a coward running away like this."
+
+"Forget it, mother," commanded her daughter, cheerily. "Just imagine
+we're off for a short vacation. I'm for going clear through to Chicago.
+So long as we _must_ go, let's go whooping. Father's better off without
+us."
+
+Her voice was gay, her eyes shining, and Wayland saw her as she had been
+that first day in the coach--the care-free, laughing girl. The trouble
+they were fleeing from was less real to her than the happiness toward
+which she rode.
+
+Her hand on the reins, her foot on the brake, brought back her
+confidence; but Wayland did not feel so sure of his part in the
+adventure. She seemed so unalterably a part of this life, so fitted to
+this landscape, that the thought of transplanting her to the East brought
+uneasiness and question. Could such a creature of the open air be content
+with the walls of a city?
+
+For several miles the road ran over the level floor of the valley, and
+she urged the team to full speed. "I don't want to meet anybody if I can
+help it. Once we reach the old stage route the chances of being scouted
+are few. Nobody uses that road since the broad-gauge reached Cragg's."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane could not rid herself of the resentment with which she
+suffered this enforced departure; but she had small opportunity to
+protest, for the wagon bumped and clattered over the stony stretches with
+a motion which confused as well as silenced her. It was all so
+humiliating, so unlike the position which she had imagined herself to
+have attained in the eyes of her neighbors. Furthermore, she was going
+away without a trunk, with only one small bag for herself and
+Berrie--running away like a criminal from an intangible foe. However, she
+was somewhat comforted by the gaiety of the young people before her. They
+were indeed jocund as jaybirds. With the resiliency of youth they had
+accepted the situation, and were making the best of it.
+
+"Here comes somebody," called Berrie, pulling her ponies to a walk.
+"Throw a blanket over that valise." She was chuckling as if it were all a
+good joke. "It's old Jake Proudfoot. I can smell him. Now hang on. I'm
+going to pass him on the jump."
+
+Wayland, who was riding with his hat in his hand because he could not
+make it cover his bump, held it up as if to keep the wind from his face,
+and so defeated the round-eyed, owl-like stare of the inquisitive
+rancher, who brought his team to a full stop in order to peer after them,
+muttering in a stupor of resentment and surprise.
+
+"He'll worry himself sick over us," predicted Berrie. "He'll wonder where
+we're going and what was under that blanket till the end of summer. He is
+as curious as a fool hen."
+
+A few minutes more and they were at the fork in the way, and, leaving the
+trail to Cragg's, the girl pulled into the grass-grown, less-traveled
+trail to the south, which entered the timber at this point and began to
+climb with steady grade. Letting the reins fall slack, she turned to her
+mother with reassuring words. "There! Now we're safe. We won't meet
+anybody on this road except possibly a mover's outfit. We're in the
+forest again," she added.
+
+For two hours they crawled slowly upward, with a roaring stream on one
+side and the pine-covered slopes on the other. Jays and camp-birds called
+from the trees. Water-robins fluttered from rock to rock in the foaming
+flood. Squirrels and minute chipmunks raced across the fallen tree-trunks
+or clattered from great boulders, and in the peace and order and beauty
+of the forest they all recovered a serener outlook on the noisome tumult
+they were leaving behind them. Invisible as well as inaudible, the
+serpent of slander lost its terror.
+
+Once, as they paused to rest the horses, Wayland said: "It is hard to
+realize that down in that ethereal valley people like old Jake and Mrs.
+Belden have their dwelling-place."
+
+This moved Mrs. McFarlane to admit that it might all turn out a blessing
+in disguise. "Mr. McFarlane may resign and move to Denver, as I've long
+wanted him to do."
+
+"I wish he would," exclaimed Berrie, fervently. "It's time you had a
+rest. Daddy will hate to quit under fire, but he'd better do it."
+
+Peak by peak the Bear Tooth Range rose behind them, while before them the
+smooth, grassy slopes of the pass told that they were nearing
+timber-line. The air was chill, the sun was hidden by old Solidor, and
+the stream had diminished to a silent rill winding among sear grass and
+yellowed willows. The valley behind them was vague with mist. The
+southern boundary of the forest was in sight.
+
+At last the topmost looming crags of the Continental Divide cut the
+sky-line, and then in the smooth hollow between two rounded grassy
+summits Berrie halted, and they all silently contemplated the two worlds.
+To the west and north lay an endless spread of mountains, wave on wave,
+snow-lined, savage, sullen in the dying light; while to the east and
+southeast the foot-hills faded into the plain, whose dim cities,
+insubstantial as flecks in a veil of violet mist, were hardly
+distinguishable without the aid of glasses.
+
+To the girl there was something splendid, something heroical in that
+majestic, menacing landscape to the west. In one of its folds she had
+begun her life. In another she had grown to womanhood and self-confident
+power. The rough men, the coarse, ungainly women of that land seemed less
+hateful now that she was leaving them, perhaps forever, and a confused
+memory of the many splendid dawns and purple sunsets she had loved filled
+her thought.
+
+Wayland, divining some part of what was moving in her mind, cheerily
+remarked, "Yes, it's a splendid place for a summer vacation, but a stern
+place in winter-time, and for a lifelong residence it is not inspiring."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane agreed with him in this estimate. "It _is_ terribly
+lonesome in there at times. I've had enough of it. I'm ready for the
+comforts of civilization."
+
+Berrie turned in her seat, and was about to take up the reins when
+Wayland asserted himself. "Wait a moment. Here's where my dominion
+begins. Here's where you change seats with me. I am the driver now."
+
+She looked at him with questioning, smiling glance. "Can you drive? It's
+all the way down-hill--and steep?"
+
+"If I can't I'll ask your aid. I'm old enough to remember the family
+carriage. I've even driven a four-in-hand."
+
+She surrendered her seat doubtfully, and smiled to see him take up the
+reins as if he were starting a four-horse coach. He proved adequate and
+careful, and she was proud of him as, with foot on the brake and the
+bronchos well in hand, he swung down the long looping road to the
+railway. She was pleased, too, by his care of the weary animals, easing
+them down the steepest slopes and sending them along on the comparatively
+level spots.
+
+Their descent was rapid, but it was long after dark before they reached
+Flume, which lay up the valley to the right. It was a poor little
+decaying mining-town set against the hillside, and had but one hotel, a
+sun-warped and sagging pine building just above the station.
+
+"Not much like the Profile House," said Wayland, as he drew up to the
+porch. "But I see no choice."
+
+"There isn't any," Berrie assured him.
+
+"Well, now," he went on, "I am in command of this expedition. From this
+on I lead this outfit. When it comes to hotels, railways, and the like o'
+that, I'm head ranger."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, tired, hungry, and a little dismayed, accepted his
+control gladly; but Berrie could not at once slip aside her
+responsibility. "Tell the hostler--"
+
+"Not a word!" commanded Norcross; and the girl with a smile submitted to
+his guidance, and thereafter his efficiency, his self-possession, his
+tact delighted her. He persuaded the sullen landlady to get them supper.
+He secured the best rooms in the house, and arranged for the care of the
+team, and when they were all seated around the dim, fly-specked oil-lamp
+at the end of the crumby dining-room table he discovered such a gay and
+confident mien that the women looked at each other in surprise.
+
+Berrie was correspondingly less masculine. In drawing off her buckskin
+driving-gloves she had put away the cowgirl, and was silent, a little sad
+even, in the midst of her enjoyment of his dictatorship. And when he
+said, "If my father reaches Denver in time I want you to meet him," she
+looked the dismay she felt.
+
+"I'll do it--but I'm scared of him."
+
+"You needn't be. I'll see him first and draw his fire."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane interposed. "We must do a little shopping first. We can't
+meet your father as we are."
+
+"Very well. I'll go with you if you'll let me. I'm a great little
+shopper. I have infallible taste, so my sisters say. If it's a case of
+buying new hats, for instance, I'm the final authority with them." This
+amused Berrie, but her mother took it seriously.
+
+"Of course, I'm anxious to have my daughter make the best possible
+impression."
+
+"Very well. It is arranged. We get in, I find, about noon. We'll go
+straight to the biggest shop in town. If we work with speed we'll be able
+to lunch with my father. He'll be at the Palmer House at one."
+
+Berrie said nothing, either in acceptance or rejection of his plan. Her
+mind was concerned with new conceptions, new relationships, and when in
+the hall he took her face between his hands and said, "Cheer up! All is
+not lost," she put her arms about his neck and laid her cheek against his
+breast to hide her tears. "Oh, Wayland! I'm such an idiot in the city.
+I'm afraid your father will despise me."
+
+What he said was not very cogent, and not in the least literary, but it
+was reassuring and lover-like, and when he turned her over to her mother
+she was composed, though unwontedly grave.
+
+She woke to a new life next morning--a life of compliance, of following,
+of dependence upon the judgment of another. She stood in silence while
+her lover paid the bills, bought the tickets, and telegraphed their
+coming to his father. She acquiesced when he prevented her mother from
+telephoning to the ranch. She complied when he countermanded her order to
+have the team sent back at once. His judgment ruled, and she enjoyed her
+sudden freedom from responsibility. It was novel, and it was very sweet
+to think that she was being cared for as she had cared for and shielded
+him in the world of the trail.
+
+In the little railway-coach, which held a score of passengers, she found
+herself among some Eastern travelers who had taken the trip up the Valley
+of the Flume in the full belief that they were piercing the heart of the
+Rocky Mountains! It amused Wayland almost as much as it amused Berrie
+when one man said to his wife:
+
+"Well, I'm glad we've seen the Rockies."
+
+"He really believes it!" exclaimed Norcross.
+
+After an hour's ride Wayland tactfully withdrew, leaving mother and
+daughter to discuss clothes undisturbed by his presence.
+
+"We must look our best, honey," said Mrs. McFarlane. "We will go right to
+Mme. Crosby at Battle's, and she'll fit us out. I wish we had more time;
+but we haven't, so we must do the best we can."
+
+"I want Wayland to choose my hat and traveling-suit," replied Berrie.
+
+"Of course. But you've got to have a lot of other things besides." And
+they bent to the joyous work of making out a list of goods to be
+purchased as soon as they reached Chicago.
+
+Wayland came back with a Denver paper in his hand and a look of disgust
+on his face. "It's all in here--at least, the outlines of it."
+
+Berrie took the journal, and there read the details of Settle's assault
+upon the foreman. "The fight arose from a remark concerning the Forest
+Supervisor's daughter. Ranger Settle resented the gossip, and fell upon
+the other man, beating him with the butt of his revolver. Friends of the
+foreman claim that the ranger is a drunken bully, and should have been
+discharged long ago. The Supervisor for some mysterious reason retains
+this man, although he is an incompetent. It is also claimed that
+McFarlane put a man on the roll without examination." The Supervisor was
+the protagonist of the play, which was plainly political. The attack upon
+him was bitter and unjust, and Mrs. McFarlane again declared her
+intention of returning to help him in his fight. However, Wayland again
+proved to her that her presence would only embarrass the Supervisor. "You
+would not aid him in the slightest degree. Nash and Landon are with him,
+and will refute all these charges."
+
+This newspaper story took the light out of their day and the smile from
+Berrie's lips, and the women entered the city silent and distressed in
+spite of the efforts of their young guide. The nearer the girl came to
+the ordeal of facing the elder Norcross, the more she feared the outcome;
+but Wayland kept his air of easy confidence, and drove them directly to
+the shopping center, believing that under the influence of hats and
+gloves they would regain their customary cheer.
+
+In this he was largely justified. They had a delightful hour trying on
+millinery and coats and gloves. The forewoman, who knew Mrs. McFarlane,
+gladly accepted her commission, and, while suspecting the tender
+relationship between the girl and the man, she was tactful enough to
+conceal her suspicion. "The gentleman is right; you carry simple things
+best," she remarked to Berrie, thus showing her own good judgment.
+"Smartly tailored gray or blue suits are your style."
+
+Silent, blushing, tousled by the hands of her decorators, Berrie
+permitted hats to be perched on her head and jackets buttoned and
+unbuttoned about her shoulders till she felt like a worn clothes-horse.
+Wayland beamed with delight, but she was far less satisfied than he; and
+when at last selection was made, she still had her doubts, not of the
+clothes, but of her ability to wear them. They seemed so alien to her, so
+restrictive and enslaving.
+
+"You're an easy fitter," said the saleswoman. "But"--here she lowered her
+voice--"you need a new corset. This old one is out of date. Nobody is
+wearing hips now."
+
+Thereupon Berrie meekly permitted herself to be led away to a
+torture-room. Wayland waited patiently, and when she reappeared all
+traces of Bear Tooth Forest had vanished. In a neat tailored suit and a
+very "chic" hat, with shoes, gloves, and stockings to match, she was so
+transformed, so charmingly girlish in her self-conscious glory, that he
+was tempted to embrace her in the presence of the saleswoman. But he
+didn't. He merely said: "I see the governor's finish! Let's go to lunch.
+You are stunning!"
+
+"I don't know myself," responded Berrie. "The only thing that feels
+natural is my hand. They cinched me so tight I can't eat a thing, and my
+shoes hurt." She laughed as she said this, for her use of the vernacular
+was conscious. "I'm a fraud. Your father will spot my brand first shot.
+Look at my face--red as a saddle!"
+
+"Don't let that trouble you. This is the time of year when tan is
+fashionable. Don't you be afraid of the governor. Just smile at him, give
+him your grip, and he'll melt."
+
+"I'm the one to melt. I'm beginning now."
+
+"I know how you feel, but you'll get used to the conventional
+boiler-plate and all the rest of it. We all groan and growl when we come
+back to it each autumn; but it's a part of being civilized, and we
+submit."
+
+Notwithstanding his confident advice, Wayland led the two silent and
+inwardly dismayed women into the showy café of the hotel with some degree
+of personal apprehension concerning the approaching interview with his
+father. Of course, he did not permit this to appear in the slightest
+degree. On the contrary, he gaily ordered a choice lunch, and did his
+best to keep his companions from sinking into deeper depression.
+
+It pleased him to observe the admiring glances which were turned upon
+Berrie, whose hat became her mightily, and, leaning over, he said in a
+low voice to Mrs. McFarlane: "Who is the lovely young lady opposite?
+Won't you introduce me?"
+
+This rejoiced the mother almost as much as it pleased the daughter, and
+she answered, "She looks like one of the Radburns of Lexington, but I
+think she's from Louisville."
+
+This little play being over, he said, "Now, while our order is coming
+I'll run out to the desk and see if the governor has come in or not."
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PRIVATE CAR
+
+
+After he went away Berrie turned to her mother with a look in which humor
+and awe were blent. "Am I dreaming, mother, or am I actually sitting here
+in the city? My head is dizzy with it all." Then, without waiting for an
+answer, she fervently added: "Isn't he fine! I'm the tenderfoot now. I
+hope his father won't despise me."
+
+With justifiable pride in her child, the mother replied: "He can't help
+liking you, honey. You look exactly like your grandmother at this moment.
+Meet Mr. Norcross in her spirit."
+
+"I'll try; but I feel like a woodchuck out of his hole."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane continued: "I'm glad we were forced out of the valley. You
+might have been shut in there all your life as I have been with your
+father."
+
+"You don't blame father, do you?"
+
+"Not entirely. And yet he always was rather easy-going, and you know how
+untidy the ranch is. He's always been kindness and sympathy itself; but
+his lack of order is a cross. Perhaps now he will resign, rent the ranch,
+and move over here. I should like to live in the city for a while, and
+I'd like to travel a little."
+
+"Wouldn't it be fine if you could! You could live at this hotel if you
+wanted to. Yes, you're right. You need a rest from the ranch and
+dish-washing."
+
+Wayland returned with an increase of tension in his face.
+
+"He's here! I've sent word saying, 'I am lunching in the café with
+ladies.' I think he'll come round. But don't be afraid of him. He's a
+good deal rougher on the outside than he is at heart. Of course, he's a
+bluff old business man, and not at all pretty, and he'll transfix you
+with a kind of estimating glare as if you were a tree; but he's actually
+very easy to manage if you know how to handle him. Now, I'm not going to
+try to explain everything to him at the beginning. I'm going to introduce
+him to you in a casual kind of way and give him time to take to you both.
+He forms his likes and dislikes very quickly."
+
+"What if he don't like us?" inquired Berrie, with troubled brow.
+
+"He can't help it." His tone was so positive that her eyes misted with
+happiness. "But here comes our food. I hope you aren't too nervous to
+eat. Here is where I shine as provider. This is the kind of camp fare I
+can recommend."
+
+Berrie's healthy appetite rose above her apprehension, and she ate with
+the keen enjoyment of a child, and her mother said, "It surely is a treat
+to get a chance at somebody else's cooking."
+
+"Don't you slander your home fare," warned Wayland. "It's as good as
+this, only different."
+
+He sat where he could watch the door, and despite his jocund pose his
+eyes expressed growing impatience and some anxiety. They were all well
+into their dessert before he called out: "Here he is!"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane could not see the new-comer from where she sat, but Berrie
+rose in great excitement as a heavy-set, full-faced man with short, gray
+mustache and high, smooth brow entered the room. He did not smile as he
+greeted his son, and his penetrating glance questioned even before he
+spoke. He seemed to silently ask: "Well, what's all this? How do you
+happen to be here? Who are these women?"
+
+Wayland said: "Mrs. McFarlane, this is my father. Father, this is Miss
+Berea McFarlane, of Bear Tooth Springs."
+
+The elder Norcross shook hands with Mrs. McFarlane politely, coldly; but
+he betrayed surprise as Berea took his fingers in her grip. At his son's
+solicitation he accepted a seat opposite Berea, but refused dessert.
+
+Wayland explained: "Mrs. McFarlane and her daughter quite saved my life
+over in the valley. Their ranch is the best health resort in Colorado."
+
+"Your complexion indicates that," his father responded, dryly. "You look
+something the way a man of your age ought to look. I needn't ask how
+you're feeling."
+
+"You needn't, but you may. I'm feeling like a new fiddle--barring a
+bruise at the back of my head, which makes a 'hard hat' a burden. I may
+as well tell you first off that Mrs. McFarlane is the wife of the Forest
+Supervisor at Bear Tooth, and Miss Berea is the able assistant of her
+father. We are all rank conservationists."
+
+Norcross, Senior, examined Berrie precisely as if his eyes were a couple
+of X-ray tubes, and as she flushed under his slow scrutiny he said: "I
+was not expecting to find the Forest Service in such hands."
+
+Wayland laughed.
+
+"I hope you didn't mash his fingers, Berrie."
+
+She smiled guiltily. "I'm afraid I did. I hope I didn't hurt
+you--sometimes I forget."
+
+Norcross, Senior, was waking up. "You have a most extraordinary grip.
+What did it? Piano practice?"
+
+Wayland grinned. "Piano! No--the cinch."
+
+"The what?"
+
+Wayland explained. "Miss McFarlane was brought up on a ranch. She can
+rope and tie a steer, saddle her own horse, pack an outfit, and all the
+rest of it."
+
+"Oh! Kind of cowgirl, eh?"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, eager to put Berrie's better part forward, explained:
+"She's our only child, Mr. Norcross, and as such has been a constant
+companion to her father. She's not all cow-hand. She's been to school,
+and she can cook and sew as well."
+
+He looked from one to the other. "Neither of you correspond exactly to my
+notions of a forester's wife and daughter."
+
+"Mrs. McFarlane comes from an old Kentucky family, father. Her
+grandfather helped to found a college down there."
+
+Wayland's anxious desire to create a favorable impression of the women
+did not escape the lumberman, but his face remained quite expressionless
+as he replied:
+
+"If the life of a cow-hand would give you the vigor this young lady
+appears to possess, I'm not sure but you'd better stick to it."
+
+Wayland and the two women exchanged glances of relief.
+
+"Why not tell him now?" they seemed to ask. But he said: "There's a long
+story to tell before we decide on my career. Let's finish our lunch. How
+is mother, and how are the girls?"
+
+Once, in the midst of a lame pursuit of other topics, the elder Norcross
+again fixed his eyes on Berea, saying: "I wish my girls had your weight
+and color." He paused a moment, then resumed with weary infliction: "Mrs.
+Norcross has always been delicate, and all her children--even her
+son--take after her. I've maintained a private and very expensive
+hospital for nearly thirty years."
+
+This regretful note in his father's voice gave Wayland confidence. His
+spirits rose.
+
+"Come, let's adjourn to the parlor and talk things over at our ease."
+
+They all followed him, and after showing the mother and daughter to their
+seats near a window he drew his father into a corner, and in rapid
+undertone related the story of his first meeting with Berrie, of his
+trouble with young Belden, of his camping trip, minutely describing the
+encounter on the mountainside, and ended by saying, with manly
+directness: "I would be up there in the mountains in a box if Berrie had
+not intervened. She's a noble girl, father, and is foolish enough to like
+me, and I'm going to marry her and try to make her happy."
+
+The old lumberman, who had listened intently all through this impassioned
+story, displayed no sign of surprise at its closing declaration; but his
+eyes explored his son's soul with calm abstraction. "Send her over to
+me," he said, at last. "Marriage is a serious matter. I want to talk with
+her--alone."
+
+Wayland went back to the women with an air of victory. "He wants to see
+you, Berrie. He's mellowing. Don't be afraid of him."
+
+She might have resented the father's lack of gallantry; but she did not.
+On the contrary, she rose and walked resolutely over to where he sat,
+quite ready to defend herself. He did not rise to meet her, but she did
+not count that against him, for there was nothing essentially rude in his
+manner. He was merely her elder, and inert.
+
+"Sit down," he said, not unkindly. "I want to have _you_ tell me about my
+son. He has been telling me all about you. Now let's have your side of
+the story."
+
+She took a seat and faced him with eyes as steady as his own. "Where
+shall I begin?" she bluntly challenged.
+
+"He wants to marry you. Now, it seems to me that seven weeks is very
+short acquaintance for a decision like that. Are you sure you want him?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I am." Her answer was most decided.
+
+His voice was slightly cynical as he went on. "But you were tolerably
+sure about that other fellow--that rancher with the fancy name--weren't
+you?" She flushed at this, but waited for him to go on. "Don't you think
+it possible that your fancy for Wayland is also temporary?"
+
+"No, sir!" she bravely declared. "I never felt toward any one the way I
+do toward Wayland. He's different. I shall _never_ change toward him."
+
+Her tone, her expression of eyes stopped this line of inquiry. He took up
+another. "Now, my dear young lady, I am a business man as well as a
+father, and the marriage of my son is a weighty matter. He is my main
+dependence. I am hoping to have him take up and carry on my business. To
+be quite candid, I didn't expect him to select his wife from a Colorado
+ranch. I considered him out of the danger-zone. I have always understood
+that women were scarce in the mountains. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm
+not one of those fools who are always trying to marry their sons and
+daughters into the ranks of the idle rich. I don't care a hang about
+social position, and I've got money enough for my son and my son's wife.
+But he's all the boy I have, and I don't want him to make a mistake."
+
+"Neither do I," she answered, simply, her eyes suffused with tears. "If I
+thought he would be sorry--"
+
+He interrupted again. "Oh, you can't tell that now. Any marriage is a
+risk. I don't say he's making a mistake in selecting you. You may be just
+the woman he needs. Only I want to be consulted. I want to know more
+about you. He tells me you have taken an active part in the management of
+the ranch and the forest. Is that true?"
+
+"I've always worked with my father--yes, sir."
+
+"You like that kind of life?"
+
+"I don't know much about any other kind. Yes, I like it. But I've had
+enough of it. I'm willing to change."
+
+"Well, how about city life--housekeeping and all that?"
+
+"So long as I am with Wayland I sha'n't mind what I do or where I live."
+
+"At the same time you figure he's going to have a large income, I
+suppose? He's told you of his rich father, hasn't he?"
+
+Berrie's tone was a shade resentful of his insinuation. "He has never
+said much about his family one way or another. He only said you wanted
+him to go into business in Chicago, and that he wanted to do something
+else. Of course, I could see by his ways and the clothes he wore that
+he'd been brought up in what we'd call luxury, but we never inquired into
+his affairs."
+
+"And you didn't care?"
+
+"Well, not that, exactly. But money don't count for as much with us in
+the valley as it does in the East. Wayland seemed so kind of sick and
+lonesome, and I felt sorry for him the first time I saw him. I felt like
+mothering him. And then his way of talking, of looking at things was so
+new and beautiful to me I couldn't help caring for him. I had never met
+any one like him. I thought he was a 'lunger'--"
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A consumptive; that is, I did at first. And it bothered me. It seemed
+terrible that any one so fine should be condemned like that--and so--I
+did all I could to help him, to make him happy. I thought he hadn't long
+to live. Everything he said and did was wonderful to me, like poetry and
+music. And then when he began to grow stronger and I saw that he was
+going to get well, and Cliff went on the rampage and showed the yellow
+streak, and I gave him back his ring--I didn't know even then how much
+Wayland meant to me. But on our trip over the Range I understood. He
+meant everything to me. He made Cliff seem like a savage, and I wanted
+him to know it. I'm not ashamed of loving him. I want to make him happy,
+and if he wishes me to be his wife I'll go anywhere he says--only I think
+he should stay out here till he gets entirely well."
+
+The old man's eyes softened during her plea, and at its close a slight
+smile moved the corners of his mouth. "You've thought it all out, I see.
+Your mind is clear and your conscience easy. Well, I like your spirit. I
+guess he's right. The decision is up to you. But if he takes you and
+stays in Colorado he can't expect me to share the profits of my business
+with him, can he? He'll have to make his own way." He rose and held out
+his hand. "However, I'm persuaded he's in good hands."
+
+She took his hand, not knowing just what to reply. He examined her
+fingers with intent gaze.
+
+"I didn't know any woman could have such a grip." He thoughtfully took
+her biceps in his left hand. "You are magnificent." Then, in ironical
+protest, he added: "Good God, no! I can't have you come into my family.
+You'd make caricatures of my wife and daughters. Are all the girls out in
+the valley like you?"
+
+She laughed. "No. Most of them pride themselves on _not_ being
+horsewomen. Mighty few of 'em ever ride a horse. I'm a kind of a tomboy
+to them."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear that. It's the same old story. I suppose they'd all
+like to live in the city and wear low-necked gowns and high-heeled shoes.
+No, I can't consent to your marriage with my son. I must save you from
+corruption. Go back to the ranch. I can see already signs of your
+deterioration. Except for your color and that grip you already look like
+upper Broadway. The next thing will be a slit skirt and a diamond
+garter."
+
+She flushed redly, conscious of her new corset, her silk stockings, and
+her pinching shoes. "It's all on the outside," she declared. "Under this
+toggery I'm the same old trailer. It don't take long to get rid of these
+things. I'm just playing a part to-day--for you."
+
+He smiled and dropped her hand. "No, no. You've said good-by to the
+cinch, I can see that. You're on the road to opera boxes and limousines.
+What is your plan? What would you advise Wayland to do if you knew I was
+hard against his marrying you? Come, now, I can see you're a
+clear-sighted individual. What can he do to earn a living? How will you
+live without my aid? Have you figured on these things?"
+
+"Yes; I'm going to ask my father to buy a ranch near here, where mother
+can have more of the comforts of life, and where we can all live together
+till Wayland is able to stand city life again. Then, if you want him to
+go East, I will go with him."
+
+They had moved slowly back toward the others, and as Wayland came to meet
+them Norcross said, with dry humor: "I admire your lady of the cinch
+hand. She seems to be a person of singular good nature and most uncommon
+shrewd--"
+
+Wayland, interrupting, caught at his father's hand and wrung it
+frenziedly. "I'm glad--"
+
+"Here! Here!" A look of pain covered the father's face. "That's the fist
+she put in the press."
+
+They all laughed at his joke, and then he gravely resumed. "I say I
+admire her, but it's a shame to ask such a girl to marry an invalid like
+you. Furthermore, I won't have her taken East. She'd bleach out and lose
+that grip in a year. I won't have her contaminated by the city." He mused
+deeply while looking at his son. "Would life on a wheat-ranch accessible
+to this hotel by motor-car be endurable to you?"
+
+"You mean with Berea?"
+
+"If she'll go. Mind you, I don't advise her to do it!" he added,
+interrupting his son's outcry. "I think she's taking all the chances." He
+turned to Mrs. McFarlane. "I'm old-fashioned in my notions of marriage,
+Mrs. McFarlane. I grew up when women were helpmates, such as, I judge,
+you've been. Of course, it's all guesswork to me at the moment; but I
+have an impression that my son has fallen into an unusual run of luck. As
+I understand it, you're all out for a pleasure trip. Now, my private car
+is over in the yards, and I suggest you all come along with me to
+California--"
+
+"Governor, you're a wonder!" exclaimed Wayland.
+
+"That'll give us time to get better acquainted, and if we all like one
+another just as well when we get back--well, we'll buy the best farm in
+the North Platte and--"
+
+"It's a cinch we get that ranch," interrupted Wayland, with a triumphant
+glance at Berea.
+
+"Don't be so sure of it!" replied the lumberman. "A private car, like a
+yacht, is a terrible test of friendship." But his warning held no terrors
+for the young lovers. They had entered upon certainties.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
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+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Forester&#8217;s Daughter, by Hamlin Garland.
+</title>
+
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+    h3                {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.2em}
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+    div.ce p          {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;}
+    .figcenter        {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;}
+    .caption          {font-size:.8em}
+    table             {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;}
+    .pagenum          {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;}
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+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Forester's Daughter
+       A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range
+
+Author: Hamlin Garland
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2008 [EBook #26239]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 339px; height: 481px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 339px;'>
+HER FACE SHONE AS SHE CALLED OUT: &#8220;WELL, HOW DO YOU STACK UP THIS MORNING?&#8221; (See page 31)<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-top:1em;'>THE FORESTER&#8217;S</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>DAUGHTER</p>
+<p style=' margin-bottom:2em;'>A ROMANCE OF THE BEAR-TOOTH RANGE</p>
+<p>BY</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-bottom:2em;'>HAMLIN GARLAND</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em;'>AUTHOR OF</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em;'>&#8220;THE CAPTAIN OF THE GRAY-HORSE TROOP&#8221;</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-bottom:3em;'>&#8220;MAIN-TRAVELLED ROADS&#8221; ETC.</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1em; margin-bottom:3em;'>ILLUSTRATED</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-emb.png' alt='' title=''  /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1em;'>HARPER &amp; BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em;'>NEW YORK AND LONDON</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-bottom:2em;'>MCMXIV</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce' style=' font-size:0.8em;'>
+<p>COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY HAMLIN GARLAND</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
+<p>PUBLISHED FEBRUARY, 1914</p>
+<p>A-O</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>Contents</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:small;'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>I</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Happy Girl</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#I_THE_HAPPY_GIRL'>1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>II</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Ride In The Rain</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#II_A_RIDE_IN_THE_RAIN'>19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>III</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Wayland Receives a Warning</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#III_WAYLAND_RECEIVES_A_WARNING'>46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IV</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Supervisor of the Forest</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IV_THE_SUPERVISOR_OF_THE_FOREST'>68</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>V</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Golden Pathway</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#V_THE_GOLDEN_PATHWAY'>82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VI</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Storm-Bound</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VI_STORMBOUND'>110</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Walk in the Rain</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VII_THE_WALK_IN_THE_RAIN'>123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VIII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Other Girl</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VIII_THE_OTHER_GIRL'>142</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IX</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Further Perplexities</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IX_FURTHER_PERPLEXITIES'>159</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>X</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Camp on the Pass</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#X_THE_CAMP_ON_THE_PASS'>173</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XI</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Death-Grapple</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XI_THE_DEATHGRAPPLE'>195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Berrie&#8217;s Vigil</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XII_BERRIE_S_VIGIL'>204</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Gossips Awake</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIII_THE_GOSSIPS_AWAKE'>223</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIV</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Summons</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIV_THE_SUMMONS'>247</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XV</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Matter of Millinery</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XV_A_MATTER_OF_MILLINERY'>260</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVI</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Private Car</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVI_THE_PRIVATE_CAR'>274</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>Illustrations</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<col style='width:80%;' />
+<col style='width:20%;' />
+<tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Her Face Shone as She Called Out: &#8220;Well, How Do You Stack Up This Morning?&#8221;</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Girl Behind Him was a Wondrous Part of This Wild and Unaccountable Country</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>6</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>She Found Herself Confronted by an Endless Maze of Blackened Tree-Trunks</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>140</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Slender Youth Went Down Before the Big Rancher as though Struck by a Catapult</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>196</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em;'>AUTHOR&#8217;S FOREWORD</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This little story is the outcome of two trips
+(neither of which was in the Bear Tooth
+Forest) during the years 1909 and 1910. Its
+main claim on the reader&#8217;s interest will lie, no
+doubt, in the character of Berea McFarlane;
+but I find myself re-living with keen pleasure
+the splendid drama of wind and cloud and
+swaying forest which made the expeditions
+memorable.</p>
+<p>The golden trail is an actuality for me. The
+camp on the lake was mine. The rain, the snow
+I met. The prying camp-robbers, the grouse,
+the muskrats, the beaver were my companions.
+But Berrie was with me only in imagination.
+She is a fiction, born of a momentary, powerful
+hand-clasp of a Western rancher&#8217;s daughter.
+The story of Wayland Norcross is fiction also.
+But the McFarlane ranch, the mill, and the
+lonely ranger-stations are closely drawn pictures
+of realities. Although the stage of my comedy
+is Colorado, I have not held to any one locality.
+The scene is composite.</p>
+<p>It was my intention, originally, to write a much
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span>
+longer and more important book concerning
+Supervisor McFarlane, but Berrie took the story
+into her own strong hands and made of it something
+so intimate and so idyllic that I could not
+bring the more prosaic element into it. It remained
+personal and youthful in spite of my
+plans, a divergence for which, perhaps, most of
+my readers will be grateful.</p>
+<p>As for its title, I had little to do with its
+selection. My daughter, Mary Isabel, aged ten,
+selected it from among a half-dozen others,
+and for luck I let it stand, although it sounds
+somewhat like that of a paper-bound German
+romance. For the sub-title my publishers are
+responsible.</p>
+<p>Finally, I warn the reader that this is merely
+the very slender story of a young Western girl
+who, being desired of three strong men, bestows
+her love on a &#8220;tourist&#8221; whose weakness is at
+once her allurement and her care. The administration
+problem, the sociologic theme, which was
+to have made the novel worth while, got lost in
+some way on the low trail and never caught up
+with the lovers. I&#8217;m sorry&mdash;but so it was!</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Chicago</span>, <i>January, 1914</i>.</p>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>THE FORESTER&#8217;S DAUGHTER</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span></div>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.3em; margin-top:2em;'>THE FORESTER&#8217;S DAUGHTER</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 0em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='I_THE_HAPPY_GIRL' id='I_THE_HAPPY_GIRL'></a>
+<h2>I</h2>
+<h3>THE HAPPY GIRL</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The stage line which ran from Williams to
+Bear Tooth (one of the most authentic then
+to be found in all the West) possessed at least one
+genuine Concord coach, so faded, so saddened,
+so cracked, and so splintered that its passengers
+entered it under protest, and alighted from it
+with thanksgiving, and yet it must have been
+built by honorable men, for in 190- it still made
+the run of one hundred and twenty miles twice
+each week without loss of wheel or even so much
+as moulting a scrap of paint.</p>
+<p>And yet, whatever it may have been in its
+youth, it was in its age no longer a gay dash of
+color in the landscape. On the contrary, it
+fitted into the dust-brown and sage-green plain
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span>
+as defensively as a beetle in a dusty path. Nevertheless,
+it was an indispensable part of a very
+moving picture as it crept, creaking and groaning
+(or it may be it was the suffering passenger
+creaking and groaning), along the hillside.</p>
+<p>After leaving the Grande River the road winds
+up a pretty high divide before plunging down into
+Ute Park, as they call all that region lying between
+the Continental Range on the east and
+the Bear Tooth plateau on the west. It was a
+big spread of land, and very far from an Eastern
+man&#8217;s conception of a park. From Dome Peak
+it seems a plain; but, in fact, when clouds shut
+off the high summits to the west, this &#8220;valley&#8221;
+becomes a veritable mountain land, a tumbled,
+lonely country, over which an occasional horseman
+crawls, a minute but persistent insect. It
+is, to be exact, a succession of ridges and ravines,
+sculptured (in some far-off, post-glacial time) by
+floods of water, covered now, rather sparsely,
+with pinons, cedars, and aspens, a dry, forbidding,
+but majestic landscape.</p>
+<p>In late August the hills become iridescent,
+opaline with the translucent yellow of the aspen,
+the coral and crimson of the fire-weed, the blood-red
+of huckleberry beds, and the royal purple of
+the asters, while flowing round all, as solvent and
+neutral setting, lies the gray-green of the ever-present
+and ever-enduring sage-brush. On the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+loftier heights these colors are arranged in most
+intricate and cunning patterns, with nothing
+hard, nothing flaring in the prospect. All is
+harmonious and restful. It is, moreover, silent,
+silent as a dream world, and so flooded with light
+that the senses ache with the stress of it.</p>
+<p>Through this gorgeous land of mist, of stillness,
+and of death, a few years ago a pale young
+man (seated beside the driver) rode one summer
+day in a voiceless rapture which made Bill McCoy
+weary.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;d had as much of this as I have you&#8217;d
+talk of something else,&#8221; he growled, after a half
+dozen attempts at conversation. Bill wasn&#8217;t
+much to look at, but he was a good driver and
+the stranger respected him for it.</p>
+<p>Eventually this simple-minded horseman became
+curious about the slim young fellow sitting
+beside him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What you doing out here, anyhow&mdash;fishing
+or just rebuilding a lung?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rebuilding two lungs,&#8221; answered the tourist.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, this climate will just about put lungs
+into a coffee-can,&#8221; retorted Bill, with official
+loyalty to his country.</p>
+<p>To his discerning eye &#8220;the tourist&#8221; now became
+&#8220;a lunger.&#8221; &#8220;Where do you live when
+you&#8217;re to home?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Connecticut.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I knew it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did you know it?&#8221; The youth seemed
+really interested to know.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I drove another fellow up here last fall that
+dealt out the same kind of brogue you do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This amused the tourist. &#8220;You think I have
+a &#8216;brogue,&#8217; do you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&mdash;I know it!&#8221; Bill replied,
+shortly.</p>
+<p>He was prevented at the moment from pursuing
+this line of inquiry by the discovery of a
+couple of horsemen racing from a distant ranch
+toward the road. It was plain, even to the
+stranger, that they intended to intercept the
+stage, and Bill plied the lash with sudden vigor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll give &#8217;em a chase,&#8221; said he, grimly.</p>
+<p>The other appeared a little alarmed, &#8220;What
+are they&mdash;bandits?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bandits!&#8221; sneered Bill. &#8220;Your eyesight is
+piercing. Them&#8217;s <i>girls</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The traveler apologized. &#8220;My eyes aren&#8217;t very
+good,&#8221; he said, hurriedly.</p>
+<p>He was, however, quite justified in his mistake,
+for both riders wore wide-rimmed sombreros
+and rode astride at a furious pace, bandanas
+fluttering, skirts streaming, and one was calling
+in shrill command, &#8220;<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Oh, Bill</span>!&#8221;</p>
+<p>As they neared the gate the driver drew up
+with a word of surprise. &#8220;Why, howdy, girls,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span>
+howdy!&#8221; he said, with an assumption of innocence.
+&#8220;Were you wishin&#8217; fer to speak to me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, shut up!&#8221; commanded one of the girls,
+a round-faced, freckled romp. &#8220;You know perfectly
+well that Berrie is going home to-day&mdash;we
+told you all about it yesterday.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing!&#8221; exclaimed Bill. &#8220;I&#8217;d forgot all
+about it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Like nothin&#8217;!&#8221; exclaimed the maid. &#8220;You&#8217;ve
+been countin&#8217; the hours till you got here&mdash;I
+know you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Meanwhile her companion had slipped from
+her horse. &#8220;Well, good-by, Molly, wish I could
+stay longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-by. Run down again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will. You come up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The young passenger sprang to the ground and
+politely said: &#8220;May I help you in?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Bill stared, the girl smiled, and her companion
+called: &#8220;Be careful, Berrie, don&#8217;t hurt yourself,
+the wagon might pitch.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The youth, perceiving that he had made another
+mistake, stammered an apology.</p>
+<p>The girl perceived his embarrassment and
+sweetly accepted his hand. &#8220;I am much obliged,
+all the same.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Bill shook with malicious laughter. &#8220;Out in
+this country girls are warranted to jump clean
+over a measly little hack like this,&#8221; he explained.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></p>
+<p>The girl took a seat in the back corner of the
+dusty vehicle, and Bill opened conversation with
+her by asking what kind of a time she had been
+having &#8220;in the East.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Fine,&#8221; said she.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did ye get as far back as my old town?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What town is that, Bill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, come off! You know I&#8217;m from Omaha.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I only got as far as South Bend.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The picture which the girl had made as she
+dashed up to the pasture gate (her hat-rim blown
+away from her brown face and sparkling eyes),
+united with the kindliness in her voice as she
+accepted his gallant aid, entered a deep impression
+on the tourist&#8217;s mind; but he did not
+turn his head to look at her&mdash;perhaps he feared
+Bill&#8217;s elbow quite as much as his guffaw&mdash;but
+he listened closely, and by listening learned that
+she had been &#8220;East&#8221; for several weeks, and also
+that she was known, and favorably known, all
+along the line, for whenever they met a team or
+passed a ranch some one called out, &#8220;Hello,
+Berrie!&#8221; in cordial salute, and the men, old and
+young, were especially pleased to see her.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-006.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 530px; height: 313px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 530px;'>
+THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the stage rose and fell over the
+gigantic swells like a tiny boat on a monster sea,
+while the sun blazed ever more fervently from
+the splendid sky, and the hills glowed with ever-increasing
+tumult of color. Through this land of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+color, of repose, of romance, the young traveler
+rode, drinking deep of the germless air, feeling
+that the girl behind him was a wondrous part of
+this wild and unaccountable country.</p>
+<p>He had no chance to study her face again till
+the coach rolled down the hill to &#8220;Yancy&#8217;s,&#8221;
+where they were to take dinner and change
+horses.</p>
+<p>Yancy&#8217;s ranch-house stood on the bank of a
+fine stream which purled&mdash;in keen defiance of
+the hot sun&mdash;over a gravel bed, so near to the
+mountain snows that their coolness still lingered
+in the ripples. The house, a long, low, log hut,
+was fenced with antlers of the elk, adorned with
+morning-glory vines, and shaded by lofty cottonwood-trees,
+and its green grass-plat&mdash;after the
+sun-smit hills of the long morning&#8217;s ride&mdash;was
+very grateful to the Eastern man&#8217;s eyes.</p>
+<p>With intent to show Bill that he did not greatly
+fear his smiles, the youth sprang down and
+offered a hand to assist his charming fellow-passenger
+to alight; and she, with kindly understanding,
+again accepted his aid&mdash;to Bill&#8217;s chagrin&mdash;and
+they walked up the path side by side.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is all very new and wonderful to me,&#8221;
+the young man said in explanation; &#8220;but I suppose
+it&#8217;s quite commonplace to you&mdash;and Bill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh no&mdash;it&#8217;s home!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You were born here?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I was born in the East; but I&#8217;ve lived
+here ever since I was three years old.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By East you mean Kansas?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, Missouri,&#8221; she laughed back at him.</p>
+<p>She was taller than most women, and gave
+out an air of fine unconscious health which made
+her good to see, although her face was too broad
+to be pretty. She smiled easily, and her teeth
+were white and even. Her hand he noticed was
+as strong as steel and brown as leather. Her
+neck rose from her shoulders like that of an acrobat,
+and she walked with the sense of security
+which comes from self-reliant strength.</p>
+<p>She was met at the door by old lady Yancy,
+who pumped her hand up and down, exclaiming:
+&#8220;My stars, I&#8217;m glad to see ye back! &#8217;Pears like
+the country is just naturally goin&#8217; to the dogs
+without you. The dance last Saturday was a
+frost, so I hear, no snap to the fiddlin&#8217;, no gimp
+to the jiggin&#8217;. It shorely was pitiful.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Yancy himself, tall, grizzled, succinct, shook
+her hand in his turn. &#8220;Ma&#8217;s right, girl, the
+country needs ye. I&#8217;m scared every time ye
+go away fer fear some feller will snap ye up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed. &#8220;No danger. Well, how are
+ye all, anyway?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;All well, &#8216;ceptin&#8217; me,&#8221; said the little old
+woman. &#8220;I&#8217;m just about able to pick at my
+vittles.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She does her share o&#8217; the work, and half the
+cook&#8217;s besides,&#8221; volunteered Yancy.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know her,&#8221; retorted Berrie, as she laid off
+her hat. &#8220;It&#8217;s me for a dip. Gee, but it&#8217;s dusty
+on the road!&#8221;</p>
+<p>The young tourist&mdash;he signed W. W. Norcross
+in Yancy&#8217;s register&mdash;watched her closely and
+listened to every word she spoke with an intensity
+of interest which led Mrs. Yancy to
+say, privately:</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Pears like that young &#8216;lunger&#8217; ain&#8217;t goin&#8217; to
+forgit you if he can help it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What makes you think he&#8217;s a &#8216;lunger&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t haf to think. One look at him is
+enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereafter a softer light&mdash;the light of pity&mdash;shone
+in the eyes of the girl. &#8220;Poor fellow, he
+does look kind o&#8217; peaked; but this climate will
+bring him up to the scratch,&#8221; she added, with
+optimistic faith in her beloved hills.</p>
+<p>A moment later the down-coming stage pulled
+in, loaded to the side-lines, and everybody on
+it seemed to know Berea McFarlane. It was
+hello here and hello there, and how are ye between,
+with smacks from the women and open
+cries of &#8220;pass it around&#8221; on the part of the men,
+till Norcross marveled at the display.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She seems a great favorite,&#8221; he observed to
+Yancy.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Who&mdash;Berrie? She&#8217;s the whole works up
+at Bear Tooth. Good thing she don&#8217;t want to
+go to Congress&mdash;she&#8217;d lay Jim Worthy on the
+shelf.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berea&#8217;s popularity was not so remarkable as
+her manner of receiving it. She took it all as
+a sort of joke&mdash;a good, kindly joke. She shook
+hands with her male admirers, and smacked the
+cheeks of her female friends with an air of
+modest deprecation. &#8220;Oh, you don&#8217;t mean it,&#8221;
+was one of her phrases. She enjoyed this display
+of affection, but it seemed not to touch her
+deeply, and her impartial, humorous acceptance
+of the courtship of the men was equally charming,
+though this was due, according to remark,
+to the claims of some rancher up the line.</p>
+<p>She continued to be the theme of conversation
+at the dinner-table and yet remained unembarrassed,
+and gave back quite as good as she
+received.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I was Cliff,&#8221; declared one lanky admirer,
+&#8220;I&#8217;d be shot if I let you out of my sight. It
+ain&#8217;t safe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She smiled broadly. &#8220;I don&#8217;t feel scared.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, <i>you&#8217;re</i> all right! It&#8217;s the other feller&mdash;like
+me&mdash;that gets hurt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t worry, you&#8217;re old enough and tough
+enough to turn a steel-jacketed bullet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This raised a laugh, and Mrs. Yancy, who was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+waiting on the table, put in a word: &#8220;I&#8217;ll board
+ye free, Berrie, if you&#8217;ll jest naturally turn up
+here regular at meal-time. You do take the fellers&#8217;
+appetites. It&#8217;s the only time I make a
+cent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>To the Eastern man this was all very unrestrained
+and deeply diverting. The people
+seemed to know all about one another notwithstanding
+the fact that they came from ranches
+scattered up and down the stage line twenty,
+thirty miles apart&mdash;to be neighbors in this
+country means to be anywhere within a sixty-mile
+ride&mdash;and they gossiped of the countryside
+as minutely as the residents of a village in Wisconsin
+discuss their kind. News was scarce.</p>
+<p>The north-bound coach got away first, and
+as the girl came out to take her place, Norcross
+said: &#8220;Won&#8217;t you have my seat with the driver?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She dropped her voice humorously. &#8220;No,
+thank you, I can&#8217;t stand for Bill&#8217;s clack.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross understood. She didn&#8217;t relish the
+notion of being so close to the frankly amorous
+driver, who neglected no opportunity to be personal;
+therefore, he helped her to her seat inside
+and resumed his place in front.</p>
+<p>Bill, now broadly communicative, minutely
+detailed his tastes in food, horses, liquors, and
+saddles in a long monologue which would have
+been tiresome to any one but an imaginative
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span>
+young Eastern student. Bill had a vast knowledge
+of the West, but a distressing habit of
+repetition. He was self-conscious, too, for the
+reason that he was really talking for the benefit
+of the girl sitting in critical silence behind him,
+who, though he frequently turned to her for
+confirmation of some of the more startling of
+his statements, refused to be drawn into controversy.</p>
+<p>In this informing way some ten miles were
+traversed, the road climbing ever higher, and
+the mountains to right and left increasing in
+grandeur each hour, till of a sudden and in a deep
+valley on the bank of another swift stream, they
+came upon a squalid saloon and a minute post-office.
+This was the town of Moskow.</p>
+<p>Bill, lumbering down over the wheel, took a
+bag of mail from the boot and dragged it into
+the cabin. The girl rose, stretched herself, and
+said: &#8220;This stagin&#8217; is slow business. I&#8217;m
+cramped. I&#8217;m going to walk on ahead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;May I go with you?&#8221; asked Norcross.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing! Come along.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As they crossed the little pole bridge which
+spanned the flood, the tourist exclaimed: &#8220;What
+exquisite water! It&#8217;s like melted opals.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Comes right down from the snow,&#8221; she answered,
+impressed by the poetry of his simile.</p>
+<p>He would gladly have lingered, listening to the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+song of the water, but as she passed on, he
+followed. The opposite hill was sharp and the
+road stony, but as they reached the top the
+young Easterner called out, &#8220;See the savins!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Before them stood a grove of cedars, old, gray,
+and drear, as weirdly impressive as the cacti in a
+Mexican desert. Torn by winds, scarred by lightnings,
+deeply rooted, tenacious as tradition, unlovely
+as Egyptian mummies, fantastic, dwarfed
+and blackened, these unaccountable creatures
+clung to the ledges. The dead mingled horribly
+with the living, and when the wind arose&mdash;the
+wind that was robustly cheerful on the high hills&mdash;these
+hags cried out with low moans of infinite
+despair. It was as if they pleaded for water or
+for deliverance from a life that was a kind of
+death.</p>
+<p>The pale young man shuddered. &#8220;What a
+ghostly place!&#8221; he exclaimed, in a low voice.
+&#8220;It seems the burial-place of a vanished race.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Something in his face, some note in his voice
+profoundly moved the girl. For the first time
+her face showed something other than childish
+good nature and a sense of humor. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+like these trees myself,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;They
+look too much like poor old squaws.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For a few moments the man and the maid
+studied the forest of immemorial, gaunt, and
+withered trees&mdash;bright, impermanent youth confronting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
+time-defaced and wind-torn age. Then
+the girl spoke: &#8220;Let&#8217;s get out of here. I shall
+cry if we don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In a few moments the dolorous voices were left
+behind, and the cheerful light of the plain reasserted
+itself. Norcross, looking back down
+upon the cedars, which at a distance resembled
+a tufted, bronze-green carpet, musingly asked:
+&#8220;What do you suppose planted those trees
+there?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The girl was deeply impressed by the novelty
+of this query. &#8220;I never thought to ask. I
+reckon they just grew.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, there&#8217;s a reason for all these plantings,&#8221;
+he insisted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t worry ourselves much about such
+things out here,&#8221; she replied, with charming
+humor. &#8220;We don&#8217;t even worry about the
+weather. We just take things as they come.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They walked on talking with new intimacy.
+&#8220;Where is your home?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A few miles out of Bear Tooth. You&#8217;re from
+the East, Bill says&mdash;&#8216;the far East,&#8217; we call it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From New Haven. I&#8217;ve just finished at Yale.
+Have you ever been to New York?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, good Lord, no!&#8221; she answered, as though
+he had named the ends of the earth. &#8220;My
+mother came from the South&mdash;she was born in
+Kentucky&mdash;that accounts for my name, and my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+father is a Missourian. Let&#8217;s see, Yale is in the
+state of Connecticut, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Connecticut is no longer a state; it is only a
+suburb of New York City.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that so? My geography calls it &#8216;The
+Nutmeg State.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your geography is behind the times. New
+York has absorbed all of Connecticut and part of
+Jersey.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, it&#8217;s all the same to us out here. Your
+whole country looks like the small end of a slice
+of pie to us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have you ever been in a city?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes, I go to Denver once in a while, and
+I saw St. Louis once; but I was only a yearling,
+and don&#8217;t remember much about it. What are
+you doing out here, if it&#8217;s a fair question?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked away at the mountains. &#8220;I got
+rather used up last spring, and my doctor said
+I&#8217;d better come out here for a while and build
+up. I&#8217;m going up to Meeker&#8217;s Mill. Do you
+know where that is?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know every stove-pipe in this park,&#8221; she
+answered. &#8220;Joe Meeker is kind o&#8217; related to
+me&mdash;uncle by marriage. He lives about fifteen
+miles over the hill from Bear Tooth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This fact seemed to bring them still closer
+together. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad of that,&#8221; he said, pointedly.
+&#8220;Perhaps I shall be permitted to see you now and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+again? I&#8217;m going to be lonesome for a while,
+I&#8217;m afraid.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you believe it! Joe Meeker&#8217;s boys will
+keep you interested,&#8221; she assured him.</p>
+<p>The stage overtook them at this point, and
+Bill surlily remarked: &#8220;If you&#8217;d been alone,
+young feller, I&#8217;d &#8216;a&#8217; give you a chase.&#8221; His resentment
+of the outsider&#8217;s growing favor with the
+girl was ludicrously evident.</p>
+<p>As they rose into the higher levels the aspen
+shook its yellowish leaves in the breeze, and the
+purple foot-hills gained in majesty. Great new
+peaks came into view on the right, and the
+lofty cliffs of the Bear Tooth range loomed in
+naked grandeur high above the blue-green of
+the pines which clothed their sloping eastern
+sides.</p>
+<p>At intervals the road passed small log ranches
+crouching low on the banks of creeks; but aside
+from these&mdash;and the sparse animal life around
+them&mdash;no sign of settlement could be seen. The
+valley lay as it had lain for thousands of years,
+repeating its forests as the meadows of the lower
+levels send forth their annual grasses. Norcross
+said to himself: &#8220;I have circled the track of
+progress and have re-entered the border America,
+where the stage-coach is still the one stirring
+thing beneath the sun.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At last the driver, with a note of exultation,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+called out: &#8220;Grab a root, everybody, it&#8217;s all the
+way down-hill and time to feed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so, as the dusk came over the mighty
+spread of the hills to the east, and the peaks to
+the west darkened from violet to purple-black,
+the stage rumbled and rattled and rushed down
+the winding road through thickening signs of
+civilization, and just at nightfall rolled into the
+little town of Bear Tooth, which is the eastern
+gateway of the Ute Plateau.</p>
+<p>Norcross had given a great deal of thought to
+the young girl behind him, and thought had
+deepened her charm. Her frankness, her humor,
+her superb physical strength and her calm self-reliance
+appealed to him, and the more dangerously,
+because he was so well aware of his own
+weakness and loneliness, and as the stage drew
+up before the hotel, he fervently said: &#8220;I hope I
+shall see you again?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Before she could reply a man&#8217;s voice called:
+&#8220;Hello, there!&#8221; and a tall fellow stepped up to
+her with confident mien.</p>
+<p>Norcross awkwardly shrank away. This was
+her cowboy lover, of course. It was impossible
+that so attractive a girl should be unattached,
+and the knowledge produced in him a faint but
+very definite pang of envy and regret.</p>
+<p>The happy girl, even in the excitement of
+meeting her lover, did not forget the stranger.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+She gave him her hand in parting, and again he
+thrilled to its amazing power. It was small,
+but it was like a steel clamp. &#8220;Stop in on your
+way to Meeker&#8217;s,&#8221; she said, as a kindly man
+would have done. &#8220;You pass our gate. My
+father is Joseph McFarlane, the Forest Supervisor.
+Good night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good night,&#8221; he returned, with sincere
+liking.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who is that?&#8221; Norcross heard her companion
+ask.</p>
+<p>She replied in a low voice, but he overheard
+her answer, &#8220;A poor &#8216;lunger,&#8217; bound for
+Meeker&#8217;s&mdash;and Kingdom Come, I&#8217;m afraid.
+He seems a nice young feller, too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They always wait till the last minute,&#8221; remarked
+the rancher, with indifferent tone.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='II_A_RIDE_IN_THE_RAIN' id='II_A_RIDE_IN_THE_RAIN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+<h2>II</h2>
+<h3>A RIDE IN THE RAIN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are two Colorados within the boundaries
+of the state of that name, distinct, almost
+irreconcilable. One is a plain (smooth, dry,
+monotonous), gently declining to the east, a
+land of sage-brush, wheat-fields, and alfalfa
+meadows&mdash;a rather commonplace region now,
+given over to humdrum folk intent on digging a
+living from the soil; but the other is an army of
+peaks, a region of storms, a spread of dark and
+tangled forests. In the one, shallow rivers trickle
+on their sandy way to the Gulf of Mexico; from
+the other, the waters rush, uniting to make the
+mighty stream whose silt-laden floods are slowly
+filling the Gulf of California.</p>
+<p>If you stand on one of the great naked crests
+which form the dividing wall, the rampart of
+the plains, you can see the Colorado of tradition
+to the west, still rolling in wave after wave of
+stupendous altitudes, each range cutting into
+the sky with a purple saw-tooth edge. The
+landscape seems to contain nothing but rocks
+and towering crags, a treasure-house for those
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
+who mine. But this is illusive. Between these
+purple heights charming valleys wind and meadows
+lie in which rich grasses grow and cattle feed.</p>
+<p>On certain slopes&mdash;where the devastating
+miners have not yet played their relentless game&mdash;dark
+forests rise to the high, bold summits of
+the chiefest mountains, and it is to guard these
+timbered tracts, growing each year more valuable,
+that the government has established its
+Forest Service to protect and develop the wealth-producing
+power of the watersheds.</p>
+<p>Chief among the wooded areas of this mighty
+inland empire of crag and stream is the Bear
+Tooth Forest, containing nearly eight hundred
+thousand acres of rock and trees, whose seat
+of administration is Bear Tooth Springs, the
+small town in which our young traveler found
+himself.</p>
+<p>He carefully explained to the landlord of the
+Cottage Hotel that he had never been in this
+valley before, and that he was filled with astonishment
+and delight of the scenery.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Scenery! Yes, too much scenery. What we
+want is settlers,&#8221; retorted the landlord, who was
+shabby and sour and rather contemptuous, for
+the reason that he considered Norcross a poor
+consumptive, and a fool to boot&mdash;&#8220;one of those
+chaps who wait till they are nearly dead, then
+come out here expecting to live on climate.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span></p>
+<p>The hotel was hardly larger than the log shanty
+of a railway-grading camp; but the meat was
+edible, and just outside the door roared Bear
+Creek, which came down directly from Dome
+Mountain, and the young Easterner went to
+sleep beneath its singing that night. He should
+have dreamed of the happy mountain girl, but
+he did not; on the contrary, he imagined himself
+back at college in the midst of innumerable
+freshmen, yelling, &#8220;Bill McCoy, Bill McCoy!&#8221;</p>
+<p>He woke a little bewildered by his strange surroundings,
+and when he became aware of the
+cheap bed, the flimsy wash-stand, the ugly wallpaper,
+and thought how far he was from home
+and friends, he not only sighed, he shivered.
+The room was chill, the pitcher of water cold
+almost to the freezing-point, and his joints
+were stiff and painful from his ride. What
+folly to come so far into the wilderness at this
+time.</p>
+<p>As he crawled from his bed and looked from
+the window he was still further disheartened.
+In the foreground stood a half dozen frame buildings,
+graceless and cheap, without tree or shrub
+to give shadow or charm of line&mdash;all was bare,
+bleak, sere; but under his window the stream
+was singing its glorious mountain song, and
+away to the west rose the aspiring peaks from
+which it came. Romance brooded in that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+shadow, and on the lower foot-hills the frost-touched
+foliage glowed like a mosaic of jewels.</p>
+<p>Dressing hurriedly he went down to the small
+bar-room, whose litter of duffle-bags, guns,
+saddles, and camp utensils gave evidence of the
+presence of many hunters and fishermen. The
+slovenly landlord was poring over a newspaper,
+while a discouraged half-grown youth was sludging
+the floor with a mop; but a cheerful clamor
+from an open door at the back of the hall told
+that breakfast was on.</p>
+<p>Venturing over the threshold, Norcross found
+himself seated at table with some five or six men
+in corduroy jackets and laced boots, who were,
+in fact, merchants and professional men from
+Denver and Pueblo out for fish and such game
+as the law allowed, and all in holiday mood.
+They joked the waiter-girls, and joshed one another
+in noisy good-fellowship, ignoring the slim
+youth in English riding-suit, who came in with
+an air of mingled melancholy and timidity and
+took a seat at the lower corner of the long table.</p>
+<p>The landlady, tall, thin, worried, and inquisitive,
+was New England&mdash;Norcross recognized her
+type even before she came to him with a question
+on her lips. &#8220;So you&#8217;re from the East, are
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been at school there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;m glad to see you. My folks came
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+from York State. I don&#8217;t often get any one from
+the <i>real</i> East. Come out to fish, I s&#8217;pose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied, thinking this the easiest
+way out.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, they&#8217;s plenty of fishing&mdash;and they&#8217;s
+plenty of air, not much of anything else.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As he looked about the room, the tourist&#8217;s
+eye was attracted by four young fellows seated
+at a small table to his right. They wore rough
+shirts of an olive-green shade, and their faces
+were wind-scorched; but their voices held a
+pleasant tone, and something in the manner of
+the landlady toward them made them noticeable.
+Norcross asked her who they were.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re forestry boys.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Forestry boys?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; the Supervisor&#8217;s office is here, and these
+are his help.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This information added to Norcross&#8217;s interest
+and cheered him a little. He knew something of
+the Forest Service, and had been told that many
+of the rangers were college men. He resolved to
+make their acquaintance. &#8220;If I&#8217;m to stay here
+they will help me endure the exile,&#8221; he said.</p>
+<p>After breakfast he went forth to find the post-office,
+expecting a letter of instructions from
+Meeker. He found nothing of the sort, and this
+quite disconcerted him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The stage is gone,&#8221; the postmistress told him,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+&#8220;and you can&#8217;t get up till day after to-morrow.
+You might reach Meeker by using the government
+&#8217;phone, however.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where will I find the government &#8217;phone?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Down in the Supervisor&#8217;s office. They&#8217;re
+very accommodating; they&#8217;ll let you use it, if
+you tell them who you want to reach.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was impossible to miss the forestry building
+for the reason that a handsome flag fluttered
+above it. The door being open, Norcross perceived
+from the threshold a young clerk at work
+on a typewriter, while in a corner close by the
+window another and older man was working
+intently on a map.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is this the office of the Forest Supervisor?&#8221;
+asked the youth.</p>
+<p>The man at the machine looked up, and pleasantly
+answered: &#8220;It is, but the Supervisor is not
+in yet. Is there anything I can do for you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It may be you can. I am on my way to
+Meeker&#8217;s Mill for a little outing. Perhaps you
+could tell me where Meeker&#8217;s Mill is, and how
+I can best get there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The man at the map meditated. &#8220;It&#8217;s not
+far, some eighteen or twenty miles; but it&#8217;s over
+a pretty rough trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What kind of a place is it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very charming. You&#8217;ll like it. Real mountain
+country.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></p>
+<p>This officer was a plain-featured man of about
+thirty-five, with keen and clear eyes. His voice,
+though strongly nasal, possessed a note of manly
+sincerity. As he studied his visitor, he smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You look brand-new&mdash;haven&#8217;t had time to
+season-check, have you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No; I&#8217;m a stranger in a strange land.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Out for your health?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. My name is Norcross. I&#8217;m just getting
+over a severe illness, and I&#8217;m up here to lay
+around and fish and recuperate&mdash;if I can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can&mdash;you will. You can&#8217;t help it,&#8221; the
+other assured him. &#8220;Join one of our surveying
+crews for a week and I&#8217;ll mellow that suit of yours
+and make a real mountaineer of you. I see you
+wear a <i>Sigma Chi</i> pin. What was your school?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am a &#8216;Son of Eli.&#8217; Last year&#8217;s class.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The other man displayed his fob. &#8220;I&#8217;m ten
+classes ahead of you. My name is Nash. I&#8217;m
+what they call an &#8216;expert.&#8217; I&#8217;m up here doing
+some estimating and surveying for a big ditch
+they&#8217;re putting in. I was rather in hopes you
+had come to join our ranks. We sons of Eli are
+holding the conservation fort these days, and we
+need help.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My knowledge of your work is rather vague,&#8221;
+admitted Norcross. &#8220;My father is in the lumber
+business; but his point of view isn&#8217;t exactly
+yours.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;He slays &#8217;em, does he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He did. He helped devastate Michigan.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;After me the deluge! I know the kind. Why
+not make yourself a sort of vicarious atonement?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross smiled. &#8220;I had not thought of that.
+It would help some, wouldn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It certainly would. There&#8217;s no great money
+in the work; but it&#8217;s about the most enlightened
+of all the governmental bureaus.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross was strongly drawn to this forester,
+whose tone was that of a highly trained specialist.
+&#8220;I rode up on the stage yesterday with
+Miss Berrie McFarlane.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Supervisor&#8217;s daughter?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She seemed a fine Western type.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s not a type; she&#8217;s an individual. She
+hasn&#8217;t her like anywhere I&#8217;ve gone. She cuts a
+wide swath up here. Being an only child she&#8217;s
+both son and daughter to McFarlane. She
+knows more about forestry than her father. In
+fact, half the time he depends on her judgment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross was interested, but did not want to
+take up valuable time. He said: &#8220;Will you let
+me use your telephone to Meeker&#8217;s?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very sorry, but our line is out of order.
+You&#8217;ll have to wait a day or so&mdash;or use the mails.
+You&#8217;re too late for to-day&#8217;s stage, but it&#8217;s only
+a short ride across. Come outside and I&#8217;ll show
+you.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></p>
+<p>Norcross followed him to the walk, and stood
+in silence while his guide indicated the pass over
+the range. It all looked very formidable to the
+Eastern youth. Thunderous clouds hung low
+upon the peaks, and the great crags to left and
+right of the notch were stern and barren. &#8220;I
+think I&#8217;ll wait for the stage,&#8221; he said, with candid
+weakness. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t make that trip alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to take many such a ride over
+that range in the <i>night</i>&mdash;if you join the service,&#8221;
+Nash warningly replied.</p>
+<p>As they were standing there a girl came galloping
+up to the hitching-post and slid from
+her horse. It was Berea McFarlane. &#8220;Good
+morning, Emery,&#8221; she called to the surveyor.
+&#8220;Good morning,&#8221; she nodded at Norcross. &#8220;How
+do you find yourself this morning?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Homesick,&#8221; he replied, smilingly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m disappointed in the town.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter with the town?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so commonplace. I expected it to be&mdash;well,
+different. It&#8217;s just like any other plains
+town.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie looked round at the forlorn shops, the
+irregular sidewalks, the grassless yards. &#8220;It
+isn&#8217;t very pretty, that&#8217;s a fact; but you can always
+forget it by just looking up at the high
+country. When you going up to the mill?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I haven&#8217;t had any word from
+Meeker, and I can&#8217;t reach him by telephone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know, the line is short-circuited somewhere;
+but they&#8217;ve sent a man out. He may close it
+any minute.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s the Supervisor?&#8221; asked Nash.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s gone over to Moore&#8217;s cutting. How
+are you getting on with those plats?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well. I&#8217;ll have &#8217;em all in shape by
+Saturday.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come in and make yourself at home,&#8221; said
+the girl to Norcross. &#8220;You&#8217;ll find the papers
+two or three days old,&#8221; she smiled. &#8220;We never
+know about anything here till other people have
+forgotten it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross followed her into the office, curious
+to know more about her. She was so changed
+from his previous conception of her that he was
+puzzled. She had the directness and the brevity
+of phrase of a business man, as she opened letters
+and discussed their contents with the men.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Truly she <i>is</i> different,&#8221; thought Norcross, and
+yet she lost something by reason of the display
+of her proficiency as a clerk. &#8220;I wish she would
+leave business to some one else,&#8221; he inwardly
+grumbled as he rose to go.</p>
+<p>She looked up from her desk. &#8220;Come in
+again later. We may be able to reach the mill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He thanked her and went back to his hotel,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+where he overhauled his outfit and wrote some
+letters. His disgust of the town was lessened by
+the presence of that handsome girl, and the hope
+that he might see her at luncheon made him
+impatient of the clock.</p>
+<p>She did not appear in the dining-room, and
+when Norcross inquired of Nash whether she
+took her meals at the hotel or not, the expert replied:
+&#8220;No, she goes home. The ranch is only
+a few miles down the valley. Occasionally we
+invite her, but she don&#8217;t think much of the
+cooking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>One of the young surveyors put in a word:
+&#8220;I shouldn&#8217;t think she would. I&#8217;d ride ten miles
+any time to eat one of Mrs. McFarlane&#8217;s dinners.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; agreed Nash with a reflective look in
+his eyes. &#8220;She&#8217;s a mighty fine girl, and I join
+the boys in wishing her better luck than marrying
+Cliff Belden.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is it settled that way?&#8221; asked Norcross.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; the Supervisor warned us all, but even
+he never has any good words for Belden. He&#8217;s
+a surly cuss, and violently opposed to the service.
+His brother is one of the proprietors of
+the Meeker mill, and they have all tried to bulldoze
+Landon, our ranger over there. By the
+way, you&#8217;ll like Landon. He&#8217;s a Harvard man,
+and a good ranger. His shack is only a half-mile
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+from Meeker&#8217;s house. It&#8217;s a pretty well-known
+fact that Alec Belden is part proprietor
+of a saloon over there that worries the Supervisor
+worse than anything. Cliff swears he&#8217;s not connected
+with it; but he&#8217;s more or less sympathetic
+with the crowd.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross, already deeply interested in the
+present and future of a girl whom he had met
+for the first time only the day before, was quite
+ready to give up his trip to Meeker. After the
+men went back to work he wandered about the
+town for an hour or two, and then dropped in
+at the office to inquire if the telephone line had
+been repaired.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, it&#8217;s still dead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did Miss McFarlane return?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. She said she had work to do at home.
+This is ironing-day, I believe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She plays all the parts, don&#8217;t she?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She sure does; and she plays one part as
+well as another. She can rope and tie a steer
+or bake a cake as well as play the piano.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t tell me she plays the piano!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nash laughed. &#8220;She does; but it&#8217;s one of
+those you operate with your feet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m relieved to hear that. She seems almost
+weirdly gifted as it is.&#8221; After a moment he
+broke in with: &#8220;What can a man do in this town?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Work, nothing else.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you do for amusement?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Once in a while there is a dance in the hall
+over the drug-store, and on Sunday you can listen
+to a wretched sermon in the log church. The
+rest of the time you work or loaf in the saloons&mdash;or
+read. Old Nature has done her part here.
+But man&mdash;! Ever been in the Tyrol?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, some day the people of the plains will
+have sense enough to use these mountains, these
+streams, the way they do over there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It required only a few hours for Norcross to
+size up the valley and its people. Aside from
+Nash and his associates, and one or two families
+connected with the mill to the north, the villagers
+were poor, thriftless, and uninteresting. They
+were lacking in the picturesque quality of ranchers
+and miners, and had not yet the grace of
+town-dwellers. They were, indeed, depressingly
+nondescript.</p>
+<p>Early on the second morning he went to the
+post-office&mdash;which was also the telephone station&mdash;to
+get a letter or message from Meeker. He
+found neither; but as he was standing in the door
+undecided about taking the stage, Berea came
+into town riding a fine bay pony, and leading a
+blaze-face buckskin behind her.</p>
+<p>Her face shone cordially, as she called out:
+&#8220;Well, how do you stack up this morning?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Tip-top,&#8221; he answered, in an attempt to
+match her cheery greeting.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you like our town better?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not a bit! But the hills are magnificent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Anybody turned up from the mill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I haven&#8217;t heard a word from there. The
+telephone is still out of commission.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They can&#8217;t locate the break. Uncle Joe sent
+word by the stage-driver asking us to keep an eye
+out for you and send you over. I&#8217;ve come to
+take you over myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s mighty good of you; but it&#8217;s a good
+deal to ask.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want to see Uncle Joe on business, anyhow,
+and you&#8217;ll like the ride better than the journey
+by stage.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Leaving the horses standing with their bridle-reins
+hanging on the ground, she led the way to
+the office.</p>
+<p>&#8220;When father comes in, tell him where I&#8217;ve
+gone, and send Mr. Norcross&#8217;s packs by the first
+wagon. Is your outfit ready?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not quite. I can get it ready soon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He hurried away in pleasant excitement, and
+in twenty minutes was at the door ready to ride.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better take my bay,&#8221; said Berea.
+&#8220;Old Paint-face there is a little notional.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross approached his mount with a caution
+which indicated that he had at least been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+instructed in range-horse psychology, and as he
+gathered his reins together to mount, Berrie
+remarked:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope you&#8217;re saddle-wise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I had a few lessons in a riding-school,&#8221; he
+replied, modestly.</p>
+<p>Young Downing approached the girl with a
+low-voiced protest: &#8220;You oughtn&#8217;t to ride old
+Paint. He nearly pitched the Supervisor the
+other day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not worried,&#8221; she said, and swung to her
+saddle.</p>
+<p>The ugly beast made off in a tearing sidewise
+rush, but she smilingly called back: &#8220;All set.&#8221;
+And Norcross followed her in high admiration.</p>
+<p>Eventually she brought her bronco to subjection,
+and they trotted off together along the
+wagon-road quite comfortably. By this time
+the youth had forgotten his depression, his homesickness
+of the morning. The valley was again
+enchanted ground. Its vistas led to lofty
+heights. The air was regenerative, and though
+a part of this elation was due, no doubt, to the
+power of his singularly attractive guide, he laid
+it discreetly to the climate.</p>
+<p>After shacking along between some rather
+sorry fields of grain for a mile or two, Berea
+swung into a side-trail. &#8220;I want you to meet
+my mother,&#8221; she said.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></p>
+<p>The grassy road led to a long, one-story, half-log,
+half-slab house, which stood on the bank
+of a small, swift, willow-bordered stream.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is our ranch,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;All the
+meadow in sight belongs to us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The young Easterner looked about in astonishment.
+Not a tree bigger than his thumb gave
+shade. The gate of the cattle corral stood but
+a few feet from the kitchen door, and rusty beef-bones,
+bleaching skulls, and scraps of sun-dried
+hides littered the ground or hung upon the fence.
+Exteriorly the low cabin made a drab, depressing
+picture; but as he alighted&mdash;upon Berea&#8217;s invitation&mdash;and
+entered the house, he was met by
+a sweet-faced, brown-haired little woman in a
+neat gown, whose bearing was not in the least
+awkward or embarrassed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is Mr. Norcross, the tourist I told you
+about,&#8221; explained Berrie.</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane extended her small hand with
+friendly impulse. &#8220;I&#8217;m very glad to meet you,
+sir. Are you going to spend some time at the
+Mill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I have a letter to Mr. Meeker
+from a friend of mine who hunted with him last
+year&mdash;a Mr. Sutler.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Sutler! Oh, we know him very well.
+Won&#8217;t you sit down?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The interior of the house was not only well
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+kept, but presented many evidences of refinement.
+A mechanical piano stood against the
+log wall, and books and magazines, dog-eared
+with use, littered the table; and Norcross, feeling
+the force of Nash&#8217;s half-expressed criticism of his
+&#8220;superior,&#8221; listened intently to Mrs. McFarlane&#8217;s
+apologies for the condition of the farmyard.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said Berea, sharply, &#8220;if we&#8217;re to reach
+Uncle Joe&#8217;s for dinner we&#8217;d better be scratching
+the hills.&#8221; And to her mother she added: &#8220;I&#8217;ll
+pull in about dark.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The mother offered no objection to her daughter&#8217;s
+plan, and the young people rode off together
+directly toward the high peaks to the
+east.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going by way of the cut-off,&#8221; Berrie explained;
+and Norcross, content and unafraid,
+nodded in acquiescence. &#8220;Here is the line,&#8221; she
+called a few minutes later, pointing at a sign
+nailed to a tree at the foot of the first wooded hill.</p>
+<p>The notice, printed in black ink on a white
+square of cloth, proclaimed this to be the boundary
+of the Bear Tooth National Forest, and
+pleaded with all men to be watchful of fires.
+Its tone was not at all that of a strong government;
+it was deprecatory.</p>
+<p>The trail, hardly more than a wood road, grew
+wilder and lonelier as they climbed. Cattle fed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+on the hillsides in scattered bands like elk. Here
+and there a small cabin stood on the bank of a
+stream; but, for the most part, the trail mounted
+the high slopes in perfect solitude.</p>
+<p>The girl talked easily and leisurely, reading
+the brands of the ranchers, revealing the number
+of cattle they owned, quite as a young farmer
+would have done. She seemed not to be embarrassed
+in the slightest degree by the fact that
+she was guiding a strange man over a lonely road,
+and gave no outward sign of special interest in
+him till she suddenly turned to ask: &#8220;What kind
+of a slicker&mdash;I mean a raincoat&mdash;did you bring?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked blank. &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe I brought
+any. I&#8217;ve a leather shooting-jacket, however.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders and looked up at
+the sky. &#8220;We&#8217;re in for a storm. You&#8217;d ought &#8217;o
+have a slicker, no fancy &#8216;raincoat,&#8217; but a real
+old-fashioned cow-puncher&#8217;s oilskin. They make
+a business of shedding rain. Leather&#8217;s no good,
+neither is canvas; I&#8217;ve tried &#8217;em all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She rode on for a few minutes in silence, as if
+disgusted with his folly, but she was really worrying
+about him. &#8220;Poor chap,&#8221; she said to herself.
+&#8220;He can&#8217;t stand a chill. I ought to have thought
+of his slicker myself. He&#8217;s helpless as a baby.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They were climbing fast now, winding upward
+along the bank of a stream, and the sky had
+grown suddenly gray, and the woodland path was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+dark and chill. The mountains were not less
+beautiful; but they were decidedly less amiable,
+and the youth shivered, casting an apprehensive
+eye at the thickening clouds.</p>
+<p>Berea perceived something of his dismay, and,
+drawing rein, dismounted. Behind her saddle
+was a tightly rolled bundle which, being untied
+and shaken out, proved to be a horseman&#8217;s rainproof
+oilskin coat. &#8220;Put this on!&#8221; she commanded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh no,&#8221; he protested, &#8220;I can&#8217;t take your
+coat.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes you can! You must! Don&#8217;t you worry
+about me, I&#8217;m used to weather. Put this on
+over your jacket and all. You&#8217;ll need it. Rain
+won&#8217;t hurt <i>me</i>; but it will just about finish
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The worst of this lay in its truth, and Norcross
+lost all his pride of sex for the moment. A wetting
+would not dim this girl&#8217;s splendid color, nor
+reduce her vitality one degree, while to him it
+might be a death-warrant. &#8220;You could throw
+me over my own horse,&#8221; he admitted, in a kind
+of bitter admiration, and slipped the coat on,
+shivering with cold as he did so.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You think me a poor excuse of a trailer, don&#8217;t
+you?&#8221; he said, ruefully, as the thunder began to
+roll.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got to be all made over new,&#8221; she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
+replied, tolerantly. &#8220;Stay here a year and you&#8217;ll
+be able to stand anything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Remounting, she again led the way with cheery
+cry. The rain came dashing down in fitful,
+misty streams; but she merely pulled the rim of
+her sombrero closer over her eyes, and rode
+steadily on, while he followed, plunged in gloom
+as cold and gray as the storm. The splitting
+crashes of thunder echoed from the high peaks
+like the voices of siege-guns, and the lightning
+stabbed here and there as though blindly seeking
+some hidden foe. Long veils of falling water
+twisted and trailed through the valleys with
+swishing roar.</p>
+<p>&#8220;These mountain showers don&#8217;t last long,&#8221;
+the girl called back, her face shining like a rose.
+&#8220;We&#8217;ll get the sun in a few minutes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so it turned out. In less than an hour
+they rode into the warm light again, and in spite
+of himself Norcross returned her smile, though
+he said: &#8220;I feel like a selfish fool. You are
+soaked.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hardly wet through,&#8221; she reassured him.
+&#8220;My jacket and skirt turn water pretty well.
+I&#8217;ll be dry in a jiffy. It does a body good to be
+wet once in a while.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The shame of his action remained; but a closer
+friendship was established, and as he took off
+the coat and handed it back to her, he again
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+apologized. &#8220;I feel like a pig. I don&#8217;t see how
+I came to do it. The thunder and the chill
+scared me, that&#8217;s the truth of it. You hypnotized
+me into taking it. How wet you <i>are</i>!&#8221;
+he exclaimed, remorsefully. &#8220;You&#8217;ll surely take
+cold.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I never take cold,&#8221; she returned. &#8220;I&#8217;m used
+to all kinds of weather. Don&#8217;t you bother about
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Topping a low divide the youth caught a
+glimpse of the range to the southeast, which
+took his breath. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t that superb!&#8221; he exclaimed.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s like the shining roof of the world!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s the Continental Divide,&#8221; she
+confirmed, casually; but the lyrical note which
+he struck again reached her heart. The men she
+knew had so few words for the beautiful in life.
+She wondered whether this man&#8217;s illness had
+given him this refinement or whether it was
+native to his kind. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad he took my coat,&#8221;
+was her thought.</p>
+<p>She pushed on down the slope, riding hard,
+but it was nearly two o&#8217;clock when they drew
+up at Meeker&#8217;s house, which was a long, low,
+stone structure built along the north side of the
+road. The place was distinguished not merely
+by its masonry, but also by its picket fence,
+which had once been whitewashed. Farm-wagons
+of various degrees of decay stood by the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+gate, and in the barn-yard plows and harrows&mdash;deeply
+buried by the weeds&mdash;were rusting forlornly
+away. A little farther up the stream the
+tall pipe of a sawmill rose above the firs.</p>
+<p>A pack of dogs of all sizes and signs came clamoring
+to the fence, followed by a big, slovenly
+dressed, red-bearded man of sixty or thereabouts.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, Uncle Joe,&#8221; called the girl, in offhand
+boyish fashion. &#8220;How are you <i>to-day</i>?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy, girl,&#8221; answered Meeker, gravely.
+&#8220;What brings you up here this time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed. &#8220;Here&#8217;s a boarder who wants
+to learn how to raise cattle.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Meeker&#8217;s face lightened. &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;re
+Mr. Norcross? I&#8217;m glad to see ye. Light off
+and make yourself to home. Turn your horses
+into the corral, the boys will feed &#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Am I in America?&#8221; Norcross asked himself,
+as he followed the slouchy old rancher into the
+unkempt yard. &#8220;This certainly is a long way
+from New Haven.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Without ceremony Meeker led his guests directly
+into the dining-room, a long and rather
+narrow room, wherein a woman and six or seven
+roughly dressed young men were sitting at a
+rudely appointed table.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Earth and seas!&#8221; exclaimed Mrs. Meeker.
+&#8220;Here&#8217;s Berrie, and I&#8217;ll bet that&#8217;s Sutler&#8217;s friend,
+our boarder.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what, mother,&#8221; admitted her husband.
+&#8220;Berrie brought him up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d ought &#8217;o gone for him yourself, you
+big lump,&#8221; she retorted.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Meeker, who was as big as her husband,
+greeted Norcross warmly, and made a place for
+him beside her own chair.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Highst along there, boys, and give the company
+a chance,&#8221; she commanded, sharply. &#8220;Our
+dinner&#8217;s turrible late to-day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The boys&mdash;they were in reality full-grown cubs
+of eighteen or twenty&mdash;did as they were bid with
+much noise, chaffing Berrie with blunt humor.
+The table was covered with a red oil-cloth,
+and set with heavy blue-and-white china. The
+forks were two-tined, steel-pronged, and not
+very polished, and the food was of the simplest
+sort; but the girl seemed at home there&mdash;as she
+did everywhere&mdash;and was soon deep in a discussion
+of the price of beef, and whether it was
+advisable to ship now or wait a month.</p>
+<p>Meeker read Sutler&#8217;s letter, which Norcross
+had handed him, and, after deliberation, remarked:
+&#8220;All right, we&#8217;ll do the best we can
+for you, Mr. Norcross; but we haven&#8217;t any fancy
+accommodations.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He don&#8217;t expect any,&#8221; replied Berrie. &#8220;What
+he needs is a little roughing it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s plinty of that to be had,&#8221; said one of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
+the herders, who sat below the salt. &#8220;&#8217;is
+the soft life I&#8217;m nadin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pat&#8217;s strong on soft jobs,&#8221; said another; and
+Berea joined the laugh which followed this pointless
+joke. She appeared to be one of them, and
+it troubled Norcross a little. She had so little
+the sex feeling and demanded so few of the rights
+and privileges of a girl. The men all admired
+her, that was evident, almost too evident, and
+one or two of the older men felt the charm of her
+young womanhood too deeply even to meet her
+eyes; but of this Norcross was happily ignorant.
+Already in these two days he had acquired a distinct
+sense of proprietorship in her, a feeling
+which made him jealous of her good name.</p>
+<p>Meeker, it turned out, was an Englishman by
+way of Canada, and this was his second American
+wife. His first had been a sister to Mrs. McFarlane.
+He was a man of much reading&mdash;of the
+periodical sort&mdash;and the big sitting-room was
+littered with magazines both English and American,
+and his talk abounded in radical and rather
+foolish utterances. Norcross considered it the
+most disorderly home he had ever seen, and yet
+it was not without a certain dignity. The rooms
+were large and amply provided with furniture
+of a very mixed and gaudy sort, and the table
+was spread with abundance.</p>
+<p>One of the lads, Frank Meeker, a dark, intense
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+youth of about twenty, was Berea&#8217;s full cousin.
+The others were merely hired hands, but they
+all eyed the new-comer with disfavor. The fact
+that Berrie had brought him and that she seemed
+interested in him added to the effect of the smart
+riding-suit which he wore. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to roll him
+in the creek,&#8221; muttered one of them to his
+neighbor.</p>
+<p>This dislike Berrie perceived&mdash;in some degree&mdash;and
+to Frank she privately said: &#8220;Now
+you fellows have got to treat Mr. Norcross
+right. He&#8217;s been very sick.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Frank maliciously grinned. &#8220;Oh, we&#8217;ll treat
+him <i>right</i>. We won&#8217;t do a thing to him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, Frank,&#8221; she warned, &#8220;if you try any
+of your tricks on him you&#8217;ll hear from me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why all this worry on your part?&#8221; he asked,
+keenly. &#8220;How long since you found him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We rode up on the stage day before yesterday,
+and he seemed so kind o&#8217; blue and lonesome
+I couldn&#8217;t help trying to chirk him up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How will Cliff take all this chirking business?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Cliff ain&#8217;t my guardian&mdash;yet,&#8221; she laughingly
+responded. &#8220;Mr. Norcross is a college man,
+and not used to our ways&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;<i>Mister</i> Norcross&mdash;what&#8217;s his front name?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wayland.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He snorted. &#8220;Wayland! If he gets past us
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+without being called &#8216;pasty&#8217; he&#8217;s in luck. He&#8217;s
+a &#8216;lunger&#8217; if there ever was one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The girl was shrewd enough to see that the
+more she sought to soften the wind to her Eastern
+tenderfoot the more surely he was to be
+shorn, so she gave over her effort in that direction,
+and turned to the old folks. To Mrs.
+Meeker she privately said: &#8220;Mr. Norcross ain&#8217;t
+used to rough ways, and he&#8217;s not very rugged,
+you ought &#8217;o kind o&#8217; favor him for a while.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The girl herself did not understand the vital
+and almost painful interest which this young
+man had roused in her. He was both child and
+poet to her, and as she watched him trying to
+make friends with the men, her indignation rose
+against their clownish offishness. She understood
+fully that his neat speech, his Eastern accent,
+together with his tailor-cut clothing and
+the delicacy of his table manners, would surely
+mark him for slaughter among the cow-hands,
+and the wish to shield him made her face graver
+than anybody had ever seen it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t feel right in leaving you here,&#8221; she
+said, at last; &#8220;but I must be ridin&#8217;.&#8221; And while
+Meeker ordered her horse brought out, she walked
+to the gate with Norcross at her side.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m tremendously obliged to you,&#8221; he said,
+and his voice was vibrant. &#8220;You have been
+most kind. How can I repay you?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s all right,&#8221; she replied, in true Western
+fashion. &#8220;I wanted to see the folks up here,
+anyhow. This is no jaunt at all for me.&#8221; And,
+looking at her powerful figure, and feeling the
+trap-like grip of her cinch hand, he knew she
+spoke the truth.</p>
+<p>Frank had saddled his own horse, and was
+planning to ride over the hill with her; but to
+this she objected. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to leave Pete
+here for Mr. Norcross to ride,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and
+there&#8217;s no need of your going.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Frank&#8217;s face soured, and with instant perception
+of the effect her refusal might have on the
+fortunes of the stranger, she reconsidered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, come along! I reckon you want to get
+shut of some mean job.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so she rode away, leaving her ward to adjust
+himself to his new and strange surroundings
+as best he could, and with her going the whole
+valley darkened for the convalescent.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='III_WAYLAND_RECEIVES_A_WARNING' id='III_WAYLAND_RECEIVES_A_WARNING'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+<h2>III</h2>
+<h3>WAYLAND RECEIVES A WARNING</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Distance is no barrier to gossip. It
+amazed young Norcross to observe how
+minutely the ranchers of the valley followed one
+another&#8217;s most intimate domestic affairs. Not
+merely was each man in full possession of the
+color and number of every calf in his neighbor&#8217;s
+herd, it seemed that nothing could happen in
+the most remote cabin and remain concealed.
+Any event which broke the monotony of their
+life loomed large, and in all matters of courtship
+curiosity was something more than keen, it was
+remorseless.</p>
+<p>Living miles apart, and riding the roads but
+seldom, these lonely gossips tore to tatters every
+scrap of rumor. No citizen came or went without
+being studied, characterized, accounted for,
+and every woman was scrutinized as closely as
+a stray horse, and if there was within her, the
+slightest wayward impulse some lawless centaur
+came to know it, to exult over it, to make test
+of it. Her every word, her minutest expression
+of a natural coquetry was enlarged upon as a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+sign of weakness, of yielding. Every personable
+female was the focus of a natural desire, intensified
+by lonely brooding on the part of the men.</p>
+<p>It was soon apparent to the Eastern observer
+that the entire male population for thirty miles
+around not only knew McFarlane&#8217;s girl; but
+that every unmarried man&mdash;and some who were
+both husbands and fathers&mdash;kept a deeply interested
+eye upon her daily motion, and certain
+shameless ones openly boasted among their fellows
+of their intention to win her favor, while
+the shy ones reveled in secret exultation over
+every chance meeting with her. She was the
+topic of every lumber-camp, and the shining lure
+of every dance to which the ranch hands often
+rode over long and lonely trails.</p>
+<p>Part of this intense interest was due, naturally,
+to the scarcity of desirable women, but a larger
+part was called out by Berea&#8217;s frank freedom of
+manner. Her ready camaraderie was taken for
+carelessness, and the candid grip of her hand was
+often misunderstood; and yet most of the men
+respected her, and some feared her. After her
+avowed choice of Clifford Belden they all kept
+aloof, for he was hot-tempered and formidably
+swift to avenge an insult.</p>
+<p>At the end of a week Norcross found himself
+restless and discontented with the Meekers. He
+was tired of fishing, tired of the old man&#8217;s endless
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+arguments, and tired of the obscene cow-hands.
+The men around the mill did not interest
+him, and their Saturday night spree at the
+saloon disgusted him. The one person who
+piqued his curiosity was Landon, the ranger who
+was stationed not far away, and who could be
+seen occasionally riding by on a handsome black
+horse. There was something in his bearing, in
+his neat and serviceable drab uniform, which
+attracted the convalescent, and on Sunday morning
+he decided to venture a call, although Frank
+Meeker had said the ranger was a &#8220;grouch.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His cabin, a neat log structure, stood just
+above the road on a huge natural terrace of
+grassy boulders, and the flag which fluttered from
+a tall staff before it could be seen for several
+miles&mdash;the bright sign of federal control, the
+symbol of law and order, just as the saloon and
+the mill were signs of lawless vice and destructive
+greed. Around the door flowers bloomed and
+kittens played; while at the door of the dive
+broken bottles, swarms of flies, and heaps of
+refuse menaced every corner, and the mill immured
+itself in its own debris like a foul beast.</p>
+<p>It was strangely moving to come upon this
+flower-like place and this garden in the wilderness.
+A spring, which crept from the high wall
+back of &#8220;the station&#8221; (as these ranger headquarters
+are called), gave its delicious water into
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+several winding ditches, trickled musically down
+the other side of the terrace in little life-giving
+cascades, and so finally, reunited in a single current,
+fell away into the creek. It was plain that
+loving care, and much of it, had been given to
+this tiny system of irrigation.</p>
+<p>The cabin&#8217;s interior pleased Wayland almost as
+much as the garden. It was built of pine logs
+neatly matched and hewed on one side. There
+were but two rooms&mdash;one which served as sleeping-chamber
+and office, and one which was at
+once kitchen and dining-room. In the larger
+room a quaint fireplace with a flat arch, a bunk, a
+table supporting a typewriter, and several shelves
+full of books made up the furnishing. On the
+walls hung a rifle, a revolver in its belt, a couple
+of uniforms, and a yellow oilskin raincoat.</p>
+<p>The ranger, spurred and belted, with his cuffs
+turned back, was pounding the typewriter when
+Wayland appeared at the open door; but he rose
+with grave courtesy. &#8220;Come in,&#8221; he said, and
+his voice had a pleasant inflection.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m interrupting.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing serious, just a letter. There&#8217;s no
+hurry. I&#8217;m always glad of an excuse to rest
+from this job.&#8221; He was at once keenly interested
+in his visitor, for he perceived in him the gentleman
+and, of course, the alien.</p>
+<p>Wayland, with something of the feeling of a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
+civilian reporting to an officer, explained his
+presence in the neighborhood.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard of you,&#8221; responded the ranger,
+&#8220;and I&#8217;ve been hoping you&#8217;d look in on me. The
+Supervisor&#8217;s daughter has just written me to
+look after you. She said you were not very well.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again Wayland protested that he was not a
+consumptive, only a student who needed mountain
+air; but he added: &#8220;It is very kind of Miss
+McFarlane to think of me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she thinks of everybody,&#8221; the young fellow
+declared. &#8220;She&#8217;s one of the most unselfish
+creatures in the world.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Something in the music of this speech, and
+something in the look of the ranger&#8217;s eyes,
+caused Wayland to wonder if here were not
+still another of Berrie&#8217;s subjects. He became
+certain of it as the young officer went on, with
+pleasing frankness, and it was not long before
+he had conveyed to Wayland his cause for sadness.
+&#8220;She&#8217;s engaged to a man that is not her
+equal. In a certain sense no man is her equal;
+but Belden is a pretty hard type, and I believe,
+although I can&#8217;t prove it, that he is part owner of
+the saloon over there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How does that saloon happen to be here?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s on patented land&mdash;a so-called &#8216;placer
+claim&#8217;&mdash;experts have reported against it. McFarlane
+has protested against it, but nothing is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+done. The mill is also on deeded land, and
+together they are a plague spot. I&#8217;m their
+enemy, and they know it; and they&#8217;ve threatened
+to burn me out. Of course they won&#8217;t do that,
+but they&#8217;re ready to play any kind of trick on me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can well believe that, for I am getting my
+share of practical jokes at Meeker&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re not a bad lot over there&mdash;only just
+rowdy. I suppose they&#8217;re initiating you,&#8221; said
+Landon.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t come out here to be a cowboy,&#8221; responded
+Norcross. &#8220;But Frank Meeker seems
+to be anxious to show me all the good old cowboy
+courtesies. On Monday he slipped a burr
+under my horse&#8217;s saddle, and I came near to
+having my neck broken. Then he or some one
+else concealed a frog in my bed, and fouled my
+hair-brushes. In fact, I go to sleep each night
+in expectation of some new attack; but the air
+and the riding are doing me a great deal of good,
+and so I stay.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come and bunk with me,&#8221; urged Landon.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll be glad to have you. I get terribly lonesome
+here sometimes, although I&#8217;m supposed
+to have the best station in the forest. Bring
+your outfit and stay as long as you like.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This offer touched Norcross deeply. &#8220;That&#8217;s
+very kind of you; but I guess I&#8217;ll stick it out.
+I hate to let those hoodlums drive me out.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, but come and see me often. I get
+so blue some days I wonder what&#8217;s the use of it
+all. There&#8217;s one fatal condition about this
+ranger business&mdash;it&#8217;s a solitary job, it cuts out
+marriage for most of us. Many of the stations are
+fifteen or twenty miles from a post-office; then,
+too, the lines of promotion are few. I guess I&#8217;ll
+have to get out, although I like the work. Come
+in any time and take a snack with me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereafter Wayland spent nearly every day
+with the ranger, either in his cabin or riding
+the trail, and during these hours confidence grew
+until at last Landon confessed that his unrest
+arose from his rejection by Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She was not to blame. She&#8217;s so kind and
+free with every one, I thought I had a chance.
+I was conceited enough to feel sorry for the other
+fellows, and now I can&#8217;t even feel sorry for myself.
+I&#8217;m just dazed and hanging to the ropes.
+She was mighty gentle about it&mdash;you know how
+sunny her face is&mdash;well, she just got grave and
+kind o&#8217; faint-voiced, and said&mdash;Oh, you know
+what she said! She let me know there was another
+man. I didn&#8217;t ask her who, and when I
+found out, I lost my grip entirely. At first I
+thought I&#8217;d resign and get out of the country;
+but I couldn&#8217;t do it&mdash;I can&#8217;t yet. The chance
+of seeing her&mdash;of hearing from her once in a
+while&mdash;she never writes except on business for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span>
+her father; but&mdash;you&#8217;ll laugh&mdash;I can&#8217;t see her
+signature without a tremor.&#8221; He smiled, but
+his eyes were desperately sad. &#8220;I ought to resign,
+because I can&#8217;t do my work as well as I
+ought to. As I ride the trail I&#8217;m thinking of
+her. I sit here half the night writing imaginary
+letters to her. And when I see her, and she
+takes my hand in hers&mdash;you know what a hand
+she has&mdash;my mind goes blank. Oh, I&#8217;m crazy!
+I admit it. I didn&#8217;t know such a thing could
+happen to me; but it has.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose it&#8217;s being alone so much,&#8221; Wayland
+started to argue, but the other would not have
+it so.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, it&#8217;s the girl herself. She&#8217;s not only beautiful
+in body, she&#8217;s all sweetness and sincerity
+in mind. There isn&#8217;t a petty thing about her.
+And her happy smile&mdash;do you know, I have
+times when I resent that smile? How can she be
+so happy without me? That&#8217;s crazy, too, but I
+think it, sometimes. Then I think of the time
+when she will not smile&mdash;when that brute Belden
+will begin to treat her as he does his sisters&mdash;then
+I get murderous.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As Wayland listened to this outpouring he
+wondered at the intensity of the forester&#8217;s passion.
+He marveled, too, at Berrie&#8217;s choice, for
+there was something fine and high in Landon&#8217;s
+worship. A college man with a mining engineer&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+training, he should go high in the service. &#8220;He
+made the mistake of being too precipitate as a
+lover,&#8221; concluded Wayland. &#8220;His forthright
+courtship repelled her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Meanwhile his own troubles increased. Frank&#8217;s
+dislike had grown to an impish vindictiveness,
+and if the old man Meeker had any knowledge of
+his son&#8217;s deviltries, he gave no sign. Mrs.
+Meeker, however, openly reproved the scamp.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You ought to be ashamed of worrying a sick
+man,&#8221; she protested, indignantly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He ain&#8217;t so sick as all that; and, besides, he
+needs the starch taken out of him,&#8221; was the
+boy&#8217;s pitiless answer.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know why I stay,&#8221; Wayland wrote
+to Berea. &#8220;I&#8217;m disgusted with the men up
+here&mdash;they&#8217;re all tiresome except Landon&mdash;but
+I hate to slink away, and besides, the country is
+glorious. I&#8217;d like to come down and see you
+this week. May I do so? Please send word
+that I may.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She did not reply, and wondering whether she
+had received his letter or not, he mounted his
+horse one beautiful morning and rode away up the
+trail with a sense of elation, of eager joy, with intent
+to call upon her at the ranch as he went by.</p>
+<p>Hardly had he vanished among the pines when
+Clifford Belden rode in from his ranch on Hat
+Creek, and called at Meeker&#8217;s for his mail.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span></p>
+<p>Frank Meeker was in the office, and as he
+both feared and disliked this big contemptuous
+young cattleman, he set to work to make him
+jealous.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You want to watch this one-lung boarder
+of ours,&#8221; he warned, with a grin. &#8220;He&#8217;s been
+writing to Berrie, and he&#8217;s just gone down to
+see her. His highfalutin ways, and his fine
+white hands, have put her on the slant.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Belden fixed a pair of cold, gray-blue eyes on
+his tormentor, and said: &#8220;You be careful of
+your tongue or I&#8217;ll put <i>you</i> on the slant.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m her own cousin,&#8221; retorted Frank. &#8220;I
+reckon I can say what I please about her. I
+don&#8217;t want that dude Easterner to cut you out.
+She guided him over here, and gave him her
+slicker to keep him dry, and I can see she&#8217;s
+terribly taken with him. She&#8217;s headstrong as a
+mule, once she gets started, and if she takes a
+notion to Norcross it&#8217;s all up with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not worrying,&#8221; retorted Belden.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better be. I was down there the
+other day, and it &#8217;peared like she couldn&#8217;t talk
+of anything else but Mister Norcross, Mister
+Norcross, till I was sick of his name.&#8221;</p>
+<p>An hour later Belden left the mill and set off
+up the trail behind Norcross, his face fallen into
+stern lines. Frank writhed in delight. &#8220;There
+goes Cliff, hot under the collar, chasing Norcross.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+If he finds out that Berrie is interested in him,
+he&#8217;ll just about wring that dude&#8217;s neck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Wayland was riding through the
+pass with lightening heart, his thought dwelling
+on the girl at the end of his journey. Aside from
+Landon and Nash, she was the one soul in all
+this mountain world in whom he took the slightest
+interest. Her pity still hurt him, but he
+hoped to show her such change of color, such
+gain in horsemanship, that she could no longer
+consider him an invalid. His mind kept so
+closely to these interior matters that he hardly
+saw the path, but his horse led him safely back
+with precise knowledge and eager haste.</p>
+<p>As he reached the McFarlane ranch it seemed
+deserted of men, but a faint column of smoke
+rising from the roof of the kitchen gave evidence
+of a cook, and at his knock Berrie came to the
+door with a boyish word of frank surprise and
+pleasure. She was dressed in a blue-and-white
+calico gown with the collar turned in and the
+sleeves rolled up; but she seemed quite unembarrassed,
+and her pleasure in his coming quite
+repaid him for his long and tiresome ride.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been wondering about you,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m mighty glad to see you. How do you
+stand it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You got my letter?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did&mdash;and I was going to write and tell you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
+to come down, but I&#8217;ve had some special work
+to do at the office.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She took the horse&#8217;s rein from him, and together
+they started toward the stables. As she
+stepped over and around the old hoofs and meat-bones&mdash;which
+littered the way&mdash;without comment,
+Wayland again wondered at her apparent
+failure to realize the disgusting disorder of the
+yard. &#8220;Why don&#8217;t she urge the men to clean
+it up?&#8221; he thought.</p>
+<p>This action of stabling the horses&mdash;a perfectly
+innocent and natural one for her&mdash;led one
+of the hands, a coarse-minded sneak, to watch
+them from a corral. &#8220;I wonder how Cliff would
+like that?&#8221; he evilly remarked.</p>
+<p>Berea was frankly pleased to see Wayland,
+and spoke of the improvement which had taken
+place in him. &#8220;You&#8217;re looking fine,&#8221; she said,
+as they were returning to the house. &#8220;But how
+do you get on with the boys?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not very well,&#8221; he admitted. &#8220;They seem
+to have it in for me. It&#8217;s a constant fight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How about Frank?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s the worst of them all. He never speaks
+to me that he doesn&#8217;t insult me. I don&#8217;t know
+why. I&#8217;ve tried my best to get into his good
+graces, but I can&#8217;t. Your uncle I like, and Mrs.
+Meeker is very kind; but all the others seem to
+be sworn enemies. I don&#8217;t think I could stand
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+it if it weren&#8217;t for Landon. I spend a good deal
+of time with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face grew grave. &#8220;I reckon you got
+started wrong,&#8221; she said at last. &#8220;They&#8217;ll like
+you better when you get browned up, and your
+clothes get dirty&mdash;you&#8217;re a little too fancy for
+them just now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you see,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I&#8217;m not trying for
+their admiration. I haven&#8217;t the slightest ambition
+to shine as a cow-puncher, and if those fellows
+are fair samples I don&#8217;t want anybody to
+mistake me for one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t let that get around,&#8221; she smilingly
+replied. &#8220;They&#8217;d run you out if they knew you
+despised them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve come down here to confer with you,&#8221; he
+declared, as they reached the door. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+believe I want any more of their company.
+What&#8217;s the use? As you say, I&#8217;ve started wrong
+with them, and I don&#8217;t see any prospect of getting
+right; and, besides, I like the rangers better.
+Landon thinks I might work into the service.
+I wonder if I could? It would give me something
+to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She considered a moment. &#8220;We&#8217;ll think about
+that. Come into the kitchen. I&#8217;m cook to-day,
+mother&#8217;s gone to town.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The kitchen was clean and ample, and the
+delicious odor of new-made bread filled it with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+cheer. As the girl resumed her apron, Wayland
+settled into a chair with a sigh of content.
+&#8220;I like this,&#8221; he said aloud. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing
+cowgirl about you now, you&#8217;re the Anglo-Saxon
+housewife. You might be a Michigan or Connecticut
+girl at this moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her cheeks were ruddy with the heat, and her
+eyes intent on her work; but she caught enough
+of his meaning to be pleased with it. &#8220;Oh, I
+have to take a hand at the pots and pans now
+and then. I can&#8217;t give all my time to the service;
+but I&#8217;d like to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He boldly announced his errand. &#8220;I wish
+you&#8217;d take me to board? I&#8217;m sure your cooking
+would build up my shattered system a good deal
+quicker than your aunt&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed, but shook her head. &#8220;You
+ought to be on the hills riding hard every day.
+What you need is the high country and the air
+of the pines.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not feeling any lack of scenery or pine-tree
+air,&#8221; he retorted. &#8220;I&#8217;m perfectly satisfied
+right here. Civilized bread and the sight of you
+will do me more good than boiled beans and
+camp bread. I hate to say it, but the Meeker
+menu runs largely to beef. Moreover, just seeing
+you would help my recovery.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She became self-conscious at this, and he
+hastened to add:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Not that I&#8217;m really sick. Mrs. Meeker, like
+yourself, persists in treating me as if I were.
+I&#8217;m feeling fine&mdash;perfectly well, only I&#8217;m not as
+rugged as I want to be.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She had read that victims of the white plague
+always talk in this cheerful way about themselves,
+and she worked on without replying, and
+this gave him an excellent opportunity to study
+her closely. She was taller than most women
+and lithely powerful. There was nothing delicate
+about her&mdash;nothing spirituelle&mdash;on the contrary,
+she was markedly full-veined, cheerful and humorous,
+and yet she had responded several times
+to an allusive phrase with surprising quickness.
+She did so now as he remarked: &#8220;Somebody,
+I think it was Lowell, has said &#8216;Nature is
+all very well for a vacation, but a poor substitute
+for the society of good men and women.&#8217; It&#8217;s
+beautiful up at the mill, but I want some one
+to enjoy it with, and there is no one to turn
+to, except Landon, and he&#8217;s rather sad and self-absorbed&mdash;you
+know why. If I were here&mdash;in
+the valley&mdash;you and I could ride together
+now and then, and you could show me all the
+trails. Why not let me come here and board?
+I&#8217;m going to ask your mother, if I may not do
+so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Quite naturally he grew more and more personal.
+He told her of his father, the busy director
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+of a lumber company, and of his mother,
+sickly and inert.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She ought never to have married,&#8221; he said,
+with darkened brow. &#8220;Not one of her children
+has even a decent constitution. I&#8217;m the most
+robust of them all, and I must seem a pretty
+poor lot to you. However, I wasn&#8217;t always like
+this, and if that young devil, Frank Meeker,
+hadn&#8217;t tormented me out of my sleep, I would
+have shown you still greater improvement.
+Don&#8217;t you see that it is your duty to let me stay
+here where I can build up on your cooking?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She turned this aside. &#8220;Mother don&#8217;t think
+much of my cooking. She says I can handle a
+brandin&#8217;-iron a heap better than I can a rollin&#8217;-pin.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You certainly can ride,&#8221; he replied, with admiring
+accent. &#8220;I shall never forget the picture
+you made that first time I saw you racing to intercept
+the stage. Do you <i>know</i> how fine you
+are physically? You&#8217;re a wonder.&#8221; She uttered
+some protest, but he went on: &#8220;When I think of
+my mother and sisters in comparison with you,
+they seem like caricatures of women. I know
+I oughtn&#8217;t to say such things of my mother&mdash;she
+really is an exceptional person&mdash;but a woman
+should be something more than mind. My
+sisters could no more do what you do than a
+lame duck can lead a ballet. I suppose it is because
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+I have had to live with a lot of ailing women
+all my life that I feel as I do toward you. I worship
+your health and strength. I really do.
+Your care of me on that trip was very sweet&mdash;and
+yet it stung.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean to hurt you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know you didn&#8217;t, and I&#8217;m not complaining.
+I&#8217;m only wishing I could come here and be &#8216;bossed&#8217;
+by you until I could hold my own against any
+weather. You make me feel just as I used to do
+when I went to a circus and watched the athletes,
+men and women, file past me in the sawdust.
+They seemed like demigods. As I sit here now
+I have a fierce desire to be as well, as strong, as
+full of life as you are. I hate being thin and
+timid. You have the physical perfection that
+queens ought to have.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face was flushed with inward heat as she
+listened to his strange words, which sprang, she
+feared, from the heart of a man hopelessly ill;
+but she again protested. &#8220;It&#8217;s all right to be
+able to throw a rope and ride a mean horse, but
+you have got something else&mdash;something I can
+never get. Learning is a thousand times finer
+than muscle.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Learning does not compensate for nine-inch
+shoulders and spindle legs,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;But
+I&#8217;m going to get well. Knowing you has given
+me renewed desire to be a man. I&#8217;m going to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+ride and rough it, and sleep out of doors till I
+can follow you anywhere. You&#8217;ll be proud of
+me before the month is out. But I&#8217;m going to
+cut the Meeker outfit. I won&#8217;t subject myself
+to their vulgarities another day. Why should I?
+It&#8217;s false pride in me to hang on up there any
+longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course you can come here,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;Mother will be glad to have you, although our
+ranch isn&#8217;t a bit pretty. Perhaps father will
+send you out with one of the rangers as a fire-guard.
+I&#8217;ll ask him to-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish you would. I like these foresters.
+What I&#8217;ve seen of them. I wouldn&#8217;t mind serving
+under a man like Landon. He&#8217;s fine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Upon this pleasant conference Cliff Belden
+unexpectedly burst. Pushing the door open
+with a slam, he confronted Berrie with dark and
+angry face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Cliff, where did you come from?&#8221; she
+asked, rising in some confusion. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t hear
+you ride up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Apparently not,&#8221; he sneeringly answered.
+&#8220;I reckon you were too much occupied.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She tried to laugh away his black mood.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s right, I was. I&#8217;m chief cook to-day.
+Come in and sit down. Mother&#8217;s gone to town,
+and I&#8217;m playing her part,&#8221; she explained, ignoring
+his sullen displeasure. &#8220;Cliff, this is Mr.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
+Norcross, who is visiting Uncle Joe. Mr. Norcross,
+shake hands with Mr. Belden.&#8221; She made
+this introduction with some awkwardness, for her
+lover&#8217;s failure to even say, &#8220;Howdy,&#8221; informed
+her that his jealous heart was aflame, and she
+went on, quickly: &#8220;Mr. Norcross dropped in on
+his way to the post-office, and I&#8217;m collecting a
+snack for him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Recognizing Belden&#8217;s claims upon the girl,
+Wayland rose. &#8220;I must be going. It&#8217;s a long
+ride over the hill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come again soon,&#8221; urged Berrie; &#8220;father
+wants to see you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you. I will look in very shortly,&#8221; he
+replied, and went out with such dignity as he
+could command, feeling, however, very much
+like a dog that has been kicked over the threshold.</p>
+<p>Closing the door behind him, Belden turned
+upon the girl. &#8220;What&#8217;s that consumptive &#8216;dogie&#8217;
+doing here? He &#8217;peared to be very much at
+home with you&mdash;too dern much at home!&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was prepared for his displeasure, but not
+for words like these. She answered, quietly:
+&#8220;He just dropped in on his way to town, and he&#8217;s
+not a dogie!&#8221; She resented his tone as well as
+his words.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard about you taking him over to
+Meeker&#8217;s and lending him your only slicker,&#8221; he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+went on; &#8220;but I didn&#8217;t expect to find him sittin&#8217;
+here like he owned you and the place. You&#8217;re
+taking altogether too much pains with him.
+Can&#8217;t he put his own horse out? Do you have
+to go to the stable with him? You never did
+have any sense about your actions with men.
+You&#8217;ve all along been too free of your reputation,
+and now I&#8217;m going to take care of it for you. I
+won&#8217;t have you nursin&#8217; this runt any longer!&#8221;</p>
+<p>She perceived now the full measure of his base
+rage, and her face grew pale and set. &#8220;You&#8217;re
+making a perfect fool of yourself, Cliff,&#8221; she said,
+with portentous calmness.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Am I?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You sure are, and you&#8217;ll see it yourself by
+and by. You&#8217;ve no call to get wire-edged about
+Mr. Norcross. He&#8217;s not very strong. He&#8217;s just
+getting well of a long sickness. I knew a chill
+would finish him, that&#8217;s why I gave him my
+slicker. It didn&#8217;t hurt me, and maybe it saved
+his life. I&#8217;d do it again if necessary.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Since when did you start a hospital for
+Eastern tenderfeet?&#8221; he sneered; then his tone
+changed to one of downright command. &#8220;You
+want to cut this all out, I tell you! I won&#8217;t have
+any more of it! The boys up at the mill are all
+talkin&#8217; about your interest in this little whelp,
+and I&#8217;m getting the branding-iron from every
+one I meet. Sam saw you go into the barn with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+that dude, and <i>that</i> would have been all over the
+country to-morrow, if I hadn&#8217;t told him I&#8217;d sew
+his mouth up if he said a word about it. Of
+course, I don&#8217;t think you mean anything by this
+coddlin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, thank you,&#8221; she interrupted, with flaming,
+quick, indignant fury. &#8220;That&#8217;s mighty nice
+of you. I went to the barn to show Mr. Norcross
+where to stall his horse. I didn&#8217;t know
+Sam was here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He sneered: &#8220;No, I bet you didn&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She fired at this. &#8220;Come now! Spit it out!
+Something nasty is in your mind. Go on!
+What have I done? What makes you so hot?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He began to weaken. &#8220;I don&#8217;t accuse you of
+anything. I&mdash;but I&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes you do&mdash;in your heart you distrust me&mdash;you
+just as much as said so!&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was losing his high air of command. &#8220;Never
+mind what I said, Berrie, I&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was blazing now. &#8220;But I <i>do</i> mind&mdash;I
+mind a whole lot&mdash;I didn&#8217;t think it of you,&#8221; she
+added, as she realized his cheapness, his coarseness.
+&#8220;I didn&#8217;t suppose you could even <i>think</i>
+such things of me. I don&#8217;t like it,&#8221; she repeated,
+and her tone hardened, &#8220;and I guess you&#8217;d better
+pull out of here&mdash;for good. If you&#8217;ve no more
+faith in me than that, I want you to go and never
+come back.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t mean that!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I do! You&#8217;ve shown this yellow streak
+before, and I&#8217;m tired of it. This is the limit.
+I&#8217;m done with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She stood between tears and benumbing anger
+now, and he was scared. &#8220;Don&#8217;t say that,
+Berrie!&#8221; he pleaded, trying to put his arm about
+her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Keep away from me!&#8221; She dashed his hands
+aside. &#8220;I hate you. I never want to see you
+again!&#8221; She ran into her own room and slammed
+the door behind her.</p>
+<p>Belden stood for a long time with his back
+against the wall, the heat of his resentment
+utterly gone, an empty, aching place in his heart.
+He called her twice, but she made no answer,
+and so, at last, he mounted his horse and rode
+away.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IV_THE_SUPERVISOR_OF_THE_FOREST' id='IV_THE_SUPERVISOR_OF_THE_FOREST'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+<h2>IV</h2>
+<h3>THE SUPERVISOR OF THE FOREST</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Young Norcross, much as he admired Berrie,
+was not seeking to exchange her favor
+for her lover&#8217;s enmity, and he rode away with an
+uneasy feeling of having innocently made trouble
+for himself, as well as for a fine, true-hearted girl.
+&#8220;What a good friendly talk we were having,&#8221; he
+said, regretfully, &#8220;and to think she is to marry
+that big, scowling brute. How could she turn
+Landon down for a savage like that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was just leaving the outer gate when Belden
+came clattering up and reined his horse
+across the path and called out: &#8220;See here, you
+young skunk, you&#8217;re a poor, white-livered tenderfoot,
+and I can&#8217;t bust you as I would a full-grown
+man, but I reckon you better not ride
+this trail any more.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221; inquired Wayland.</p>
+<p>Belden glared. &#8220;Because I tell you so. Your
+sympathy-hunting game has just about run into
+the ground. You&#8217;ve worked this baby dodge
+about long enough. You&#8217;re not so almighty sick
+as you put up to be, and you&#8217;d better hunt some
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+other cure for lonesomeness, or I&#8217;ll just about
+cave your chest in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>All this was shockingly plain talk for a slender
+young scholar to listen to, but Norcross remained
+calm. &#8220;I think you&#8217;re unnecessarily
+excited,&#8221; he remarked. &#8220;I have no desire to
+make trouble. I&#8217;m considering Miss Berea, who
+is too fine to be worried by us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His tone was conciliating, and the cowman,
+in spite of himself, responded to it. &#8220;That&#8217;s why
+I advise you to go. She was all right till you
+came. Colorado&#8217;s a big place, and there are
+plenty other fine ranges for men of your complaint&mdash;why
+not try Routt County? This is
+certain, you can&#8217;t stay in the same valley with
+my girl. I serve notice of that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re making a prodigious ass of yourself,&#8221;
+observed Wayland, with calm contempt.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You think so&mdash;do you? Well, I&#8217;ll make a
+jack-rabbit out of you if I find you on this ranch
+again. You&#8217;ve worked on my girl in some way
+till she&#8217;s jest about quit me. I don&#8217;t see how you
+did it, you measly little pup, but you surely have
+turned her against me!&#8221; His rage burst into
+flame as he thought of her last words. &#8220;If you
+were so much as half a man I&#8217;d break you in
+two pieces right now; but you&#8217;re not, you&#8217;re
+nothing but a dead-on-the-hoof lunger, and
+there&#8217;s nothing to do but run you out. So take
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span>
+this as your final notice. You straddle a horse
+and head east and keep a-ridin&#8217;, and if I catch
+you with my girl again, I&#8217;ll deal you a whole
+hatful of misery&mdash;now that&#8217;s right!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereupon, with a final glance of hate in his
+face, he whirled his horse and galloped away,
+leaving Norcross dumb with resentment, intermingled
+with wonder.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Truly the West is a dramatic country! Here
+I am, involved in a lover&#8217;s wrath, and under
+sentence of banishment, all within a month!
+Well, I suppose there&#8217;s nothing to do but carry
+out Belden&#8217;s orders. He&#8217;s the boss,&#8221; he said as
+he rode on. &#8220;I wonder just what happened after
+I left? Something stormy, evidently. She must
+have given him a sharp rebuff, or he wouldn&#8217;t
+have been so furious with me. Perhaps she even
+broke her engagement with him. I sincerely hope
+she did. She&#8217;s too good for him. That&#8217;s the
+truth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so, from point to point, he progressed till
+with fine indignation he reached a resolution
+to stay and meet whatever came. &#8220;I certainly
+would be a timorous animal if I let myself be
+scared into flight by that big bonehead,&#8221; he said
+at last. &#8220;I have as much right here as he has,
+and the law must protect me. It can&#8217;t be that
+this country is entirely barbaric.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, he felt very weak and very much
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+depressed as he rode up the street of the little
+town and dismounted at the hotel. The sidewalks
+were littered with loafing cowboys and
+lumber-jacks, and some of them quite openly
+ridiculed his riding-breeches and his thin legs.
+Others merely grinned, but in their grins lay
+something more insulting than words. &#8220;To
+them I am a poor thing,&#8221; he admitted; but as he
+lifted his eyes to the mighty semicircular wall
+of the Bear Tooth Range, over which the daily
+storm was playing, he forgot his small worries.
+What gorgeous pageantry! What life-giving air!
+&#8220;If only civilized men and women possessed this
+glorious valley, what a place it would be!&#8221; he
+exclaimed, and in the heat of his indignant
+contempt he would have swept the valley
+clean.</p>
+<p>As his eyes caught the flutter of the flag on
+its staff above the Forest Service building, his
+heart went out to the men who unselfishly
+wrought beneath that symbol of federal unity
+for the good of the future. &#8220;That is civilized,&#8221;
+he said; &#8220;that is prophetic,&#8221; and alighted at the
+door in a glow of confidence.</p>
+<p>Nash, who was alone in the office, looked up
+from his work. &#8220;Come in,&#8221; he called, heartily.
+&#8220;Come in and report.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you. I&#8217;d like to do so; and may I
+use your desk? I have a letter to write.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Make yourself at home. Take any desk you
+like. The men are all out on duty.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re very kind,&#8221; replied Wayland, gratefully.
+There was something reassuring in this
+greeting, and in the many signs of skill and
+scientific reading which the place displayed. It
+was like a bit of Washington in the midst of a
+careless, slovenly, lawless mountain town, and
+Norcross took his seat and wrote his letter with
+a sense of proprietorship.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting up an enthusiasm for the Service
+just from hearing Alec Belden rave against it,&#8221;
+he said a few minutes later, as he looked up from
+his letter.</p>
+<p>Nash grinned. &#8220;How did you like Meeker?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a good man, but he has his peculiarities.
+Belden is your real enemy. He is blue
+with malignity&mdash;so are most of the cowmen I
+met up there. I wish I could do something for
+the Service. I&#8217;m a thoroughly up-to-date analytical
+chemist and a passable mining engineer, and
+my doctor says that for a year at least I must
+work in the open air. <i>Is</i> there anything in this
+Forest Service for a weakling like me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nash considered. &#8220;The Supervisor might put
+you on as a temporary guard. I&#8217;ll speak to him
+if you like?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish you would. Tell him to forget the
+pay. I&#8217;m not in need of money, but I do require
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+some incentive&mdash;something to do&mdash;something to
+give me direction. It bores me stiff to fish, and
+I&#8217;m sick of loafing. If McFarlane can employ me
+I shall be happy. The country is glorious, but
+I can&#8217;t live on scenery.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think we can employ you, but you&#8217;ll have
+to go on as fire-guard or something like that for
+the first year. You see, the work is getting to
+be more and more technical each year. As a
+matter of fact&#8221;&mdash;here he lowered his voice a little&mdash;&#8220;McFarlane
+is one of the old guard, and
+will have to give way. He don&#8217;t know a thing
+about forestry, and is too old to learn. His girl
+knows more about it than he does. She helps
+him out on office work, too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland wondered a little at the freedom of
+expression on the part of Nash; but said: &#8220;If
+he runs his office as he runs his ranch he surely
+is condemned to go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s where the girl comes in. She keeps
+the boys in the office lined up and maintains
+things in pretty fair shape. She knows the old
+man is in danger of losing his job, and she&#8217;s doing
+her best to hold him to it. She&#8217;s like a son to him
+and he relies on her judgment when a close decision
+comes up. But it&#8217;s only a matter of time
+when he and all he represents must drift by.
+This is a big movement we&#8217;re mixed with.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I begin to feel that that&#8217;s why I&#8217;d like to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
+take it up. It&#8217;s the only thing out here that interests
+me&mdash;and I&#8217;ve got to do something. I
+can&#8217;t loaf.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, you get Berrie to take up your case and
+you&#8217;re all right. She has the say about who goes
+on the force in this forest.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was late in the afternoon before Wayland
+started back to Meeker&#8217;s with intent to repack
+his belongings and leave the ranch for good.
+He had decided not to call at McFarlane&#8217;s, a
+decision which came not so much from fear of
+Clifford Belden as from a desire to shield Berea
+from further trouble, but as he was passing the
+gate, the girl rose from behind a clump of willows
+and called to him: &#8220;Oh, Mr. Norcross! Wait
+a moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He drew rein, and, slipping from his horse,
+approached her. &#8220;What is it, Miss Berrie?&#8221; he
+asked, with wondering politeness.</p>
+<p>She confronted him with gravity. &#8220;It&#8217;s too
+late for you to cross the ridge. It&#8217;ll be dark long
+before you reach the cut-off. You&#8217;d better not
+try to make it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I can find my way,&#8221; he answered,
+touched by her consideration. &#8220;I&#8217;m not so
+helpless as I was when I came.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just the same you mustn&#8217;t go on,&#8221; she insisted.
+&#8220;Father told me to ask you to come in
+and stay all night. He wants to meet you. I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+was afraid you might ride by after what happened
+to-day, and so I came up here to head
+you off.&#8221; She took his horse by the rein, and
+flashed a smiling glance up at him. &#8220;Come now,
+do as the Supervisor tells you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait a moment,&#8221; he pleaded. &#8220;On second
+thought, I don&#8217;t believe it&#8217;s a good thing for
+me to go home with you. It will only make
+further trouble for&mdash;for us both.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was almost as direct as Belden had been.
+&#8220;I know what you mean. I saw Cliff follow you.
+He jumped you, didn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He overtook me&mdash;yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What did he say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He hesitated. &#8220;He was pretty hot, and said
+things he&#8217;ll be sorry for when he cools off.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He told you not to come here any more&mdash;advised
+you to hit the out-going trail&mdash;didn&#8217;t
+he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He flushed with returning shame of it all, but
+quietly answered: &#8220;Yes, he said something about
+riding east.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going to do it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not to-day; but I guess I&#8217;d better keep away
+from here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She looked at him steadily. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because you&#8217;ve been very kind to me, and I
+wouldn&#8217;t for the world do anything to hurt or
+embarrass you.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you mind about me,&#8221; she responded,
+bluntly. &#8220;What happened this morning wasn&#8217;t
+your fault nor mine. Cliff made a mighty coarse
+play, something he&#8217;ll have to pay for. He knows
+that right now. He&#8217;ll be back in a day or two
+begging my pardon, and he won&#8217;t get it. Don&#8217;t
+you worry about me, not for a minute&mdash;I can
+take care of myself&mdash;I grew up that way, and
+don&#8217;t you be chased out of the country by anybody.
+Come, father will be looking for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a feeling that he was involving both the
+girl and himself in still darker storms, the young
+fellow yielded to her command, and together
+they walked along the weed-bordered path,
+while she continued:</p>
+<p>&#8220;This isn&#8217;t the first time Cliff has started in
+to discipline me; but it&#8217;s obliged to be the last.
+He&#8217;s the kind that think they own a girl just as
+soon as they get her to wear an engagement ring;
+but Cliff don&#8217;t own me. I told him I wouldn&#8217;t
+stand for his coarse ways, and I won&#8217;t!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland tried to bring her back to humor.
+&#8220;You&#8217;re a kind of &#8216;new woman.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>She turned a stern look on him. &#8220;You bet I
+am! I was raised a free citizen. No man can
+make a slave of me. I thought he understood
+that; but it seems he didn&#8217;t. He&#8217;s all right in
+many ways&mdash;one of the best riders in the country&mdash;but
+he&#8217;s pretty tolerable domineering&mdash;I&#8217;ve
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+always known that&mdash;still, I never expected him
+to talk to me like he did to-day. It certainly
+was raw.&#8221; She broke off abruptly. &#8220;You
+mustn&#8217;t let Frank Meeker get the best of you,
+either,&#8221; she advised. &#8220;He&#8217;s a mean little weasel
+if he gets started. I&#8217;ll bet he put Cliff up to this
+business.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he just as good as told me he&#8217;d do it.
+I know Frank, he&#8217;s my own cousin, and someways
+I like him; but he&#8217;s the limit when he gets going.
+You see, he wanted to get even with Cliff and
+took that way of doing it. I&#8217;ll ride up there and
+give him a little good advice some Saturday.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was no longer amused by her blunt speech,
+and her dark look saddened him. She seemed
+so unlike the happy girl he met that first day,
+and the change in her subtended a big, rough,
+and pitiless world of men against which she was
+forced to contend all her life.</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane greeted Norcross with cordial
+word and earnest hand-clasp. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad to see
+you looking so well,&#8221; she said, with charming sincerity.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m browner, anyway,&#8221; he answered, and
+turned to meet McFarlane, a short, black-bearded
+man, with fine dark eyes and shapely hands&mdash;hands
+that had never done anything more toilsome
+than to lift a bridle rein or to clutch the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+handle of a gun. He was the horseman in all
+his training, and though he owned hundreds of
+acres of land, he had never so much as held a
+plow or plied a spade. His manner was that of
+the cow-boss, the lord of great herds, the claimant
+of empires of government grass-land. Poor
+as his house looked, he was in reality rich. Narrow-minded
+in respect to his own interests, he
+was well in advance of his neighbors on matters
+relating to the general welfare, a curious mixture
+of greed and generosity, as most men are,
+and though he had been made Supervisor at
+a time when political pull still crippled the Service,
+he was loyal to the flag. &#8220;I&#8217;m mighty glad
+to see you,&#8221; he heartily began. &#8220;We don&#8217;t often
+get a man from the sea-level, and when we do we
+squeeze him dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His voice, low, languid, and soft, was most
+insinuating, and for hours he kept his guest talking
+of the East and its industries and prejudices;
+and Berrie and her mother listened with deep
+admiration, for the youngster had seen a good
+deal of the old world, and was unusually well
+read on historical lines of inquiry. He talked
+well, too, inspired by his attentive audience.</p>
+<p>Berrie&#8217;s eyes, wide and eager, were fixed upon
+him unwaveringly. He felt her wonder, her
+admiration, and was inspired to do his best.
+Something in her absorbed attention led him to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span>
+speak of things so personal that he wondered at
+himself for uttering them.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been dilettante all my life,&#8221; was one of
+his confessions. &#8220;I&#8217;ve traveled; I&#8217;ve studied
+in a tepid sort of fashion; I went through college
+without any idea of doing anything with what
+I got; I had a sort of pride in keeping up with
+my fellows; and I had no idea of preparing for
+any work in the world. Then came my breakdown,
+and my doctor ordered me out here. I
+came intending to fish and loaf around, but I
+can&#8217;t do that. I&#8217;ve got to do something or go
+back home. I expected to have a chum of mine
+with me, but his father was injured in an automobile
+accident, so he went into the office to
+help out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As he talked the girl discovered new graces,
+new allurements in him. His smile, so subtly
+self-derisive, and his voice so flexible and so
+quietly eloquent, completed her subjugation.
+She had no further care concerning Clifford&mdash;indeed,
+she had forgotten him&mdash;for the time at
+least. The other part of her&mdash;the highly civilized
+latent power drawn from her mother&mdash;was
+in action. She lost her air of command,
+her sense of chieftainship, and sat humbly at the
+feet of this shining visitor from the East.</p>
+<p>At last Mrs. McFarlane rose, and Berea, reluctantly,
+like a child loath to miss a fairy story,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span>
+held out her hand to say good night, and the
+young man saw on her face that look of adoration
+which marks the birth of sudden love; but his
+voice was frank and his glance kindly as he said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here I&#8217;ve done all the talking when I wanted
+you to tell <i>me</i> all sorts of things.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t tell you anything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes, you can; and, besides, I want you
+to intercede for me with your father and get
+me into the Service. But we&#8217;ll talk about that
+to-morrow. Good night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>After the women left the room Norcross said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I really am in earnest about entering the
+Forest Service. Landon filled me with enthusiasm
+about it. Never mind the pay. I&#8217;m not
+in immediate need of money; but I do need an
+interest in life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane stared at him with kindly perplexity.
+&#8220;I don&#8217;t know exactly what you can
+do, but I&#8217;ll work you in somehow. You ought to
+work under a man like Settle, one that could put
+you through a training in the rudiments of the
+game. I&#8217;ll see what can be done.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you for that half promise,&#8221; said Wayland,
+and he went to his bed happier than at any
+moment since leaving home.</p>
+<p>Berrie, on her part, did not analyze her feeling
+for Wayland, she only knew that he was as
+different from the men she knew as a hawk from
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+a sage-hen, and that he appealed to her in a
+higher way than any other had done. His talk
+filled her with visions of great cities, and with
+thoughts of books, for though she was profoundly
+loyal to her mountain valley, she held other, more
+secret admirations. She was, in fact, compounded
+of two opposing tendencies. Her quiet little
+mother longing&mdash;in secret&mdash;for the placid, refined
+life of her native Kentucky town, had
+dowered her daughter with some part of her
+desire. She had always hated the slovenly,
+wasteful, and purposeless life of the cattle-rancher,
+and though she still patiently bore with
+her husband&#8217;s shortcomings, she covertly hoped
+that Berea might find some other and more
+civilized lover than Clifford Belden. She understood
+her daughter too well to attempt to dictate
+her action; she merely said to her, as they
+were alone for a few moments: &#8220;I don&#8217;t wonder
+your father is interested in Mr. Norcross, he&#8217;s
+very intelligent&mdash;and very considerate.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Too considerate,&#8221; said Berrie, shortly; &#8220;he
+makes other men seem like bears or pigs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane said no more, but she knew
+that Cliff was, for the time, among the bears.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='V_THE_GOLDEN_PATHWAY' id='V_THE_GOLDEN_PATHWAY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+<h2>V</h2>
+<h3>THE GOLDEN PATHWAY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Young Norcross soon became vitally engaged
+with the problems which confronted
+McFarlane, and his possible enrolment as a guard
+filled him with a sense of proprietorship in the
+forest, which made him quite content with Bear
+Tooth. He set to work at once to acquire a
+better knowledge of the extent and boundaries
+of the reservation. It was, indeed, a noble possession.
+Containing nearly eight hundred thousand
+acres of woodland, and reaching to the summits
+of the snow-lined peaks to the east, south,
+and west, it appealed to him with silent majesty.
+It drew upon his patriotism. Remembering how
+the timber of his own state had been slashed and
+burned, he began to feel a sense of personal responsibility.
+He had but to ride into it a few
+miles in order to appreciate in some degree its
+grandeur, considered merely as the source of a
+hundred swift streams, whose waters enriched
+the valleys lying below.</p>
+<p>He bought a horse of his own&mdash;although Berrie
+insisted upon his retaining Pete&mdash;and sent
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+for a saddle of the army type, and from sheer
+desire to keep entirely clear of the cowboy equipment
+procured puttees like those worn by cavalry
+officers, and when he presented himself completely
+uniformed, he looked not unlike a slender,
+young lieutenant of the cavalry on field duty, and
+in Berrie&#8217;s eyes was wondrous alluring.</p>
+<p>He took quarters at the hotel, but spent a larger
+part of each day in Berrie&#8217;s company&mdash;a fact
+which was duly reported to Clifford Belden.
+Hardly a day passed without his taking at least
+one meal at the Supervisor&#8217;s home.</p>
+<p>As he met the rangers one by one, he perceived
+by their outfits, as well as by their speech, that
+they were sharply divided upon old lines and
+new. The experts, the men of college training,
+were quite ready to be known as Uncle Sam&#8217;s
+men. They held a pride in their duties, a respect
+for their superiors, and an understanding of
+the governmental policy which gave them dignity
+and a quiet authority. They were less
+policemen than trusted agents of a federal department.
+Nevertheless, there was much to admire
+in the older men, who possessed a self-reliance,
+a knowledge of nature, and a certain
+rough grace which made them interesting companions,
+and rendered them effective teachers of
+camping and trailing, and while they were
+secretly a little contemptuous of the &#8220;schoolboys&#8221;;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+they were all quite ready to ask for expert
+aid when knotty problems arose. It was no
+longer a question of grazing, it was a question of
+lumbering and reforestration.</p>
+<p>Nash, who took an almost brotherly interest
+in his apprentice, warningly said: &#8220;You want to
+go well clothed and well shod. You&#8217;ll have to
+meet all kinds of weather. Every man in the
+service, I don&#8217;t care what his technical job is,
+should be schooled in taking care of himself in
+the forest and on the trail. I often meet surveyors
+and civil engineers&mdash;experts&mdash;who are
+helpless as children in camp, and when I want
+them to go into the hills and do field work, they
+are almost useless. The old-style ranger has his
+virtues. Settle is just the kind of instructor
+you young fellows need.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie also had keen eyes for his outfit and his
+training, and under her direction he learned to
+pack a horse, set a tent, build a fire in the rain,
+and other duties.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You want to remember that you carry your
+bed and board with you,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and you
+must be prepared to camp anywhere and at
+any time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The girl&#8217;s skill in these particulars was marvelous
+to him, and added to the admiration he already
+felt for her. Her hand was as deft, as
+sure, as the best of them, and her knowledge
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+of cayuse psychology more profound than any
+of the men excepting her father.</p>
+<p>One day, toward the end of his second week in
+the village, the Supervisor said: &#8220;Well, now, if
+you&#8217;re ready to experiment I&#8217;ll send you over to
+Settle, the ranger, on the Horseshoe. He&#8217;s a little
+lame on his pen-hand side, and you may be
+able to help him out. Maybe I&#8217;ll ride over there
+with you. I want to line out some timber sales
+on the west side of Ptarmigan.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This commission delighted Norcross greatly.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m ready, sir, this moment,&#8221; he answered,
+saluting soldier-wise.</p>
+<p>That night, as he sat in the saddle-littered,
+boot-haunted front room of Nash&#8217;s little shack,
+his host said, quaintly: &#8220;Don&#8217;t think you are inheriting
+a soft snap, son. The ranger&#8217;s job was
+a man&#8217;s job in the old days when it was a mere
+matter of patrolling; but it&#8217;s worse and more of
+it to-day. A ranger must be ready and willing
+to build bridges, fight fire, scale logs, chop a hole
+through a windfall, use a pick in a ditch, build
+his own house, cook, launder, and do any other
+old trick that comes along. But you&#8217;ll know
+more about all this at the end of ten days than
+I can tell you in a year.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m eager for duty,&#8221; replied Wayland.</p>
+<p>The next morning, as he rode down to the office
+to meet the Supervisor, he was surprised and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+delighted to find Berea there. &#8220;I&#8217;m riding, too,&#8221;
+she announced, delightedly. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never been
+over that new trail, and father has agreed to let
+me go along.&#8221; Then she added, earnestly: &#8220;I
+think it&#8217;s fine you&#8217;re going in for the Service; but
+it&#8217;s hard work, and you must be careful till you&#8217;re
+hardened to it. It&#8217;s a long way to a doctor from
+Settle&#8217;s station.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was annoyed as well as touched by her
+warning, for it proclaimed that he was still far
+from looking the brave forester he felt himself
+to be. He replied: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to try anything
+wild, but I do intend to master the trailer&#8217;s
+craft.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll teach you how to camp, if you&#8217;ll let me,&#8221;
+she continued. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been on lots of surveys
+with father, and I always take my share of the
+work. I threw that hitch alone.&#8221; She nodded
+toward the pack-horse, whose neat load gave
+evidence of her skill. &#8220;I told father this was
+to be a real camping expedition, and as the
+grouse season is on we&#8217;ll live on the country.
+Can you fish?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just about that,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;Good thing
+you didn&#8217;t ask me if I could <i>catch</i> fish?&#8221; He was
+recovering his spirits. &#8220;It will be great fun to
+have you as instructor in camp science. I seem
+to be in for all kinds of good luck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They both grew uneasy as time passed, for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+fear something or some one would intervene to
+prevent this trip, which grew in interest each
+moment; but at last the Supervisor came out
+and mounted his horse, the pack-ponies fell in
+behind, Berrie followed, and the student of woodcraft
+brought up to rear.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope it won&#8217;t rain,&#8221; the girl called back at
+him, &#8220;at least not till we get over the divide.
+It&#8217;s a fine ride up the hill, and the foliage is at
+its best.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It seemed to him the most glorious morning
+of his life. A few large white clouds were drifting
+like snow-laden war-vessels from west to
+east, silent and solemn, and on the highest peaks
+a gray vapor was lightly clinging. The near-by
+hills, still transcendently beautiful with the flaming
+gold of the aspen, burned against the dark
+green of the farther forest, and far beyond the
+deep purple of the shadowed slopes rose to smoky
+blue and tawny yellow. It was a season, an
+hour, to create raptures in a poet, so radiant, so
+wide-reaching, so tumultuous was the landscape.
+Nothing sad, nothing discouraging, showed itself.
+The wind was brisk, the air cool and
+clear, and jewel-like small, frost-painted vines
+and ripened shrubberies blazed upward from the
+ground. As he rode the youth silently repeated:
+&#8220;Beautiful! Beautiful!&#8221;</p>
+<p>For several miles they rode upward through
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+golden forests of aspens. On either hand rose
+thick walls of snow-white boles, and in the
+mystic glow of their gilded leaves the face of the
+girl shone with unearthly beauty. It was as if
+the very air had become auriferous. Magic coins
+dangled from the branches. Filmy shadows fell
+over her hair and down her strong young arms
+like priceless lace. Gold, gold! Everywhere
+gold, gold and fire!</p>
+<p>Twice she stopped to gaze into Wayland&#8217;s
+face to say, with hushed intensity: &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it
+wonderful! Don&#8217;t you wish it would last forever?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her words were poor, ineffectual; but her look,
+her breathless voice made up for their lack of
+originality. Once she said: &#8220;I never saw it so
+lovely before; it is an enchanted land!&#8221; with no
+suspicion that the larger part of her ecstasy
+arose from the presence of her young and sympathetic
+companion. He, too, responded to the
+beauty of the day, of the golden forest as one
+who had taken new hold on life after long illness.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Supervisor was calmly leading
+the way upward, vaguely conscious of the magical
+air and mystic landscape in which his young
+folk floated as if on wings, thinking busily of the
+improvements which were still necessary in the
+trail, and weighing with care the clouds which
+still lingered upon the tallest summits, as if debating
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+whether to go or to stay. He had never
+been an imaginative soul, and now that age had
+somewhat dimmed his eyes and blunted his senses
+he was placidly content with his path. The
+rapture of the lover, the song of the poet, had
+long since abandoned his heart. And yet he was
+not completely oblivious. To him it was a nice
+day, but a &#8220;weather breeder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wonder if I shall ever ride through this
+mountain world as unmoved as he seems to be?&#8221;
+Norcross asked himself, after some jarring prosaic
+remark from his chief. &#8220;I am glad Berrie
+responds to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At last they left these lower, wondrous forest
+aisles and entered the unbroken cloak of firs
+whose dark and silent deeps had a stern beauty
+all their own; but the young people looked
+back upon the glowing world below with wistful
+hearts. Back and forth across a long, down-sweeping
+ridge they wove their toilsome way
+toward the clouds, which grew each hour more
+formidable, awesome with their weight, ponderous
+as continents in their majesty of movement.
+The horses began to labor with roaring breath,
+and Wayland, dismounting to lighten his pony&#8217;s
+burden, was dismayed to discover how thin the
+air had become. Even to walk unburdened gave
+him a smothering pain in his breast.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Better stay on,&#8221; called the girl. &#8220;My rule
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+is to ride the hill going up and walk it going
+down. Down hill is harder on a horse than
+going up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nevertheless he persisted in clambering up
+some of the steepest parts of the trail, and was
+increasingly dismayed by the endless upward
+reaches of the foot-hills. A dozen times he
+thought, &#8220;We must be nearly at the top,&#8221; and
+then other and far higher ridges suddenly developed.
+Occasionally the Supervisor was forced
+to unsling an ax and chop his way through a
+fallen tree, and each time the student hurried to
+the spot, ready to aid, but was quite useless. He
+admired the ease and skill with which the older
+man put his shining blade through the largest
+bole, and wondered if he could ever learn to do
+as well.</p>
+<p>&#8220;One of the first essentials of a ranger&#8217;s training
+is to learn to swing an ax,&#8221; remarked McFarlane,
+&#8220;and you never want to be without a real
+tool. <i>I</i> won&#8217;t stand for a hatchet ranger.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie called attention to the marks on the
+trees. &#8220;This is the government sign&mdash;a long
+blaze with two notches above it. You can trust
+these trails; they lead somewhere.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As you ride a trail study how to improve it,&#8221;
+added the Supervisor, sheathing his ax. &#8220;They
+can all be improved.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland was sure of this a few steps farther
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span>
+on, when the Supervisor&#8217;s horse went down in
+a small bog-hole, and Berrie&#8217;s pony escaped only
+by the most desperate plunging. The girl
+laughed, but Wayland was appalled and stood
+transfixed watching McFarlane as he calmly extricated
+himself from the saddle of the fallen
+horse and chirped for him to rise.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You act as if this were a regular part of the
+journey,&#8221; Wayland said to Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all in the day&#8217;s work,&#8221; she replied; &#8220;but
+I despise a bog worse than anything else on the
+trail. I&#8217;ll show you how to go round this one.&#8221;
+Thereupon she slid from her horse and came tiptoeing
+back along the edge of the mud-hole.</p>
+<p>McFarlane cut a stake and plunged it vertically
+in the mud. &#8220;That means &#8216;no bottom,&#8217;&#8221; he
+explained. &#8220;We must cut a new trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland was dismounting when Berrie said:
+&#8220;Stay on. Now put your horse right through
+where those rocks are. It&#8217;s hard bottom there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He felt like a child; but he did as she bid, and
+so came safely through, while McFarlane set to
+work to blaze a new route which should avoid
+the slough which was already a bottomless horror
+to the city man.</p>
+<p>This mishap delayed them nearly half an hour,
+and the air grew dark and chill as they stood
+there, and the amateur ranger began to understand
+how serious a lone night journey might
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+sometimes be. &#8220;What would I do if when riding
+in the dark my horse should go down like that
+and pin me in the mud?&#8221; he asked himself.
+&#8220;Eternal watchfulness is certainly one of the
+forester&#8217;s first principles.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The sky was overshadowed now, and a thin
+drizzle of rain filled the air. The novice hastened
+to throw his raincoat over his shoulders; but
+McFarlane rode steadily on, clad only in his shirtsleeves,
+unmindful of the wet. Berrie, however,
+approved Wayland&#8217;s caution. &#8220;That&#8217;s right;
+keep dry,&#8221; she called back. &#8220;Don&#8217;t pay attention
+to father, he&#8217;d rather get soaked any day
+than unroll his slicker. You mustn&#8217;t take him
+for model yet awhile.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He no longer resented her sweet solicitude,
+although he considered himself unentitled to it,
+and he rejoiced under the shelter of his fine new
+coat. He began to perceive that one could be
+defended against a storm.</p>
+<p>After passing two depressing marshes, they
+came to a hillside so steep, so slippery, so dark,
+so forbidding, that one of the pack-horses balked,
+shook his head, and reared furiously, as if to say
+&#8220;I can&#8217;t do it, and I won&#8217;t try.&#8221; And Wayland
+sympathized with him. The forest was gloomy
+and cold, and apparently endless.</p>
+<p>After coaxing him for a time with admirable
+gentleness, the Supervisor, at Berrie&#8217;s suggestion,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
+shifted part of the load to her own saddle-horse,
+and they went on.</p>
+<p>Wayland, though incapable of comment&mdash;so
+great was the demand upon his lungs&mdash;was not
+too tired to admire the power and resolution of
+the girl, who seemed not to suffer any special
+inconvenience from the rarefied air. The dryness
+of his open mouth, the throbbing of his
+troubled pulse, the roaring of his breath, brought
+to him with increasing dismay the fact that he
+had overlooked another phase of the ranger&#8217;s
+job. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t chop a hole through one of these
+windfalls in a week,&#8221; he admitted, as McFarlane&#8217;s
+blade again liberated them from a fallen
+tree. &#8220;To do office work at six thousand feet
+is quite different from swinging an ax up here at
+timber-line,&#8221; he said to the girl. &#8220;I guess my
+chest is too narrow for high altitudes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you&#8217;ll get used to it,&#8221; she replied, cheerily.
+&#8220;I always feel it a little at first; but I really think
+it&#8217;s good for a body, kind o&#8217; stretches the lungs.&#8221;
+Nevertheless, she eyed him with furtive anxiety.</p>
+<p>He was beginning to be hungry also&mdash;he had
+eaten a very early breakfast&mdash;and he fell to
+wondering just where and when they were to
+camp; but he endured in silence. &#8220;So long as
+Berrie makes no complaint my mouth is shut,&#8221;
+he told himself. &#8220;Surely I can stand it if she
+can.&#8221; And so struggled on.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span></p>
+<p>Up and up the pathway looped, crossing minute
+little boggy meadows, on whose bottomless
+ooze the grass shook like a blanket, descending
+steep ravines and climbing back to dark and
+muddy slopes. The forest was dripping, green,
+and silent now, a mysterious menacing jungle.
+All the warmth and magic of the golden forest
+below was lost as though it belonged to another
+and sunnier world. Nothing could be seen of
+the high, snow-flecked peaks which had allured
+them from the valley. All about them drifted
+the clouds, and yet through the mist the flushed
+face of the girl glowed like a dew-wet rose, and
+the imperturbable Supervisor jogged his remorseless,
+unhesitating way toward the dense,
+ascending night.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad I&#8217;m not riding this pass alone,&#8221;
+Wayland said, as they paused again for breath.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So am I,&#8221; she answered; but her thought was
+not his. She was happy at the prospect of teaching
+him how to camp.</p>
+<p>At last they reached the ragged edge of timber-line,
+and there, rolling away under the mist, lay
+the bare, grassy, upward-climbing, naked neck
+of the great peak. The wind had grown keener
+moment by moment, and when they left the
+storm-twisted pines below, its breath had a
+wintry nip. The rain had ceased to fall, but
+the clouds still hung densely to the loftiest summits.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+It was a sinister yet beautiful world&mdash;a
+world as silent as a dream, and through the
+short, thick grass the slender trail ran like a timid
+serpent. The hour seemed to have neither daytime
+nor season. All was obscure, mysterious,
+engulfing, and hostile. Had he been alone the
+youth would have been appalled by the prospect.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now we&#8217;re on the divide,&#8221; called Berea; and
+as she spoke they seemed to enter upon a boundless
+Alpine plain of velvet-russet grass. &#8220;This
+is the Bear Tooth plateau.&#8221; Low monuments
+of loose rock stood on small ledges, as though to
+mark the course, and in the hollows dark ponds
+of icy water lay, half surrounded by masses of
+compact snow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is a stormy place in winter,&#8221; McFarlane
+explained. &#8220;These piles of stone are mighty
+valuable in a blizzard. I&#8217;ve crossed this divide
+in August in snow so thick I could not see a
+rod.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Half an hour later they began to descend.
+Wind-twisted, storm-bleached dwarf pines were
+first to show, then the firs, then the blue-green
+spruces, and then the sheltering deeps of the undespoiled
+forest opened, and the roar of a splendid
+stream was heard; but still the Supervisor
+kept his resolute way, making no promises as to
+dinner, though his daughter called: &#8220;We&#8217;d better
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span>
+go into camp at Beaver Lake. I hope you&#8217;re not
+starved,&#8221; she called to Wayland.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I am,&#8221; he replied, so frankly that she
+never knew how faint he really was. His knees
+were trembling with weakness, and he stumbled
+dangerously as he trod the loose rocks in the
+path.</p>
+<p>They were all afoot now descending swiftly,
+and the horses ramped down the trail with expectant
+haste, so that in less than an hour from
+timber-line they were back into the sunshine of
+the lower valley, and at three o&#8217;clock or thereabouts
+they came out upon the bank of an
+exquisite lake, and with a cheery shout McFarlane
+called out: &#8220;Here we are, out of the wilderness!&#8221;
+Then to Wayland: &#8220;Well, boy, how did
+you stand it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just middling,&#8221; replied Wayland, reticent
+from weariness and with joy of their camping-place.
+The lake, dark as topaz and smooth as
+steel, lay in a frame of golden willows&mdash;as a
+jewel is filigreed with gold&mdash;and above it the
+cliffs rose three thousand feet in sheer majesty,
+their upper slopes glowing with autumnal grasses.
+A swift stream roared down a low ledge and fell
+into the pond near their feet. Grassy, pine-shadowed
+knolls afforded pasture for the horses,
+and two giant firs, at the edge of a little glade,
+made a natural shelter for their tent.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span></p>
+<p>With businesslike certitude Berrie unsaddled
+her horse, turned him loose, and lent a skilful hand
+at removing the panniers from the pack-animals,
+while Wayland, willing but a little uncertain,
+stood awkwardly about. Under her instruction
+he collected dead branches of a standing fir, and
+from these and a few cones kindled a blaze, while
+the Supervisor hobbled the horses and set the tent.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If the work of a forester were all like this it
+wouldn&#8217;t be so bad,&#8221; he remarked, wanly. &#8220;I
+think I know several fellows who would be glad
+to do it without a cent of pay.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait till you get to heaving a pick,&#8221; she retorted,
+&#8220;or scaling lumber in a rain, or building
+a corduroy bridge.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to think of anything so dreadful.
+I want to enjoy this moment. I never was
+hungrier or happier in my life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do ye good,&#8221; interjected McFarlane, who
+had paused to straighten up the coffee-pot.
+&#8220;Most people don&#8217;t know what hunger means.
+There&#8217;s nothing finer in the world than good old-fashioned
+hunger, provided you&#8217;ve got something
+to throw into yourself when you come into camp.
+This is a great place for fish. I think I&#8217;ll see if
+I can&#8217;t jerk a few out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Better wait till night,&#8221; said his daughter.
+&#8220;Mr. Norcross is starving, and so am I. Plain
+bacon will do me.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span></p>
+<p>The coffee came to a boil, the skillet gave off
+a wondrous savor, and when the corn and beans
+began to sizzle, the trailers sat down to their
+feast in hearty content, with one of the panniers
+for a table, and the fir-tree for roof. &#8220;This is
+one of the most perfectly appointed dining-rooms
+in the world,&#8221; exclaimed the alien.</p>
+<p>The girl met his look with a tender smile.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m glad you like it, for perhaps we&#8217;ll stay a
+week.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It looks stormy,&#8221; the Supervisor announced,
+after a glance at the crests. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to see a
+soaking rain&mdash;it would end all our worry about
+fires. The country&#8217;s very dry on this side the
+range, and your duty for the present will be to
+help Tony patrol.&#8221;</p>
+<p>While he talked on, telling the youth how to
+beat out a small blaze and how to head off a
+large one, Wayland listened, but heard his instructions
+only as he sensed the brook, as an accompaniment
+to Berea&#8217;s voice, for as she busied
+herself clearing away the dishes and putting the
+camp to rights, she sang.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re to have the tent,&#8221; said her father,
+&#8220;and we two huskies will sleep under the shade
+of this big fir. If you&#8217;re ever caught out,&#8221; he
+remarked to Wayland, &#8220;hunt for one of these
+balsam firs; there&#8217;s always a dry spot under
+them. See here!&#8221; And he showed him the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+sheltered circle beneath the tree. &#8220;You can always
+get twigs for kindling from their inner
+branches,&#8221; he added, &#8220;or you can hew into one
+of these dead trees and get some pitchy splinters.
+There&#8217;s material for everything you want if you
+know where to find it. Shelter, food, fire are all
+here for us as they were for the Indians. A
+ranger who needs a roof all the time is not worth
+his bacon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So, one by one, the principles of camping were
+taught by the kindly old rancher; but the hints
+which the girl gave were quite as valuable, for
+Wayland was eager to show her that he could be,
+and intended to be, a forester of the first class
+or perish in the attempt.</p>
+<p>McFarlane went farther and talked freely of
+the forest and what it meant to the government.
+&#8220;We&#8217;re all green at the work,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and we
+old chaps are only holding the fort against the
+thieves till you youngsters learn how to make
+the best use of the domain.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can see that it takes more than technical
+training to enable a man to be Supervisor of a
+forest,&#8221; conceded Wayland.</p>
+<p>McFarlane was pleased with this remark.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s true, too. It&#8217;s a big responsibility.
+When I first came on, it was mainly patrolling;
+but now, with a half dozen sawmills, and these
+&#8216;June Eleventh Homesteads,&#8217; and the new ways
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span>
+of marking timber, and the grazing and free-use
+permits, the office work has doubled. And this
+is only the beginning. Wait till Colorado has
+two millions of people, and all these lower valleys
+are clamoring for water. Then you&#8217;ll see a new
+party spring up&mdash;right here in our state.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie was glowing with happiness. &#8220;Let&#8217;s
+stay here till the end of the week,&#8221; she suggested.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ve always wanted to camp on this lake, and
+now I&#8217;m here I want time to enjoy it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll stay a day or two,&#8221; said her father;
+&#8220;but I must get over to that ditch survey which
+is being made at the head of Poplar, and then
+Moore is coming over to look at some timber
+on Porcupine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The young people cut willow rods and went
+angling at the outlet of the lake with prodigious
+success. The water rippled with trout, and in
+half an hour they had all they could use for supper
+and breakfast, and, behold, even as they were
+returning with their spoil they met a covey of
+grouse strolling leisurely down to the lake&#8217;s
+edge. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it a wonderful place!&#8221; exclaimed
+the happy girl. &#8220;I wish we could stay a month.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like being on the Swiss Family Robinson&#8217;s
+Island. I never was more content,&#8221; he
+said, fervently. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t mind staying here
+all winter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would!&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;The snow falls
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+four feet deep up here. It&#8217;s likely there&#8217;s snow
+on the divide this minute, and camping in the
+snow isn&#8217;t so funny. Some people got snowed
+in over at Deep Lake last year and nearly all their
+horses starved before they could get them out.
+This is a fierce old place in winter-time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t imagine it,&#8221; he said, indicating the
+glowing amphitheater which inclosed the lake.
+&#8220;See how warmly the sun falls into that high
+basin! It&#8217;s all as beautiful as the Tyrol.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The air at the moment was golden October, and
+the dark clouds which lay to the east seemed the
+wings of a departing rather than an approaching
+storm; and even as they looked, a rainbow sprang
+into being, arching the lake as if in assurance of
+peace and plenty, and the young people, as they
+turned to face it, stood so close together that
+each felt the glow of the other&#8217;s shoulder. The
+beauty of the scene seemed to bring them together
+in body as in spirit, and they fell silent.</p>
+<p>McFarlane seemed quite unconscious of any
+necromancy at work upon his daughter. He
+smoked his pipe, made notes in his field-book,
+directing an occasional remark toward his apprentice,
+enjoying in his tranquil, middle-age
+way the beauty and serenity of the hour.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is the kind of thing that makes up for
+a hard day&#8217;s ride,&#8221; he said, jocosely.</p>
+<p>As the sunset came on, the young people again
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+loitered down to the water&#8217;s edge, and there,
+seated side by side, on a rocky knoll, watched
+the phantom gold lift from the willows and climb
+slowly to the cliffs above, while the water deepened
+in shadow, and busy muskrats marked its
+glossy surface with long silvery lines. Mischievous
+camp-birds peered at the couple from
+the branches of the pines uttering satirical comment,
+while squirrels, frankly insolent, dropped
+cones upon their heads and barked in saucy glee.</p>
+<p>Wayland forgot all the outside world, forgot
+that he was studying to be a forest ranger, and
+was alive only to the fact that in this most bewitching
+place, in this most entrancing hour, he
+had the companionship of a girl whose eyes
+sought his with every new phase of the silent
+and wonderful scene which shifted swiftly before
+their eyes like a noiseless yet prodigious drama.
+The blood in his thin body warmed. He forgot
+his fatigue, his weakness. He was the poet and
+the forest lover, and this the heart of the range.</p>
+<p>Lightly the golden glory rose till only the
+highest peaks retained its flame; then it leapt to
+the clouds behind the peaks, and gorgeously lit
+their somber sulphurous masses. The edges of
+the pool grew black as night; the voice of the
+stream grew stern; and a cold wind began to
+fall from the heights, sliding like an invisible but
+palpable icy cataract.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></p>
+<p>At last the girl rose. &#8220;It is getting dark. I
+must go back and get supper.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t need any supper,&#8221; he protested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Father does, and you&#8217;ll be hungry before
+morning,&#8221; she retorted, with sure knowledge of
+men.</p>
+<p>He turned from the scene reluctantly; but
+once at the camp-fire cheerfully gave his best
+efforts to the work in hand, seconding Berrie&#8217;s
+skill as best he could.</p>
+<p>The trout, deliciously crisp, and some potatoes
+and batter-cakes made a meal that tempted even
+his faint appetite, and when the dishes were
+washed and the towels hung out to dry, deep
+night possessed even the high summit of stately
+Ptarmigan.</p>
+<p>McFarlane then said: &#8220;I&#8217;ll just take a little
+turn to see that the horses are all right, and then
+I think we&#8217;d better close in for the night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>When they were alone in the light of the fire,
+Wayland turned to Berrie: &#8220;I&#8217;m glad you&#8217;re
+here. It must be awesome to camp alone in a
+wilderness; and yet, I suppose, I must learn to
+do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the ranger often has to camp alone, ride
+alone, and work alone for weeks at a time,&#8221; she
+assured him. &#8220;A good trailer don&#8217;t mind a night
+trip any more than he does a day trip, or if he
+does he never admits it. Rain, snow, darkness,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span>
+is all the same to him. Most of the boys are
+fifteen to forty miles from the post-office.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He smiled ruefully. &#8220;I begin to have new
+doubts about this ranger business. It&#8217;s a little
+more vigorous than I thought it was. Suppose
+a fellow breaks a leg on one of those high trails?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He mustn&#8217;t!&#8221; she hastened to say. &#8220;He
+can&#8217;t afford really to take reckless chances; but
+then father won&#8217;t expect as much of you as he
+does of the old-stagers. You&#8217;ll have plenty of
+time to get used to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I may be like the old man&#8217;s cow and the
+green shavings, just as I&#8217;m getting used to it
+I&#8217;ll die.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She didn&#8217;t laugh at this. &#8220;You mustn&#8217;t be
+rash; don&#8217;t jump into any hard jobs for the
+present; let the other fellow do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that&#8217;s not very manly. If I go into the
+work I ought to be able to take my share of any
+task that turns up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better go slow,&#8221; she argued. &#8220;Wait
+till you get hardened to it. You need something
+over your shoulders now,&#8221; she added; and rose
+and laid a blanket over him. &#8220;You&#8217;re tired;
+you&#8217;ll take a chill if you&#8217;re not careful.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re very considerate,&#8221; he said, looking
+up at her gratefully. &#8220;But it makes me feel
+like a child to think I need such care. If honestly
+trying, if going up against these hills and winds
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+with Spartan courage will do me good, I&#8217;m for it.
+I&#8217;m resolved to show to you and your good
+father that I can learn to ride and pack and cut
+trail, and do all the rest of it&mdash;there&#8217;s some honor
+in qualifying as a forester, and I&#8217;m going to do
+it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course there isn&#8217;t much in it for you. The
+pay, even of a full ranger, isn&#8217;t much, after you
+count out his outlay for horses and saddles and
+their feed, and his own feed. It don&#8217;t leave
+so very much of his ninety dollars a month.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not thinking of that,&#8221; he retorted. &#8220;If
+you had once seen a doctor shake his head over
+you, as I have, you&#8217;d think just being here in this
+glorious spot, as I am to-night, would be compensation
+enough. It&#8217;s a joy to be in the world,
+and a delight to have you for my teacher.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was silent under the pleasure of his praise,
+and he went on: &#8220;I <i>know</i> I&#8217;m better, and, I&#8217;m
+perfectly certain I can regain my strength. The
+very odor of these pines and the power of these
+winds will bring it back to me. See me now, and
+think how I looked when I came here six weeks
+ago.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with fond agreement.
+&#8220;You <i>are</i> better. When I saw you first I surely
+thought you were&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know what you thought&mdash;and forget it,
+<i>please</i>! Think of me as one who has touched
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+mother earth again and is on the way to being
+made a giant. You can&#8217;t imagine how marvelous,
+how life-giving all this is to me. It is poetry,
+it is prophecy, it is fulfilment. I am fully alive
+again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane, upon his return, gave some advice
+relating to the care of horses. &#8220;All this stock
+which is accustomed to a barn or a pasture will
+quit you,&#8221; he warned. &#8220;Watch your broncos.
+Put them on the outward side of your camp when
+you bed down, and pitch your tent near the trail,
+then you will hear the brutes if they start back.
+Some men tie their stock all up; but I usually
+picket my saddle-horse and hobble the rest.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was a delightful hour for schooling, and Wayland
+would have been content to sit there till
+morning listening; but the air bit, and at last
+the Supervisor asked: &#8220;Have you made your
+bed? If you have, turn in. I shall get you out
+early to-morrow.&#8221; As he saw the bed, he added:
+&#8220;I see you&#8217;ve laid out a bed of boughs. That
+shows how Eastern you are. We don&#8217;t do that
+out here. It&#8217;s too cold in this climate, and it&#8217;s
+too much work. You want to hug the ground&mdash;if
+it&#8217;s dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The weary youth went to his couch with a
+sense of timorous elation, for he had never before
+slept beneath the open sky. Over him the giant
+fir&mdash;tall as a steeple&mdash;dropped protecting shadow,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+and looking up he could see the firelight
+flickering on the wide-spread branches. His bed
+seemed to promise all the dreams and restful
+drowse which the books on outdoor life had described,
+and close by in her tiny little canvas
+house he could hear the girl in low-voiced conversation
+with her sire. All conditions seemed
+right for slumber, and yet slumber refused to
+come!</p>
+<p>After the Supervisor had rolled himself in the
+blanket, long after all sounds had ceased in the
+tent, there still remained for the youth a score of
+manifold excitations to wakefulness. Down on
+the lake the muskrats and beavers were at their
+work. Nocturnal birds uttered uncanny, disturbing
+cries. Some animal with stealthy crackling
+tread was ranging the hillside, and the roar of
+the little fall, so far from lulling him to sleep&mdash;as
+he had imagined it would&mdash;stimulated his
+imagination till he could discern in it the beat
+of scurrying wings and the patter of pernicious
+padded feet. &#8220;If I am appalled by the wilderness
+now, what would it seem to me were I
+alone!&#8221; he whispered.</p>
+<p>Then, too, his bed of boughs discovered unforeseen
+humps and knobs, and by the time he
+had adjusted himself to their discomfort, it became
+evident that his blankets were both too
+thin and too short. And the gelid air sweeping
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
+down from the high places submerged him as if
+with a flood of icy water. In vain he turned and
+twisted within his robes. No sooner were his
+shoulders covered and comfortable than his hip-bones
+began to ache. Later on the blood of his
+feet congealed, and in the effort to wrap them
+more closely, he uncovered his neck and shoulders.
+The frost became a wolf, the night an oppressor.
+&#8220;I must have a different outfit,&#8221; he decided.
+And then thinking that this was but early autumn,
+he added: &#8220;What will it be a month later?&#8221;
+He began to doubt his ability to measure up to
+the heroic standard of a forest patrol.</p>
+<p>The firelight flickered low, and a prowling animal
+daringly sniffed about the camp, pawing at
+the castaway fragments of the evening meal.
+The youth was rigid with fear. &#8220;Is it a bear?
+Shall I call the Supervisor?&#8221; he asked himself.</p>
+<p>He felt sadly unprotected, and wished McFarlane
+nearer at hand. &#8220;It may be a lion, but
+probably it is only a coyote, or a porcupine,&#8221; he
+concluded, and lay still for what seemed like
+hours waiting for the beast to gorge himself
+and go away.</p>
+<p>He longed for morning with intense desire,
+and watched an amazingly luminous star which
+hung above the eastern cliff, hoping to see it pale
+and die in dawn light, but it did not; and the
+wind bit even sharper. His legs ached almost
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+to the cramping-point, and his hip-bones protruded
+like knots on a log. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t know I
+had door-knobs on my hips,&#8221; he remarked, with
+painful humor, and, looking down at his feet,
+he saw that a thick rime was gathering on his
+blanket. &#8220;This sleeping out at night isn&#8217;t what
+the books crack it up to be,&#8221; he groaned again,
+drawing his feet up to the middle of his bed
+to warm them. &#8220;Shall I resign to-morrow?
+No, I&#8217;ll stay with it; but I&#8217;ll have more clothing.
+I&#8217;ll have blankets six inches thick. Heaps of
+blankets&mdash;the fleecy kind&mdash;I&#8217;ll have an air-mattress.&#8221;
+His mind luxuriated in these details
+till he fell into an uneasy drowse.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VI_STORMBOUND' id='VI_STORMBOUND'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+<h2>VI</h2>
+<h3>STORM-BOUND</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Wayland was awakened by the mellow
+voice of his chief calling: &#8220;<i>All out! All out!
+Daylight down the creek!</i>&#8221; Breathing a prayer of
+thankfulness, the boy sat up and looked about
+him. &#8220;The long night is over at last, and I am
+alive!&#8221; he said, and congratulated himself.</p>
+<p>He drew on his shoes and, stiff and shivering,
+stood about in helpless misery, while McFarlane
+kicked the scattered, charred logs together, and
+fanned the embers into a blaze with his hat.
+It was heartening to see the flames leap up,
+flinging wide their gorgeous banners of heat and
+light, and in their glow the tenderfoot ranger
+rapidly recovered his courage, though his teeth
+still chattered and the forest was dark.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did you sleep?&#8221; asked the Supervisor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;First rate&mdash;at least during the latter part
+of the night,&#8221; Wayland briskly lied.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s good. I was afraid that Adirondack
+bed of yours might let the white wolf in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My blankets did seem a trifle thin,&#8221; confessed
+Norcross.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It don&#8217;t pay to sleep cold,&#8221; the Supervisor
+went on. &#8220;A man wants to wake up refreshed,
+not tired out with fighting the night wind and
+frost. I always carry a good bed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was instructive to see how quietly and
+methodically the old mountaineer went about his
+task of getting the breakfast. First he cut and
+laid a couple of eight-inch logs on either side of
+the fire, so that the wind drew through them
+properly, then placing his dutch-oven cover on
+the fire, he laid the bottom part where the flames
+touched it. Next he filled his coffee-pot with
+water, and set it on the coals. From his pannier
+he took his dishes and the flour and salt and pepper,
+arranging them all within reach, and at last
+laid some slices of bacon in the skillet.</p>
+<p>At this stage of the work a smothered cry,
+half yawn, half complaint, came from the tent.
+&#8220;Oh, hum! Is it morning?&#8221; inquired Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Morning!&#8221; replied her father. &#8220;It&#8217;s going
+toward noon. You get up or you&#8217;ll have no
+breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereupon Wayland called: &#8220;Can I get you
+anything, Miss Berrie? Would you like some
+warm water?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221; interposed McFarlane, before
+the girl could reply.</p>
+<p>&#8220;To bathe in,&#8221; replied the youth.</p>
+<p>&#8220;To bathe in! If a daughter of mine should
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+ask for warm water to wash with I&#8217;d throw her
+in the creek.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie chuckled. &#8220;Sometimes I think daddy
+has no feeling for me. I reckon he thinks I&#8217;m
+a boy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hot water is debilitating, and very bad for
+the complexion,&#8221; retorted her father. &#8220;Ice-cold
+water is what you need. And if you don&#8217;t get
+out o&#8217; there in five minutes I&#8217;ll dowse you with
+a dipperful.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This reminded Wayland that he had not yet
+made his own toilet, and, seizing soap, towel,
+and brushes, he hurried away down to the beach
+where he came face to face with the dawn. The
+splendor of it smote him full in the eyes. From
+the waveless surface of the water a spectral mist
+was rising, a light veil, through which the stupendous
+cliffs loomed three thousand feet in
+height, darkly shadowed, dim and far. The
+willows along the western marge burned as if
+dipped in liquid gold, and on the lofty crags the
+sun&#8217;s coming created keen-edged shadows, violet
+as ink. Truly this forestry business was not
+so bad after all. It had its compensations.</p>
+<p>Back at the camp-fire he found Berrie at work,
+glowing, vigorous, laughing. Her comradeship
+with her father was very charming, and at the
+moment she was rallying him on his method of
+bread-mixing. &#8220;You should rub the lard into
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+the flour,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid to get
+your hands into it&mdash;after they are clean. You
+can&#8217;t mix bread with a spoon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sis, I made camp bread for twenty years
+afore you were born.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a wonder you lived to tell of it,&#8221; she retorted,
+and took the pan away from him. &#8220;That&#8217;s
+another thing <i>you</i> must learn,&#8221; she said to Wayland.
+&#8220;You must know how to make bread.
+You can&#8217;t expect to find bake-shops or ranchers
+along the way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the heat of the fire, in the charm of the
+girl&#8217;s presence, the young man forgot the discomforts
+of the night, and as they sat at breakfast,
+and the sun rising over the high summits
+flooded them with warmth and good cheer, and
+the frost melted like magic from the tent, the
+experience had all the satisfying elements of a
+picnic. It seemed that nothing remained to do;
+but McFarlane said: &#8220;Well, now, you youngsters
+wash up and pack whilst I reconnoiter the stock.&#8221;
+And with his saddle and bridle on his shoulder
+he went away down the trail.</p>
+<p>Under Berrie&#8217;s direction Wayland worked
+busily putting the camp equipment in proper
+parcels, taking no special thought of time till
+the tent was down and folded, the panniers filled
+and closed, and the fire carefully covered. Then
+the girl said: &#8220;I hope the horses haven&#8217;t been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
+stampeded. There are bears in this valley, and
+horses are afraid of bears. Father ought to have
+been back before this. I hope they haven&#8217;t
+quit us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall I go and see?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, he&#8217;ll bring &#8217;em&mdash;if they&#8217;re in the land of
+the living. He picketed his saddle-horse, so
+he&#8217;s not afoot. Nobody can teach him anything
+about trailing horses, and, besides, you might
+get lost. You&#8217;d better keep close to camp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereupon Wayland put aside all responsibility.
+&#8220;Let&#8217;s see if we can catch some more
+fish,&#8221; he urged.</p>
+<p>To this she agreed, and together they went
+again to the outlet of the lake&mdash;where the trout
+could be seen darting to and fro on the clear,
+dark flood&mdash;and there cast their flies till they had
+secured ten good-sized fish.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll stop now,&#8221; declared the girl. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+believe in being wasteful.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Once more at the camp they prepared the fish
+for the pan. The sun suddenly burned hot and
+the lake was still as brass, but great, splendid,
+leisurely, gleaming clouds were sailing in from the
+west, all centering about Chief Audobon, and the
+experienced girl looked often at the sky. &#8220;I
+don&#8217;t like the feel of the air. See that gray cloud
+spreading out over the summits of the range,
+that means something more than a shower. I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+do hope daddy will overtake the horses before
+they cross the divide. It&#8217;s going to pour up
+there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What can I do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing. We&#8217;ll stay right here and get dinner
+for him. He&#8217;ll be hungry when he gets
+back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As they were unpacking the panniers and getting
+out the dishes, thunder broke from the high
+crags above the lake, and the girl called out:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quick! It&#8217;s going to rain! We must reset
+the tent and get things under cover.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Once more he was put to shame by the decision,
+the skill, and the strength with which she
+went about re-establishing the camp. She led,
+he followed in every action. In ten minutes the
+canvas was up, the beds rolled, the panniers protected,
+the food stored safely; but they were none
+too soon, for the thick gray veil of rain, which
+had clothed the loftiest crags for half an hour,
+swung out over the water&mdash;leaden-gray under
+its folds&mdash;and with a roar which began in the
+tall pines&mdash;a roar which deepened, hushed only
+when the thunder crashed resoundingly from
+crag to crest&mdash;the tempest fell upon the camp
+and the world of sun and odorous pine vanished
+almost instantly, and a dark, threatening, and
+forbidding world took its place.</p>
+<p>But the young people&mdash;huddled close together
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
+beneath the tent&mdash;would have enjoyed the change
+had it not been for the thought of the Supervisor.
+&#8220;I hope he took his slicker,&#8221; the girl said, between
+the tearing, ripping flashes of the lightning.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s raining hard up there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How quickly it came. Who would have
+thought it could rain like this after so beautiful
+a morning?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It storms when it storms&mdash;in the mountains,&#8221;
+she responded, with the sententious air of
+her father. &#8220;You never can tell what the sky
+is going to do up here. It is probably snowing
+on the high divide. Looks now as though those
+cayuses pulled out sometime in the night and
+have hit the trail for home. That&#8217;s the trouble
+with stall-fed stock. They&#8217;ll quit you any time
+they feel cold and hungry. Here comes the hail!&#8221;
+she shouted, as a sharper, more spiteful roar
+sounded far away and approaching. &#8220;Now keep
+from under!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What will your father do?&#8221; he called.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t worry about him. He&#8217;s at home any
+place there&#8217;s a tree. He&#8217;s probably under a balsam
+somewhere, waiting for this ice to spill out.
+The only point is, they may get over the divide,
+and if they do it will be slippery coming back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For the first time the thought that the Supervisor
+might not be able to return entered Wayland&#8217;s
+mind; but he said nothing of his fear.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></p>
+<p>The hail soon changed to snow, great, clinging,
+drowsy, soft, slow-moving flakes, and with their
+coming the roar died away and the forest became
+as silent as a grave of bronze. Nothing moved,
+save the thick-falling, feathery, frozen vapor,
+and the world was again very beautiful and very
+mysterious.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must keep the fire going,&#8221; warned the
+girl. &#8220;It will be hard to start after this
+soaking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He threw upon the fire all of the wood which
+lay near, and Berrie, taking the ax, went to the
+big fir and began to chop off the dry branches
+which hung beneath, working almost as effectively
+as a man. Wayland insisted on taking a
+turn with the tool; but his efforts were so awkward
+that she laughed and took it away again.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to take lessons in swinging an ax,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;That&#8217;s part of the job.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Gradually the storm lightened, the snow
+changed back into rain, and finally to mist;
+but up on the heights the clouds still rolled wildly,
+and through their openings the white drifts
+bleakly shone.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all in the trip,&#8221; said Berrie. &#8220;You have
+to take the weather as it comes on the trail.&#8221;
+As the storm lessened she resumed the business
+of cooking the midday meal, and at two o&#8217;clock
+they were able to eat in comparative comfort,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+though the unmelted snow still covered the trees,
+and water dripped from the branches.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t it beautiful!&#8221; exclaimed Wayland, with
+glowing boyish face. &#8220;The landscape is like a
+Christmas card. In its way it&#8217;s quite as beautiful
+as that golden forest we rode through.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It wouldn&#8217;t be so beautiful if you had to wallow
+through ten miles of it,&#8221; she sagely responded.
+&#8220;Daddy will be wet to the skin, for I found
+he didn&#8217;t take his slicker. However, the sun may
+be out before night. That&#8217;s the way the thing
+goes in the hills.&#8221;</p>
+<p>To the youth, though the peaks were storm-hid,
+the afternoon was joyous. Berrie was a
+sweet companion. Under her supervision he
+practised at chopping wood and took a hand at
+cooking. At her suggestion he stripped the tarpaulin
+from her father&#8217;s bed and stretched it
+over a rope before the tent, thus providing a
+commodious kitchen and dining-room. Under
+this roof they sat and talked of everything except
+what they should do if the father did not
+return, and as they talked they grew to even
+closer understanding.</p>
+<p>Though quite unlearned of books, she had
+something which was much more piquant than
+anything which theaters and novels could give&mdash;she
+possessed a marvelous understanding of the
+natural world in which she lived. As the companion
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+of her father on many of his trips, she
+had absorbed from him, as well as from the
+forest, a thousand observations of plant and
+animal life. Seemingly she had nothing of the
+woman&#8217;s fear of the wilderness, she scarcely
+acknowledged any awe of it. Of the bears, and
+other predatory beasts, she spoke carelessly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bears are harmless if you let &#8217;em alone,&#8221; she
+said, &#8220;and the mountain-lion is a great big bluff.
+He won&#8217;t fight, you can&#8217;t make him fight; but
+the mother lion will. She&#8217;s dangerous when she
+has cubs&mdash;most animals are. I was out hunting
+grouse one day with a little twenty-two rifle,
+when all at once, as I looked up along a rocky
+point I was crossing, I saw a mountain-lion looking
+at me. First I thought I&#8217;d let drive at him;
+but the chances were against my getting him
+from there, so I climbed up above him&mdash;or where
+I thought he was&mdash;and while I was looking for
+him I happened to glance to my right, and there
+he was about fifty feet away looking at me pleasant
+as you please. Didn&#8217;t seem to be mad at
+all&mdash;&#8217;peared like he was just wondering what I&#8217;d
+do next. I jerked my gun into place, but he
+faded away. I crawled around to get behind
+him, and just when I reached the ledge on which
+he had been standing a few minutes before, I
+saw him just where I&#8217;d been. He had traded
+places with me. I began to have that creepy
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span>
+feeling. He was so silent and so kind of pleasant-looking
+I got leery of him. It just seemed like
+as though I&#8217;d dreamed him. He didn&#8217;t seem real.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland shuddered. &#8220;You foolish girl! Why
+didn&#8217;t you run?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did. I began to figure then that this was
+a mother lion, and that her cubs were close by,
+and that she could just as well sneak up and drop
+on me from above as not. So I got down and left
+her alone. It was her popping up now here and
+now there like a ghost that locoed me. I was sure
+scared.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland did not enjoy this tale. &#8220;I never
+heard of such folly. Did your father learn of
+that adventure?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I told him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t he forbid your hunting any more?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, indeed! Why should he? He just said
+it probably was a lioness, and that it was just as
+well to let her alone. He knows I&#8217;m no chicken.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How about your mother&mdash;does she approve
+of such expeditions?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, mother worries more or less when I&#8217;m away;
+but then she knows it don&#8217;t do any good. I&#8217;m
+taking all kinds of chances every day, anyhow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He had to admit that she was better able to
+care for herself in the wilderness than most men&mdash;even
+Western men&mdash;and though he had not
+yet witnessed a display of her skill with a rifle,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+he was ready to believe that she could shoot as
+well as her sire. Nevertheless, he liked her better
+when engaged in purely feminine duties, and
+he led the talk back to subjects concerning which
+her speech was less blunt and manlike.</p>
+<p>He liked her when she was joking, for delicious
+little curves of laughter played about her lips.
+She became very amusing, as she told of her
+&#8220;visits East,&#8221; and of her embarrassments in the
+homes of city friends. &#8220;I just have to own up
+that about all the schooling I&#8217;ve got is from the
+magazines. Sometimes I wish I had pulled out
+for town when I was about fourteen; but, you
+see, I didn&#8217;t feel like leaving mother, and she
+didn&#8217;t feel like letting me go&mdash;and so I just got
+what I could at Bear Tooth.&#8221; She sprang up.
+&#8220;There&#8217;s a patch of blue sky. Let&#8217;s go see if we
+can&#8217;t get a grouse.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The snow had nearly all sunk into the ground
+on their level; but it still lay deep on the heights
+above, and the torn masses of vapor still clouded
+the range. &#8220;Father has surely had to go over
+the divide,&#8221; she said, as they walked down the
+path along the lake shore. &#8220;He&#8217;ll be late getting
+back, and a plate of hot chicken will seem
+good to him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Together they strolled along the edge of the
+willows. &#8220;The grouse come down to feed about
+this time,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll put up a covey soon.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span></p>
+<p>It seemed to him as though he were re-living
+the experiences of his ancestors&mdash;the pioneers of
+Michigan&mdash;as he walked this wilderness with this
+intrepid huntress whose alert eyes took note of
+every moving thing. She was delightfully unconscious
+of self, of sex, of any doubt or fear.
+A lovely Diana&mdash;strong and true and sweet.</p>
+<p>Within a quarter of a mile they found their
+birds, and she killed four with five shots. &#8220;This
+is all we need,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and I don&#8217;t believe in
+killing for the sake of killing. Rangers should
+set good examples in way of game preservation.
+They are deputy game-wardens in most states,
+and good ones, too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They stopped for a time on a high bank above
+the lake, while the sunset turned the storm-clouds
+into mountains of brass and iron, with
+sulphurous caves and molten glowing ledges.
+This grandiose picture lasted but a few minutes,
+and then the Western gates closed and all was
+again gray and forbidding. &#8220;Open and shut is
+a sign of wet,&#8221; quoted Berrie, cheerily.</p>
+<p>The night rose formidably from the valley while
+they ate their supper; but Berrie remained tranquil.
+&#8220;Those horses probably went clean back
+to the ranch. If they did, daddy can&#8217;t possibly
+get back before eight o&#8217;clock, and he may not
+get back till to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VII_THE_WALK_IN_THE_RAIN' id='VII_THE_WALK_IN_THE_RAIN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
+<h2>VII</h2>
+<h3>THE WALK IN THE RAIN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Norcross, with his city training, was
+acutely conscious of the delicacy of the
+situation. In his sister&#8217;s circle a girl left alone
+in this way with a man would have been very
+seriously embarrassed; but it was evident that
+Berrie took it all joyously, innocently. Their
+being together was something which had happened
+in the natural course of weather, a condition
+for which they were in no way responsible.
+Therefore she permitted herself to be frankly
+happy in the charm of their enforced intimacy.</p>
+<p>She had never known a youth of his quality.
+He was so considerate, so refined, so quick of
+understanding, and so swift to serve. He filled
+her mind to the exclusion of unimportant matters
+like the snow, which was beginning again; indeed,
+her only anxiety concerned his health, and
+as he toiled amid the falling flakes, intent upon
+heaping up wood enough to last out the night,
+she became solicitous.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will be soaked,&#8221; she warningly cried.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+&#8220;Don&#8217;t stay out any more. Come to the fire.
+I&#8217;ll bring in the wood.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Something primeval, some strength he did not
+know he possessed sustained him, and he toiled
+on. &#8220;Suppose this snow keeps falling?&#8221; he retorted.
+&#8220;The Supervisor will not be able to get
+back to-night&mdash;perhaps not for a couple of
+nights. We will need a lot of fuel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He did not voice the fear of the storm which
+filled his thought; but the girl understood it.
+&#8220;It won&#8217;t be very cold,&#8221; she calmly replied. &#8220;It
+never is during these early blizzards; and, besides,
+all we need to do is to drop down the trail
+ten miles and we&#8217;ll be entirely out of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll feel safer with plenty of wood,&#8221; he argued;
+but soon found it necessary to rest from his
+labors. Coming in to camp, he seated himself
+beside her on a roll of blankets, and so together
+they tended the fire and watched the darkness
+roll over the lake till the shining crystals seemed
+to drop from a measureless black arch, soundless
+and oppressive. The wind died away, and the
+trees stood as if turned into bronze, moveless,
+save when a small branch gave way and dropped
+its rimy burden, or a squirrel leaped from one
+top to another. Even the voice of the waterfall
+seemed muffled and remote.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a long way from home and mother,&#8221;
+Wayland said, with a smile; &#8220;but&mdash;I like it.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t it fun?&#8221; she responded. &#8220;In a way it&#8217;s
+nicer on account of the storm. But you are not
+dressed right; you should have waterproof boots.
+You never can tell when you may be set afoot.
+You should always go prepared for rain and
+snow, and, above all, have an extra pair of thick
+stockings. Your feet are soaked now, aren&#8217;t
+they?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are; but your father told me to always
+dry my boots on my feet, otherwise they&#8217;d shrink
+out of shape.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s right, too; but you&#8217;d better take &#8217;em
+off and wring out your socks or else put on dry
+ones.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You insist on my playing the invalid,&#8221; he
+complained, &#8220;and that makes me angry. When
+I&#8217;ve been over here a month you&#8217;ll find me a
+glutton for hardship. I shall be a bear, a grizzly,
+fearful to contemplate. My roar will affright
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed like a child at his ferocity.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to change a whole lot,&#8221; she said,
+and drew the blanket closer about his shoulders.
+&#8220;Just now your job is to keep warm and dry.
+I hope you won&#8217;t get lonesome over here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to open a book or read a newspaper.
+I&#8217;m not going to write to a single soul
+except you. I&#8217;ll be obliged to report to you,
+won&#8217;t I?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not the Supervisor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re the next thing to it,&#8221; he quickly retorted.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ve been my board of health from
+the very first. I should have fled for home long
+ago had it not been for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell under his glance. &#8220;You&#8217;ll get
+pretty tired of things over here. It&#8217;s one of the
+lonesomest stations in the forest.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll get lonesome for you; but not for the
+East.&#8221; This remark, or rather the tone in which
+it was uttered, brought another flush of consciousness
+to the girl&#8217;s face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What time is it now?&#8221; she asked, abruptly.</p>
+<p>He looked at his watch. &#8220;Half after eight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If father isn&#8217;t on this side of the divide now
+he won&#8217;t try to cross. If he&#8217;s coming down the
+slope he&#8217;ll be here in an hour, although that trail
+is a tolerably tough proposition this minute. A
+patch of dead timber on a dark night is sure a
+nuisance, even to a good man. He may not
+make it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall I fire my gun?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As a signal to him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This amused her. &#8220;Daddy don&#8217;t need any
+hint about direction&mdash;what he needs is a light
+to see the twist of the trail through those fallen
+logs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Couldn&#8217;t I rig up a torch and go to meet him?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span></p>
+<p>She put her hand on his arm. &#8220;You stay
+right here!&#8221; she commanded. &#8220;You couldn&#8217;t
+follow that trail five minutes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have a very poor opinion of my skill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I haven&#8217;t; but I know how hard it is
+to keep direction on a night like this and I don&#8217;t
+want you wandering around in the timber.
+Father can take care of himself. He&#8217;s probably
+sitting under a big tree smoking his pipe before
+his fire&mdash;or else he&#8217;s at home. He knows we&#8217;re
+all right, and we are. We have wood and grub,
+and plenty of blankets, and a roof over us. You
+can make your bed under this fly,&#8221; she said, looking
+up at the canvas. &#8220;It beats the old balsam
+as a roof. You mustn&#8217;t sleep cold again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I&#8217;d better sit up and keep the fire
+going,&#8221; he replied, heroically. &#8220;There&#8217;s a big
+log out there that I&#8217;m going to bring in to roll
+up on the windward side.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;ll be cold and wet early in the morning,
+and I don&#8217;t like to hunt kindling in the snow,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;I always get everything ready the
+night before. I wish you had a better bed. It
+seems selfish of me to have the tent while you are
+cold.&#8221;</p>
+<p>One by one&mdash;under her supervision&mdash;he made
+preparations for morning. He cut some shavings
+from a dead, dry branch of fir and put them
+under the fly, and brought a bucket of water
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+from the creek, and then together they dragged
+up the dead tree.</p>
+<p>Had the young man been other than he was,
+the girl&#8217;s purity, candor, and self-reliance would
+have conquered him, and when she withdrew to
+the little tent and let fall the frail barrier between
+them, she was as safe from intrusion as if she had
+taken refuge behind gates of triple brass. Nothing
+in all his life had moved him so deeply as her
+solicitude, her sweet trust in his honor, and he
+sat long in profound meditation. Any man
+would be rich in the ownership of her love, he
+admitted. That he possessed her pity and her
+friendship he knew, and he began to wonder if
+he had made a deeper appeal to her than this.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Can it be that I am really a man to her,&#8221; he
+thought, &#8220;I who am only a poor weakling whom
+the rain and snow can appall?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then he thought of the effect of this night
+upon her life. What would Clifford Belden do
+now? To what deeps would his rage descend
+if he should come to know of it?</p>
+<p>Berrie was serene. Twice she spoke from her
+couch to say: &#8220;You&#8217;d better go to bed. Daddy
+can&#8217;t get here till to-morrow now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll stay up awhile yet. My boots aren&#8217;t
+entirely dried out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As the flame sank low the cold bit, and he
+built up the half-burned logs so that they blazed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+again. He worked as silently as he could; but
+the girl again spoke, with sweet authority:
+&#8220;Haven&#8217;t you gone to bed yet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes, I&#8217;ve been asleep. I only got up to
+rebuild the fire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid you&#8217;re cold.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m as comfortable as I deserve; it&#8217;s all
+schooling, you know. Please go to sleep again.&#8221;
+His teeth were chattering as he spoke, but he
+added: &#8220;I&#8217;m all right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>After a silence she said: &#8220;You must not get
+chilled. Bring your bed into the tent. There
+is room for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh no, that isn&#8217;t necessary. I&#8217;m standing
+it very well.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll be sick!&#8221; she urged, in a voice of
+alarm. &#8220;Please drag your bed inside the door.
+What would I do if you should have pneumonia
+to-morrow? You must not take any risk of a
+fever.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The thought of a sheltered spot, of something
+to break the remorseless wind, overcame his
+scruples, and he drew his bed inside the tent and
+rearranged it there.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re half frozen,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Your teeth
+are chattering.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t so much the cold,&#8221; he stammered.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m tired.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You poor boy!&#8221; she exclaimed, and rose in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+her bed. &#8220;I&#8217;ll get up and heat some water for
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be all right, in a few moments,&#8221; he said.
+&#8220;Please go to sleep. I shall be snug as a bug
+in a moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She watched his shadowy motions from her
+bed, and when at last he had nestled into his
+blankets, she said: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t lose your chill
+I&#8217;ll heat a rock and put at your feet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was ready to cry out in shame of his weakness;
+but he lay silent till he could command
+his voice, then he said: &#8220;That would drive me
+from the country in disgrace. Think of what
+the fellows down below will say when they know
+of my cold feet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They won&#8217;t hear of it; and, besides, it is
+better to carry a hot-water bag than to be laid
+up with a fever.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her anxiety lessened as his voice resumed its
+pleasant tenor flow. &#8220;Dear girl,&#8221; he said, &#8220;no
+one could have been sweeter&mdash;more like a
+guardian angel to me. Don&#8217;t place me under
+any greater obligation. Go to sleep. I am
+better&mdash;much better now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She did not speak for a few moments, then
+in a voice that conveyed to him a knowledge
+that his words of endearment had deeply moved
+her, she softly said: &#8220;Good night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He heard her sigh drowsily thereafter once or
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+twice, and then she slept, and her slumber redoubled
+in him his sense of guardianship, of responsibility.
+Lying there in the shelter of her
+tent, the whole situation seemed simple, innocent,
+and poetic; but looked at from the standpoint
+of Clifford Belden it held an accusation.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It cannot be helped,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The only
+thing we can do is to conceal the fact that we
+spent the night beneath this tent alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the belief that the way would clear with
+the dawn, he, too, fell asleep, while the fire
+sputtered and smudged in the fitful mountain
+wind.</p>
+<p>The second dawn came slowly, as though
+crippled by the storm and walled back by the
+clouds. Gradually, austerely, the bleak, white
+peaks began to define themselves above the firs.
+The camp-birds called cheerily from the wet
+branches which overhung the smoldering embers
+of the fire, and so at last day was abroad
+in the sky.</p>
+<p>With a dull ache in his bones, Wayland crept
+out to the fire and set to work fanning the coals
+with his hat, as he had seen the Supervisor do.
+He worked desperately till one of the embers
+began to angrily sparkle and to smoke. Then
+slipping away out of earshot he broke an armful
+of dry fir branches to heap above the wet, charred
+logs. Soon these twigs broke into flame, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+Berrie, awakened by the crackle of the pine
+branches, called out: &#8220;Is it daylight?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but it&#8217;s a very <i>dark</i> daylight. Don&#8217;t
+leave your warm bed for the dampness and
+cold out here; stay where you are; I&#8217;ll get
+breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How are you this morning? Did you sleep?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Fine!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid you had a bad night,&#8221; she insisted,
+in a tone which indicated her knowledge
+of his suffering.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Camp life has its disadvantages,&#8221; he admitted,
+as he put the coffee-pot on the fire.
+&#8220;But I&#8217;m feeling better now. I never fried a
+bird in my life, but I&#8217;m going to try it this morning.
+I have some water heating for your
+bath.&#8221; He put the soap, towel, and basin of
+hot water just inside the tent flap. &#8220;Here it is.
+I&#8217;m going to bathe in the lake. I must show my
+hardihood.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He heard her protesting as he went off down
+the bank, but his heart was resolute. &#8220;I&#8217;m not
+dead yet,&#8221; he said, grimly. &#8220;An invalid who
+can spend two such nights as these, and still
+face a cold wind, has some vitality in his bones
+after all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>When he returned he found the girl full
+dressed, alert, and glowing; but she greeted
+him with a touch of shyness and self-consciousness
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+new to her, and her eyes veiled themselves
+before his glance.</p>
+<p>&#8220;<i>Now</i>, where do you suppose the Supervisor
+is?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope he&#8217;s at home,&#8221; she replied, quite seriously.
+&#8220;I&#8217;d hate to think of him camped in the
+high country without bedding or tent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oughtn&#8217;t I to take a turn up the trail and
+see? I feel guilty somehow&mdash;I must do something!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t help matters any by hoofing about
+in the mud. No, we&#8217;ll just hold the fort till he
+comes, that&#8217;s what he&#8217;ll expect us to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He submitted once more to the force of her
+argument, and they ate breakfast in such intimacy
+and good cheer that the night&#8217;s discomforts
+and anxieties counted for little. As the sun
+broke through the clouds Berrie hung out the
+bedding in order that its dampness might be
+warmed away.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We may have to camp here again to-night,&#8221;
+she explained, demurely.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Worse things could happen than that,&#8221; he
+gallantly answered. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t mind a month
+of it, only I shouldn&#8217;t want it to rain or snow all
+the time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor boy! You did suffer, didn&#8217;t you? I
+was afraid you would. Did you sleep at all?&#8221;
+she asked, tenderly.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes, after I came inside; but, of course, I
+was more or less restless expecting your father
+to ride up, and then it&#8217;s all rather exciting business
+to a novice. I could hear all sorts of birds
+and beasts stepping and fluttering about. I was
+scared in spite of my best resolution.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s funny; I never feel that way. I slept
+like a log after I knew you were comfortable.
+You must have a better bed and more blankets.
+It&#8217;s always cold up here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The sunlight was short-lived. The clouds settled
+over the peaks, and ragged wisps of gray
+vapor dropped down the timbered slopes of the
+prodigious amphitheater in which the lake lay.
+Again Berrie made everything snug while her
+young woodsman toiled at bringing logs for the
+fire.</p>
+<p>In truth, he was more elated than he had been
+since leaving school, for he was not only doing
+a man&#8217;s work in the world, he was serving a
+woman in the immemorial way of the hewer of
+wood and the carrier of water. His fatigue and
+the chill of the morning wore away, and he took
+vast pride in dragging long poles down the hillside,
+forcing Berrie to acknowledge that he was
+astonishingly strong. &#8220;But don&#8217;t overdo it,&#8221;
+she warned.</p>
+<p>At last fully provided for, they sat contentedly
+side by side under the awning and watched the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+falling rain as it splashed and sizzled on the sturdy
+fire. &#8220;It&#8217;s a little like being shipwrecked on a
+desert island, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221; he said. &#8220;As if our boats
+had drifted away.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At noon she again prepared an elaborate meal.
+She served potatoes and grouse, hot biscuit with
+sugar syrup, and canned peaches, and coffee done
+to just the right color and aroma. He declared
+it wonderful, and they ate with repeated wishes
+that the Supervisor might turn up in time to
+share their feast; but he did not. Then Berrie
+said, firmly: &#8220;Now you must take a snooze, you
+look tired.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was, in truth, not only drowsy but lame
+and tired. Therefore, he yielded to her suggestion.</p>
+<p>She covered him with blankets and put him
+away like a child. &#8220;Now you have a good sleep,&#8221;
+she said, tenderly. &#8220;I&#8217;ll call you when daddy
+comes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a delicious sense of her protecting care
+he lay for a few moments listening to the drip
+of the water on the tent, then drifted away into
+peace and silence.</p>
+<p>When he woke the ground was again covered
+with snow, and the girl was feeding the fire with
+wood which her own hands had supplied.</p>
+<p>Hearing him stir, she turned and fixed her
+eyes upon him with clear, soft gaze. &#8220;How do
+you feel by now?&#8221; she asked.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Quite made over,&#8221; he replied, rising alertly.</p>
+<p>His cheer, however, was only pretense. He
+was greatly worried. &#8220;Something has happened
+to your father,&#8221; he said. &#8220;His horse has thrown
+him, or he has slipped and fallen.&#8221; His peace
+and exultation were gone. &#8220;How far is it down
+to the ranger station?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;About twelve miles.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think we&#8217;d better close camp and
+go down there? It is now three o&#8217;clock; we can
+walk it in five hours.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She shook her head. &#8220;No, I think we&#8217;d better
+stay right here. It&#8217;s a long, hard walk, and
+the trail is muddy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, dear girl,&#8221; he began, desperately, &#8220;it
+won&#8217;t do for us to camp here&mdash;alone&mdash;in this
+way another night. What will Cliff say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flamed red, then whitened. &#8220;I don&#8217;t care
+what Cliff thinks&mdash;I&#8217;m done with him&mdash;and no
+one that I really care about would blame us.&#8221;
+She was fully aware of his anxiety now. &#8220;It
+isn&#8217;t our fault.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will be <i>my</i> fault if I keep you here longer!&#8221;
+he answered. &#8220;We must reach a telephone and
+send word out. Something may have happened
+to your father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not worried a bit about him. It may
+be that there&#8217;s been a big snowfall up above us&mdash;or
+else a windstorm. The trail may be blocked;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+but don&#8217;t worry. He may have to go round by
+Lost Lake pass.&#8221; She pondered a moment. &#8220;I
+reckon you&#8217;re right. We&#8217;d better pack up and
+rack down the trail to the ranger&#8217;s cabin. Not
+on my account, but on yours. I&#8217;m afraid you&#8217;ve
+taken cold.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m all right, except I&#8217;m very lame; but I am
+anxious to go on. By the way, is this ranger
+Settle married?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, his station is one of the lonesomest cabins
+on the forest. No woman will stay there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This made Wayland ponder. &#8220;Nevertheless,&#8221;
+he decided, &#8220;we&#8217;ll go. After all, the man is a forest
+officer, and you are the Supervisor&#8217;s daughter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She made no further protest, but busied herself
+closing the panniers and putting away the
+camp utensils. She seemed to recognize that
+his judgment was sound.</p>
+<p>It was after three when they left the tent and
+started down the trail, carrying nothing but a
+few toilet articles.</p>
+<p>He stopped at the edge of the clearing. &#8220;Should
+we have left a note for the Supervisor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She pointed to their footprints. &#8220;There&#8217;s all
+the writing he needs,&#8221; she assured him, leading
+the way at a pace which made him ache. She
+plashed plumply into the first puddle in the path.
+&#8220;No use dodging &#8217;em,&#8221; she called over her
+shoulder, and he soon saw that she was right.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span></p>
+<p>The trees were dripping, the willows heavy
+with water, and the mud ankle-deep&mdash;in places&mdash;but
+she pushed on steadily, and he, following in
+her tracks, could only marvel at her strength
+and sturdy self-reliance. The swing of her
+shoulders, the poise of her head, and the lithe
+movement of her waist, made his own body
+seem a poor thing.</p>
+<p>For two hours they zigzagged down a narrow
+cañon heavily timbered with fir and spruce&mdash;a
+dark, stern avenue, crossed by roaring streams,
+and filled with frequent boggy meadows whereon
+the water lay mid-leg deep.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll get out of this very soon,&#8221; she called,
+cheerily.</p>
+<p>By degrees the gorge widened, grew more open,
+more genial. Aspen thickets of pale-gold flashed
+upon their eyes like sunlight, and grassy bunches
+afforded firmer footing, but on the slopes their
+feet slipped and slid painfully. Still Berea kept
+her stride. &#8220;We must get to the middle fork
+before dark,&#8221; she stopped to explain, &#8220;for I don&#8217;t
+know the trail down there, and there&#8217;s a lot of
+down timber just above the station. Now that
+we&#8217;re cut loose from our camp I feel nervous.
+As long as I have a tent I am all right; but now
+we are in the open I worry. How are you standing
+it?&#8221; She studied him with keen and anxious
+glance, her hand upon his arm.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Fine as a fiddle,&#8221; he replied, assuming a
+spirit he did not possess, &#8220;but you are marvelous.
+I thought cowgirls couldn&#8217;t walk?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can do anything when I have to,&#8221; she replied.
+&#8220;We&#8217;ve got three hours more of it.&#8221;
+And she warningly exclaimed: &#8220;Look back
+there!&#8221;</p>
+<p>They had reached a point from which the
+range could be seen, and behold it was covered
+deep with a seamless robe of new snow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why dad didn&#8217;t get back last night.
+He&#8217;s probably wallowing along up there this
+minute.&#8221; And she set off again with resolute
+stride. Wayland&#8217;s pale face and labored breath
+alarmed her. She was filled with love and pity,
+but she pressed forward desperately.</p>
+<p>As he grew tired, Wayland&#8217;s boots, loaded
+with mud, became fetters, and every slope greasy
+with mire seemed an almost insurmountable
+barricade. He fell several times, but made no
+outcry. &#8220;I will not add to her anxiety,&#8221; he said
+to himself.</p>
+<p>At last they came to the valley floor, over which
+a devastating fire had run some years before,
+and which was still covered with fallen trees in
+desolate confusion. Here the girl made her first
+mistake. She kept on toward the river, although
+Wayland called attention to a trail leading to
+the right up over the low grassy hills. For a mile
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
+the path was clear, but she soon found herself
+confronted by an endless maze of blackened tree-trunks,
+and at last the path ended abruptly.</p>
+<p>Dismayed and halting, she said: &#8220;We&#8217;ve got
+to go back to that trail which branched off to
+the right. I reckon that was the highland trail
+which Settle made to keep out of the swamp. I
+thought it was a trail from Cameron Peak, but
+it wasn&#8217;t. Back we go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was suffering keenly now, not on her own
+account, but on his, for she could see that he
+was very tired, and to climb up that hill again
+was like punishing him a second time.</p>
+<p>When she picked up the blazed trail it was so
+dark that she could scarcely follow it; but she
+felt her way onward, turning often to be sure
+that he was following. Once she saw him fall,
+and cried out: &#8220;It&#8217;s a shame to make you climb
+this hill again. It&#8217;s all my fault. I ought to
+have known that that lower road led down into
+the timber.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Standing close beside him in the darkness,
+knowing that he was weary, wet, and ill, she permitted
+herself the expression of her love and pity.
+Putting her arm about him, she drew his cheek
+against her own, saying: &#8220;Poor boy, your hands
+are cold as ice.&#8221; She took them in her own warm
+clasp. &#8220;Oh, I wish we had never left the camp!
+What does it matter what people say?&#8221; Then
+she broke down and wailed. &#8220;I shall never forgive
+myself if you&mdash;&#8221; Her voice failed her.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-140.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 339px; height: 448px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 339px;'>
+SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span></div>
+<p>He bravely reassured her: &#8220;I&#8217;m not defeated,
+I&#8217;m just tired. That&#8217;s all. I can go on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you are shaking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is merely a nervous chill. I&#8217;m good
+for another hour. It&#8217;s better to keep moving,
+anyhow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She thrust her hand under his coat and laid
+it over his heart. &#8220;You are tired out,&#8221; she said,
+and there was anguish in her voice. &#8220;Your heart
+is pounding terribly. You mustn&#8217;t do any more
+climbing. And, hark, there&#8217;s a wolf!&#8221;</p>
+<p>He listened. &#8220;I hear him; but we are both
+armed. There&#8217;s no danger from wild animals.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come!&#8221; she said, instantly recovering her
+natural resolution. &#8220;We can&#8217;t stand here. The
+station can&#8217;t be far away. We must go on.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VIII_THE_OTHER_GIRL' id='VIII_THE_OTHER_GIRL'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span>
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+<h3>THE OTHER GIRL</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The girl&#8217;s voice stirred the benumbed youth
+into action again, and he followed her mechanically.
+His slender stock of physical
+strength was almost gone, but his will remained
+unbroken. At every rough place she came back
+to him to support him, to hearten him, and so
+he crept on through the darkness, falling often,
+stumbling against the trees, slipping and sliding,
+till at last his guide, pitching down a sharp slope,
+came directly upon a wire fence.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Glory be!&#8221; she called. &#8220;Here is a fence, and
+the cabin should be near, although I see no light.
+Hello! Tony!&#8221;</p>
+<p>No voice replied, and, keeping Wayland&#8217;s hand,
+she felt her way along the fence till it revealed
+a gate; then she turned toward the roaring of
+the stream, which grew louder as they advanced.
+&#8220;The cabin is near the falls, that much I know,&#8221;
+she assured him. Then a moment later she joyfully
+cried out: &#8220;Here it is!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Out of the darkness a blacker, sharper shadow
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+rose. Again she called, but no one answered.
+&#8220;The ranger is away,&#8221; she exclaimed, in a voice
+of indignant alarm. &#8220;I do hope he left the door
+unlocked.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Too numb with fatigue, and too dazed by the
+darkness to offer any aid, Wayland waited&mdash;swaying
+unsteadily on his feet&mdash;while she tried
+the door. It was bolted, and with but a moment&#8217;s
+hesitation, she said: &#8220;It looks like a case
+of breaking and entering. I&#8217;ll try a window.&#8221;
+The windows, too, were securely fastened. After
+trying them all, she came back to where Wayland
+stood. &#8220;Tony didn&#8217;t intend to have anybody
+pushing in,&#8221; she decided. &#8220;But if the
+windows will not raise they will smash.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A crash of glass followed, and with a feeling
+that it was all part of a dream, Wayland waited
+while the girl made way through the broken
+sash into the dark interior. Her next utterance
+was a cry of joy: &#8220;Oh, but it&#8217;s nice and warm
+in here! I can&#8217;t open the door. You&#8217;ll have
+to come in the same way I did.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was too weak and too irresolute to respond
+immediately, and, reaching out, she took him by
+the arms and dragged him across the sill. Her
+strength seemed prodigious. A delicious warmth,
+a grateful dryness, a sense of shelter enfolded
+him like a garment. The place smelled deliciously
+of food, of fire, of tobacco.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></p>
+<p>Leading him toward the middle of the room,
+Berrie said: &#8220;Stand here till I strike a light.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As her match flamed up Norcross found himself
+in a rough-walled cabin, in which stood a
+square cook-stove, a rude table littered with
+dishes, and three stools made of slabs. It was
+all very rude; but it had all the value of a palace
+at the moment.</p>
+<p>The girl&#8217;s quick eye saw much else. She
+located an oil-lamp, some pine-wood, and a corner
+cupboard. In a few moments the lamp was
+lit, the stove refilled with fuel, and she was
+stripping Wayland&#8217;s wet coat from his back,
+cheerily discoursing as she did so. &#8220;Here&#8217;s one
+of Tony&#8217;s old jackets, put that on while I see if
+I can&#8217;t find some dry stockings for you. Sit
+right down here by the stove; put your feet in
+the oven. I&#8217;ll have a fire in a jiffy. There,
+that&#8217;s right. Now I&#8217;ll start the coffee-pot.&#8221; She
+soon found the coffee, but it was unground.
+&#8220;Wonder, where he keeps his coffee-mill.&#8221; She
+rummaged about for a few minutes, then gave
+up the search. &#8220;Well, no matter, here&#8217;s the
+coffee, and here&#8217;s a hammer. One of the laws
+of the trail is this: If you can&#8217;t do a thing one
+way, do it another.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She poured the coffee beans into an empty
+tomato-can and began to pound them with the
+end of the hammer handle, laughing at Wayland&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+look of wonder and admiration. &#8220;Necessity
+sure is the mother of invention out here.
+How do you feel by now? Isn&#8217;t it nice to own
+a roof and four walls? I&#8217;m going to close up
+that window as soon as I get the coffee started.
+Are you warming up?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes, I&#8217;m all right now,&#8221; he replied; but
+he didn&#8217;t look it, and her own cheer was rather
+forced. He was in the grasp of a nervous chill,
+and she was deeply apprehensive of what the
+result of his exposure might be. It seemed as
+if the coffee would never come to a boil.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I depend on that to brace you up,&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>After hanging a blanket over the broken window,
+she set out some cold meat and a half
+dozen baking-powder biscuits, which she found
+in the cupboard, and as soon as the coffee was
+ready she poured it for him; but she would not
+let him leave the fire. She brought his supper
+to him and sat beside him while he ate and drank.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must go right to bed,&#8221; she urged, as she
+studied his weary eyes. &#8220;You ought to sleep for
+twenty-four hours.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The hot, strong coffee revived him physically
+and brought back a little of his courage, and he
+said: &#8220;I&#8217;m ashamed to be such a weakling.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now hush,&#8221; she commanded. &#8220;It&#8217;s not
+your fault that you are weak. Now, while I am
+eating my supper you slip off your wet clothes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+and creep into Tony&#8217;s bunk, and I&#8217;ll fill one of
+these syrup-cans with hot water to put at your
+feet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was of no use for him to protest against her
+further care. She insisted, and while she ate he
+meekly carried out her instructions, and from
+the delicious warmth and security of his bed
+watched her moving about the stove till the
+shadows of the room became one with the dusky
+figures of his sleep.</p>
+<p>A moment later something falling on the floor
+woke him with a start, and, looking up, he found
+the sun shining, and Berrie confronting him with
+anxious face. &#8220;Did I waken you?&#8221; she asked.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m awfully sorry. I&#8217;m trying to be extra
+quiet. I dropped a pan. How do you feel this
+<i>morning</i>?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He pondered this question a moment. &#8220;Is it
+to-morrow or the next week?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed happily. &#8220;It&#8217;s only the next day.
+Just keep where you are till the sun gets a little
+higher.&#8221; She drew near and put a hand on his
+brow. &#8220;You don&#8217;t feel feverish. Oh, I hope
+this trip hasn&#8217;t set you back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He laid his hands together, and then felt of his
+pulse. &#8220;I don&#8217;t seem to have a temperature.
+I just feel lazy, limp and lazy; but I&#8217;m going to
+get up, if you&#8217;ll just leave the room for a moment&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t try it now. Wait till you have had
+your breakfast. You&#8217;ll feel stronger then.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He yielded again to the force of her will, and
+fell back into a luxurious drowse hearing the
+stove roar and the bacon sizzle in the pan.
+There was something primitive and broadly
+poetic in the girl&#8217;s actions. Through the haze of
+the kitchen smoke she enlarged till she became
+the typical frontier wife, the goddess of the
+skillet and the coffee-pot, the consort of the
+pioneer, equally skilled with the rifle and the
+rolling-pin. How many millions of times had
+this scene been enacted on the long march of
+the borderman from the Susquehanna to the
+Bear Tooth Range?</p>
+<p>Into his epic vision the pitiful absurdity of his
+own part in the play broke like a sad discord.
+&#8220;Of course, it is not my fault that I am a weakling,&#8221;
+he argued. &#8220;Only it was foolish for me
+to thrust myself into this stern world. If I
+come safely out of this adventure I will go back
+to the sheltered places where I belong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At this point came again the disturbing realization
+that this night of struggle, and the
+ministrations of his brave companion had involved
+him deeper in a mesh from which honorable
+escape was almost impossible. The ranger&#8217;s
+cabin, so far from being an end of their compromising
+intimacy, had added and was still adding to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+the weight of evidence against them both. The
+presence of the ranger or the Supervisor himself
+could not now save Berea from the gossips.</p>
+<p>She brought his breakfast to him, and sat beside
+him while he ate, chatting the while of their
+good fortune. &#8220;It is glorious outside, and I am
+sure daddy will get across to-day, and Tony is
+certain to turn up before noon. He probably
+went down to Coal City to get his mail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I must get up at once,&#8221; he said, in a panic
+of fear and shame. &#8220;The Supervisor must not
+find me laid out on my back. Please leave me
+alone for a moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She went out, closing the door behind her, and
+as he crawled from his bed every muscle in his
+body seemed to cry out against being moved.
+Nevertheless, he persisted, and at last succeeded
+in putting on his clothes, even his shoes&mdash;though
+he found tying the laces the hardest task of all&mdash;and
+he was at the wash-basin bathing his face
+and hands when Berrie hurriedly re-entered.
+&#8220;Some tourists are coming,&#8221; she announced, in
+an excited tone. &#8220;A party of five or six people,
+a woman among them, is just coming down the
+slope. Now, who do you suppose it can be? It
+would be just our luck if it should turn out to be
+some one from the Mill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He divined at once the reason for her dismay.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+The visit of a woman at this moment would not
+merely embarrass them both, it would torture
+Berrie. &#8220;What is to be done?&#8221; he asked, roused
+to alertness.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing; all we can do is to stand pat and
+act as if we belonged here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; he replied, moving stiffly toward
+the door. &#8220;Here&#8217;s where I can be of some service.
+I am an excellent white liar.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As our hero crawled out into the brilliant sunshine
+some part of his courage came back to
+him. Though lame in every muscle, he was not
+ill. That was the surprising thing. His head
+was clear, and his breath full and deep. &#8220;My
+lungs are all right,&#8221; he said to himself. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+not going to collapse.&#8221; And he looked round
+him with a new-born admiration of the wooded
+hills which rose in somber majesty on either side
+the roaring stream. &#8220;How different it all looks
+this morning,&#8221; he said, remembering the deep
+blackness of the night.</p>
+<p>The beat of hoofs upon the bridge drew his
+attention to the cavalcade, which the keen eyes
+of the girl had detected as it came over the ridge
+to the east. The party consisted of two men
+and two women and three pack-horses completely
+outfitted for the trail.</p>
+<p>One of the women, spurring her horse to the
+front, rode serenely up to where Wayland stood,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
+and called out: &#8220;Good morning. Are you the
+ranger?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m only the guard. The ranger has
+gone down the trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He perceived at once that the speaker was an
+alien like himself, for she wore tan-colored riding-boots,
+a divided skirt of expensive cloth, and a
+jaunty, wide-rimmed sombrero. She looked, indeed,
+precisely like the heroine of the prevalent
+Western drama. Her sleeves, rolled to the elbow,
+disclosed shapely brown arms, and her neck,
+bare to her bosom, was equally sun-smit; but
+she was so round-cheeked, so childishly charming,
+that the most critical observer could find no fault
+with her make-up.</p>
+<p>One of the men rode up. &#8220;Hello, Norcross.
+What are you doing over here?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The youth smiled blandly. &#8220;Good morning,
+Mr. Belden. I&#8217;m serving my apprenticeship.
+I&#8217;m in the service now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The mischief you are!&#8221; exclaimed the other.
+&#8220;Where&#8217;s Tony?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gone for his mail. He&#8217;ll return soon. What
+are <i>you</i> doing over here, may I ask?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m here as guide to Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore,
+this is Norcross, one of McFarlane&#8217;s men. Mr.
+Moore is connected with the tie-camp operations
+of the railway.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Moore was a tall, thin man with a gray beard
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+and keen blue eyes. &#8220;Where&#8217;s McFarlane? We
+were to meet him here. Didn&#8217;t he come over
+with you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We started together, but the horses got away,
+and he was obliged to go back after them. He
+also is likely to turn up soon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am frightfully hungry,&#8221; interrupted the
+girl. &#8220;Can&#8217;t you hand me out a hunk of bread
+and meat? We&#8217;ve been riding since daylight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie suddenly appeared at the door. &#8220;Sure
+thing,&#8221; she called out. &#8220;Slide down and come
+in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Moore removed his hat and bowed. &#8220;Good
+morning, Miss McFarlane, I didn&#8217;t know you
+were here. You know my daughter Siona?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie nodded coldly. &#8220;I&#8217;ve met her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He indicated the other woman. &#8220;And Mrs.
+Belden, of course, you know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Belden, the fourth member of the party,
+a middle-aged, rather flabby person, just being
+eased down from her horse, turned on Berrie
+with a battery of questions. &#8220;Good Lord! Berrie
+McFarlane, what are you doing over in
+this forsaken hole? Where&#8217;s your dad? And
+where is Tony? If Cliff had known you was over
+here he&#8217;d have come, too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie retained her self-possession. &#8220;Come in
+and get some coffee, and we&#8217;ll straighten things
+out.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span></p>
+<p>Apparently Mrs. Belden did not know that
+Cliff and Berrie had quarreled, for she treated
+the girl with maternal familiarity. She was a
+good-natured, well-intentioned old sloven, but
+a most renowned tattler, and the girl feared her
+more than she feared any other woman in the
+valley. She had always avoided her, but she
+showed nothing of this dislike at the moment.</p>
+<p>Wayland drew the younger woman&#8217;s attention
+by saying: &#8220;It&#8217;s plain that you, like myself, do
+not belong to these parts, Miss Moore.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What makes you think so?&#8221; she brightly
+queried.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your costume is too appropriate. Haven&#8217;t
+you noticed that the women who live out here
+carefully avoid convenient and artistic dress?
+Now your outfit is precisely what they should
+wear and don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This amused her. &#8220;I know, but they all say
+they have to wear out their Sunday go-to-meeting
+clothes, whereas I can &#8216;rag out proper.&#8217;
+I&#8217;m glad you like my &#8216;rig.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When I look at you,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I&#8217;m back on
+old Broadway at the Herald Square Theater.
+The play is &#8216;Little Blossom, or the Cowgirl&#8217;s
+Revenge.&#8217; The heroine has just come into the
+miner&#8217;s cabin&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, go &#8217;long,&#8221; she replied, seizing her cue and
+speaking in character, &#8220;you&#8217;re stringin&#8217; me.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Not on your life! Your outfit is a peacherino,&#8221;
+he declared. &#8220;I am glad you rode by.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At the moment he was bent on drawing the girl&#8217;s
+attention from Berrie, but as she went on he
+came to like her. She said: &#8220;No, I don&#8217;t belong
+here; but I come out every year during vacation
+with my father. I love this country. It&#8217;s so
+big and wide and wild. Father has built a little
+bungalow down at the lower mill, and we enjoy
+every day of our stay.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a Smith girl,&#8221; he abruptly asserted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What makes you think so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, there&#8217;s something about you Smith girls
+that gives you dead away.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gives us away! I like that!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My phrase was unfortunate. I like Smith
+girls,&#8221; he hastened to say; and in five minutes
+they were on the friendliest terms&mdash;talking of
+mutual acquaintances&mdash;a fact which both puzzled
+and hurt Berea. Their laughter angered
+her, and whenever she glanced at them and detected
+Siona looking into Wayland&#8217;s face with coquettish
+simper, she was embittered. She was glad
+when Moore came in and interrupted the dialogue.</p>
+<p>Norcross did not relax, though he considered
+the dangers of cross-examination almost entirely
+passed. In this he was mistaken, for no sooner
+was the keen edge of Mrs. Belden&#8217;s hunger dulled
+than her curiosity sharpened.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Where did you say the Supervisor was?&#8221; she
+repeated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The horses got away, and he had to go back
+after them,&#8221; again responded Berrie, who found
+the scrutiny of the other girl deeply disconcerting.</p>
+<p>&#8220;When do you expect him back?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Any minute now,&#8221; she replied, and in this
+she was not deceiving them, although she did
+not intend to volunteer any information which
+might embarrass either Wayland or herself.</p>
+<p>Norcross tried to create a diversion. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t
+this a charming valley?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Siona took up the cue. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it! It&#8217;s romantic
+enough to be the back-drop in a Bret
+Harte play. I love it!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Moore turned to Wayland. &#8220;I know a Norcross,
+a Michigan lumberman, Vice-President of
+the Association. Is he, by any chance, a relative?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Only a father,&#8221; retorted Wayland, with a
+smile. &#8220;But don&#8217;t hold me responsible for anything
+he has done. We seldom agree.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Moore&#8217;s manner changed abruptly. &#8220;Indeed!
+And what is the son of W. W. Norcross doing
+out here in the Forest Service?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The change in her father&#8217;s tone was not lost
+upon Siona, who ceased her banter and studied
+the young man with deeper interest, while Mrs.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span>
+Belden, detecting some restraint in Berrie&#8217;s
+tone, renewed her questioning: &#8220;Where did you
+camp last night?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Right here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how the horses got away. There&#8217;s
+a pasture here, for we rode right through it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie was aware that each moment of delay
+in explaining the situation looked like evasion,
+and deepened the significance of her predicament,
+and yet she could not bring herself to the
+task of minutely accounting for her time during
+the last two days.</p>
+<p>Belden came to her relief. &#8220;Well, well!
+We&#8217;ll have to be moving on. We&#8217;re going into
+camp at the mouth of the West Fork,&#8221; he said,
+as he rose. &#8220;Tell Tony and the Supervisor that
+we want to line out that timber at the earliest
+possible moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Siona, who was now distinctly coquetting with
+Wayland, held out her hand. &#8220;I hope you&#8217;ll find
+time to come up and see us. I know we have
+other mutual friends, if we had time to get at
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His answer was humorous. &#8220;I am a soldier.
+I am on duty. I&#8217;m not at all sure that I shall
+have a moment&#8217;s leave; but I will call if I can
+possibly do so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They started off at last without having learned
+in detail anything of the intimate relationship
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+into which the Supervisor&#8217;s daughter and young
+Norcross had been thrown, and Mrs. Belden was
+still so much in the dark that she called to Berrie:
+&#8220;I&#8217;m going to send word to Cliff that you
+are over here. He&#8217;ll be crazy to come the minute
+he finds it out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t do that!&#8221; protested Berrie.</p>
+<p>Wayland turned to Berrie. &#8220;That would be
+pleasant,&#8221; he said, smilingly.</p>
+<p>But she did not return his smile. On the
+contrary, she remained very grave. &#8220;I wish that
+old tale-bearer had kept away. She&#8217;s going to
+make trouble for us all. And that girl, isn&#8217;t she
+a spectacle? I never could bear her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, what&#8217;s wrong with her? She seems a
+very nice, sprightly person.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s a regular play actor. I don&#8217;t like
+made-up people. Why does she go around with
+her sleeves rolled up that way, and&mdash;and her
+dress open at the throat?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, those are the affectations of the moment.
+She wants to look tough and boisterous. That&#8217;s
+the fad with all the girls, just now. It&#8217;s only a
+harmless piece of foolishness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She could not tell him how deeply she resented
+his ready tone of camaraderie with the other
+girl; but she was secretly suffering. It hurt her
+to think that he could forget his aches and be
+so free and easy with a stranger at a moment&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
+notice. Under the influence of that girl&#8217;s smile
+he seemed to have quite forgotten his exhaustion
+and his pain. It was wonderful how cheerful he
+had been while she was in sight.</p>
+<p>In all this Berrie did him an injustice. He had
+been keenly conscious, during every moment of
+the time, not only of his bodily ills, but of Berrie,
+and he had kept a brave face in order that he
+might prevent further questioning on the part
+of a malicious girl. It was his only way of being
+heroic. Now that the crisis was passed he was
+quite as much of a wreck as ever.</p>
+<p>A new anxiety beset her. &#8220;I hope they won&#8217;t
+happen to meet father on the trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps I should go with them and warn
+him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, it doesn&#8217;t matter,&#8221; she wearily answered.
+&#8220;Old Mrs. Belden will never rest till she finds
+out just where we&#8217;ve been, and just what we&#8217;ve
+done. She&#8217;s that kind. She knows everything
+that goes on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He understood her fear, and yet he was unable
+to comfort her in the only way she could be
+comforted. That brief encounter with Siona
+Moore&mdash;a girl of his own world&mdash;had made all
+thought of marriage with Berea suddenly absurd.
+Without losing in any degree the sense of gratitude
+he felt for her protecting care, and with full
+acknowledgment of her heroic support of his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
+faltering feet, he revolted from putting into
+words a proposal of marriage. &#8220;I love her,&#8221; he
+confessed to himself, &#8220;and she is a dear, brave
+girl; but I do not love her as a man should love
+the woman he is to marry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A gray shadow had plainly fallen between
+them. Berea sensed the change in his attitude,
+and traced it to the influence of the coquette
+whose smiling eyes and bared arms had openly
+challenged admiration. It saddened her to
+think that one so fine as he had seemed could
+yield even momentary tribute to an open and
+silly coquette.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IX_FURTHER_PERPLEXITIES' id='IX_FURTHER_PERPLEXITIES'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+<h2>IX</h2>
+<h3>FURTHER PERPLEXITIES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Wayland, for his part, was not deceived
+by Siona Moore. He knew her kind, and
+understood her method of attack. He liked her
+pert ways, for they brought back his days at
+college, when dozens of just such misses lent
+grace and humor and romance to the tennis court
+and to the football field. She carried with her
+the aroma of care-free, athletic girlhood. Flirtation
+was in her as charming and almost as meaningless
+as the preening of birds on the bank of a
+pool in the meadow.</p>
+<p>Speaking aloud, he said: &#8220;Miss Moore travels
+the trail with all known accessories, and I&#8217;ve no
+doubt she thinks she is a grand campaigner;
+but I am wondering how she would stand such a
+trip as that you took last night. I don&#8217;t believe
+she could have done as well as I. She&#8217;s the imitation&mdash;you&#8217;re
+the real thing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The praise involved in this speech brought
+back a little of Berrie&#8217;s humor. &#8220;I reckon those
+brown boots of hers would have melted,&#8221; she
+said, with quaint smile.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span></p>
+<p>He became very grave. &#8220;If it had not been
+for you, dear girl, I would be lying up there in
+the forest this minute. Nothing but your indomitable
+spirit kept me moving. I shall be
+deeply hurt if any harm comes to you on account
+of me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If it hadn&#8217;t been for me you wouldn&#8217;t have
+started on that trip last night. It was perfectly
+useless. It would have been better for us both
+if we had stayed in camp, for we wouldn&#8217;t have
+met these people.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; he replied; &#8220;but we didn&#8217;t
+know that at the time. We acted for the best,
+and we must not blame ourselves, no matter
+what comes of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They fell silent at this point, for each was again
+conscious of their new relationship. She, vaguely
+suffering, waited for him to resume the lover&#8217;s
+tone, while he, oppressed by the sense of his own
+shortcomings and weakness, was planning an
+escape. &#8220;It&#8217;s all nonsense, my remaining in the
+forest. I&#8217;m not fitted for it. It&#8217;s too severe.
+I&#8217;ll tell McFarlane so and get out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Perceiving his returning weakness and depression,
+Berea insisted on his lying down again
+while she set to work preparing dinner. &#8220;There
+is no telling when father will get here,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;And Tony will be hungry when he comes.
+Lie down and rest.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></p>
+<p>He obeyed her silently, and, going to the bunk,
+at once fell asleep. How long he slept he could
+not tell, but he was awakened by the voice of the
+ranger, who was standing in the doorway and
+regarding Berrie with a round-eyed stare.</p>
+<p>He was a tall, awkward fellow of about thirty-five,
+plainly of the frontier type; but a man of
+intelligence. At the end of a brief explanation
+Berrie said, with an air of authority: &#8220;Now you&#8217;d
+better ride up the trail and bring our camp
+outfit down. We can&#8217;t go back that way, anyhow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The ranger glanced toward Wayland. &#8220;All
+right, Miss Berrie, but perhaps your tenderfoot
+needs a doctor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland rose painfully but resolutely. &#8220;Oh
+no, I am not sick. I&#8217;m a little lame, that&#8217;s all.
+I&#8217;ll go along with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; said Berrie, decisively. &#8220;You&#8217;re not
+well enough for that. Get up your horses, Tony,
+and by that time I&#8217;ll have some dinner ready.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, Miss Berrie,&#8221; replied the man, and
+turned away.</p>
+<p>Hardly had he crossed the bridge on his way
+to the pasture, when Berrie cried out: &#8220;There
+comes daddy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland joined her at the door, and stood
+beside her watching the Supervisor, as he came
+zigzagging down the steep hill to the east, with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+all his horses trailing behind him roped together
+head-to-tail.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s had to come round by Lost Lake,&#8221; she
+exclaimed. &#8220;He&#8217;ll be tired out, and absolutely
+starved. Wahoo!&#8221; she shouted in greeting, and
+the Supervisor waved his hand.</p>
+<p>There was something superb in the calm seat
+of the veteran as he slid down the slope. He
+kept his place in the saddle with the air of the
+rider to whom hunger, fatigue, windfalls, and
+snowslides were all a part of the day&#8217;s work; and
+when he reined in before the door and dropped
+from his horse, he put his arm about his daughter&#8217;s
+neck with quiet word: &#8220;I thought I&#8217;d find
+you here. How is everything?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, daddy; but what about you?
+Where have you been?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Clean back to Mill Park. The blamed
+cayuses kept just ahead of me all the way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor old dad! And on top of that came the
+snow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and a whole hatful. I couldn&#8217;t get back
+over the high pass. Had to go round by Lost
+Lake, and to cap all, Old Baldy took a notion
+not to lead. Oh, I&#8217;ve had a peach of a time;
+but here I am. Have you seen Moore and his
+party?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, they&#8217;re in camp up the trail. He and
+Alec Belden and two women. Are you hungry?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span></p>
+<p>He turned a comical glance upon her. &#8220;Am
+I hungry? Sister, I am a wolf. Norcross, take
+my horses down to the pasture.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She hastened to interpose. &#8220;Let me do that,
+daddy, Mr. Norcross is badly used up. You
+see, we started down here late yesterday afternoon.
+It was raining and horribly muddy, and
+I took the wrong trail. The darkness caught us
+and we didn&#8217;t reach the station till nearly midnight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland acknowledged his weakness. &#8220;I
+guess I made a mistake, Supervisor; I&#8217;m not
+fitted for this strenuous life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane was quick to understand. &#8220;I
+didn&#8217;t intend to pitchfork you into the forest
+life quite so suddenly,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t give
+up yet awhile. You&#8217;ll harden to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here comes Tony,&#8221; said Berrie. &#8220;He&#8217;ll look
+after the ponies.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nevertheless Wayland went out, believing that
+Berrie wished to be alone with her father for a
+short time.</p>
+<p>As he took his seat McFarlane said: &#8220;You
+stayed in camp till yesterday afternoon, did
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we were expecting you every moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He saw nothing in this to remark upon. &#8220;Did
+it snow at the lake?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, a little; it mostly rained.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It stormed up on the divide like a January
+blizzard. When did Moore and his party arrive?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;About ten o&#8217;clock this morning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll ride right up and see them. What about
+the outfit? That&#8217;s at the lake, I reckon?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I was just sending Tony after it. But,
+father, if you go up to Moore&#8217;s camp, don&#8217;t say
+too much about what has happened. Don&#8217;t tell
+them just when you took the back-trail, and just
+how long Wayland and I were in camp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She reddened with confusion. &#8220;Because&mdash;You
+know what an old gossip Mrs. Belden is.
+I don&#8217;t want her to know. She&#8217;s an awful talker,
+and our being together up there all that time
+will give her a chance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A light broke in on the Supervisor&#8217;s brain. In
+the midst of his preoccupation as a forester he
+suddenly became the father. His eyes narrowed
+and his face darkened. &#8220;That&#8217;s so. The old
+rip could make a whole lot of capital out of your
+being left in camp that way. At the same time
+I don&#8217;t believe in dodging. The worst thing we
+could do would be to try to blind the trail. Was
+Tony here last night when you came?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, he was down the valley after his mail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His face darkened again. &#8220;That&#8217;s another
+piece of bad luck, too. How much does the old
+woman know at present?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing at all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t she cross-examine you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure she did; but Wayland side-tracked her.
+Of course it only delays things. She&#8217;ll know all
+about it sooner or later. She&#8217;s great at putting
+two and two together. Two and two with her
+always make five.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane mused. &#8220;Cliff will be plumb crazy
+if she gets his ear first.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t care anything about Cliff, daddy.
+I don&#8217;t care what he thinks or does, if he will only
+let Wayland alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;See here, daughter, you do seem to be terribly
+interested in this tourist.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s the finest man I ever knew, father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked at her with tender, trusting glance.
+&#8220;He isn&#8217;t your kind, daughter. He&#8217;s a nice
+clean boy, but he&#8217;s different. He don&#8217;t belong
+in our world. He&#8217;s only just stopping here.
+Don&#8217;t forget that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not forgetting that, daddy. I know he&#8217;s
+different, that&#8217;s why I like him.&#8221; After a pause
+she added: &#8220;Nobody could have been nicer all
+through these days than he has been. He was
+like a brother.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane fixed a keen glance upon her.
+&#8220;Has he said anything to you? Did you come
+to an understanding?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell. &#8220;Not the way you mean,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span>
+daddy; but I think he&mdash;likes me. But do you
+know who he is? He&#8217;s the son of W. W. Norcross,
+that big Michigan lumberman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane started. &#8220;How do you know
+that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Moore asked him if he was any relation
+to W.W. Norcross, and he said, &#8216;Yes, a son.&#8217;
+You should have seen how that Moore girl
+changed her tune the moment he admitted that.
+She&#8217;d been very free with him up to that time;
+but when she found out he was a rich man&#8217;s son
+she became as quiet and innocent as a kitten. I
+hate her; she&#8217;s a deceitful snip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, now, daughter, that being the case, it&#8217;s
+all the more certain that he don&#8217;t belong to our
+world, and you mustn&#8217;t fix your mind on keeping
+him here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A girl can&#8217;t help fixing her mind, daddy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Or changing it.&#8221; He smiled a little. &#8220;You
+used to like Cliff. You liked him well enough to
+promise to marry him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know I did; but I despise him now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor Cliff! He isn&#8217;t so much to blame after
+all. Any man is likely to flare out when he finds
+another fellow cutting in ahead of him. Why,
+here you are wanting to kill Siona Moore just
+for making up to your young tourist.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that&#8217;s different.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He laughed. &#8220;Of course it is. But the thing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span>
+we&#8217;ve got to guard against is old lady Belden&#8217;s
+tongue. She and that Belden gang have it in
+for me, and all that has kept them from open
+war has been Cliff&#8217;s relationship to you. They&#8217;ll
+take a keen delight in making the worst of all
+this camping business.&#8221; McFarlane was now
+very grave. &#8220;I wish your mother was here this
+minute. I guess we had better cut out this
+timber cruise and go right back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, you mustn&#8217;t do that; that would only
+make more talk. Go on with your plans. I&#8217;ll
+stay here with you. It won&#8217;t take you but a
+couple of days to do the work, and Wayland needs
+the rest.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But suppose Cliff hears of this business between
+you and Norcross and comes galloping
+over the ridge?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, let him, he has no claim on me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He rose uneasily. &#8220;It&#8217;s all mighty risky business,
+and it&#8217;s my fault. I should never have permitted
+you to start on this trip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you worry about me, daddy, I&#8217;ll pull
+through somehow. Anybody that knows me
+will understand how little there is in&mdash;in old
+lady Belden&#8217;s gab. I&#8217;ve had a beautiful trip,
+and I won&#8217;t let her nor anybody else spoil it for
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane was not merely troubled. He was
+distracted. He was afraid to meet the Beldens.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
+He dreaded their questions, their innuendoes.
+He had perfect faith in his daughter&#8217;s purity
+and honesty, and he liked and trusted Norcross,
+and yet he knew that should Belden find it to his
+advantage to slander these young people, and
+to read into their action the lawlessness of his
+own youth, Berea&#8217;s reputation, high as it was,
+would suffer, and her mother&#8217;s heart be rent with
+anxiety. In his growing pain and perplexity he
+decided to speak frankly to young Norcross himself.
+&#8220;He&#8217;s a gentleman, and knows the way of
+the world. Perhaps he&#8217;ll have some suggestion
+to offer.&#8221; In his heart he hoped to learn that
+Wayland loved his daughter and wished to marry
+her.</p>
+<p>Wayland was down on the bridge leaning over
+the rail, listening to the song of the water.</p>
+<p>McFarlane approached gravely, but when he
+spoke it was in his usual soft monotone. &#8220;Mr.
+Norcross,&#8221; he began, with candid inflection, &#8220;I
+am very sorry to say it; but I wish you and my
+daughter had never started on this trip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know what you mean, Supervisor, and I
+feel as you do about it. Of course, none of us
+foresaw any such complication as this, but now
+that we are snarled up in it we&#8217;ll have to make
+the best of it. No one of us is to blame. It was
+all accidental.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The youth&#8217;s frank words and his sympathetic
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
+voice disarmed McFarlane completely. Even
+the slight resentment he felt melted away. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+no use saying <i>if</i>,&#8221; he remarked, at length.
+&#8220;What we&#8217;ve got to meet is Seth Belden&#8217;s report&mdash;Berrie
+has cut loose from Cliff, and he&#8217;s
+red-headed already. When he drops onto this
+story, when he learns that I had to chase back
+after the horses, and that you and Berrie were
+alone together for three days, he&#8217;ll have a fine club
+to swing, and he&#8217;ll swing it; and Alec will help
+him. They&#8217;re all waiting a chance to get me, and
+they&#8217;re mean enough to get me through my girl.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What can I do?&#8221; asked Wayland.</p>
+<p>McFarlane pondered. &#8220;I&#8217;ll try to head off
+Marm Belden, and I&#8217;ll have a talk with Moore.
+He&#8217;s a pretty reasonable chap.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you forget there&#8217;s another tale-bearer.
+Moore&#8217;s daughter is with them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s so. I&#8217;d forgotten her. Good Lord!
+we are in for it. There&#8217;s no use trying to cover
+anything up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Here was the place for Norcross to speak up
+and say: &#8220;Never mind, I&#8217;m going to ask Berrie
+to be my wife.&#8221; But he couldn&#8217;t do it. Something
+rose in his throat which prevented speech.
+A strange repugnance, a kind of sullen resentment
+at being forced into a declaration, kept him
+silent, and McFarlane, disappointed, wondering
+and hurt, kept silence also.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></p>
+<p>Norcross was the first to speak. &#8220;Of course
+those who know your daughter will not listen for
+an instant to the story of an unclean old thing
+like Mrs. Belden.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not so sure about that,&#8221; replied the father,
+gloomily. &#8220;People always listen to such stories,
+and a girl always gets the worst of a situation
+like this. Berrie&#8217;s been brought up to take care
+of herself, and she&#8217;s kept clear of criticism so far;
+but with Cliff on edge and this old rip snooping
+around&mdash;&#8221; His mind suddenly changed.
+&#8220;Your being the son of a rich man won&#8217;t
+help any. Why didn&#8217;t you tell me who you
+were?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think it necessary. What difference
+does it make? I have nothing to do with my
+father&#8217;s business. His notions of forest speculation
+are not mine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It would have made a difference with me, and
+it might have made a difference with Berrie.
+She mightn&#8217;t have been so free with you at the
+start, if she&#8217;d known who you were. You looked
+sick and kind of lonesome, and that worked on
+her sympathy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I <i>was</i> sick and I was lonesome, and she has
+been very sweet and lovely to me, and it breaks
+my heart to think that her kindness and your
+friendship should bring all this trouble and suspicion
+upon her. Let&#8217;s go up to the Moore camp
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+and have it out with them. I&#8217;ll make any statement
+you think best.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I reckon the less said about it the better,&#8221;
+responded the older man. &#8220;I&#8217;m going up to
+the camp, but not to talk about my daughter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How can you help it? They&#8217;ll force the
+topic.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If they do, I&#8217;ll force them to let it alone,&#8221;
+retorted McFarlane; but he went away disappointed
+and sorrowful. The young man&#8217;s evident
+avoidance of the subject of marriage hurt
+him. He did not perceive, as Norcross did,
+that to make an announcement of his daughter&#8217;s
+engagement at this moment would be taken as a
+confession of shameful need. It is probable that
+Berrie herself would not have seen this further
+complication.</p>
+<p>Each hour added to Wayland&#8217;s sense of helplessness
+and bitterness. &#8220;I am in a trap. I can
+neither help Berrie nor help myself. Nothing
+remains for me but flight, and flight will also
+be a confession of guilt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Once again, and in far more definite terms, he
+perceived the injustice of the world toward
+women. Here with Berrie, as in ages upon ages
+of other times, the maiden must bear the burden
+of reproach. &#8220;In me it will be considered a
+joke, a romantic episode, in her a degrading misdemeanor.
+And yet what can I do?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span></p>
+<p>When he re-entered the cabin the Supervisor
+had returned from the camp, and something in
+his manner, as well as in Berrie&#8217;s, revealed the
+fact that the situation had not improved.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They forced me into a corner,&#8221; McFarlane
+said to Wayland, peevishly. &#8220;I lied out of one
+night; but they know that you were here last
+night. Of course, they were respectful enough
+so long as I had an eye on them, but their
+tongues are wagging now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The rest of the evening was spent in talk on
+the forest, and in going over the ranger&#8217;s books,
+for the Supervisor continued to plan for Wayland&#8217;s
+stay at this station, and the young fellow
+thought it best not to refuse at the moment.</p>
+<p>As bedtime drew near Settle took a blanket
+and went to the corral, and Berrie insisted that
+her father and Wayland occupy the bunk.</p>
+<p>Norcross protested; but the Supervisor said:
+&#8220;Let her alone. She&#8217;s better able to sleep on
+the floor than either of us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This was perfectly true; but, in spite of his
+bruised and aching body, the youth would gladly
+have taken her place beside the stove. It
+seemed pitifully unjust that she should have
+this physical hardship in addition to her uneasiness
+of mind.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='X_THE_CAMP_ON_THE_PASS' id='X_THE_CAMP_ON_THE_PASS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+<h2>X</h2>
+<h3>THE CAMP ON THE PASS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Berea suffered a restless night, the most painful
+and broken she had known in all her life.
+She acknowledged that Siona Moore was prettier,
+and that she stood more nearly on Wayland&#8217;s
+plane than herself; but the realization of this
+fact did not bring surrender&mdash;she was not of
+that temper. All her life she had been called
+upon to combat the elements, to hold her own
+amidst rude men and inconsiderate women, and
+she had no intention of yielding her place to a
+pert coquette, no matter what the gossips might
+say. She had seen this girl many times, but had
+refused to visit her house. She had held her in
+contempt, now she quite cordially hated her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She shall not have her way with Wayland,&#8221;
+she decided. &#8220;I know what she wants&mdash;she
+wants him at her side to-morrow; but I will not
+have it so. She is trying to get him away from
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The more she dwelt on this the hotter her
+jealous fever burned. The floor on which she
+lay was full of knots. She could not lose herself
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+in sleep, tired as she was. The planks no longer
+turned their soft spots to her flesh, and she rolled
+from side to side in torment. She would have
+arisen and dressed only she did not care to disturb
+the men. The night seemed interminable.</p>
+<p>Her plan of action was simple. &#8220;I shall go
+home the morrow and take Wayland with me.
+I will not have him going with that girl&mdash;that&#8217;s
+settled!&#8221; The very thought of his taking Siona&#8217;s
+hand in greeting angered her beyond reason.</p>
+<p>She had put Cliff Belden completely out of her
+mind, and this was characteristic of her. She had
+no divided interests, no subtleties, no subterfuges.
+Forthright, hot-blooded, frank and simple, she
+had centered all her care, all her desires, on this
+pale youth whose appeal was at once mystic and
+maternal; but her pity was changing to something
+deeper, for she was convinced that he was
+gaining in strength, that he was in no danger of
+relapse. The hard trip of the day before had
+seemingly done him no permanent injury; on
+the contrary, a few hours&#8217; rest had almost restored
+him to his normal self. &#8220;To-morrow he
+will be able to ride again.&#8221; And this thought
+reconciled her to her hard bed. She did not look
+beyond the long, delicious day which they must
+spend in returning to the Springs.</p>
+<p>She fell asleep at last, and was awakened only
+by her father tinkering about the stove.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span></p>
+<p>She rose alertly, signing to the Supervisor not
+to disturb her patient.</p>
+<p>However, Norcross also heard the rattle of
+the poker, opened his eyes and regarded Berrie
+with sleepy smile. &#8220;Good morning, if it <i>is</i>
+morning,&#8221; he said, slowly.</p>
+<p>She laughed back at him. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost sunup.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t tell me! How could I have overslept
+like this? Makes me think of the Irishman
+who, upon being awakened to an early breakfast
+like this, ate it, then said to his employer, an extra
+thrifty farmer, &#8216;Two suppers in wan night&mdash;and
+hurrah for bed again.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>This amused her greatly. &#8220;It&#8217;s too bad. I
+hope you got some sleep?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All there was time for.&#8221; His voice changed.
+&#8220;I feel like a hound-pup, to be snoring on a downy
+couch like this while you were roughing it on the
+floor. How did I come to do it? It&#8217;s shameful!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t worry about me. How are you feeling
+this morning?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He stretched and yawned. &#8220;Fine! That is,
+I&#8217;m sore here and there, but I&#8217;m feeling wonderfully
+well. Do you know, I begin to hope that I
+can finally dominate the wilderness. Wouldn&#8217;t
+it be wonderful if I got so I could ride and walk
+as you do, for instance? The fact that I&#8217;m not
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+dead this morning is encouraging.&#8221; He drew
+on his shoes as he talked, while she went about
+her toilet, which was quite as simple as his own.
+She had spent two nights in her day dress with
+almost no bathing facilities; but that didn&#8217;t
+trouble her. It was a part of the game. She
+washed her face and hands in Settle&#8217;s tin basin,
+but drew the line at his rubber comb.</p>
+<p>There was a distinct charm in seeing her thus
+adapting herself to the cabin, a charm quite as
+powerful as that which emanated from Siona
+Moore&#8217;s dainty and theatrical personality. What
+it was he could not define, but the forester&#8217;s
+daughter had something primeval about her,
+something close to the soil, something which
+aureoles the old Saxon words&mdash;<i>wife</i> and <i>home</i> and
+<i>fireplace</i>. Seeing her through the savory steam
+of the bacon she was frying, he forgot her marvelous
+skill as horsewoman and pathfinder, and
+thought of her only as the housewife. She belonged
+here, in this cabin. She was fitted to this
+landscape, whereas the other woman was alien
+and dissonant.</p>
+<p>He moved his arms about and shook his legs
+with comical effect of trying to see if they were
+still properly hinged. &#8220;It&#8217;s miraculous! I&#8217;m
+not lame at all. No one can accuse me of being
+a &#8216;lunger&#8217; now. Last night&#8217;s sleep has made a new
+man of me. I&#8217;ve met the forest and it is mine.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span></p>
+<p>She beamed upon him with happy pride. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+mighty glad to hear you say that. I was terribly
+afraid that long, hard walk in the rain had been
+too much for you. I reckon you&#8217;re all right for
+the work now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He recalled, as she spoke, her anguish of pity
+while they stood in the darkness of the trail, and
+it seemed that he could go no farther, and he said,
+soberly: &#8220;It must have seemed to you one while
+as if I were all in. I felt that way myself. I
+was numb from head to heel. I couldn&#8217;t have
+gone another mile.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face clouded with retrospective pain. &#8220;You
+mustn&#8217;t try any more such stunts&mdash;not for a few
+weeks, anyway. But get ready for breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He went out into the morning exultantly, and
+ran down to the river to bathe his face and hands,
+allured by its splendid voice. The world seemed
+very bright and beautiful and health-giving once
+more.</p>
+<p>As soon as she was alone with her father, Berrie
+said: &#8220;I&#8217;m going home to-day, dad.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Going home! What for?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had enough of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He glanced at her bed on the floor. &#8220;I can&#8217;t
+say I blame you any. This has been a rough trip;
+but we&#8217;ll go up and bring down the outfit, and
+then we men can sleep in the tent and let you
+have the bunk&mdash;you&#8217;ll be comfortable to-night.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I don&#8217;t mind sleeping on the floor,&#8221; she
+replied; &#8220;but I want to get back. I don&#8217;t want
+to meet those women. Another thing, you&#8217;d
+better use Mr. Norcross at the Springs instead
+of leaving him here with Tony.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, he isn&#8217;t quite well enough to run the
+risk. It&#8217;s a long way from here to a doctor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He &#8217;pears to be on deck this morning. Besides,
+I haven&#8217;t anything in the office to offer him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then send him up to Meeker. Landon needs
+help, and he&#8217;s a better forester than Tony, anyway.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How about Cliff? He may make trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face darkened. &#8220;Cliff will reach him if he
+wants to&mdash;no matter where he is. And then,
+too, Landon likes Mr. Norcross and will see that
+he is not abused.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane ruminated over her suggestion, well
+knowing that she was planning this change in
+order that she might have Norcross a little
+nearer, a little more accessible.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know but you&#8217;re right. Landon is
+almost as good a hustler as Tony, and a much
+better forester. I thought of sending Norcross
+up there at first, but he told me that Frank and
+his gang had it in for him. Of course, he&#8217;s only
+nominally in the service; but I want him to begin
+right.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></p>
+<p>Berrie went further. &#8220;I want him to ride
+back with me to-day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked at her with grave inquiry. &#8220;Do you
+think that a wise thing to do? Won&#8217;t that make
+more talk?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll start early and ride straight through.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to go by Lost Lake, and that
+means a long, hard hike. Can he stand it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes. He rides well. It&#8217;s the walking at
+a high altitude that does him up. Furthermore,
+Cliff may turn up here, and I don&#8217;t want another
+mix-up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane was troubled. &#8220;I ought to go
+back with you; but Moore is over here to line
+out a cutting, and I must stay on for a couple
+of days. Suppose I send Tony along?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, Tony would be a nuisance and would do
+no good. Another day on the trail won&#8217;t add to
+Mrs. Belden&#8217;s story. If she wants to be mean
+she&#8217;s got all the material for it already.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the end she had her way. McFarlane, perceiving
+that she had set her heart on this ride,
+and having perfect faith in her skill and judgment
+on the trail, finally said: &#8220;Well, if you do
+so, the quicker you start the better. With the
+best of luck you can&#8217;t pull in before eight o&#8217;clock,
+and you&#8217;ll have to ride hard to do that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I find we can&#8217;t make it I&#8217;ll pull into a
+ranch. But I&#8217;m sure we can.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span></p>
+<p>When Wayland came in the Supervisor inquired:
+&#8220;Do you feel able to ride back over the
+hill to-day?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Entirely so. It isn&#8217;t the riding that uses
+me up; it is the walking; and, besides, as candidate
+for promotion I must obey orders&mdash;especially
+orders to march.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They breakfasted hurriedly, and while McFarlane
+and Tony were bringing in the horses Wayland
+and Berrie set the cabin to rights. Working
+thus side by side, she recovered her dominion
+over him, and at the same time regained her own
+cheerful self-confidence.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a wonder!&#8221; he exclaimed, as he
+watched her deft adjustment of the dishes and
+furniture. &#8220;You&#8217;re ambidextrous.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have to be to hold my job,&#8221; she laughingly
+replied. &#8220;A feller must play all the parts when
+he&#8217;s up here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was still early morning as they mounted and
+set off up the trail; but Moore&#8217;s camp was astir,
+and as McFarlane turned in&mdash;much against
+Berrie&#8217;s will&mdash;the lumberman and his daughter
+both came out to meet them. &#8220;Come in and
+have some breakfast,&#8221; said Siona, with cordial
+inclusiveness, while her eyes met Wayland&#8217;s
+glance with mocking glee.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; said McFarlane, &#8220;we can&#8217;t
+stop. I&#8217;m going to set my daughter over the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span>
+divide. She has had enough camping, and Norcross
+is pretty well battered up, so I&#8217;m going to
+help them across. I&#8217;ll be back to-night, and we&#8217;ll
+take our turn up the valley to-morrow. Nash
+will be here then.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie did not mind her father&#8217;s explanation;
+on the contrary, she took a distinct pleasure in
+letting the other girl know of the long and intimate
+day she was about to spend with her young
+lover.</p>
+<p>Siona, too adroit to display her disappointment,
+expressed polite regret. &#8220;I hope you
+won&#8217;t get storm-bound,&#8221; she said, showing her
+white teeth in a meaning smile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If there is any sign of a storm we won&#8217;t
+cross,&#8221; declared McFarlane. &#8220;We&#8217;re going
+round by the lower pass, anyhow. If I&#8217;m not
+here by dark, you may know I&#8217;ve stayed to set
+&#8217;em down at the Mill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was charm in Siona&#8217;s alert poise, and in
+the neatness of her camp dress. Her dainty tent,
+with its stools and rugs, made the wilderness seem
+but a park. She reminded Norcross of the troops
+of tourists of the Tyrol, and her tent was of a
+kind to harmonize with the tea-houses on the
+path to the summit of the Matterhorn. Then,
+too, something triumphantly feminine shone in
+her bright eyes and glowed in her softly rounded
+cheeks. Her hand was little and pointed, not
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+fitted like Berrie&#8217;s for tightening a cinch or
+wielding an ax, and as he said &#8220;Good-by,&#8221;
+he added: &#8220;I hope I shall see you again soon,&#8221;
+and at the moment he meant it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll return to the Springs in a few days,&#8221;
+she replied. &#8220;Come and see us. Our bungalow
+is on the other side of the river&mdash;and you, too,&#8221;
+she addressed Berrie; but her tone was so conventionally
+polite that the ranch-girl, burning
+with jealous heat, made no reply.</p>
+<p>McFarlane led the way to the lake rapidly
+and in silence. The splendors of the foliage, subdued
+by the rains, the grandeur of the peaks, the
+song of the glorious stream&mdash;all were lost on
+Berrie, for she now felt herself to be nothing but
+a big, clumsy, coarse-handed tomboy. Her
+worn gloves, her faded skirt, and her man&#8217;s shoes
+had been made hateful to her by that smug,
+graceful, play-acting tourist with the cool, keen
+eyes and smirking lips. &#8220;She pretends to be a
+kitten; but she isn&#8217;t; she&#8217;s a sly grown-up cat,&#8221;
+she bitterly accused, but she could not deny the
+charm of her personality.</p>
+<p>Wayland was forced to acknowledge that Berrie
+in this dark mood was not the delightful companion
+she had hitherto been. Something sweet
+and confiding had gone out of their relationship,
+and he was too keen-witted not to know what it
+was. He estimated precisely the value of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+malicious parting words of Siona Moore. &#8220;She&#8217;s
+a natural tease, the kind of woman who loves to
+torment other and less fortunate women. She
+cares nothing for me, of course, it&#8217;s just her way
+of paying off old scores. It would seem that
+Berrie has not encouraged her advances in times
+past.&#8221;</p>
+<p>That Berrie was suffering, and that her jealousy
+touchingly proved the depth of her love for him,
+brought no elation, only perplexity. He was not
+seeking such devotion. As a companion on the
+trail she had been a joy&mdash;as a jealous sweetheart
+she was less admirable. He realized perfectly that
+this return journey was of her arrangement, not
+McFarlane&#8217;s, and while he was not resentful of
+her care, he was in doubt of the outcome. It
+hurried him into a further intimacy which might
+prove embarrassing.</p>
+<p>At the camp by the lake the Supervisor became
+sharply commanding. &#8220;Now let&#8217;s throw
+these packs on lively. It will be slippery on the
+high trail, and you&#8217;ll just naturally have to hit
+leather hard and keep jouncing if you reach the
+wagon-road before dark. But you&#8217;ll make it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Make it!&#8221; said Berrie. &#8220;Of course we&#8217;ll
+make it. Don&#8217;t you worry about that for a
+minute. Once I get out of the green timber the
+dark won&#8217;t worry me. We&#8217;ll push right through.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In packing the camp stuff on the saddles,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+Berrie, almost as swift and powerful as her
+father, acted with perfect understanding of every
+task, and Wayland&#8217;s admiration of her skill increased
+mightily.</p>
+<p>She insisted on her father&#8217;s turning back. &#8220;We
+don&#8217;t need you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I can find the pass.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane&#8217;s faith in his daughter had been
+tested many times, and yet he was a little loath
+to have her start off on a trail new to her. He
+argued against it briefly, but she laughed at his
+fears. &#8220;I can go anywhere you can,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;Stand clear!&#8221; With final admonition he stood
+clear.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to keep off the boggy meadows,&#8221;
+he warned; &#8220;these rains will have softened all
+those muck-holes on the other side; they&#8217;ll be
+bottomless pits; watch out for &#8217;em. Good-by!
+If you meet Nash hurry him along. Moore is
+anxious to run those lines. Keep in touch with
+Landon, and if anybody turns up from the district
+office say I&#8217;ll be back on Friday. Good
+luck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Same to you. So long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berea led the way, and Norcross fell in behind
+the pack-horses, feeling as unimportant as a small
+boy at the heels of a circus parade. His girl
+captain was so competent, so self-reliant, and so
+sure that nothing he could say or do assisted in
+the slightest degree. Her leadership was a curiously
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span>
+close reproduction of her father&#8217;s unhurried
+and graceful action. Her seat in the saddle was
+as easy as Landon&#8217;s, and her eyes were alert to
+every rock and stream in the road. She was at
+home here, where the other girl would have been
+a bewildered child, and his words of praise lifted
+the shadow from her face.</p>
+<p>The sky was cloudy, and a delicious feeling of
+autumn was in the air&mdash;autumn that might turn
+to winter with a passing cloud, and the forest
+was dankly gloomy and grimly silent, save from
+the roaring stream which ran at times foam-white
+with speed. The high peaks, gray and
+streaked with new-fallen snow, shone grandly,
+bleakly through the firs. The radiant beauty of
+the road from the Springs, the golden glow of
+four days before was utterly gone, and yet there
+was exultation in this ride. A distinct pleasure,
+a delight of another sort, lay in thus daring the
+majesty of an unknown wind-swept pass.</p>
+<p>Wayland called out: &#8220;The air feels like
+Thanksgiving morning, doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It <i>is</i> Thanksgiving for me, and I&#8217;m going to
+get a grouse for dinner,&#8221; she replied; and in less
+than an hour the snap of her rifle made good her
+promise.</p>
+<p>After leaving the upper lake she turned to the
+right and followed the course of a swift and
+splendid stream, which came churning through
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+a cheerless, mossy swamp of spruce-trees. Inexperienced
+as he was, Wayland knew that this
+was not a well-marked trail; but his confidence
+in his guide was too great to permit of any worry
+over the pass, and he amused himself by watching
+the water-robins as they flitted from stone to
+stone in the torrent, and in calculating just where
+he would drop a line for trout if he had time to
+do so, and in recovered serenity enjoyed his ride.
+Gradually he put aside his perplexities concerning
+the future, permitting his mind to prefigure
+nothing but his duties with Landon at Meeker&#8217;s
+Mill.</p>
+<p>He was rather glad of the decision to send him
+there, for it promised absorbing sport. &#8220;I shall
+see how Landon and Belden work out their problem,&#8221;
+he said. He had no fear of Frank Meeker
+now. &#8220;As a forest guard with official duties to
+perform I can meet that young savage on other
+and more nearly equal terms,&#8221; he assured himself.</p>
+<p>The trail grew slippery and in places ran full
+of water. &#8220;But there&#8217;s a bottom, somewhere,&#8221;
+Berrie confidently declared, and pushed ahead
+with resolute mien. It was noon when they rose
+above timber and entered upon the wide, smooth
+slopes of the pass. Snow filled the grass here,
+and the wind, keen, cutting, unhindered, came
+out of the desolate west with savage fury; but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span>
+the sun occasionally shone through the clouds
+with vivid splendor. &#8220;It is December now,&#8221;
+shouted Wayland, as he put on his slicker and
+cowered low to his saddle. &#8220;It will be January
+soon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We will make it Christmas dinner,&#8221; she
+laughed, and her glowing good humor warmed
+his heart. She was entirely her cheerful self
+again.</p>
+<p>As they rose, the view became magnificent,
+wintry, sparkling. The great clouds, drifting
+like ancient warships heavy with armament,
+sent down chill showers of hail over the frosted
+gold of the grassy slopes; but when the shadows
+passed the sunlight descended in silent cataracts
+deliriously spring-like. The conies squeaked
+from the rocky ridges, and a brace of eagles
+circling about a lone crag, as if exulting in their
+sovereign mastery of the air, screamed in shrill
+ecstatic duo. The sheer cliffs, on their shadowed
+sides, were violently purple. Everywhere the
+landscape exhibited crashing contrasts of primary
+pigments which bit into consciousness like
+the flare of a martial band.</p>
+<p>The youth would have lingered in spite of the
+cold; but the girl kept steadily on, knowing well
+that the hardest part of their journey was still
+before them, and he, though longing to ride by
+her side, and to enjoy the views with her, was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span>
+forced to remain in the rear in order to hurry the
+reluctant pack-animals forward. They had now
+reached a point twelve thousand feet above the
+sea, and range beyond range, to the west and
+south, rose into sight like stupendous waves of
+a purple-green sea. To the east the park lay
+level as a floor and carpeted in tawny velvet.</p>
+<p>It was nearly two o&#8217;clock when they began to
+drop down behind the rocky ridges of the eastern
+slope, and soon, in the bottom of a warm and
+sheltered hollow just at timber-line, Berrie drew
+her horse to a stand and slipped from the saddle.
+&#8220;We&#8217;ll rest here an hour,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and cook
+our grouse; or are you too hungry to wait?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can wait,&#8221; he answered, dramatically.
+&#8220;But it seems as if I had never eaten.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, we&#8217;ll save the grouse till to-morrow;
+but I&#8217;ll make some coffee. You bring
+some water while I start a fire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so, while the tired horses cropped the russet
+grass, she boiled some coffee and laid out
+some bread and meat, while he sat by watching
+her and absorbing the beauty of the scene, the
+charm of the hour. &#8220;It is exactly like a warm
+afternoon in April,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and here are some
+of the spring flowers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There now, sit by and eat,&#8221; she said, with
+humor; and in perfectly restored tranquillity
+they ate and drank, with no thought of critics
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+or of rivals. They were alone, and content to
+be so.</p>
+<p>It was deliciously sweet and restful there in
+that sunny hollow on the breast of the mountain.
+The wind swept through the worn branches of
+the dwarfed spruce with immemorial wistfulness;
+but these young souls heard it only as a far-off
+song. Side by side on the soft Alpine clover
+they rested and talked, looking away at the shining
+peaks, and down over the dark-green billows
+of fir beneath them. Half the forest was under
+their eyes at the moment, and the man said:
+&#8220;Is it not magnificent! It makes me proud of
+my country. Just think, all this glorious spread
+of hill and valley is under your father&#8217;s direction.
+I may say under <i>your</i> direction, for I notice
+he does just about what you tell him to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve noticed that?&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;If I
+were a man I&#8217;d rather be Supervisor of this forest
+than Congressman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So would I,&#8221; he agreed. &#8220;Nash says you
+<i>are</i> the Supervisor. I wonder if your father realizes
+how efficient you are? Does he ever sorrow
+over your not being a boy?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her eyes shone with mirth. &#8220;Not that I can
+notice. He &#8217;pears contented.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a good deal like a son to him, I
+imagine. You can do about all that a boy can do,
+anyhow&mdash;more than I could ever do. Does he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span>
+realize how much you have to do with the management
+of his forest? I&#8217;ve never seen your like.
+I really believe you <i>could</i> carry on the work as
+well as he.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flushed with pleasure. &#8220;You seem to
+think I&#8217;m a district forester in disguise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have eyes, Miss Supervisor, and also ears&mdash;which
+leads me to ask: Why don&#8217;t you clean out
+that saloon gang? Landon is sure there&#8217;s crooked
+work going on at that mill&mdash;certainly that open
+bar is a disgraceful and corrupting thing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face clouded. &#8220;We&#8217;ve tried to cut out
+that saloon, but it can&#8217;t be done. You see, it&#8217;s
+on a patented claim&mdash;the claim was bogus, of
+course, and we&#8217;ve made complaint, but the matter
+is hung up, and that gives &#8217;em a chance to
+go on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, let&#8217;s not talk of that. It&#8217;s too delicious
+an hour for any question of business. It is a
+moment for poetry. I wish I could write what
+I feel this moment. Why don&#8217;t we camp here
+and watch the sun go down and the moon rise?
+From our lofty vantage-ground the coming of
+dawn would be an epic.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We mustn&#8217;t think of that,&#8221; she protested.
+&#8220;We must be going.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet. The hour is too perfect. It may
+never come again. The wind in the pines, the
+sunshine, the conies crying from their rocks, the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+butterflies on the clover&mdash;my heart aches with the
+beauty of it. It&#8217;s been a wonderful trip. Even
+that staggering walk in the rain had its splendid
+quality. I couldn&#8217;t see the poetry in it then;
+but I do now. These few days have made us
+comrades, haven&#8217;t they&mdash;comrades of the trail?
+You have been very considerate of me.&#8221; He took
+her hand. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen such hands. They
+are like steel, and yet they are feminine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She drew her hands away. &#8220;I&#8217;m ashamed of
+my hands&mdash;they are so big and rough and dingy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re brown, of course, and calloused&mdash;a
+little&mdash;but they are not big, and they are beautifully
+modeled.&#8221; He looked at her speculatively.
+&#8220;I am wondering how you would look in conventional
+dress.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you mean&mdash;&#8221; She hesitated. &#8220;I&#8217;d look
+like a gawk in one of those low-necked outfits.
+I&#8217;d never dare&mdash;and those tight skirts would
+sure cripple me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh no, they wouldn&#8217;t. You&#8217;d have to modify
+your stride a little; but you&#8217;d negotiate it.
+You&#8217;re equal to anything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re making fun of me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m not. I&#8217;m in earnest. You&#8217;re the
+kind of American girl that can go anywhere and
+do anything. My sisters would mortgage their
+share of the golden streets for your abounding
+health&mdash;and so would I.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You are all right now,&#8221; she smiled. &#8220;You
+don&#8217;t look or talk as you did.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s this sunlight.&#8221; He lifted a spread hand
+as if to clutch and hold something. &#8220;I feel it
+soaking into me like some magical oil. No more
+moping and whining for me. I&#8217;ve proved that
+hardship is good for me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t crow till you&#8217;re out of the woods. It&#8217;s
+a long ride down the hill, and going down is harder
+on the tenderfoot than going up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m no longer a tenderfoot. All I need is
+another trip like this with you and I shall be a
+master trailer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>All this was very sweet to her, and though she
+knew they should be going, she lingered. Childishly
+reckless of the sinking sun, she played with
+the wild flowers at her side and listened to his
+voice in complete content. He was right. The
+hour was too beautiful to be shortened, although
+she saw no reason why others equally delightful
+might not come to them both. He was more of
+the lover than he had ever been before, that she
+knew, and in the light of his eyes all that was not
+girlish and charming melted away. She forgot
+her heavy shoes, her rough hands and sun-tanned
+face, and listened with wondering joy and pride
+to his words, which were of a fineness such as she
+had never heard spoken&mdash;only books contained
+such unusual and exquisite phrases.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span></p>
+<p>A cloud passing across the sun flung down a
+shadow of portentous chill and darkness. She
+started to her feet with startled recollection of
+the place and the hour.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We <i>must</i> be going&mdash;at once!&#8221; she commanded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet,&#8221; he pleaded. &#8220;It&#8217;s only a cloud.
+The sun is coming out again. I have perfect
+confidence in your woodcraft. Why not spend
+another night on the trail? It may be our last
+trip together.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He tempted her strongly, so frank and boyish
+and lovable were his glances and his words. But
+she was vaguely afraid of herself, and though the
+long ride at the moment seemed hard and dull,
+the thought of her mother waiting decided her
+action.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no!&#8221; she responded, firmly. &#8220;We&#8217;ve
+wasted too much time already. We must ride.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked up at her with challenging glance.
+&#8220;Suppose I refuse&mdash;suppose I decide to stay
+here?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Upon her, as he talked, a sweet hesitation fell,
+a dream which held more of happiness than she
+had ever known. &#8220;It is a long, hard ride,&#8221; she
+thought, &#8220;and another night on the trail will not
+matter.&#8221; And so the moments passed on velvet
+feet, and still she lingered, reluctant to break
+the spell.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span></p>
+<p>Suddenly, into their idyllic drowse of content,
+so sweet, so youthful, and so pure of heart,
+broke the sound of a horse&#8217;s hurrying, clashing,
+steel-shod feet, and looking up Berrie saw a
+mounted man coming down the mountainside
+with furious, reckless haste.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Cliff!&#8221; she cried out. &#8220;He&#8217;s on our
+trail!&#8221; And into her face came a look of alarm.
+Her lips paled, her eyes widened. &#8220;He&#8217;s mad&mdash;he&#8217;s
+dangerous! Leave him to me,&#8221; she added,
+in a low, tense voice.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XI_THE_DEATHGRAPPLE' id='XI_THE_DEATHGRAPPLE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+<h2>XI</h2>
+<h3>THE DEATH-GRAPPLE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>There was something so sinister in the
+rider&#8217;s disregard of stone and tree and
+pace, something so menacing in the forward
+thrust of his body, that Berrie was able to divine
+his wrath, and was smitten into irresolution&mdash;all
+her hardy, boyish self-reliance swallowed up in
+the weakness of the woman. She forgot the
+pistol at her belt, and awaited the assault with
+rigid pose.</p>
+<p>As Belden neared them Norcross also perceived
+that the rider&#8217;s face was distorted with passion,
+and that his glance was not directed upon Berrie,
+but upon himself, and he braced himself for the
+attack.</p>
+<p>Leaving his saddle with one flying leap, which
+the cowboy practises at play, Belden hurled himself
+upon his rival with the fury of a panther.</p>
+<p>The slender youth went down before the big
+rancher as though struck by a catapult; and
+the force of his fall against the stony earth
+stunned him so that he lay beneath his enemy
+as helpless as a child.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-196.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 317px; height: 457px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 317px;'>
+THE SLENDER YOUTH WENT DOWN BEFORE THE BIG RANCHER AS THOUGH STRUCK BY A CATAPULT<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Belden snarled between his teeth: &#8220;I told you
+I&#8217;d kill you, and I will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>But this was not to be. Berea suddenly recovered
+her native force. With a cry of pain,
+of anger, she flung herself on the maddened
+man&#8217;s back. Her hands encircled his neck like
+a collar of bronze. Hardened by incessant use
+of the cinch and the rope, her fingers sank into
+the sinews of his great throat, shutting off both
+blood and breath.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let go!&#8221; she commanded, with deadly intensity.
+&#8220;Let go, or I&#8217;ll choke the life out of
+you! Let go, I say!&#8221;</p>
+<p>He raised a hand to beat her off, but she was
+too strong, too desperate to be driven away.
+She was as blind to pain as a mother eagle, and
+bent above him so closely that he could not
+bring the full weight of his fist to bear. With
+one determined hand still clutching his throat,
+she ran the fingers of her other hand into his
+hair and twisted his head upward with a power
+which he could not resist. And so, looking into
+his upturned, ferocious eyes, she repeated with
+remorseless fury: &#8220;<i>Let go</i>, I say!&#8221;</p>
+<p>His swollen face grew rigid, his mouth gaped,
+his tongue protruded, and at last, releasing his
+hold on his victim, he rose, flinging Berrie off
+with a final desperate effort. &#8220;I&#8217;ll kill you, too!&#8221;
+he gasped.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span></p>
+<p>Up to this moment the girl had felt no fear of
+herself; but now she resorted to other weapons.
+Snatching her pistol from its holster, she leveled
+it at his forehead. &#8220;Stop!&#8221; she said; and something
+in her voice froze him into calm. He was
+not a fiend; he was not a deliberate assassin;
+he was only a jealous, despairing, insane lover,
+and as he looked into the face he knew so well,
+and realized that nothing but hate and deadly
+resolution lit the eyes he had so often kissed, his
+heart gave way, and, dropping his head, he
+said: &#8220;Kill me if you want to. I&#8217;ve nothing
+left to live for.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was something unreal, appalling in this
+sudden reversion to weakness, and Berrie could
+not credit his remorse. &#8220;Give me your gun,&#8221;
+she said.</p>
+<p>He surrendered it to her and she threw it
+aside; then turned to Wayland, who was lying
+white and still with face upturned to the sky.
+With a moan of anguish she bent above him and
+called upon his name. He did not stir, and
+when she lifted his head to her lap his hair,
+streaming with blood, stained her dress. She
+kissed him and called again to him, then turned
+with accusing frenzy to Belden: &#8220;You&#8217;ve killed
+him! Do you hear? You&#8217;ve killed him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>The agony, the fury of hate in her voice
+reached the heart of the conquered man. He
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span>
+raised his head and stared at her with mingled
+fear and remorse. And so across that limp body
+these two souls, so lately lovers, looked into each
+other&#8217;s eyes as though nothing but words of hate
+and loathing had ever passed between them.
+The girl saw in him only a savage, vengeful,
+bloodthirsty beast; the man confronted in her
+an accusing angel.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean to kill him,&#8221; he muttered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you did! You meant it. You crushed
+his life out with your big hands&mdash;and now I&#8217;m
+going to kill you for it!&#8221;</p>
+<p>A fierce calm had come upon her. Some far-off
+ancestral deep of passion called for blood
+revenge. She lifted the weapon with steady
+hand and pointed it at his heart.</p>
+<p>His fear passed as his wrath had passed. His
+head drooped, his glance wavered. &#8220;Shoot!&#8221; he
+commanded, sullenly. &#8220;I&#8217;d sooner die than
+live&mdash;now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His words, his tone, brought back to her a
+vision of the man he had seemed when she first
+met and admired him. Her hand fell, the woman
+in her reasserted itself. A wave of weakness, of
+indecision, of passionate grief overwhelmed her.
+&#8220;Oh, Cliff!&#8221; she moaned. &#8220;Why did you do it?
+He was so gentle and sweet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He did not answer. His glance wandered to
+his horse, serenely cropping the grass in utter
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span>
+disregard of this tumultuous human drama; but
+the wind, less insensate than the brute, swept
+through the grove of dwarfed, distorted pines
+with a desolate, sympathetic moan which filled
+the man&#8217;s heart with a new and exalted sorrow.
+&#8220;You&#8217;re right,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was crazy. I deserve
+killing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>But Berrie was now too deep in her own desolation
+to care what he said or did. She kissed
+the cold lips of the still youth, murmuring passionately:
+&#8220;I don&#8217;t care to live without you&mdash;I
+shall go with you!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Belden&#8217;s hand was on her wrist before she
+could raise her weapon. &#8220;Don&#8217;t, for God&#8217;s sake,
+don&#8217;t do that! He may not be dead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She responded but dully to the suggestion.
+&#8220;No, no. He&#8217;s gone. His breath is gone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Maybe not. Let me see.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again she bent to the quiet face on which the
+sunlight fell with mocking splendor. It seemed
+all a dream till she felt once more the stain of
+his blood upon her hands. It was all so incredibly
+sudden. Only just now he was exulting
+over the warmth and beauty of the day&mdash;and
+now&mdash;</p>
+<p>How beautiful he was. He seemed asleep.
+The conies crying from their runways suddenly
+took on poignant pathos. They appeared to be
+grieving with her; but the eagles spoke of revenge.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span></p>
+<p>A sharp cry, a note of joy sprang from her
+lips. &#8220;He <i>is</i> alive! I saw his eyelids quiver&mdash;quick!
+Bring some water.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The man leaped to his feet, and, running down
+to the pool, filled his sombrero with icy water.
+He was as eager now to save his rival as he had
+been mad to destroy him. &#8220;Let me help,&#8221; he
+pleaded. But she would not permit him to
+touch the body.</p>
+<p>Again, while splashing the water upon his
+face, the girl called upon her love to return.
+&#8220;He hears me!&#8221; she exulted to her enemy. &#8220;He
+is breathing now. He is opening his eyes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The wounded man did, indeed, open his eyes,
+but his look was a blank, uncomprehending stare,
+which plunged her back into despair. &#8220;He don&#8217;t
+know me!&#8221; she said, with piteous accent. She
+now perceived the source of the blood upon her
+arm. It came from a wound in the boy&#8217;s head
+which had been dashed upon a stone.</p>
+<p>The sight of this wound brought back the
+blaze of accusing anger to her eyes. &#8220;See what
+you did!&#8221; she said, with cold malignity. Then
+by sudden shift she bent to the sweet face in her
+arms and kissed it passionately. &#8220;Open your
+eyes, darling. You must not die! I won&#8217;t let
+you die! Can&#8217;t you hear me? Don&#8217;t you know
+where you are?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He opened his eyes once more, quietly, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+looked up into her face with a faint, drowsy
+smile. He could not yet locate himself in space
+and time, but he knew her and was comforted.
+He wondered why he should be looking up into
+a sunny sky. He heard the wind and the sound
+of a horse cropping grass, and the voice of the
+girl penetratingly sweet as that of a young
+mother calling her baby back to life, and slowly
+his benumbed brain began to resolve the mystery.</p>
+<p>Belden, forgotten, ignored as completely as the
+conies, sat with choking throat and smarting eyes.
+For him the world was only dust and ashes&mdash;a
+ruin which his own barbaric spirit had brought
+upon itself.</p>
+<p>Slowly the youth&#8217;s eyes took on expression.
+&#8220;Are we still on the hill?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, dearest,&#8221; she assured him. Then to
+Belden, &#8220;He knows where he is!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland again struggled with reality. &#8220;What
+has happened to me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You fell and hurt your head.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He turned slightly and observed the other man
+looking down at her with dark and tragic glance.
+&#8220;Hello, Belden,&#8221; he said, feebly. &#8220;How came
+you here?&#8221; Then noting Berrie&#8217;s look, he added:
+&#8220;I remember. He tried to kill me.&#8221; He again
+searched his antagonist&#8217;s face. &#8220;Why didn&#8217;t
+you finish the job?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The girl tried to turn his thought aside. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+all right now, darling. He won&#8217;t make any
+more trouble. Don&#8217;t mind him. I don&#8217;t care
+for anybody now you are coming back to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland wonderingly regarded the face of the
+girl. &#8220;And you&mdash;are you hurt?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m not hurt. I am perfectly happy
+now.&#8221; She turned to Belden with quick, authoritative
+command. &#8220;Unsaddle the horses
+and set up the tent. We won&#8217;t be able to leave
+here to-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He rose with instant obedience, glad of a
+chance to serve her, and soon had the tent
+pegged to its place and the bedding unrolled.
+Together they lifted the wounded youth and
+laid him upon his blankets beneath the low canvas
+roof which seemed heavenly helpful to Berea.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There!&#8221; she said, caressingly. &#8220;Now you
+are safe, no matter whether it rains or not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He smiled. &#8220;It seems I&#8217;m to have my way
+after all. I hope I shall be able to see the sun
+rise. I&#8217;ve sort of lost my interest in the sunset.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, Cliff,&#8221; she said, as soon as the camp
+was in order and a fire started, &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;d
+better ride on. I haven&#8217;t any further use for
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t say that, Berrie,&#8221; he pleaded. &#8220;I
+can&#8217;t leave you here alone with a sick man. Let
+me stay and help.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span></p>
+<p>She looked at him for a long time before she
+replied. &#8220;I shall never be able to look at you
+again without hating you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I shall
+always remember you as you looked when you
+were killing that boy. So you&#8217;d better ride on
+and keep a-riding. I&#8217;m going to forget all this
+just as soon as I can, and it don&#8217;t help me any
+to have you around. I never want to see you
+or hear your name again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t mean that, Berrie!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I do,&#8221; she asserted, bitterly. &#8220;I mean
+just that. So saddle up and pull out. All I
+ask of you is to say nothing about what has happened
+here. You&#8217;d better leave the state. If
+Wayland should get worse it might go hard
+with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He accepted his banishment. &#8220;All right. If
+you feel that way I&#8217;ll ride. But I&#8217;d like to do
+something for you before I go. I&#8217;ll pile up some
+wood&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. I&#8217;ll take care of that.&#8221; And without
+another word of farewell she turned away and
+re-entered the tent.</p>
+<p>Mounting his horse with painful slowness, as
+though suddenly grown old, the reprieved assassin
+rode away up the mountain, his head
+low, his eyes upon the ground.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XII_BERRIE_S_VIGIL' id='XII_BERRIE_S_VIGIL'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+<h2>XII</h2>
+<h3>BERRIE&#8217;S VIGIL</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The situation in which Berea now found herself
+would have disheartened most women of
+mature age, but she remained not only composed,
+she was filled with an irrational delight. The
+nurse that is in every woman was aroused in her,
+and she looked forward with joy to a night of
+vigil, confident that Wayland was not seriously
+injured and that he would soon be able to ride.
+She had no fear of the forest or of the night.
+Nature held no menace now that her tent was
+set and her fire alight.</p>
+<p>Wayland, without really knowing anything
+about it, suspected that he owed his life to her
+intervention, and this belief deepened the feeling
+of admiration which he had hitherto felt
+toward her. He listened to her at work around
+the fire with a deepening sense of his indebtedness
+to her, and when she looked in to ask if she
+could do anything for him, his throat filled with
+an emotion which rendered his answer difficult.</p>
+<p>As his mind cleared he became very curious
+to know precisely what had taken place, but he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+did not feel free to ask her. &#8220;She will tell me
+if she wishes me to know.&#8221; That she had vanquished
+Belden and sent him on his way was
+evident, although he had not been able to hear
+what she had said to him at the last. What lay
+between the enemy&#8217;s furious onslaught and the
+aid he lent in making the camp could only be
+surmised. &#8220;I wonder if she used her pistol?&#8221;
+Wayland asked himself. &#8220;Something like death
+must have stared him in the face.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Strange how everything seems to throw me
+ever deeper into her debt,&#8221; he thought, a little
+later. But he did not quite dare put into words
+the resentment which mingled with his gratitude.
+He hated to be put so constantly into the
+position of the one protected, defended. And
+yet it was his own fault. He had put himself
+among people and conditions where she was the
+stronger. Having ventured out of his world into
+hers he must take the consequences.</p>
+<p>That she loved him with the complete passion
+of her powerful and simple nature he knew, for
+her voice had reached through the daze of his
+semi-unconsciousness with thrilling power. The
+touch of her lips to his, the close clasp of her
+strong arms were of ever greater convincing
+quality. And yet he wished the revelation had
+come in some other way. His pride was abraded.
+His manhood seemed somehow lessened. It was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+a disconcerting reversal of the ordinary relations
+between hero and heroine, and he saw no way
+of re-establishing the normal attitude of the male.</p>
+<p>Entirely unaware of what was passing in the
+mind of her patient, Berrie went about her
+duties with a cheerfulness which astonished the
+sufferer in the tent. She seemed about to hum
+a song as she set the skillet on the fire, but a
+moment later she called out, in a tone of irritation:
+&#8220;Here comes Nash!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad of that,&#8221; answered Wayland, although
+he perceived something of her displeasure.</p>
+<p>Nash, on his way to join the Supervisor, raised
+a friendly greeting as he saw the girl, and drew
+rein. &#8220;I expected to meet you farther down
+the hill,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Tony &#8217;phoned that you had
+started. Where did you leave the Supervisor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Over at the station waiting for you. Where&#8217;s
+your outfit?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Camped down the trail a mile or so. I
+thought I&#8217;d better push through to-night. What
+about Norcross? Isn&#8217;t he with you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She hesitated an instant. &#8220;He&#8217;s in the tent.
+He fell and struck his head on a rock, and I had
+to go into camp here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nash was deeply concerned. &#8220;Is that so?
+Well, that&#8217;s hard luck. Is he badly hurt?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, he had a terrible fall. But he&#8217;s easier
+now. I think he&#8217;s asleep.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;May I look in on him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think you&#8217;d better take the time.
+It&#8217;s a long, hard ride from here to the station.
+It will be deep night before you can make it&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think the Supervisor would want
+me to camp here to-night and do what I could
+for you? If Norcross is badly injured you will
+need me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She liked Nash, and she knew he was right,
+and yet she was reluctant to give up the pleasure
+of her lone vigil. &#8220;He&#8217;s not in any danger, and
+we&#8217;ll be able to ride on in the morning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nash, thinking of her as Clifford Belden&#8217;s
+promised wife, had no suspicion of her feeling
+toward Norcross. Therefore he gently urged
+that to go on was quite out of order. &#8220;I <i>can&#8217;t</i>
+think of leaving you here alone&mdash;certainly not
+till I see Norcross and find out how badly he is
+hurt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She yielded. &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;re right,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll go see if he is awake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He followed her to the door of the tent, apprehending
+something new and inexplicable in her
+attitude. In the music of her voice as she spoke
+to the sick man was the love-note of the mate.
+&#8220;You may come in,&#8221; she called back, and Nash,
+stooping, entered the small tent.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, old man, what you been doing with
+yourself? Hitting the high spots?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span></p>
+<p>Norcross smiled feebly. &#8220;No, the hill flew
+up and bumped <i>me</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did it all happen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t exactly know. It all came of a sudden.
+I had no share in it&mdash;I didn&#8217;t go for to
+do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whether you did or not, you seem to have
+made a good job of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nash examined the wounded man carefully,
+and his skill and strength in handling Norcross
+pleased Berrie, though she was jealous of the
+warm friendship which seemed to exist between
+the men.</p>
+<p>She had always liked Nash, but she resented
+him now, especially as he insisted on taking
+charge of the case; but she gave way finally,
+and went back to her pots and pans with pensive
+countenance.</p>
+<p>A little later, when Nash came out to make report,
+she was not very gracious in her manner.
+&#8220;He&#8217;s pretty badly hurt,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There&#8217;s an
+ugly gash in his scalp, and the shock has produced
+a good deal of pain and confusion in his
+head; but he&#8217;s going to be all right in a day or
+two. For a man seeking rest and recuperation
+he certainly has had a tough run of weather.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Though a serious-minded, honorable forester,
+determined to keep sternly in mind that he was
+in the presence of the daughter of his chief, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+that she was engaged to marry another, Nash
+was, after all, a man, and the witchery of the
+hour, the charm of the girl&#8217;s graceful figure,
+asserted their power over him. His eyes grew
+tender, and his voice eloquent in spite of himself.
+His words he could guard, but it was hard
+to keep from his speech the song of the lover.
+The thought that he was to camp in her company,
+to help her about the fire, to see her from
+moment to moment, with full liberty to speak
+to her, to meet her glance, pleased him. It was
+the most romantic and moving episode in his
+life, and though of a rather dry and analytic
+temperament he had a sense of poesy.</p>
+<p>The night, black, oppressive, and silent, brought
+a closer bond of mutual help and understanding
+between them. He built a fire of dry branches
+close to the tent door, and there sat, side by side
+with the girl, in the glow of embers, so close to
+the injured youth that they could talk together,
+and as he spoke freely, yet modestly, of his experiences
+Berrie found him more deeply interesting
+than she had hitherto believed him to be.
+True, he saw things less poetically than Wayland,
+but he was finely observant, and a man of
+studious and refined habits.</p>
+<p>She grew friendlier, and asked him about his
+work, and especially about his ambitions and
+plans for the future. They discussed the forest
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+and its enemies, and he wondered at her freedom
+in speaking of the Mill and saloon. He said:
+&#8220;Of course you know that Alec Belden is a
+partner in that business, and I&#8217;m told&mdash;of course
+I don&#8217;t know this&mdash;that Clifford Belden is also
+interested.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She offered no defense of young Belden, and
+this unconcern puzzled him. He had expected
+indignant protest, but she merely replied: &#8220;I
+don&#8217;t care who owns it. It should be rooted out.
+I hate that kind of thing. It&#8217;s just another way
+of robbing those poor tie-jacks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Clifford should get out of it. Can&#8217;t you persuade
+him to do so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;His relationship to you&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is not related to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her tone amazed him. &#8220;You know what I
+mean.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course I do, but you&#8217;re mistaken. We&#8217;re
+not related that way any longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This silenced him for a few moments, then he
+said: &#8220;I&#8217;m rather glad of that. He isn&#8217;t anything
+like the man you thought he was&mdash;I
+couldn&#8217;t say these things before&mdash;but he is as
+greedy as Alec, only not so open about it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>All this comment, which moved the forester
+so deeply to utter, seemed not to interest Berea.
+She sat staring at the fire with the calm brow of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+an Indian. Clifford Belden had passed out of
+her life as completely as he had vanished out
+of the landscape. She felt an immense relief at
+being rid of him, and resented his being brought
+back even as a subject of conversation.</p>
+<p>Wayland, listening, fancied he understood her
+desire, and said nothing that might arouse
+Nash&#8217;s curiosity.</p>
+<p>Nash, on his part, knowing that she had
+broken with Belden, began to understand the
+tenderness, the anxious care of her face and
+voice, as she bent above young Norcross. As
+the night deepened and the cold air stung, he
+asked: &#8220;Have you plenty of blankets for a bed?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes,&#8221; she answered, &#8220;but I don&#8217;t intend
+to sleep.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you must!&#8221; he declared. &#8220;Go to bed.
+I will keep the fire going.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At last she consented. &#8220;I will make my bed
+right here at the mouth of the tent close to the
+fire,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and you can call me if you
+need me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not put your bed in the tent? It&#8217;s
+going to be cold up here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am all right outside,&#8221; she protested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Put your bed inside, Miss Berrie. We can&#8217;t
+let conventions count above timber-line. I
+shall rest better if I know you are properly
+sheltered.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></p>
+<p>And so it happened that for the third time she
+shared the same roof with her lover; but the
+nurse was uppermost in her now. At eleven
+thousand feet above the sea&mdash;with a cold drizzle
+of fine rain in the air&mdash;one does not consider the
+course of gossip as carefully as in a village, and
+Berrie slept unbrokenly till daylight.</p>
+<p>Nash was the first to arise in the dusk of dawn,
+and Berrie, awakened by the crackle of his fire,
+soon joined him. There is no sweeter sound
+than the voice of the flame at such a time, in
+such a place. It endows the bleak mountainside
+with comfort, makes the ledge a hearthstone.
+It holds the promise of savory meats and fragrant
+liquor, and robs the frosty air of its terrors.</p>
+<p>Wayland, hearing their voices, called out,
+with feeble humor: &#8220;Will some one please turn
+on the steam in my room?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie uttered a happy word. &#8220;How do you
+feel this morning?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not precisely like a pugilist&mdash;well, yes, I believe
+I do&mdash;like the fellow who got second money.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How is the bump?&#8221; inquired Nash, thrusting
+his head inside the door.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Reduced to the size of a golf-ball as near as
+I can judge of it. I doubt if I can wear a hat;
+but I&#8217;m feeling fine. I&#8217;m going to get up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie was greatly relieved. &#8220;I&#8217;m so glad!
+Do you feel like riding down the hill?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing! I&#8217;m hungry, and as soon as I
+am fed I&#8217;m ready to start.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie joined the surveyor at the fire.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;ll round up our horses, Mr. Nash,
+I&#8217;ll rustle breakfast and we&#8217;ll get going,&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>Nash, enthralled, lingered while she twisted
+her hair into place, then went out to bring in
+the ponies.</p>
+<p>Wayland came out a little uncertainly, but
+looking very well. &#8220;I think I shall discourage
+my friends from coming to this region for their
+health,&#8221; he said, ruefully. &#8220;If I were a novelist
+now all this would be grist for my mill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Beneath his joking he was profoundly chagrined.
+He had hoped by this time to be as
+sinewy, as alert as Nash, instead of which here
+he sat, shivering over the fire like a sick girl, his
+head swollen, his blood sluggish; but this discouragement
+only increased Berea&#8217;s tenderness&mdash;a
+tenderness which melted all his reserve.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not worth all your care,&#8221; he said to her,
+with poignant glance.</p>
+<p>The sun rose clear and warm, and the fire,
+the coffee, put new courage into him as well as
+into the others, and while the morning was yet
+early and the forest chill and damp with rain,
+the surveyor brought up the horses and started
+packing the outfit.</p>
+<p>In this Berrie again took part, doing her half
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+of the work quite as dextrously as Nash himself.
+Indeed, the forester was noticeably confused
+and not quite up to his usual level of adroit
+ease.</p>
+<p>At last both packs were on, and as they stood
+together for a moment, Nash said: &#8220;This has
+been a great experience&mdash;one I shall remember
+as long as I live.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She stirred uneasily under his frank admiration.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m mightily obliged to you,&#8221; she replied,
+as heartily as she could command.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t thank me, I&#8217;m indebted to you. There
+is so little in my life of such companionship as
+you and Norcross give me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll find it lonesome over at the station,
+I&#8217;m afraid,&#8221; said she. &#8220;But Moore intends to
+put a crew of tie-cutters in over there&mdash;that will
+help some.&#8221; She smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not partial to the society of tie-jacks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you ride hard you may find that Moore
+girl in camp. She was there when we left.&#8221;
+There was a sparkle of mischief in her glance.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not interested in the Moore girl,&#8221; he
+retorted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you know her?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen her at the post-office once or twice;
+<i>she</i> is not my kind.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She gave him her hand. &#8220;Well, good-by.
+I&#8217;m all right now that Wayland can ride.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span></p>
+<p>He held her hand an instant. &#8220;I believe I&#8217;ll
+ride back with you as far as the camp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better go on. Father is waiting for
+you. I&#8217;ll send the men along.&#8221; There was dismissal
+in her voice, and yet she recognized as
+never before the fine qualities that were his.
+&#8220;Please don&#8217;t say anything of this to others,
+and tell my father not to worry about us. We&#8217;ll
+pull in all right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He helped Norcross mount his horse, and as
+he put the lead rope into Berrie&#8217;s hand, he said:
+with much feeling: &#8220;Good luck to you. I shall
+remember this night all the rest of my life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hate to be going to the rear,&#8221; called Wayland,
+whose bare, bandaged head made him
+look like a wounded young officer. &#8220;But I
+guess it&#8217;s better for me to lay off for a week or
+two and recover my tone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And so they parted, the surveyor riding his
+determined way up the naked mountainside
+toward the clouds, while Berrie and her ward
+plunged at once into the dark and dripping
+forest below. &#8220;If you can stand the grief,&#8221; she
+said, &#8220;we&#8217;ll go clear through.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland had his misgivings, but did not say
+so. His confidence in his guide was complete.
+She would do her part, that was certain. Several
+times she was forced to dismount and blaze out
+a new path in order to avoid some bog; but she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span>
+sternly refused his aid. &#8220;You must not get off,&#8221;
+she warned; &#8220;stay where you are. I can do
+this work better alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They were again in that green, gloomy, and
+silent zone of the range, where giant spruces grow,
+and springs, oozing from the rocks, trickle over
+the trail. It was very beautiful, but menacing,
+by reason of its apparently endless thickets cut
+by stony ridges. It was here she met the two
+young men, Downing and Travis, bringing forward
+the surveying outfit, but she paused only
+to say: &#8220;Push along steadily. You are needed
+on the other side.&#8221;</p>
+<p>After leaving the men, and with a knowledge
+that the remaining leagues of the trail were
+solitary, Norcross grew fearful. &#8220;The fall of a
+horse, an accident to that brave girl, and we
+would be helpless,&#8221; he thought. &#8220;I wish Nash
+had returned with us.&#8221; Once his blood chilled
+with horror as he watched his guide striking out
+across the marge of a grassy lake. This meadow,
+as he divined, was really a carpet of sod floating
+above a bottomless pool of muck, for it shook
+beneath her horse&#8217;s feet.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come on, it&#8217;s all right,&#8221; she called back,
+cheerily. &#8220;We&#8217;ll soon pick up the other trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He wondered how she knew, for to him each
+hill was precisely like another, each thicket a
+maze.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></p>
+<p>Her caution was all for him. She tried each
+dangerous slough first, and thus was able to advise
+him which way was safest. His head throbbed
+with pain and his knees were weary, but he rode
+on, manifesting such cheer as he could, resolving
+not to complain at any cost; but his self-respect
+ebbed steadily, leaving him in bitter, silent dejection.</p>
+<p>At last they came into open ground on a high
+ridge, and were gladdened by the valley outspread
+below them, for it was still radiant with
+color, though not as brilliant as before the rain.
+It had been dimmed, but not darkened. And
+yet it seemed that a month had passed since
+their ecstatic ride upward through the golden
+forest, and Wayland said as much while they
+stood for a moment surveying the majestic park
+with its wall of guardian peaks.</p>
+<p>But Berrie replied: &#8220;It seems only a few hours
+to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>From this point the traveling was good, and
+they descended rapidly, zigzagging from side to
+side of a long, sweeping ridge. By noon they
+were once more down amid the aspens, basking
+in a world of sad gold leaves and delicious
+September sunshine.</p>
+<p>At one o&#8217;clock, on the bank of a clear stream,
+the girl halted. &#8220;I reckon we&#8217;d better camp
+awhile. You look tired, and I am hungry.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span></p>
+<p>He gratefully acquiesced in this stop, for
+his knees were trembling with the strain of the
+stirrups; but he would not permit her to ease
+him down from his saddle. Turning a wan
+glance upon her, he bitterly asked: &#8220;Must I
+always play the weakling before you? I am
+ashamed of myself. Ride on and leave me to
+rot here in the grass. I&#8217;m not worth keeping
+alive.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must not talk like that,&#8221; she gently
+admonished him. &#8220;You&#8217;re not to blame.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I am. I should never have ventured
+into this man&#8217;s country.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad you did,&#8221; she answered, as if she
+were comforting a child. &#8220;For if you hadn&#8217;t I
+should never have known you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That would have been no loss&mdash;to you,&#8221; he
+bitterly responded.</p>
+<p>She unsaddled one pack-animal and spread
+some blankets on the grass. &#8220;Lie down and
+rest while I boil some coffee,&#8221; she commanded;
+and he obeyed, too tired to make pretension toward
+assisting.</p>
+<p>Lying so, feeling the magic of the sun, hearing
+the music of the water, and watching the girl,
+he regained a serener mood, and when she came
+back with his food he thanked her for it with a
+glance before which her eyes fell. &#8220;I don&#8217;t see
+why you are so kind to me, I really believe you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+<i>like</i> to do things for me.&#8221; Her head drooped to
+hide her face, and he went on: &#8220;Why do you
+care for me? Tell me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; she murmured. Then she
+added, with a flash of bravery: &#8220;But I do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What a mystery it all is! You turn from a
+splendid fellow like Landon to a &#8216;skate&#8217; like me.
+Landon worships you&mdash;you know that&mdash;don&#8217;t
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know&mdash;he&mdash;&#8221; she ended, vaguely distressed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did he ask you to marry him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you? He&#8217;s just the mate for
+you. He&#8217;s a man of high character and education.&#8221;
+She made no answer to this, and he
+went on: &#8220;Dear girl, I&#8217;m not worth your care&mdash;truly
+I&#8217;m not. I resented your engagement to
+Belden, for he was a brute; but Landon is different.
+He thinks the world of you. He&#8217;ll go high
+in the service. I&#8217;ve never done anything in the
+world&mdash;I never shall. It will be better for you
+if I go&mdash;to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek,
+then, putting her arm about his neck, drew him
+to her bosom and kissed him passionately. &#8220;You
+break my heart when you talk like that,&#8221; she
+protested, with tears. &#8220;You mustn&#8217;t say such
+gloomy things&mdash;I won&#8217;t let you give up. You
+shall come right home with me, and I will nurse
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+you till you are well. It was all my fault. If
+we had only stayed in camp at the lake daddy
+would have joined us that night, and if I had
+not loitered on the mountain yesterday Cliff
+would not have overtaken us. It&#8217;s all my
+fault.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not have it go that way,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve
+brought you only care and unhappiness thus far.
+I&#8217;m an alien&mdash;my ways are not your ways.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can change,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;I hate my
+ways, and I like yours.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As they argued she felt no shame, and he
+voiced no resentment. She knew his mood.
+She understood his doubt, his depression. She
+pleaded as a man might have done, ready to
+prove her love, eager to restore his self-respect,
+while he remained both bitter and sadly contemptuous.</p>
+<p>A cow-hand riding up the trail greeted Berrie
+respectfully, but a cynical smile broke out on his
+lips as he passed on. Another witness&mdash;another
+gossip.</p>
+<p>She did not care. She had no further concern
+of the valley&#8217;s comment. Her life&#8217;s happiness
+hung on the drooping eyelashes of this wounded
+boy, and to win him back to cheerful acceptance
+of life was her only concern.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never had any motives,&#8221; he confessed.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ve always done what pleased me at the moment&mdash;or
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
+because it was easier to do as others
+were doing. I went to college that way. Truth
+is, I never had any surplus vitality, and my
+father never demanded anything of me. I
+haven&#8217;t any motives now. A few days ago I
+was interested in forestry. At this time it all
+seems futile. What&#8217;s the use of my trying to
+live?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Part of all this despairing cry arose from
+weariness, and part from a luxurious desire to
+be comforted, for it was sweet to feel her sympathy.
+He even took a morbid pleasure in the
+distress of her eyes and lips while her rich voice
+murmured in soothing protest.</p>
+<p>She, on her part, was frightened for him, and
+as she thought of the long ride still before them
+she wrung her hands. &#8220;Oh, what shall I do?
+What shall I do?&#8221; she moaned.</p>
+<p>Instantly smitten into shame, into manlier
+mood, he said: &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry about me, please
+don&#8217;t. I can ride. I&#8217;m feeling better. You
+must not weaken. Please forgive my selfish
+complaints. I&#8217;m done! You&#8217;ll never hear it
+again. Come, let us go on. I can ride.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If we can reach Miller&#8217;s ranch&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can ride to <i>your</i> ranch,&#8221; he declared, and
+rose with such new-found resolution that she
+stared at him in wonder.</p>
+<p>He was able to smile. &#8220;I&#8217;ve had my little
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+crying spell. I&#8217;ve relieved my heart of its load.
+I didn&#8217;t mean to agonize you. It was only a
+slump.&#8221; He put his hand to his head. &#8220;I must
+be a comical figure. Wonder what that cowboy
+thought of me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>His sudden reversal to cheer was a little
+alarming to her, but at length she perceived
+that he had in truth mastered his depression,
+and bringing up the horses she saddled them,
+and helped him to mount. &#8220;If you get tired
+or feel worse, tell me, and we&#8217;ll go into camp,&#8221;
+she urged as they were about to start.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You keep going till I give the sign,&#8221; he replied;
+and his voice was so firm and clear that
+her own sunny smile came back. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+know what to make of you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I
+reckon you must be a poet.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIII_THE_GOSSIPS_AWAKE' id='XIII_THE_GOSSIPS_AWAKE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+<h3>THE GOSSIPS AWAKE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was dark when they reached the village, but
+Wayland declared his ability to go on, although
+his wounded head was throbbing with
+fever and he was clinging to the pommel of his
+saddle; so Berrie rode on.</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane, hearing the horses on the
+bridge, was at the door and received her daughter
+with wondering question, while the stable-hands,
+quick to detect an injured man, hurried to lift
+Norcross down from his saddle.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter?&#8221; repeated Mrs. McFarlane.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He fell and struck his head on a stone,&#8221; Berea
+hastily explained. &#8220;Take the horses, boys,
+mother and I will look out for Mr. Norcross.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The men obeyed her and fell back, but they
+were consumed with curiosity, and their glances
+irritated the girl. &#8220;Slip the packs at once,&#8221; she
+insisted.</p>
+<p>With instant sympathy her mother came to
+her aid in supporting the wounded, weary youth
+indoors, and as he stretched out on the couch
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+in the sitting-room, he remarked, with a faint,
+ironic smile: &#8220;This beats any bed of balsam
+boughs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s your father?&#8221; asked Mrs. McFarlane
+of her daughter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s over on the Ptarmigan. I&#8217;ve a powerful
+lot to tell you, mother; but not now; we
+must look after Wayland. He&#8217;s nearly done up,
+and so am I.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane winced a little at her daughter&#8217;s
+use of Norcross&#8217;s first name, but she said nothing
+further at the moment, although she watched
+Berrie closely while she took off Wayland&#8217;s shoes
+and stockings and rubbed his icy feet. &#8220;Get
+him something hot as quick as you can!&#8221; she
+commanded; and Mrs. McFarlane obeyed without
+a word.</p>
+<p>Gradually the tremor passed out of his limbs
+and a delicious sense of warmth, of safety, stole
+over him, and he closed his eyes in the comfort
+of her presence and care. &#8220;Rigorous business
+this life of the pioneer,&#8221; he said, with mocking
+inflection. &#8220;I think I prefer a place in the
+lumber trust.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t talk,&#8221; she said. Then, with a rush
+of tender remorse: &#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you tell me to
+stop? I didn&#8217;t realize that you were so tired.
+We could have stopped at the Springs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know how tired I was till I got here.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+Gee,&#8221; he said, boyishly, &#8220;that door-knob at the
+back of my head is red-hot! You&#8217;re good to
+me,&#8221; he added, humbly.</p>
+<p>She hated to have him resume that tone of
+self-depreciation, and, kneeling to him, she kissed
+his cheek, and laid her head beside his. &#8220;You&#8217;re
+splendid,&#8221; she insisted. &#8220;Nobody could be
+braver; but you should have told me you were
+exhausted. You fooled me with your cheerful
+answers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He accepted her loving praise, her clasping
+arms, as a part of the rescue from the darkness
+and pain of the long ride, careless of what it
+might bring to him in the future. He ate his
+toast and drank his coffee, and permitted the
+women to lead him to his room, and then being
+alone he crept into his bed and fell instantly
+asleep.</p>
+<p>Berrie and her mother went back to the sitting-room,
+and Mrs. McFarlane closed the door behind
+them. &#8220;Now tell me all about it,&#8221; she
+said, in the tone of one not to be denied.</p>
+<p>The story went along very smoothly till the
+girl came to the second night in camp beside the
+lake; there her voice faltered, and the reflective
+look in the mother&#8217;s eyes deepened as she
+learned that her daughter had shared her tent
+with the young man. &#8220;It was the only thing
+to do, mother,&#8221; Berrie bravely said. &#8220;It was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+cold and wet outside, and you know he isn&#8217;t very
+strong, and his teeth were chattering, he was so
+chilled. I know it sounds strange down here;
+but up there in the woods in the storm what I
+did seemed right and natural. You know what
+I mean, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I understand. I don&#8217;t blame you&mdash;only&mdash;if
+others should hear of it&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But they won&#8217;t. No one knows of our being
+alone there except Tony and father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you sure? Doesn&#8217;t Mrs. Belden know?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think so&mdash;not yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane&#8217;s nervousness grew. &#8220;I wish
+you hadn&#8217;t gone on this trip. If the Beldens find
+out you were alone with Mr. Norcross they&#8217;ll
+make much of it. It will give them a chance
+at your father.&#8221; Her mind turned upon another
+point. &#8220;When did Mr. Norcross get his
+fall?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;On the way back.&#8221; Here Berrie hesitated
+again. &#8220;I don&#8217;t like to tell you, mother, but
+he didn&#8217;t fall, Cliff jumped him and tried to
+kill him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The mother doubted her ears. &#8220;Cliff did?
+How did he happen to meet you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie was quick to answer. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know
+how he found out we were on the trail. I suppose
+the old lady &#8217;phoned him. Anyhow, while
+we were camped for noon yesterday&#8221;&mdash;her face
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
+flamed again at thought of that tender, beautiful
+moment when they were resting on the grass&mdash;&#8220;while
+we were at our lunch he came tearing
+down the hill on that big bay horse of his and
+took a flying jump at Wayland. As Wayland
+went down he struck his head on a stone. I
+thought he was dead, and I was paralyzed for a
+second. Then I flew at Cliff and just about
+choked the life out of him. I&#8217;d have ended him
+right there if he hadn&#8217;t let go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane, looking upon her daughter
+in amazement, saw on her face the shadow of the
+deadly rage which had burned in her heart as she
+clenched young Belden&#8217;s throat.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What then? What happened then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He let go, you bet.&#8221; Her smile came back.
+&#8220;And when he realized what he&#8217;d done&mdash;<i>he</i>
+thought Wayland was dead&mdash;he began to weaken.
+Then I took my gun and was all for putting an
+end to him right there, when I saw Wayland&#8217;s
+eyelids move. After that I didn&#8217;t care what became
+of Cliff. I told him to ride on and keep
+a-ridin&#8217;, and I reckon he&#8217;s clear out of the state
+by this time. If he ever shows up I&#8217;ll put him
+where he&#8217;ll have all night to be sorry in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When did this take place?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yesterday about two. Of course Wayland
+couldn&#8217;t ride, he was so dizzy and kind o&#8217; confused,
+and so I went into camp right there at
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+timber-line. Along about sunset Nash came
+riding up from this side, and insisted on staying
+to help me&mdash;so I let him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane&#8217;s tense attitude relaxed.
+&#8220;Nash is not the kind that tattles. I&#8217;m glad he
+turned up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And this morning I saddled and came down.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did Nash go on?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, daddy was waiting for him, so I sent
+him along.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all sad business,&#8221; groaned Mrs. McFarlane,
+&#8220;and I can see you&#8217;re keeping something
+back. How did Cliff happen to know just where
+you were? And what started you back without
+your father?&#8221;</p>
+<p>For the first time Berrie showed signs of
+weakness and distress. &#8220;Why, you see, Alec
+Belden and Mr. Moore were over there to look
+at some timber, and old Marm Belden and that
+Moore girl went along. I suppose they sent
+word to Cliff, and I presume that Moore girl
+put him on our trail. Leastwise that&#8217;s the way
+I figure it out. That&#8217;s the worst of the whole
+business.&#8221; She admitted this with darkened
+brow. &#8220;Mrs. Belden&#8217;s tongue is hung in the
+middle and loose at both ends&mdash;and that Moore
+girl is spiteful mean.&#8221; She could not keep the
+contempt out of her voice. &#8220;She saw us start
+off, and she is sure to follow it up and find out
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+what happened on the way home; even if they
+don&#8217;t see Cliff they&#8217;ll <i>talk</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I <i>wish</i> you hadn&#8217;t gone!&#8221; exclaimed the
+worried mother.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It can&#8217;t be helped now, and it hasn&#8217;t done
+me any real harm. It&#8217;s all in the day&#8217;s work,
+anyhow. I&#8217;ve always gone with daddy before,
+and this trip isn&#8217;t going to spoil me. The boys
+all know me, and they will treat me fair.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but Mr. Norcross is an outsider&mdash;a city
+man. They will all think evil of him on that
+account.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know; that&#8217;s what troubles me. No one
+will know how fine and considerate he was.
+Mother, I&#8217;ve never known any one like him.
+He&#8217;s a poet! He&#8217;s taught me to see things I
+never saw before. Everything interests him&mdash;the
+birds, the clouds, the voices in the fire. I
+never was so happy in my life as I was during
+those first two days, and that night in camp before
+he began to worry&mdash;it was just wonderful.&#8221;
+Words failed her, but her shining face and the
+forward straining pose of her body enlightened
+the mother. &#8220;I don&#8217;t care what people say of
+me if only they will be just to him. They&#8217;ve <i>got</i>
+to treat him right,&#8221; she added, firmly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did he speak to you&mdash;are you engaged?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her head drooped. &#8220;Not really engaged,
+mother; but he told me how much he liked
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
+me&mdash;and&mdash;it&#8217;s all right, mother, I <i>know</i> it is. I&#8217;m
+not fine enough for him, but I&#8217;m going to try to
+change my ways so he won&#8217;t be ashamed of me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane&#8217;s face cleared. &#8220;He surely is
+a fine young fellow, and can be trusted to do the
+right thing. Well, we might as well go to bed.
+We can&#8217;t settle anything till your father gets
+home,&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>Wayland rose next morning free from dizziness
+and almost free from pain, and when he came
+out of his room his expression was cheerful.
+&#8220;I feel as if I&#8217;d slept a week, and I&#8217;m hungry.
+I don&#8217;t know why I should be, but I am.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane met him with something very
+intimate, something almost maternal in her look;
+but her words were as few and as restrained as
+ever. He divined that she had been talking with
+Berrie, and that a fairly clear understanding of
+the situation had been reached. That this understanding
+involved him closely he was aware;
+but nothing in his manner acknowledged it.</p>
+<p>She did not ask any questions, believing
+that sooner or later the whole story must come
+out. The fact that Siona Moore and Mrs. Belden
+knew that Berrie had started back on
+Thursday with young Norcross made it easy for
+the villagers to discover that she had not reached
+the ranch till Saturday. &#8220;What could Joe have
+been thinking of to allow them to go?&#8221; she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+said. &#8220;Mr. Nash&#8217;s presence in the camp must
+be made known; but then there is Clifford&#8217;s
+assault upon Mr. Norcross, can that be kept
+secret, too?&#8221; And so while the young people
+chatted, the troubled mother waited in fear,
+knowing that in a day or two the countryside
+would be aflame with accusation.</p>
+<p>In a landscape like this, as she well knew,
+nothing moves unobserved. The native&mdash;man
+or woman&mdash;is able to perceive and name objects
+scarcely discernible to the eye of the alien. A
+minute speck is discovered on the hillside.
+&#8220;Hello, there&#8217;s Jim Sanders on his roan,&#8221; says
+one, or &#8220;Here comes Kit Jenkins with her flea-bit
+gray. I wonder who&#8217;s on the bay alongside
+of her,&#8221; remarks another, and each of these
+observations is taken quite as a matter of course.
+With a wide and empty field of vision, and with
+trained, unspoiled optic nerves, the plainsman is
+marvelously penetrating of glance. Hence, Mrs.
+McFarlane was perfectly certain that not one but
+several of her neighbors had seen and recognized
+Berrie and young Norcross as they came down
+the hill. In a day or two every man would know
+just where they camped, and what had taken
+place in camp. Mrs. Belden would not rest till
+she had ferreted out every crook and turn of
+that trail, and her speech was quite as coarse
+as that of any of her male associates.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span></p>
+<p>Easy-going with regard to many things, these
+citizens were abnormally alive to all matters relating
+to courtship, and popular as she believed
+Berrie to be, Mrs. McFarlane could not hope
+that her daughter would be spared&mdash;especially
+by the Beldens, who would naturally feel that
+Clifford had been cheated. She sighed deeply.
+&#8220;Well, nothing can be done till Joe returns,&#8221; she
+repeated.</p>
+<p>A long day&#8217;s rest, a second night&#8217;s sleep, set
+Wayland on his feet. He came to breakfast
+quite gay. &#8220;Barring the hickory-nut on the
+back of my head,&#8221; he explained, &#8220;I&#8217;m feeling
+fine, almost ready for another expedition. I
+may make a ranger yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie, though equally gay, was not so sure
+of his ability to return to work. &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;d
+better go easy till daddy gets back; but if you
+feel like it we&#8217;ll ride up to the post-office this
+afternoon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want to start right in to learn to throw that
+hitch, and I&#8217;m going to practise with an ax till
+I can strike twice in the same place. This trip
+was an eye-opener. Great man I&#8217;d be in a windfall&mdash;wouldn&#8217;t
+I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was persuaded to remain very quiet for
+another day, and part of it was spent in conversation
+with Mrs. McFarlane&mdash;whom he liked
+very much&mdash;and an hour or more in writing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span>
+a long letter wherein he announced to his
+father his intention of going into the Forest
+Service. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got to build up a constitution,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;and I don&#8217;t know of a better place to
+do it in. Besides, I&#8217;m beginning to be interested
+in the scheme. I like the Supervisor. I&#8217;m living
+in his house at the present time, and I&#8217;m
+feeling contented and happy, so don&#8217;t worry
+about me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was indeed quite comfortable, save when
+he realized that Mrs. McFarlane was taking altogether
+too much for granted in their relationship.
+It was delightful to be so watched over, so
+waited upon, so instructed. &#8220;But where is it
+all leading me?&#8221; he continued to ask himself&mdash;and
+still that wall of reserve troubled and saddened
+Berrie.</p>
+<p>They expected McFarlane that night, and
+waited supper for him, but he did not come, and
+so they ate without him, and afterward Wayland
+helped Berrie do up the dishes while the mother
+bent above her sewing by the kitchen lamp.</p>
+<p>There was something very sweet and gentle
+about Mrs. McFarlane, and the exile took almost
+as much pleasure in talking with her as with
+her daughter. He led her to tell of her early
+experiences in the valley, and of the strange
+types of men and women with whom she had
+crossed the range.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Some of them are here yet,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In
+fact the most violent of all the opponents to
+the Service are these old adventurers. I don&#8217;t
+think they deserve to be called pioneers. They
+never did any work in clearing the land or in
+building homes. Some of them, who own big
+herds of cattle, still live in dug-outs. They raged
+at Mr. McFarlane for going into the Service&mdash;called
+him a traitor. Old Jake Proudfoot was
+especially furious&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You should see where old Jake lives,&#8221; interrupted
+Berrie. &#8220;He sleeps on the floor in one
+corner of his cabin, and never changes his shirt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hush!&#8221; warned Mrs. McFarlane.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what the men all say. Daddy declares
+if they were to scrape Jake they&#8217;d find at
+least five layers of shirts. His wife left him
+fifteen years ago, couldn&#8217;t stand his habits, and
+he&#8217;s got worse ever since. Naturally he is opposed
+to the Service.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; her mother explained, &#8220;those
+who oppose the Supervisor aren&#8217;t all like Jake;
+but it makes me angry to have the papers all
+quoting Jake as &#8216;one of the leading ranchers of
+the valley.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>She could not bring herself to take up the
+most vital subject of all&mdash;the question of her
+daughter&#8217;s future. &#8220;I&#8217;ll wait till father gets
+home,&#8221; she decided.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span></p>
+<p>On the fourth morning the &#8217;phone rang, and the
+squawking voice of Mrs. Belden came over the
+wire. &#8220;I wanted to know if Berrie and her
+feller got home all right?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, they arrived safely.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The old woman chuckled. &#8220;Last I see of Cliff
+he was hot on their trail&mdash;looked like he expected
+to take a hand in that expedition. Did he overtake
+&#8217;em?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t hear very well&mdash;where are you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m at the Scott ranch&mdash;we&#8217;re coming round
+&#8216;the horn&#8217; to-day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where is the Supervisor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He headed across yesterday. Say, Cliff was
+mad as a hornet when he started. I&#8217;d like to
+know what happened&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane hung up the receiver. The
+old woman&#8217;s nasty chuckle was intolerable; but
+in silencing the &#8217;phone Mrs. McFarlane was perfectly
+aware that she was not silencing the gossip;
+on the contrary, she was certain that the
+Beldens would leave a trail of poisonous comment
+from the Ptarmigan to Bear Tooth. It was all
+sweet material for them.</p>
+<p>Berrie wanted to know who was speaking,
+and Mrs. McFarlane replied: &#8220;Mrs. Belden
+wanted to know if you got through all right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She said something else, something to heat
+you up,&#8221; persisted the girl, who perceived her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span>
+mother&#8217;s agitation. &#8220;What did she say&mdash;something
+about me&mdash;and Cliff?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The mother did not answer, for Wayland entered
+the room at the moment; but Berrie knew
+that traducers were already busy with her
+affairs. &#8220;I don&#8217;t care anything about old lady
+Belden,&#8221; she said, later; &#8220;but I hate to have
+that Moore girl telling lies about me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As for Wayland, the nights in the camp by the
+lake, and, indeed, all the experiences of his trip
+in the high places were becoming each moment
+more remote, more unreal. Camp life at timber-line
+did not seem to him subject to ordinary
+conventional laws of human conduct, and the
+fact that he and Berrie had shared the same tent
+under the stress of cold and snow, now seemed
+so far away as to be only a complication in a
+splendid mountain drama. Surely no blame
+could attach to the frank and generous girl, even
+though the jealous assault of Cliff Belden should
+throw the valley into a fever of chatter. &#8220;Furthermore,
+I don&#8217;t believe he will be in haste to
+speak of his share in the play,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It
+was too nearly criminal.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was almost noon of the fourth day when the
+Supervisor called up to say that he was at the
+office, and would reach the ranch at six o&#8217;clock.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish you would come home at once,&#8221; his
+wife argued; and something in her voice convinced
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+him that he was more needed at home,
+than in the town.</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, mother. Hold the fort an hour
+and I&#8217;ll be there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane met him at the hitching-bar,
+and it required but a glance for him to read in
+her face a troubled state of mind.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This has been a disastrous trip for Berrie,&#8221;
+she said, after one of the hands had relieved the
+Supervisor of his horse.</p>
+<p>&#8220;In what way?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was a bit impatient. &#8220;Mrs. Belden is filling
+the valley with the story of Berrie&#8217;s stay in
+camp with Mr. Norcross.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His face showed a graver line. &#8220;It couldn&#8217;t
+be helped. The horses had to be followed, and
+that youngster couldn&#8217;t do it&mdash;and, besides, I
+expected to get back that night. Nobody but
+an old snoop like Seth Belden would think evil of
+our girl. And, besides, Norcross is a man to be
+trusted.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course he is, but the Beldens are ready to
+think evil of any one connected with us. And
+Cliff&#8217;s assault on Wayland&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked up quickly. &#8220;Assault? Did he
+make trouble?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he overtook them on the trail, and would
+have killed Norcross if Berrie hadn&#8217;t interfered.
+He was crazy with jealousy.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Nash didn&#8217;t say anything about any assault.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He didn&#8217;t know it. Berrie told him that Norcross
+fell from his horse.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane was deeply stirred. &#8220;I saw Cliff
+leave camp, but I didn&#8217;t think anything of it.
+Why should he jump Norcross?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose Mrs. Belden filled him with distrust
+of Berrie. He was already jealous, and
+when he came up with them and found them
+lunching together, he lost his head and rushed
+at Wayland like a wild beast. Of course he
+couldn&#8217;t stand against a big man like Cliff, and
+his head struck on a stone; and if Berrie hadn&#8217;t
+throttled the brute he would have murdered
+the poor boy right there before her eyes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good God! I never suspected a word of
+this. I didn&#8217;t think he&#8217;d do that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Supervisor was now very grave. These
+domestic matters at once threw his work as
+forester into the region of vague and unimportant
+abstractions. He began to understand the
+danger into which Berea had fallen, and step
+by step he took up the trails which had brought
+them all to this pass.</p>
+<p>He fixed another penetrating look upon her
+face, and his voice was vibrant with anxiety as
+he said: &#8220;You don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything&mdash;wrong?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, nothing wrong; but she&#8217;s profoundly in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+love with him. I never have seen her so wrapped
+up in any one. She thinks of nothing else. It
+scares me to see it, for I&#8217;ve studied him closely
+and I can&#8217;t believe he feels the same toward her.
+His world is so different from ours. I don&#8217;t
+know what to do or say. I fear she is in for a
+period of great unhappiness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was at the beginning of tears, and he
+sought to comfort her. &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry, honey,
+she&#8217;s got too much horse sense to do anything
+foolish. She&#8217;s grown up. I suppose it&#8217;s his
+being so different from the other boys that catches
+her. We&#8217;ve always been good chums&mdash;let me
+talk with her. She mustn&#8217;t make a mistake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The return of the crew from the corral cut
+short this conference, and when McFarlane went
+in Berrie greeted him with such frank and joyous
+expression that all his fears vanished.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you come over the high trail?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I came your way. I didn&#8217;t want to
+take any chances on getting mired. It&#8217;s still
+raining up there,&#8221; he answered, then turned to
+Wayland: &#8220;Here&#8217;s your mail, Norcross, a whole
+hatful of it&mdash;and one telegram in the bunch.
+Hope it isn&#8217;t serious.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland took the bundle of letters and retired
+to his room, glad to escape the persistent stare
+of the cow-hands. The despatch was from his
+father, and was curt and specific as a command:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
+&#8220;Shall be in Denver on the 23d, meet me at the
+Palmer House. Am on my way to California.
+Come prepared to join me on the trip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With the letters unopened in his lap he sat
+in silent thought, profoundly troubled by the
+instant decision which this message demanded of
+him. At first glance nothing was simpler than
+to pack up and go. He was only a tourist in the
+valley with no intention of staying; but there
+was Berea! To go meant a violent end of their
+pleasant romance. To think of flight saddened
+him, and yet his better judgment was clearly on
+the side of going. &#8220;Much as I like her, much as
+I admire her, I cannot marry her. The simplest
+way is to frankly tell her so and go. It seems
+cowardly, but in the end she will be happier.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His letters carried him back into his own world.
+One was from Will Halliday, who was going with
+Professor Holsman on an exploring trip up the
+Nile. &#8220;You must join us. Holsman has promised
+to take you on.&#8221; Another classmate wrote
+to know if he did not want to go into a land deal
+on the Gulf of Mexico. A girl asked: &#8220;Are you
+to be in New York this winter? I am. I&#8217;ve
+decided to go into this Suffrage Movement.&#8221;
+And so, one by one, the threads which bound him
+to Eastern city life re-spun their filaments.
+After all, this Colorado outing, even though it
+should last two years, would only be a vacation&mdash;his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+real life was in the cities of the East. Charming
+as Berea was, potent as she seemed, she was
+after all a fixed part of the mountain land, and
+not to be taken from it. At the moment marriage
+with her appeared absurd.</p>
+<p>A knock at his door and the Supervisor&#8217;s voice
+gave him a keen shock. &#8220;Come in,&#8221; he called,
+springing to his feet with a thrill of dread, of
+alarm.</p>
+<p>McFarlane entered slowly and shut the door
+behind him. His manner was serious, and his
+voice gravely gentle as he said: &#8220;I hope that
+telegram does not call you away?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is from my father, asking me to meet him
+in Denver,&#8221; answered Norcross, with faltering
+breath. &#8220;He&#8217;s on his way to California. Won&#8217;t
+you sit down?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The older man took a seat with quiet dignity.
+&#8220;Seems like a mighty fine chance, don&#8217;t it?
+I&#8217;ve always wanted to see the Coast. When do
+you plan for to pull out?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland was not deceived by the Supervisor&#8217;s
+casual tone; there was something ominously calm
+in his manner, something which expressed an
+almost dangerous interest in the subject.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t decided to go at all. I&#8217;m still
+dazed by the suddenness of it. I didn&#8217;t know my
+father was planning this trip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I see. Well, before you decide to go I&#8217;d like
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+to have a little talk with you. My daughter has
+told me part of what happened to you on the
+trail. I want to know <i>all</i> of it. You&#8217;re young,
+but you&#8217;ve been out in the world, and you know
+what people can say about you and my girl.&#8221; His
+voice became level and menacing, as he added:
+&#8220;And I don&#8217;t intend to have her put in wrong
+on account of you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross was quick to reply. &#8220;Nobody will
+dare accuse her of wrongdoing. She&#8217;s a noble
+girl. No one will dare to criticize her for what
+she could not prevent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t know the Beldens. My girl&#8217;s
+character will be on trial in every house in the
+county to-morrow. The Belden side of it will
+appear in the city papers. Sympathy will be
+with Clifford. Berrie will be made an issue by
+my enemies. They&#8217;ll get me through her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord!&#8221; exclaimed Norcross, in sudden
+realization of the gravity of the case. &#8220;What
+beasts they are!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Moore&#8217;s gang will seize upon it and work it
+hard,&#8221; McFarlane went on, with calm insistence.
+&#8220;They want to bring the district forester down
+on me. This is a fine chance to badger me.
+They will make a great deal of my putting you
+on the roll. Our little camping trip is likely to
+prove a serious matter to us all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Surely you don&#8217;t consider me at fault?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span></p>
+<p>Worried as he was, the father was just. &#8220;No,
+you&#8217;re not to blame&mdash;no one is to blame. It all
+dates back to the horses quitting camp; but
+you&#8217;ve got to stand pat now&mdash;for Berrie&#8217;s sake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But what can I do? I&#8217;m at your service.
+What rôle shall I play? Tell me what to do, and
+I will do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane was staggered, but he answered:
+&#8220;You can at least stay on the ground and help
+fight. This is no time to stampede.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right. I&#8217;ll stay, and I&#8217;ll make any
+statement you see fit. I&#8217;ll do anything that will
+protect Berrie.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane again looked him squarely in the
+eyes. &#8220;Is there a&mdash;an agreement between you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing formal&mdash;that is&mdash;I mean I admire
+her, and I told her&mdash;&#8221; He stopped, feeling himself
+on the verge of the irrevocable. &#8220;She&#8217;s a
+splendid girl,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;I like her exceedingly,
+but I&#8217;ve known her only a few weeks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane interrupted. &#8220;Girls are flighty critters,&#8221;
+he said, sadly. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know why she&#8217;s
+taken to you so terrible strong; but she has. She
+don&#8217;t seem to care what people say so long as they
+do not blame you; but if you should pull out
+you might just as well cut her heart to pieces&mdash;&#8221;
+His voice broke, and it was a long time before
+he could finish. &#8220;You&#8217;re not at fault, I know
+that, but if you <i>can</i> stay on a little while and make
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
+it an ounce or two easier for her and for her
+mother, I wish you&#8217;d do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland extended his hand impulsively. &#8220;Of
+course I&#8217;ll stay. I never really thought of leaving.&#8221;
+In the grip of McFarlane&#8217;s hand was
+something warm and tender.</p>
+<p>He rose. &#8220;I&#8217;m terribly obliged,&#8221; he said; &#8220;but
+we mustn&#8217;t let her suspect for a minute that
+we&#8217;ve been discussing her. She hates being
+pitied or helped.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She shall not experience a moment&#8217;s uneasiness
+that I can prevent,&#8221; replied the youth; and
+at the moment he meant it.</p>
+<p>Berrie could not be entirely deceived. She
+read in her father&#8217;s face a subtle change of line
+which she related to something Wayland had
+said. &#8220;Did he tell you what was in the telegram?
+Has he got to go away?&#8221; she asked,
+anxiously.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he said it was from his father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What does his father want of him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s on his way to California and wants
+Wayland to go with him; but Wayland says he&#8217;s
+not going.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A pang shot through Berrie&#8217;s heart. &#8220;He
+mustn&#8217;t go&mdash;he isn&#8217;t able to go,&#8221; she exclaimed,
+and her pain, her fear, came out in her sharpened,
+constricted tone. &#8220;I won&#8217;t let him go&mdash;till
+he&#8217;s well.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane gently interposed. &#8220;He&#8217;ll
+have to go, honey, if his father needs him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let his father come here.&#8221; She rose, and,
+going to his door, decisively knocked. &#8220;May I
+come in?&#8221; she demanded, rather than asked, before
+her mother could protest. &#8220;I must see you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland opened the door, and she entered,
+leaving her parents facing each other in mute
+helplessness.</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane turned toward her husband
+with a face of despair. &#8220;She&#8217;s ours no longer,
+Joe. Our time of bereavement has come.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He took her in his arms. &#8220;There, there,
+mother. Don&#8217;t cry. It can&#8217;t be helped. You
+cut loose from your parents and came to me in
+just the same way. Our daughter&#8217;s a grown
+woman, and must have her own life. All we can
+do is to defend her against the coyotes who are
+busy with her name.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But what of <i>him</i>, Joe; he don&#8217;t care for her
+as she does for him&mdash;can&#8217;t you see that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll do the right thing, mother; he told me
+he would. He knows how much depends on
+his staying here now, and he intends to do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But in the end, Joe, after this scandal is
+lived down, can he&mdash;will he&mdash;marry her? And
+if he marries her can they live together and be
+happy? His way of life is so different. He
+can&#8217;t content himself here, and she can&#8217;t fit in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span>
+where he belongs. It all seems hopeless to me.
+Wouldn&#8217;t it be better for her to suffer for a little
+while now than to make a mistake that may
+last a lifetime?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mebbe it would, mother, but the decision
+is not ours. She&#8217;s too strong for us to control.
+She&#8217;s of age, and if she comes to a full understanding
+of the situation, she can decide the
+question a whole lot better than either of us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; she sighed. &#8220;In some ways
+she&#8217;s bigger and stronger than both of us. Sometimes
+I wish she were not so self-reliant.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s the way life is, sometimes, and
+I reckon there&#8217;s nothin&#8217; left for you an&#8217; me but
+to draw closer together and try to fill up the
+empty place she&#8217;s going to leave between us.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIV_THE_SUMMONS' id='XIV_THE_SUMMONS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+<h2>XIV</h2>
+<h3>THE SUMMONS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>When Wayland caught the startled look
+on Berrie&#8217;s face he knew that she had
+learned from her father the contents of his telegram,
+and that she would require an explanation.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going away?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. At least, I must go down to Denver to
+see my father. I shall be gone only over night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And will you tell him about our trip?&#8221; she
+pursued, with unflinching directness. &#8220;And
+about&mdash;me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He gave her a chair, and took a seat himself
+before replying. &#8220;Yes, I shall tell him all about
+it, and about you and your father and mother.
+He shall know how kind you&#8217;ve all been to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He said this bravely, and at the moment he
+meant it; but as his father&#8217;s big, impassive face
+and cold, keen eyes came back to him his courage
+sank, and in spite of his firm resolution some
+part of his secret anxiety communicated itself
+to the girl, who asked many questions, with intent
+to find out more particularly what kind of
+man the elder Norcross was.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span></p>
+<p>Wayland&#8217;s replies did not entirely reassure
+her. He admitted that his father was harsh
+and domineering in character, and that he was
+ambitious to have his son take up and carry forward
+his work. &#8220;He was willing enough to have
+me go to college till he found I was specializing
+on wrong lines. Then I had to fight in order
+to keep my place. He&#8217;s glad I&#8217;m out here, for
+he thinks I&#8217;m regaining my strength. But just
+as soon as I&#8217;m well enough he expects me to go
+to Chicago and take charge of the Western office.
+Of course, I don&#8217;t want to do that. I&#8217;d rather
+work out some problem in chemistry that interests
+me; but I may have to give in, for a time
+at least.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will your mother and sisters be with your
+father?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, indeed! You couldn&#8217;t get any one of
+them west of the Hudson River with a log-chain.
+My sisters were both born in Michigan, but they
+want to forget it&mdash;they pretend they have forgotten
+it. They both have New-Yorkitis.
+Nothing but the Plaza will do them now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose they think we&#8217;re all &#8216;Injuns&#8217; out
+here?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh no, not so bad as that; but they wouldn&#8217;t
+comprehend anything about you except your
+muscle. That would catch &#8217;em. They&#8217;d worship
+your splendid health, just as I do. It&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span>
+pitiful the way they both try to put on weight.
+They&#8217;re always testing some new food, some new
+tonic&mdash;they&#8217;ll do anything except exercise regularly
+and go to bed at ten o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+<p>All that he said of his family deepened her
+dismay. Their interests were so alien to her
+own.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid to have you go even for a day,&#8221;
+she admitted, with simple honesty, which moved
+him deeply. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what I should do
+if you went away. I think of nothing but you
+now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face was pitiful, and he put his arm about
+her neck as if she were a child. &#8220;You mustn&#8217;t
+do that. You must go on with your life just
+as if I&#8217;d never been. Think of your father&#8217;s
+job&mdash;of the forest and the ranch.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t do it. I&#8217;ve lost interest in the service.
+I never want to go into the high country
+again, and I don&#8217;t want you to go, either. It&#8217;s
+too savage and cruel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is only a mood,&#8221; he said, confidently.
+&#8220;It is splendid up there. I shall certainly go
+back some time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He could not divine, and she could not tell
+him, how poignantly she had sensed the menace
+of the cold and darkness during his illness. For
+the first time in her life she had realized to the
+full the unrelenting enmity of the clouds, the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
+wind, the night; and during that interminable
+ride toward home, when she saw him bending
+lower and lower over his saddle-bow, her allegiance
+to the trail, her devotion to the stirrup was
+broken. His weariness and pain had changed
+the universe for her. Never again would she
+look upon the range with the eyes of the care-free
+girl. The other, the civilized, the domestic,
+side of her was now dominant. A new desire,
+a bigger aspiration, had taken possession of her.</p>
+<p>Little by little he realized this change in her,
+and was touched with the wonder of it. He had
+never had any great self-love either as man or
+scholar, and the thought of this fine, self-sufficient
+womanly soul centering all its interests
+on him was humbling. Each moment his responsibility
+deepened, and he heard her voice
+but dimly as she went on.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course we are not rich; but we are not
+poor, and my mother&#8217;s family is one of the oldest
+in Kentucky.&#8221; She uttered this with a
+touch of her mother&#8217;s quiet dignity. &#8220;Your
+father need not despise us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So far as my father is concerned, family don&#8217;t
+count, and neither does money. But he confidently
+expects me to take up his business in
+Chicago, and I suppose it is my duty to do so.
+If he finds me looking fit he may order me into
+the ranks at once.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go there&mdash;I&#8217;ll do anything you want me
+to do,&#8221; she urged. &#8220;You can tell your father
+that I&#8217;ll help you in the office. I can learn.
+I&#8217;m ready to use a typewriter&mdash;anything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was silent in the face of her naïve expression
+of self-sacrificing love, and after a moment
+she added, hesitatingly: &#8220;I wish I could
+meet your father. Perhaps he&#8217;d come up here
+if you asked him to do so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He seized upon the suggestion. &#8220;By George!
+I believe he would. I don&#8217;t want to go to town.
+I just believe I&#8217;ll wire him that I&#8217;m laid up here
+and can&#8217;t come.&#8221; Then a shade of new trouble
+came over his face. How would the stern,
+methodical old business man regard this slovenly
+ranch and its primitive ways? She felt the question
+in his face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re afraid to have him come,&#8221; she said,
+with the same disconcerting penetration which
+had marked every moment of her interview
+thus far. &#8220;You&#8217;re afraid he wouldn&#8217;t like me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>With almost equal frankness he replied: &#8220;No.
+I think he&#8217;d like <i>you</i>, but this town and the
+people up here would gall him. Order is a religion
+with him. Then he&#8217;s got a vicious slant
+against all this conservation business&mdash;calls it
+tommy-rot. He and your father might lock
+horns first crack out of the box. But I&#8217;ll risk it.
+I&#8217;ll wire him at once.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span></p>
+<p>A knock at the door interrupted him, and Mrs.
+McFarlane&#8217;s voice, filled with new excitement,
+called out: &#8220;Berrie, the District office is on the
+wire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie opened the door and confronted her
+mother, who said: &#8220;Mr. Evingham &#8217;phones that
+the afternoon papers contain an account of a
+fight at Coal City between Settle and one of
+Alec Belden&#8217;s men, and that the District
+Forester is coming down to investigate it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let him come,&#8221; answered Berrie, defiantly.
+&#8220;He can&#8217;t do us any harm. What was the
+row about?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t hear much of it. Your father was
+at the &#8217;phone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane, with the receiver to his ear, was
+saying: &#8220;Don&#8217;t know a thing about it, Mr.
+Evingham. Settle was at the station when I
+left. I didn&#8217;t know he was going down to Coal
+City. No, that&#8217;s a mistake. My daughter was
+never engaged to Alec Belden. Alec Belden
+is the older of the brothers, and is married. I
+can&#8217;t go into that just now. If you come down
+I&#8217;ll explain fully.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He hung up the receiver and slowly turned
+toward his wife and daughter. &#8220;This sure is
+our day of trouble,&#8221; he said, with dejected
+countenance.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it all about?&#8221; asked Berrie.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, it seems that after I left yesterday
+Settle rode down the valley with Belden&#8217;s outfit,
+and they all got to drinking, ending in a row,
+and Tony beat one of Belden&#8217;s men almost to
+death. The sheriff has gone over to get Tony,
+and the Beldens declare they&#8217;re going to railroad
+him. That means we&#8217;ll all be brought into it.
+Belden has seized the moment to prefer charges
+against me for keeping Settle in the service and
+for putting a non-resident on the roll as guard.
+The whelp will dig up everything he can to queer
+me with the office. All that kept him from doing
+it before was Cliff&#8217;s interest in you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He can&#8217;t make any of his charges stick,&#8221;
+declared Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course he can&#8217;t. He knows that. But he
+can bring us all into court. You and Mr. Norcross
+will both be called as witnesses, for it seems
+that Tony was defending your name. The
+papers call it &#8216;a fight for a girl.&#8217; Oh, it&#8217;s a sweet
+mess.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For the first time Berrie betrayed alarm.
+&#8220;What shall we do? I can&#8217;t go on the stand!
+They can&#8217;t make me do that, can they?&#8221; She
+turned to Wayland. &#8220;Now you <i>must</i> go away.
+It is a shame to have you mixed up in such a
+trial.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall not run away and leave you and the
+Supervisor to bear all the burden of this fight.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span></p>
+<p>He anticipated in imagination&mdash;as they all
+did&mdash;some of the consequences of this trial.
+The entire story of the camping trip would be
+dragged in, distorted into a scandal, and flashed
+over the country as a disgraceful episode. The
+country would ring with laughter and coarse
+jest. Berrie&#8217;s testimony would be a feast for
+court-room loafers.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s only one thing to do,&#8221; said McFarlane,
+after a few moments of thought. &#8220;You
+and Berrie and Mrs. McFarlane must get out of
+here before you are subpoenaed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And leave you to fight it out alone?&#8221; exclaimed
+his wife. &#8220;I shall do nothing of the
+kind. Berrie and Mr. Norcross can go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That won&#8217;t do,&#8221; retorted McFarlane, quickly.
+&#8220;That won&#8217;t do at all. You must go with
+them. I can take care of myself. I will not
+have you dragged into this muck-hole. We&#8217;ve
+got to think quick and act quick. There won&#8217;t
+be any delay about their side of the game. I
+don&#8217;t think they&#8217;ll do anything to-day; but
+you&#8217;ve got to fade out of the valley. You all
+get ready and I&#8217;ll have one of the boys hook up
+the surrey as if for a little drive, and you can
+pull out over the old stage-road to Flume and
+catch the narrow-gage morning train for Denver.
+You&#8217;ve been wanting for some time to go
+down the line. Now here&#8217;s a good time to start.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span></p>
+<p>Berrie now argued against running away.
+Her blood was up. She joined her mother.
+&#8220;We won&#8217;t leave you to inherit all this trouble.
+Who will look after the ranch? Who will keep
+house for you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>McFarlane remained firm. &#8220;I&#8217;ll manage.
+Don&#8217;t worry about me. Just get out of reach.
+The more I consider this thing, the more worrisome
+it gets. Suppose Cliff should come back
+to testify?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He won&#8217;t. If he does I&#8217;ll have him arrested
+for trying to kill Wayland,&#8221; retorted Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And make the whole thing worse! No.
+You are all going to cross the range. You can
+start out as if for a little turn round the valley,
+and just naturally keep going. It can&#8217;t do any
+harm, and it may save a nasty time in court.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One would think we were a lot of criminals,&#8221;
+remarked Wayland.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the way you&#8217;ll be treated,&#8221; retorted
+McFarlane. &#8220;Belden has retained old Whitby,
+the foulest old brute in the business, and he&#8217;ll
+bring you all into it if he can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But running away from it will not prevent
+talk,&#8221; argued his wife.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not entirely; but talk and testimony are two
+different things. Suppose they call daughter to
+the stand? Do you want her cross-examined as
+to what basis there was for this gossip? They
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
+know something of Cliff&#8217;s being let out, and that
+will inflame them. He may be at the mill this
+minute.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I guess you&#8217;re right,&#8221; said Norcross, sadly.
+&#8220;Our delightful excursion into the forest has led
+us into a predicament from which there is only
+one way of escape, and that is flight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Back of all this talk, this argument, there remained
+still unanswered the most vital, most important
+question: &#8220;Shall I speak of marriage
+at this time? Would it be a source of comfort
+to them as well as a joy to her?&#8221; At the moment
+he was ready to speak, for he felt himself to be
+the direct cause of all their embarrassment.
+But closer thought made it clear that a hasty
+ceremony would only be considered a cloak to
+cover something illicit. &#8220;I&#8217;ll leave it to the
+future,&#8221; he decided.</p>
+<p>McFarlane was again called to the telephone.
+Landon, with characteristic brevity, conveyed to
+him the fact that Mrs. Belden was at home and
+busily &#8217;phoning scandalous stories about the
+country. &#8220;If you don&#8217;t stop her she&#8217;s going to
+poison every ear in the valley,&#8221; ended the ranger.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d think they&#8217;d all know my daughter
+well enough not to believe anything Mrs. Belden
+says,&#8221; responded McFarlane, bitterly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;All the boys are ready to do what Tony did.
+But nobody can stop this old fool&#8217;s mouth but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+you. Cliff has disappeared, and that adds to
+the excitement.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank the boys for me,&#8221; said McFarlane,
+&#8220;and tell them not to fight. Tell &#8217;em to keep
+cool. It will all be cleared up soon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As McFarlane went out to order the horses
+hooked up, Wayland followed him as far as the
+bars. &#8220;I&#8217;m conscience-smitten over this thing,
+Supervisor, for I am aware that I am the cause
+of all your trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t let that worry you,&#8221; responded the
+older man. But he spoke with effort. &#8220;It can&#8217;t
+be helped. It was all unavoidable.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The most appalling thing to me is the fact
+that not even your daughter&#8217;s popularity can
+neutralize the gossip of a woman like Mrs. Belden.
+My being an outsider counts against Berrie,
+and I&#8217;m ready to do anything&mdash;anything,&#8221;
+he repeated, earnestly. &#8220;I love your daughter,
+Mr. McFarlane, and I&#8217;m ready to marry her at
+once if you think best. She&#8217;s a noble girl, and
+I cannot bear to be the cause of her calumniation.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was mist in the Supervisor&#8217;s eyes as
+he turned them on the young man. &#8220;I&#8217;m right
+glad to hear you say that, my boy.&#8221; He reached
+out his hand, and Wayland took it. &#8220;I knew
+you&#8217;d say the word when the time came. I
+didn&#8217;t know how strongly she felt toward you till
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
+to-day. I knew she liked you, of course, for she
+said so, but I didn&#8217;t know that she had plum set
+her heart on you. I didn&#8217;t expect her to marry
+a city man; but&mdash;I like you and&mdash;well, she&#8217;s the
+doctor! What suits her suits me. Don&#8217;t you
+be afraid of her not meeting all comers.&#8221; He
+went on after a pause, &#8220;She&#8217;s never seen much
+of city life, but she&#8217;ll hold her own anywhere,
+you can gamble on that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She has wonderful adaptability, I know,&#8221;
+answered Wayland, slowly. &#8220;But I don&#8217;t like
+to take her away from here&mdash;from you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you hadn&#8217;t come she would have married
+Cliff&mdash;and what kind of a life would she have
+led with him?&#8221; demanded McFarlane. &#8220;I knew
+Cliff was rough, but I couldn&#8217;t convince her that
+he was cheap. I live only for her happiness, my
+boy, and, though I know you will take her away
+from me, I believe you can make her happy, and
+so&mdash;I give her over to you. As to time and
+place, arrange that&mdash;with&mdash;her mother.&#8221; He
+turned and walked away, unable to utter another
+word.</p>
+<p>Wayland&#8217;s throat was aching also, and he went
+back into the house with a sense of responsibility
+which exalted him into sturdier manhood.</p>
+<p>Berea met him in a pretty gown, a dress he
+had never seen her wear, a costume which transformed
+her into something entirely feminine.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span></p>
+<p>She seemed to have put away the self-reliant
+manner of the trail, and in its stead presented
+the lambent gaze, the tremulous lips of the bride.
+As he looked at her thus transfigured his heart
+cast out its hesitancy and he entered upon his
+new adventure without further question or
+regret.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XV_A_MATTER_OF_MILLINERY' id='XV_A_MATTER_OF_MILLINERY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+<h2>XV</h2>
+<h3>A MATTER OF MILLINERY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was three o&#8217;clock of a fine, clear, golden
+afternoon as they said good-by to McFarlane
+and started eastward, as if for a little drive.
+Berrie held the reins in spite of Wayland&#8217;s protestations.
+&#8220;These bronchos are only about half
+busted,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They need watching. I
+know them better than you do.&#8221; Therefore he
+submitted, well knowing that she was entirely
+competent and fully informed.</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane, while looking back at her
+husband, sadly exclaimed: &#8220;I feel like a coward
+running away like this.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Forget it, mother,&#8221; commanded her daughter,
+cheerily. &#8220;Just imagine we&#8217;re off for a short
+vacation. I&#8217;m for going clear through to Chicago.
+So long as we <i>must</i> go, let&#8217;s go whooping. Father&#8217;s
+better off without us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her voice was gay, her eyes shining, and Wayland
+saw her as she had been that first day in
+the coach&mdash;the care-free, laughing girl. The
+trouble they were fleeing from was less real to
+her than the happiness toward which she rode.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span></p>
+<p>Her hand on the reins, her foot on the brake,
+brought back her confidence; but Wayland did
+not feel so sure of his part in the adventure.
+She seemed so unalterably a part of this life,
+so fitted to this landscape, that the thought of
+transplanting her to the East brought uneasiness
+and question. Could such a creature of the
+open air be content with the walls of a city?</p>
+<p>For several miles the road ran over the level
+floor of the valley, and she urged the team to full
+speed. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to meet anybody if I
+can help it. Once we reach the old stage route
+the chances of being scouted are few. Nobody
+uses that road since the broad-gauge reached
+Cragg&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane could not rid herself of the
+resentment with which she suffered this enforced
+departure; but she had small opportunity to
+protest, for the wagon bumped and clattered
+over the stony stretches with a motion which
+confused as well as silenced her. It was all so
+humiliating, so unlike the position which she had
+imagined herself to have attained in the eyes of
+her neighbors. Furthermore, she was going
+away without a trunk, with only one small bag
+for herself and Berrie&mdash;running away like a
+criminal from an intangible foe. However, she
+was somewhat comforted by the gaiety of the
+young people before her. They were indeed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+jocund as jaybirds. With the resiliency of youth
+they had accepted the situation, and were making
+the best of it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here comes somebody,&#8221; called Berrie, pulling
+her ponies to a walk. &#8220;Throw a blanket over
+that valise.&#8221; She was chuckling as if it were all
+a good joke. &#8220;It&#8217;s old Jake Proudfoot. I can
+smell him. Now hang on. I&#8217;m going to pass
+him on the jump.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland, who was riding with his hat in his
+hand because he could not make it cover his
+bump, held it up as if to keep the wind from his
+face, and so defeated the round-eyed, owl-like
+stare of the inquisitive rancher, who brought his
+team to a full stop in order to peer after them,
+muttering in a stupor of resentment and surprise.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll worry himself sick over us,&#8221; predicted
+Berrie. &#8220;He&#8217;ll wonder where we&#8217;re going and
+what was under that blanket till the end of summer.
+He is as curious as a fool hen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A few minutes more and they were at the fork
+in the way, and, leaving the trail to Cragg&#8217;s, the
+girl pulled into the grass-grown, less-traveled
+trail to the south, which entered the timber at
+this point and began to climb with steady grade.
+Letting the reins fall slack, she turned to her
+mother with reassuring words. &#8220;There! Now
+we&#8217;re safe. We won&#8217;t meet anybody on this
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
+road except possibly a mover&#8217;s outfit. We&#8217;re
+in the forest again,&#8221; she added.</p>
+<p>For two hours they crawled slowly upward,
+with a roaring stream on one side and the pine-covered
+slopes on the other. Jays and camp-birds
+called from the trees. Water-robins fluttered
+from rock to rock in the foaming flood.
+Squirrels and minute chipmunks raced across
+the fallen tree-trunks or clattered from great
+boulders, and in the peace and order and beauty
+of the forest they all recovered a serener outlook
+on the noisome tumult they were leaving behind
+them. Invisible as well as inaudible, the serpent
+of slander lost its terror.</p>
+<p>Once, as they paused to rest the horses, Wayland
+said: &#8220;It is hard to realize that down in
+that ethereal valley people like old Jake and Mrs.
+Belden have their dwelling-place.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This moved Mrs. McFarlane to admit that it
+might all turn out a blessing in disguise. &#8220;Mr.
+McFarlane may resign and move to Denver, as
+I&#8217;ve long wanted him to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish he would,&#8221; exclaimed Berrie, fervently.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s time you had a rest. Daddy will
+hate to quit under fire, but he&#8217;d better do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Peak by peak the Bear Tooth Range rose behind
+them, while before them the smooth, grassy
+slopes of the pass told that they were nearing
+timber-line. The air was chill, the sun was hidden
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
+by old Solidor, and the stream had diminished
+to a silent rill winding among sear grass
+and yellowed willows. The valley behind them
+was vague with mist. The southern boundary
+of the forest was in sight.</p>
+<p>At last the topmost looming crags of the Continental
+Divide cut the sky-line, and then in the
+smooth hollow between two rounded grassy summits
+Berrie halted, and they all silently contemplated
+the two worlds. To the west and
+north lay an endless spread of mountains, wave
+on wave, snow-lined, savage, sullen in the dying
+light; while to the east and southeast the foot-hills
+faded into the plain, whose dim cities, insubstantial
+as flecks in a veil of violet mist,
+were hardly distinguishable without the aid of
+glasses.</p>
+<p>To the girl there was something splendid,
+something heroical in that majestic, menacing
+landscape to the west. In one of its folds she
+had begun her life. In another she had grown
+to womanhood and self-confident power. The
+rough men, the coarse, ungainly women of that
+land seemed less hateful now that she was leaving
+them, perhaps forever, and a confused memory
+of the many splendid dawns and purple sunsets
+she had loved filled her thought.</p>
+<p>Wayland, divining some part of what was moving
+in her mind, cheerily remarked, &#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+a splendid place for a summer vacation, but a
+stern place in winter-time, and for a lifelong residence
+it is not inspiring.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane agreed with him in this estimate.
+&#8220;It <i>is</i> terribly lonesome in there at times.
+I&#8217;ve had enough of it. I&#8217;m ready for the comforts
+of civilization.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie turned in her seat, and was about to
+take up the reins when Wayland asserted himself.
+&#8220;Wait a moment. Here&#8217;s where my dominion
+begins. Here&#8217;s where you change seats
+with me. I am the driver now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with questioning, smiling
+glance. &#8220;Can you drive? It&#8217;s all the way
+down-hill&mdash;and steep?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I can&#8217;t I&#8217;ll ask your aid. I&#8217;m old enough
+to remember the family carriage. I&#8217;ve even
+driven a four-in-hand.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She surrendered her seat doubtfully, and
+smiled to see him take up the reins as if he were
+starting a four-horse coach. He proved adequate
+and careful, and she was proud of him as,
+with foot on the brake and the bronchos well
+in hand, he swung down the long looping road
+to the railway. She was pleased, too, by his
+care of the weary animals, easing them down
+the steepest slopes and sending them along on
+the comparatively level spots.</p>
+<p>Their descent was rapid, but it was long after
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+dark before they reached Flume, which lay up
+the valley to the right. It was a poor little
+decaying mining-town set against the hillside,
+and had but one hotel, a sun-warped and sagging
+pine building just above the station.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not much like the Profile House,&#8221; said Wayland,
+as he drew up to the porch. &#8220;But I see
+no choice.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There isn&#8217;t any,&#8221; Berrie assured him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, now,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;I am in command
+of this expedition. From this on I lead this outfit.
+When it comes to hotels, railways, and the
+like o&#8217; that, I&#8217;m head ranger.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane, tired, hungry, and a little
+dismayed, accepted his control gladly; but Berrie
+could not at once slip aside her responsibility.
+&#8220;Tell the hostler&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not a word!&#8221; commanded Norcross; and the
+girl with a smile submitted to his guidance, and
+thereafter his efficiency, his self-possession, his
+tact delighted her. He persuaded the sullen
+landlady to get them supper. He secured the
+best rooms in the house, and arranged for the
+care of the team, and when they were all seated
+around the dim, fly-specked oil-lamp at the end
+of the crumby dining-room table he discovered
+such a gay and confident mien that the women
+looked at each other in surprise.</p>
+<p>Berrie was correspondingly less masculine. In
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+drawing off her buckskin driving-gloves she had
+put away the cowgirl, and was silent, a little
+sad even, in the midst of her enjoyment of his
+dictatorship. And when he said, &#8220;If my father
+reaches Denver in time I want you to meet him,&#8221;
+she looked the dismay she felt.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do it&mdash;but I&#8217;m scared of him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t be. I&#8217;ll see him first and draw
+his fire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane interposed. &#8220;We must do a
+little shopping first. We can&#8217;t meet your father
+as we are.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well. I&#8217;ll go with you if you&#8217;ll let me.
+I&#8217;m a great little shopper. I have infallible
+taste, so my sisters say. If it&#8217;s a case of buying
+new hats, for instance, I&#8217;m the final authority
+with them.&#8221; This amused Berrie, but her
+mother took it seriously.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course, I&#8217;m anxious to have my daughter
+make the best possible impression.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well. It is arranged. We get in, I
+find, about noon. We&#8217;ll go straight to the biggest
+shop in town. If we work with speed we&#8217;ll
+be able to lunch with my father. He&#8217;ll be at the
+Palmer House at one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie said nothing, either in acceptance or
+rejection of his plan. Her mind was concerned
+with new conceptions, new relationships, and
+when in the hall he took her face between his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span>
+hands and said, &#8220;Cheer up! All is not lost,&#8221; she
+put her arms about his neck and laid her cheek
+against his breast to hide her tears. &#8220;Oh, Wayland!
+I&#8217;m such an idiot in the city. I&#8217;m afraid
+your father will despise me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>What he said was not very cogent, and not in
+the least literary, but it was reassuring and lover-like,
+and when he turned her over to her mother
+she was composed, though unwontedly grave.</p>
+<p>She woke to a new life next morning&mdash;a life
+of compliance, of following, of dependence upon
+the judgment of another. She stood in silence
+while her lover paid the bills, bought the tickets,
+and telegraphed their coming to his father. She
+acquiesced when he prevented her mother from
+telephoning to the ranch. She complied when
+he countermanded her order to have the team
+sent back at once. His judgment ruled, and she
+enjoyed her sudden freedom from responsibility.
+It was novel, and it was very sweet to think that
+she was being cared for as she had cared for and
+shielded him in the world of the trail.</p>
+<p>In the little railway-coach, which held a score
+of passengers, she found herself among some
+Eastern travelers who had taken the trip up
+the Valley of the Flume in the full belief that
+they were piercing the heart of the Rocky Mountains!
+It amused Wayland almost as much as
+it amused Berrie when one man said to his wife:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;m glad we&#8217;ve seen the Rockies.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He really believes it!&#8221; exclaimed Norcross.</p>
+<p>After an hour&#8217;s ride Wayland tactfully withdrew,
+leaving mother and daughter to discuss
+clothes undisturbed by his presence.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must look our best, honey,&#8221; said Mrs.
+McFarlane. &#8220;We will go right to Mme. Crosby
+at Battle&#8217;s, and she&#8217;ll fit us out. I wish we had
+more time; but we haven&#8217;t, so we must do the
+best we can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want Wayland to choose my hat and traveling-suit,&#8221;
+replied Berrie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course. But you&#8217;ve got to have a lot
+of other things besides.&#8221; And they bent to the
+joyous work of making out a list of goods to be
+purchased as soon as they reached Chicago.</p>
+<p>Wayland came back with a Denver paper in
+his hand and a look of disgust on his face. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+all in here&mdash;at least, the outlines of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie took the journal, and there read the
+details of Settle&#8217;s assault upon the foreman.
+&#8220;The fight arose from a remark concerning the
+Forest Supervisor&#8217;s daughter. Ranger Settle resented
+the gossip, and fell upon the other man,
+beating him with the butt of his revolver.
+Friends of the foreman claim that the ranger is
+a drunken bully, and should have been discharged
+long ago. The Supervisor for some mysterious
+reason retains this man, although he is an incompetent.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+It is also claimed that McFarlane put
+a man on the roll without examination.&#8221; The
+Supervisor was the protagonist of the play,
+which was plainly political. The attack upon
+him was bitter and unjust, and Mrs. McFarlane
+again declared her intention of returning to help
+him in his fight. However, Wayland again
+proved to her that her presence would only embarrass
+the Supervisor. &#8220;You would not aid
+him in the slightest degree. Nash and Landon
+are with him, and will refute all these charges.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This newspaper story took the light out of
+their day and the smile from Berrie&#8217;s lips, and
+the women entered the city silent and distressed
+in spite of the efforts of their young guide. The
+nearer the girl came to the ordeal of facing the
+elder Norcross, the more she feared the outcome;
+but Wayland kept his air of easy confidence, and
+drove them directly to the shopping center,
+believing that under the influence of hats and
+gloves they would regain their customary cheer.</p>
+<p>In this he was largely justified. They had a
+delightful hour trying on millinery and coats and
+gloves. The forewoman, who knew Mrs. McFarlane,
+gladly accepted her commission, and, while
+suspecting the tender relationship between the
+girl and the man, she was tactful enough to conceal
+her suspicion. &#8220;The gentleman is right;
+you carry simple things best,&#8221; she remarked to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+Berrie, thus showing her own good judgment.
+&#8220;Smartly tailored gray or blue suits are your
+style.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Silent, blushing, tousled by the hands of her
+decorators, Berrie permitted hats to be perched
+on her head and jackets buttoned and unbuttoned
+about her shoulders till she felt like a worn
+clothes-horse. Wayland beamed with delight,
+but she was far less satisfied than he; and when
+at last selection was made, she still had her
+doubts, not of the clothes, but of her ability to
+wear them. They seemed so alien to her, so
+restrictive and enslaving.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re an easy fitter,&#8221; said the saleswoman.
+&#8220;But&#8221;&mdash;here she lowered her voice&mdash;&#8220;you need
+a new corset. This old one is out of date. Nobody
+is wearing hips now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thereupon Berrie meekly permitted herself to
+be led away to a torture-room. Wayland waited
+patiently, and when she reappeared all traces of
+Bear Tooth Forest had vanished. In a neat
+tailored suit and a very &#8220;chic&#8221; hat, with shoes,
+gloves, and stockings to match, she was so transformed,
+so charmingly girlish in her self-conscious
+glory, that he was tempted to embrace
+her in the presence of the saleswoman. But he
+didn&#8217;t. He merely said: &#8220;I see the governor&#8217;s
+finish! Let&#8217;s go to lunch. You are stunning!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know myself,&#8221; responded Berrie.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+&#8220;The only thing that feels natural is my hand.
+They cinched me so tight I can&#8217;t eat a thing,
+and my shoes hurt.&#8221; She laughed as she said
+this, for her use of the vernacular was conscious.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m a fraud. Your father will spot my brand
+first shot. Look at my face&mdash;red as a saddle!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t let that trouble you. This is the time
+of year when tan is fashionable. Don&#8217;t you be
+afraid of the governor. Just smile at him, give
+him your grip, and he&#8217;ll melt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m the one to melt. I&#8217;m beginning now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know how you feel, but you&#8217;ll get used to
+the conventional boiler-plate and all the rest of
+it. We all groan and growl when we come back
+to it each autumn; but it&#8217;s a part of being civilized,
+and we submit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding his confident advice, Wayland
+led the two silent and inwardly dismayed
+women into the showy café of the hotel with
+some degree of personal apprehension concerning
+the approaching interview with his father.
+Of course, he did not permit this to appear in
+the slightest degree. On the contrary, he gaily
+ordered a choice lunch, and did his best to keep
+his companions from sinking into deeper depression.</p>
+<p>It pleased him to observe the admiring glances
+which were turned upon Berrie, whose hat became
+her mightily, and, leaning over, he said in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span>
+a low voice to Mrs. McFarlane: &#8220;Who is the
+lovely young lady opposite? Won&#8217;t you introduce
+me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>This rejoiced the mother almost as much as
+it pleased the daughter, and she answered, &#8220;She
+looks like one of the Radburns of Lexington,
+but I think she&#8217;s from Louisville.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This little play being over, he said, &#8220;Now,
+while our order is coming I&#8217;ll run out to the
+desk and see if the governor has come in or not.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVI_THE_PRIVATE_CAR' id='XVI_THE_PRIVATE_CAR'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span>
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+<h3>THE PRIVATE CAR</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>After he went away Berrie turned to her
+mother with a look in which humor and
+awe were blent. &#8220;Am I dreaming, mother, or
+am I actually sitting here in the city? My head
+is dizzy with it all.&#8221; Then, without waiting for
+an answer, she fervently added: &#8220;Isn&#8217;t he fine!
+I&#8217;m the tenderfoot now. I hope his father won&#8217;t
+despise me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With justifiable pride in her child, the mother
+replied: &#8220;He can&#8217;t help liking you, honey. You
+look exactly like your grandmother at this
+moment. Meet Mr. Norcross in her spirit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll try; but I feel like a woodchuck out of
+his hole.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane continued: &#8220;I&#8217;m glad we
+were forced out of the valley. You might have
+been shut in there all your life as I have been
+with your father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t blame father, do you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not entirely. And yet he always was rather
+easy-going, and you know how untidy the ranch
+is. He&#8217;s always been kindness and sympathy
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span>
+itself; but his lack of order is a cross. Perhaps
+now he will resign, rent the ranch, and move
+over here. I should like to live in the city for
+a while, and I&#8217;d like to travel a little.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t it be fine if you could! You could
+live at this hotel if you wanted to. Yes, you&#8217;re
+right. You need a rest from the ranch and
+dish-washing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland returned with an increase of tension
+in his face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s here! I&#8217;ve sent word saying, &#8216;I am
+lunching in the café with ladies.&#8217; I think he&#8217;ll
+come round. But don&#8217;t be afraid of him. He&#8217;s
+a good deal rougher on the outside than he is at
+heart. Of course, he&#8217;s a bluff old business man,
+and not at all pretty, and he&#8217;ll transfix you with
+a kind of estimating glare as if you were a tree;
+but he&#8217;s actually very easy to manage if you
+know how to handle him. Now, I&#8217;m not going
+to try to explain everything to him at the beginning.
+I&#8217;m going to introduce him to you in
+a casual kind of way and give him time to take
+to you both. He forms his likes and dislikes
+very quickly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What if he don&#8217;t like us?&#8221; inquired Berrie,
+with troubled brow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He can&#8217;t help it.&#8221; His tone was so positive
+that her eyes misted with happiness. &#8220;But here
+comes our food. I hope you aren&#8217;t too nervous
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+to eat. Here is where I shine as provider. This
+is the kind of camp fare I can recommend.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie&#8217;s healthy appetite rose above her apprehension,
+and she ate with the keen enjoyment
+of a child, and her mother said, &#8220;It surely is
+a treat to get a chance at somebody else&#8217;s
+cooking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you slander your home fare,&#8221; warned
+Wayland. &#8220;It&#8217;s as good as this, only different.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He sat where he could watch the door, and
+despite his jocund pose his eyes expressed growing
+impatience and some anxiety. They were
+all well into their dessert before he called out:
+&#8220;Here he is!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane could not see the new-comer
+from where she sat, but Berrie rose in great
+excitement as a heavy-set, full-faced man with
+short, gray mustache and high, smooth brow
+entered the room. He did not smile as he
+greeted his son, and his penetrating glance questioned
+even before he spoke. He seemed to silently
+ask: &#8220;Well, what&#8217;s all this? How do you
+happen to be here? Who are these women?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland said: &#8220;Mrs. McFarlane, this is my
+father. Father, this is Miss Berea McFarlane,
+of Bear Tooth Springs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The elder Norcross shook hands with Mrs.
+McFarlane politely, coldly; but he betrayed
+surprise as Berea took his fingers in her grip.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+At his son&#8217;s solicitation he accepted a seat opposite
+Berea, but refused dessert.</p>
+<p>Wayland explained: &#8220;Mrs. McFarlane and
+her daughter quite saved my life over in the
+valley. Their ranch is the best health resort
+in Colorado.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your complexion indicates that,&#8221; his father
+responded, dryly. &#8220;You look something the
+way a man of your age ought to look. I needn&#8217;t
+ask how you&#8217;re feeling.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t, but you may. I&#8217;m feeling like
+a new fiddle&mdash;barring a bruise at the back of my
+head, which makes a &#8216;hard hat&#8217; a burden. I may
+as well tell you first off that Mrs. McFarlane
+is the wife of the Forest Supervisor at Bear
+Tooth, and Miss Berea is the able assistant of
+her father. We are all rank conservationists.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross, Senior, examined Berrie precisely as
+if his eyes were a couple of X-ray tubes, and as
+she flushed under his slow scrutiny he said:
+&#8220;I was not expecting to find the Forest Service
+in such hands.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland laughed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope you didn&#8217;t mash his fingers, Berrie.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She smiled guiltily. &#8220;I&#8217;m afraid I did. I
+hope I didn&#8217;t hurt you&mdash;sometimes I forget.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Norcross, Senior, was waking up. &#8220;You have
+a most extraordinary grip. What did it? Piano
+practice?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span></p>
+<p>Wayland grinned. &#8220;Piano! No&mdash;the cinch.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The what?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland explained. &#8220;Miss McFarlane was
+brought up on a ranch. She can rope and tie
+a steer, saddle her own horse, pack an outfit, and
+all the rest of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! Kind of cowgirl, eh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mrs. McFarlane, eager to put Berrie&#8217;s better
+part forward, explained: &#8220;She&#8217;s our only child,
+Mr. Norcross, and as such has been a constant
+companion to her father. She&#8217;s not all cow-hand.
+She&#8217;s been to school, and she can cook
+and sew as well.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He looked from one to the other. &#8220;Neither
+of you correspond exactly to my notions of a
+forester&#8217;s wife and daughter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. McFarlane comes from an old Kentucky
+family, father. Her grandfather helped to found
+a college down there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland&#8217;s anxious desire to create a favorable
+impression of the women did not escape the
+lumberman, but his face remained quite expressionless
+as he replied:</p>
+<p>&#8220;If the life of a cow-hand would give you the
+vigor this young lady appears to possess, I&#8217;m
+not sure but you&#8217;d better stick to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland and the two women exchanged
+glances of relief.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not tell him now?&#8221; they seemed to ask.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
+But he said: &#8220;There&#8217;s a long story to tell before
+we decide on my career. Let&#8217;s finish our lunch.
+How is mother, and how are the girls?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Once, in the midst of a lame pursuit of other
+topics, the elder Norcross again fixed his eyes
+on Berea, saying: &#8220;I wish my girls had your
+weight and color.&#8221; He paused a moment, then
+resumed with weary infliction: &#8220;Mrs. Norcross
+has always been delicate, and all her children&mdash;even
+her son&mdash;take after her. I&#8217;ve maintained
+a private and very expensive hospital for nearly
+thirty years.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This regretful note in his father&#8217;s voice gave
+Wayland confidence. His spirits rose.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come, let&#8217;s adjourn to the parlor and talk
+things over at our ease.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They all followed him, and after showing the
+mother and daughter to their seats near a window
+he drew his father into a corner, and in
+rapid undertone related the story of his first
+meeting with Berrie, of his trouble with young
+Belden, of his camping trip, minutely describing
+the encounter on the mountainside, and ended
+by saying, with manly directness: &#8220;I would be
+up there in the mountains in a box if Berrie had
+not intervened. She&#8217;s a noble girl, father, and
+is foolish enough to like me, and I&#8217;m going to
+marry her and try to make her happy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The old lumberman, who had listened intently
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span>
+all through this impassioned story, displayed no
+sign of surprise at its closing declaration; but
+his eyes explored his son&#8217;s soul with calm abstraction.
+&#8220;Send her over to me,&#8221; he said, at
+last. &#8220;Marriage is a serious matter. I want to
+talk with her&mdash;alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland went back to the women with an
+air of victory. &#8220;He wants to see you, Berrie.
+He&#8217;s mellowing. Don&#8217;t be afraid of him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She might have resented the father&#8217;s lack of
+gallantry; but she did not. On the contrary,
+she rose and walked resolutely over to where he
+sat, quite ready to defend herself. He did not
+rise to meet her, but she did not count that
+against him, for there was nothing essentially
+rude in his manner. He was merely her elder,
+and inert.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sit down,&#8221; he said, not unkindly. &#8220;I want
+to have <i>you</i> tell me about my son. He has been
+telling me all about you. Now let&#8217;s have your
+side of the story.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She took a seat and faced him with eyes as
+steady as his own. &#8220;Where shall I begin?&#8221; she
+bluntly challenged.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He wants to marry you. Now, it seems to
+me that seven weeks is very short acquaintance
+for a decision like that. Are you sure you want
+him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir; I am.&#8221; Her answer was most decided.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span></p>
+<p>His voice was slightly cynical as he went on.
+&#8220;But you were tolerably sure about that other
+fellow&mdash;that rancher with the fancy name&mdash;weren&#8217;t
+you?&#8221; She flushed at this, but waited
+for him to go on. &#8220;Don&#8217;t you think it possible
+that your fancy for Wayland is also temporary?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir!&#8221; she bravely declared. &#8220;I never felt
+toward any one the way I do toward Wayland.
+He&#8217;s different. I shall <i>never</i> change toward
+him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her tone, her expression of eyes stopped this
+line of inquiry. He took up another. &#8220;Now,
+my dear young lady, I am a business man as well
+as a father, and the marriage of my son is a
+weighty matter. He is my main dependence.
+I am hoping to have him take up and carry on
+my business. To be quite candid, I didn&#8217;t expect
+him to select his wife from a Colorado ranch.
+I considered him out of the danger-zone. I have
+always understood that women were scarce in
+the mountains. Now don&#8217;t misunderstand me.
+I&#8217;m not one of those fools who are always trying
+to marry their sons and daughters into the ranks
+of the idle rich. I don&#8217;t care a hang about
+social position, and I&#8217;ve got money enough for
+my son and my son&#8217;s wife. But he&#8217;s all the boy
+I have, and I don&#8217;t want him to make a mistake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Neither do I,&#8221; she answered, simply, her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span>
+eyes suffused with tears. &#8220;If I thought he would
+be sorry&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>He interrupted again. &#8220;Oh, you can&#8217;t tell
+that now. Any marriage is a risk. I don&#8217;t say
+he&#8217;s making a mistake in selecting you. You
+may be just the woman he needs. Only I want
+to be consulted. I want to know more about
+you. He tells me you have taken an active
+part in the management of the ranch and the
+forest. Is that true?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always worked with my father&mdash;yes,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You like that kind of life?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know much about any other kind.
+Yes, I like it. But I&#8217;ve had enough of it. I&#8217;m
+willing to change.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, how about city life&mdash;housekeeping and
+all that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So long as I am with Wayland I sha&#8216;n&#8217;t
+mind what I do or where I live.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At the same time you figure he&#8217;s going to
+have a large income, I suppose? He&#8217;s told you
+of his rich father, hasn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Berrie&#8217;s tone was a shade resentful of his insinuation.
+&#8220;He has never said much about his
+family one way or another. He only said you
+wanted him to go into business in Chicago, and
+that he wanted to do something else. Of course,
+I could see by his ways and the clothes he wore
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
+that he&#8217;d been brought up in what we&#8217;d call
+luxury, but we never inquired into his affairs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you didn&#8217;t care?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, not that, exactly. But money don&#8217;t
+count for as much with us in the valley as it
+does in the East. Wayland seemed so kind of
+sick and lonesome, and I felt sorry for him the
+first time I saw him. I felt like mothering him.
+And then his way of talking, of looking at things
+was so new and beautiful to me I couldn&#8217;t help
+caring for him. I had never met any one like
+him. I thought he was a &#8216;lunger&#8217;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A what?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A consumptive; that is, I did at first. And
+it bothered me. It seemed terrible that any
+one so fine should be condemned like that&mdash;and
+so&mdash;I did all I could to help him, to make him
+happy. I thought he hadn&#8217;t long to live.
+Everything he said and did was wonderful to
+me, like poetry and music. And then when he
+began to grow stronger and I saw that he was
+going to get well, and Cliff went on the rampage
+and showed the yellow streak, and I gave him
+back his ring&mdash;I didn&#8217;t know even then how
+much Wayland meant to me. But on our trip
+over the Range I understood. He meant everything
+to me. He made Cliff seem like a savage,
+and I wanted him to know it. I&#8217;m not ashamed
+of loving him. I want to make him happy, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+if he wishes me to be his wife I&#8217;ll go anywhere
+he says&mdash;only I think he should stay out here
+till he gets entirely well.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The old man&#8217;s eyes softened during her plea,
+and at its close a slight smile moved the corners
+of his mouth. &#8220;You&#8217;ve thought it all out, I see.
+Your mind is clear and your conscience easy.
+Well, I like your spirit. I guess he&#8217;s right. The
+decision is up to you. But if he takes you and
+stays in Colorado he can&#8217;t expect me to share
+the profits of my business with him, can he?
+He&#8217;ll have to make his own way.&#8221; He rose and
+held out his hand. &#8220;However, I&#8217;m persuaded
+he&#8217;s in good hands.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She took his hand, not knowing just what to
+reply. He examined her fingers with intent
+gaze.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know any woman could have such
+a grip.&#8221; He thoughtfully took her biceps in his
+left hand. &#8220;You are magnificent.&#8221; Then, in
+ironical protest, he added: &#8220;Good God, no! I
+can&#8217;t have you come into my family. You&#8217;d
+make caricatures of my wife and daughters.
+Are all the girls out in the valley like you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed. &#8220;No. Most of them pride
+themselves on <i>not</i> being horsewomen. Mighty
+few of &#8217;em ever ride a horse. I&#8217;m a kind of a
+tomboy to them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry to hear that. It&#8217;s the same old
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+story. I suppose they&#8217;d all like to live in the
+city and wear low-necked gowns and high-heeled
+shoes. No, I can&#8217;t consent to your marriage
+with my son. I must save you from corruption.
+Go back to the ranch. I can see
+already signs of your deterioration. Except for
+your color and that grip you already look like
+upper Broadway. The next thing will be a slit
+skirt and a diamond garter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flushed redly, conscious of her new corset,
+her silk stockings, and her pinching shoes. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+all on the outside,&#8221; she declared. &#8220;Under this
+toggery I&#8217;m the same old trailer. It don&#8217;t take
+long to get rid of these things. I&#8217;m just playing
+a part to-day&mdash;for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He smiled and dropped her hand. &#8220;No, no.
+You&#8217;ve said good-by to the cinch, I can see that.
+You&#8217;re on the road to opera boxes and limousines.
+What is your plan? What would you advise
+Wayland to do if you knew I was hard against
+his marrying you? Come, now, I can see you&#8217;re
+a clear-sighted individual. What can he do
+to earn a living? How will you live without
+my aid? Have you figured on these
+things?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; I&#8217;m going to ask my father to buy a
+ranch near here, where mother can have more
+of the comforts of life, and where we can all
+live together till Wayland is able to stand city
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span>
+life again. Then, if you want him to go East,
+I will go with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They had moved slowly back toward the
+others, and as Wayland came to meet them
+Norcross said, with dry humor: &#8220;I admire your
+lady of the cinch hand. She seems to be a person
+of singular good nature and most uncommon
+shrewd&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Wayland, interrupting, caught at his father&#8217;s
+hand and wrung it frenziedly. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here! Here!&#8221; A look of pain covered the
+father&#8217;s face. &#8220;That&#8217;s the fist she put in the
+press.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They all laughed at his joke, and then he
+gravely resumed. &#8220;I say I admire her, but it&#8217;s
+a shame to ask such a girl to marry an invalid
+like you. Furthermore, I won&#8217;t have her taken
+East. She&#8217;d bleach out and lose that grip in a
+year. I won&#8217;t have her contaminated by the
+city.&#8221; He mused deeply while looking at his
+son. &#8220;Would life on a wheat-ranch accessible
+to this hotel by motor-car be endurable to you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You mean with Berea?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If she&#8217;ll go. Mind you, I don&#8217;t advise her
+to do it!&#8221; he added, interrupting his son&#8217;s outcry.
+&#8220;I think she&#8217;s taking all the chances.&#8221;
+He turned to Mrs. McFarlane. &#8220;I&#8217;m old-fashioned
+in my notions of marriage, Mrs.
+McFarlane. I grew up when women were helpmates,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span>
+such as, I judge, you&#8217;ve been. Of course,
+it&#8217;s all guesswork to me at the moment; but I
+have an impression that my son has fallen into
+an unusual run of luck. As I understand it,
+you&#8217;re all out for a pleasure trip. Now, my
+private car is over in the yards, and I suggest
+you all come along with me to California&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Governor, you&#8217;re a wonder!&#8221; exclaimed Wayland.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll give us time to get better acquainted,
+and if we all like one another just as well when
+we get back&mdash;well, we&#8217;ll buy the best farm in
+the North Platte and&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a cinch we get that ranch,&#8221; interrupted
+Wayland, with a triumphant glance at Berea.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be so sure of it!&#8221; replied the lumberman.
+&#8220;A private car, like a yacht, is a terrible
+test of friendship.&#8221; But his warning held no
+terrors for the young lovers. They had entered
+upon certainties.</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>THE END</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppgen.rb version: 2.18 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Fri Aug 08 16:55:48 -0600 2008 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
+
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Forester's Daughter
+       A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range
+
+Author: Hamlin Garland
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2008 [EBook #26239]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HER FACE SHONE AS SHE CALLED OUT: "WELL, HOW DO YOU
+STACK UP THIS MORNING?" (See page 31)]
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range
+
+By
+HAMLIN GARLAND
+
+Author of
+"The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop"
+"Main-Travelled Roads" Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+New York and London
+MCMXIV
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY HAMLIN GARLAND
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+Published February, 1914
+A-O
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                PAGE
+      I  The Happy Girl                   1
+     II  A Ride In The Rain              19
+    III  Wayland Receives a Warning      46
+     IV  The Supervisor of the Forest    68
+      V  The Golden Pathway              82
+     VI  Storm-Bound                    110
+    VII  The Walk in the Rain           123
+   VIII  The Other Girl                 142
+     IX  Further Perplexities           159
+      X  The Camp on the Pass           173
+     XI  The Death-Grapple              195
+    XII  Berrie's Vigil                 204
+   XIII  The Gossips Awake              223
+    XIV  The Summons                    247
+     XV  A Matter of Millinery          260
+    XVI  The Private Car                274
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+HER FACE SHONE AS SHE CALLED OUT: "WELL, HOW DO YOU
+STACK UP THIS MORNING?"                               Frontispiece
+
+THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD
+AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY                                        6
+
+SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE
+OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS                                       140
+
+THE SLENDER YOUTH WENT DOWN BEFORE THE BIG RANCHER
+AS THOUGH STRUCK BY A CATAPULT                                 195
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
+
+This little story is the outcome of two trips (neither of which was in
+the Bear Tooth Forest) during the years 1909 and 1910. Its main claim on
+the reader's interest will lie, no doubt, in the character of Berea
+McFarlane; but I find myself re-living with keen pleasure the splendid
+drama of wind and cloud and swaying forest which made the expeditions
+memorable.
+
+The golden trail is an actuality for me. The camp on the lake was mine.
+The rain, the snow I met. The prying camp-robbers, the grouse, the
+muskrats, the beaver were my companions. But Berrie was with me only in
+imagination. She is a fiction, born of a momentary, powerful hand-clasp
+of a Western rancher's daughter. The story of Wayland Norcross is fiction
+also. But the McFarlane ranch, the mill, and the lonely ranger-stations
+are closely drawn pictures of realities. Although the stage of my comedy
+is Colorado, I have not held to any one locality. The scene is
+composite.
+
+It was my intention, originally, to write a much longer and more
+important book concerning Supervisor McFarlane, but Berrie took the story
+into her own strong hands and made of it something so intimate and so
+idyllic that I could not bring the more prosaic element into it. It
+remained personal and youthful in spite of my plans, a divergence for
+which, perhaps, most of my readers will be grateful.
+
+As for its title, I had little to do with its selection. My daughter,
+Mary Isabel, aged ten, selected it from among a half-dozen others, and
+for luck I let it stand, although it sounds somewhat like that of a
+paper-bound German romance. For the sub-title my publishers are
+responsible.
+
+Finally, I warn the reader that this is merely the very slender story of
+a young Western girl who, being desired of three strong men, bestows her
+love on a "tourist" whose weakness is at once her allurement and her
+care. The administration problem, the sociologic theme, which was to have
+made the novel worth while, got lost in some way on the low trail and
+never caught up with the lovers. I'm sorry--but so it was!
+
+Chicago, January, 1914.
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER
+
+I
+
+THE HAPPY GIRL
+
+
+The stage line which ran from Williams to Bear Tooth (one of the most
+authentic then to be found in all the West) possessed at least one
+genuine Concord coach, so faded, so saddened, so cracked, and so
+splintered that its passengers entered it under protest, and alighted
+from it with thanksgiving, and yet it must have been built by honorable
+men, for in 190- it still made the run of one hundred and twenty miles
+twice each week without loss of wheel or even so much as moulting a scrap
+of paint.
+
+And yet, whatever it may have been in its youth, it was in its age no
+longer a gay dash of color in the landscape. On the contrary, it fitted
+into the dust-brown and sage-green plain as defensively as a beetle in a
+dusty path. Nevertheless, it was an indispensable part of a very moving
+picture as it crept, creaking and groaning (or it may be it was the
+suffering passenger creaking and groaning), along the hillside.
+
+After leaving the Grande River the road winds up a pretty high divide
+before plunging down into Ute Park, as they call all that region lying
+between the Continental Range on the east and the Bear Tooth plateau on
+the west. It was a big spread of land, and very far from an Eastern man's
+conception of a park. From Dome Peak it seems a plain; but, in fact, when
+clouds shut off the high summits to the west, this "valley" becomes a
+veritable mountain land, a tumbled, lonely country, over which an
+occasional horseman crawls, a minute but persistent insect. It is, to be
+exact, a succession of ridges and ravines, sculptured (in some far-off,
+post-glacial time) by floods of water, covered now, rather sparsely, with
+pinons, cedars, and aspens, a dry, forbidding, but majestic landscape.
+
+In late August the hills become iridescent, opaline with the translucent
+yellow of the aspen, the coral and crimson of the fire-weed, the
+blood-red of huckleberry beds, and the royal purple of the asters, while
+flowing round all, as solvent and neutral setting, lies the gray-green of
+the ever-present and ever-enduring sage-brush. On the loftier heights
+these colors are arranged in most intricate and cunning patterns, with
+nothing hard, nothing flaring in the prospect. All is harmonious and
+restful. It is, moreover, silent, silent as a dream world, and so flooded
+with light that the senses ache with the stress of it.
+
+Through this gorgeous land of mist, of stillness, and of death, a few
+years ago a pale young man (seated beside the driver) rode one summer day
+in a voiceless rapture which made Bill McCoy weary.
+
+"If you'd had as much of this as I have you'd talk of something else," he
+growled, after a half dozen attempts at conversation. Bill wasn't much to
+look at, but he was a good driver and the stranger respected him for it.
+
+Eventually this simple-minded horseman became curious about the slim
+young fellow sitting beside him.
+
+"What you doing out here, anyhow--fishing or just rebuilding a lung?"
+
+"Rebuilding two lungs," answered the tourist.
+
+"Well, this climate will just about put lungs into a coffee-can,"
+retorted Bill, with official loyalty to his country.
+
+To his discerning eye "the tourist" now became "a lunger." "Where do you
+live when you're to home?"
+
+"Connecticut."
+
+"I knew it."
+
+"How did you know it?" The youth seemed really interested to know.
+
+"I drove another fellow up here last fall that dealt out the same kind of
+brogue you do."
+
+This amused the tourist. "You think I have a 'brogue,' do you?"
+
+"I don't think it--I know it!" Bill replied, shortly.
+
+He was prevented at the moment from pursuing this line of inquiry by the
+discovery of a couple of horsemen racing from a distant ranch toward the
+road. It was plain, even to the stranger, that they intended to intercept
+the stage, and Bill plied the lash with sudden vigor.
+
+"I'll give 'em a chase," said he, grimly.
+
+The other appeared a little alarmed, "What are they--bandits?"
+
+"Bandits!" sneered Bill. "Your eyesight is piercing. Them's _girls_."
+
+The traveler apologized. "My eyes aren't very good," he said, hurriedly.
+
+He was, however, quite justified in his mistake, for both riders wore
+wide-rimmed sombreros and rode astride at a furious pace, bandanas
+fluttering, skirts streaming, and one was calling in shrill command, "OH,
+BILL!"
+
+As they neared the gate the driver drew up with a word of surprise. "Why,
+howdy, girls, howdy!" he said, with an assumption of innocence. "Were you
+wishin' fer to speak to me?"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" commanded one of the girls, a round-faced, freckled romp.
+"You know perfectly well that Berrie is going home to-day--we told you
+all about it yesterday."
+
+"Sure thing!" exclaimed Bill. "I'd forgot all about it."
+
+"Like nothin'!" exclaimed the maid. "You've been countin' the hours till
+you got here--I know you."
+
+Meanwhile her companion had slipped from her horse. "Well, good-by,
+Molly, wish I could stay longer."
+
+"Good-by. Run down again."
+
+"I will. You come up."
+
+The young passenger sprang to the ground and politely said: "May I help
+you in?"
+
+Bill stared, the girl smiled, and her companion called: "Be careful,
+Berrie, don't hurt yourself, the wagon might pitch."
+
+The youth, perceiving that he had made another mistake, stammered an
+apology.
+
+The girl perceived his embarrassment and sweetly accepted his hand. "I am
+much obliged, all the same."
+
+Bill shook with malicious laughter. "Out in this country girls are
+warranted to jump clean over a measly little hack like this," he
+explained.
+
+The girl took a seat in the back corner of the dusty vehicle, and Bill
+opened conversation with her by asking what kind of a time she had been
+having "in the East."
+
+"Fine," said she.
+
+"Did ye get as far back as my old town?"
+
+"What town is that, Bill?"
+
+"Oh, come off! You know I'm from Omaha."
+
+"No, I only got as far as South Bend."
+
+The picture which the girl had made as she dashed up to the pasture gate
+(her hat-rim blown away from her brown face and sparkling eyes), united
+with the kindliness in her voice as she accepted his gallant aid, entered
+a deep impression on the tourist's mind; but he did not turn his head to
+look at her--perhaps he feared Bill's elbow quite as much as his
+guffaw--but he listened closely, and by listening learned that she had
+been "East" for several weeks, and also that she was known, and favorably
+known, all along the line, for whenever they met a team or passed a ranch
+some one called out, "Hello, Berrie!" in cordial salute, and the men, old
+and young, were especially pleased to see her.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD
+AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY]
+
+Meanwhile the stage rose and fell over the gigantic swells like a tiny
+boat on a monster sea, while the sun blazed ever more fervently from the
+splendid sky, and the hills glowed with ever-increasing tumult of color.
+Through this land of color, of repose, of romance, the young traveler
+rode, drinking deep of the germless air, feeling that the girl behind him
+was a wondrous part of this wild and unaccountable country.
+
+He had no chance to study her face again till the coach rolled down the
+hill to "Yancy's," where they were to take dinner and change horses.
+
+Yancy's ranch-house stood on the bank of a fine stream which purled--in
+keen defiance of the hot sun--over a gravel bed, so near to the mountain
+snows that their coolness still lingered in the ripples. The house, a
+long, low, log hut, was fenced with antlers of the elk, adorned with
+morning-glory vines, and shaded by lofty cottonwood-trees, and its green
+grass-plat--after the sun-smit hills of the long morning's ride--was very
+grateful to the Eastern man's eyes.
+
+With intent to show Bill that he did not greatly fear his smiles, the
+youth sprang down and offered a hand to assist his charming
+fellow-passenger to alight; and she, with kindly understanding, again
+accepted his aid--to Bill's chagrin--and they walked up the path side by
+side.
+
+"This is all very new and wonderful to me," the young man said in
+explanation; "but I suppose it's quite commonplace to you--and Bill."
+
+"Oh no--it's home!"
+
+"You were born here?"
+
+"No, I was born in the East; but I've lived here ever since I was three
+years old."
+
+"By East you mean Kansas?"
+
+"No, Missouri," she laughed back at him.
+
+She was taller than most women, and gave out an air of fine unconscious
+health which made her good to see, although her face was too broad to be
+pretty. She smiled easily, and her teeth were white and even. Her hand he
+noticed was as strong as steel and brown as leather. Her neck rose from
+her shoulders like that of an acrobat, and she walked with the sense of
+security which comes from self-reliant strength.
+
+She was met at the door by old lady Yancy, who pumped her hand up and
+down, exclaiming: "My stars, I'm glad to see ye back! 'Pears like the
+country is just naturally goin' to the dogs without you. The dance last
+Saturday was a frost, so I hear, no snap to the fiddlin', no gimp to the
+jiggin'. It shorely was pitiful."
+
+Yancy himself, tall, grizzled, succinct, shook her hand in his turn.
+"Ma's right, girl, the country needs ye. I'm scared every time ye go away
+fer fear some feller will snap ye up."
+
+She laughed. "No danger. Well, how are ye all, anyway?" she asked.
+
+"All well, 'ceptin' me," said the little old woman. "I'm just about able
+to pick at my vittles."
+
+"She does her share o' the work, and half the cook's besides,"
+volunteered Yancy.
+
+"I know her," retorted Berrie, as she laid off her hat. "It's me for a
+dip. Gee, but it's dusty on the road!"
+
+The young tourist--he signed W. W. Norcross in Yancy's register--watched
+her closely and listened to every word she spoke with an intensity of
+interest which led Mrs. Yancy to say, privately:
+
+"'Pears like that young 'lunger' ain't goin' to forgit you if he can help
+it."
+
+"What makes you think he's a 'lunger'?"
+
+"Don't haf to think. One look at him is enough."
+
+Thereafter a softer light--the light of pity--shone in the eyes of the
+girl. "Poor fellow, he does look kind o' peaked; but this climate will
+bring him up to the scratch," she added, with optimistic faith in her
+beloved hills.
+
+A moment later the down-coming stage pulled in, loaded to the side-lines,
+and everybody on it seemed to know Berea McFarlane. It was hello here and
+hello there, and how are ye between, with smacks from the women and open
+cries of "pass it around" on the part of the men, till Norcross marveled
+at the display.
+
+"She seems a great favorite," he observed to Yancy.
+
+"Who--Berrie? She's the whole works up at Bear Tooth. Good thing she
+don't want to go to Congress--she'd lay Jim Worthy on the shelf."
+
+Berea's popularity was not so remarkable as her manner of receiving it.
+She took it all as a sort of joke--a good, kindly joke. She shook hands
+with her male admirers, and smacked the cheeks of her female friends with
+an air of modest deprecation. "Oh, you don't mean it," was one of her
+phrases. She enjoyed this display of affection, but it seemed not to
+touch her deeply, and her impartial, humorous acceptance of the courtship
+of the men was equally charming, though this was due, according to
+remark, to the claims of some rancher up the line.
+
+She continued to be the theme of conversation at the dinner-table and yet
+remained unembarrassed, and gave back quite as good as she received.
+
+"If I was Cliff," declared one lanky admirer, "I'd be shot if I let you
+out of my sight. It ain't safe."
+
+She smiled broadly. "I don't feel scared."
+
+"Oh, _you're_ all right! It's the other feller--like me--that gets
+hurt."
+
+"Don't worry, you're old enough and tough enough to turn a steel-jacketed
+bullet."
+
+This raised a laugh, and Mrs. Yancy, who was waiting on the table, put in
+a word: "I'll board ye free, Berrie, if you'll jest naturally turn up
+here regular at meal-time. You do take the fellers' appetites. It's the
+only time I make a cent."
+
+To the Eastern man this was all very unrestrained and deeply diverting.
+The people seemed to know all about one another notwithstanding the fact
+that they came from ranches scattered up and down the stage line twenty,
+thirty miles apart--to be neighbors in this country means to be anywhere
+within a sixty-mile ride--and they gossiped of the countryside as
+minutely as the residents of a village in Wisconsin discuss their kind.
+News was scarce.
+
+The north-bound coach got away first, and as the girl came out to take
+her place, Norcross said: "Won't you have my seat with the driver?"
+
+She dropped her voice humorously. "No, thank you, I can't stand for
+Bill's clack."
+
+Norcross understood. She didn't relish the notion of being so close to
+the frankly amorous driver, who neglected no opportunity to be personal;
+therefore, he helped her to her seat inside and resumed his place in
+front.
+
+Bill, now broadly communicative, minutely detailed his tastes in food,
+horses, liquors, and saddles in a long monologue which would have been
+tiresome to any one but an imaginative young Eastern student. Bill had a
+vast knowledge of the West, but a distressing habit of repetition. He was
+self-conscious, too, for the reason that he was really talking for the
+benefit of the girl sitting in critical silence behind him, who, though
+he frequently turned to her for confirmation of some of the more
+startling of his statements, refused to be drawn into controversy.
+
+In this informing way some ten miles were traversed, the road climbing
+ever higher, and the mountains to right and left increasing in grandeur
+each hour, till of a sudden and in a deep valley on the bank of another
+swift stream, they came upon a squalid saloon and a minute post-office.
+This was the town of Moskow.
+
+Bill, lumbering down over the wheel, took a bag of mail from the boot and
+dragged it into the cabin. The girl rose, stretched herself, and said:
+"This stagin' is slow business. I'm cramped. I'm going to walk on
+ahead."
+
+"May I go with you?" asked Norcross.
+
+"Sure thing! Come along."
+
+As they crossed the little pole bridge which spanned the flood, the
+tourist exclaimed: "What exquisite water! It's like melted opals."
+
+"Comes right down from the snow," she answered, impressed by the poetry
+of his simile.
+
+He would gladly have lingered, listening to the song of the water, but as
+she passed on, he followed. The opposite hill was sharp and the road
+stony, but as they reached the top the young Easterner called out, "See
+the savins!"
+
+Before them stood a grove of cedars, old, gray, and drear, as weirdly
+impressive as the cacti in a Mexican desert. Torn by winds, scarred by
+lightnings, deeply rooted, tenacious as tradition, unlovely as Egyptian
+mummies, fantastic, dwarfed and blackened, these unaccountable creatures
+clung to the ledges. The dead mingled horribly with the living, and when
+the wind arose--the wind that was robustly cheerful on the high
+hills--these hags cried out with low moans of infinite despair. It was as
+if they pleaded for water or for deliverance from a life that was a kind
+of death.
+
+The pale young man shuddered. "What a ghostly place!" he exclaimed, in a
+low voice. "It seems the burial-place of a vanished race."
+
+Something in his face, some note in his voice profoundly moved the girl.
+For the first time her face showed something other than childish good
+nature and a sense of humor. "I don't like these trees myself," she
+answered. "They look too much like poor old squaws."
+
+For a few moments the man and the maid studied the forest of immemorial,
+gaunt, and withered trees--bright, impermanent youth confronting
+time-defaced and wind-torn age. Then the girl spoke: "Let's get out of
+here. I shall cry if we don't."
+
+In a few moments the dolorous voices were left behind, and the cheerful
+light of the plain reasserted itself. Norcross, looking back down upon
+the cedars, which at a distance resembled a tufted, bronze-green carpet,
+musingly asked: "What do you suppose planted those trees there?"
+
+The girl was deeply impressed by the novelty of this query. "I never
+thought to ask. I reckon they just grew."
+
+"No, there's a reason for all these plantings," he insisted.
+
+"We don't worry ourselves much about such things out here," she replied,
+with charming humor. "We don't even worry about the weather. We just take
+things as they come."
+
+They walked on talking with new intimacy. "Where is your home?" he
+asked.
+
+"A few miles out of Bear Tooth. You're from the East, Bill says--'the far
+East,' we call it."
+
+"From New Haven. I've just finished at Yale. Have you ever been to New
+York?"
+
+"Oh, good Lord, no!" she answered, as though he had named the ends of the
+earth. "My mother came from the South--she was born in Kentucky--that
+accounts for my name, and my father is a Missourian. Let's see, Yale is
+in the state of Connecticut, isn't it?"
+
+"Connecticut is no longer a state; it is only a suburb of New York
+City."
+
+"Is that so? My geography calls it 'The Nutmeg State.'"
+
+"Your geography is behind the times. New York has absorbed all of
+Connecticut and part of Jersey."
+
+"Well, it's all the same to us out here. Your whole country looks like
+the small end of a slice of pie to us."
+
+"Have you ever been in a city?"
+
+"Oh yes, I go to Denver once in a while, and I saw St. Louis once; but I
+was only a yearling, and don't remember much about it. What are you doing
+out here, if it's a fair question?"
+
+He looked away at the mountains. "I got rather used up last spring, and
+my doctor said I'd better come out here for a while and build up. I'm
+going up to Meeker's Mill. Do you know where that is?"
+
+"I know every stove-pipe in this park," she answered. "Joe Meeker is kind
+o' related to me--uncle by marriage. He lives about fifteen miles over
+the hill from Bear Tooth."
+
+This fact seemed to bring them still closer together. "I'm glad of that,"
+he said, pointedly. "Perhaps I shall be permitted to see you now and
+again? I'm going to be lonesome for a while, I'm afraid."
+
+"Don't you believe it! Joe Meeker's boys will keep you interested," she
+assured him.
+
+The stage overtook them at this point, and Bill surlily remarked: "If
+you'd been alone, young feller, I'd 'a' give you a chase." His resentment
+of the outsider's growing favor with the girl was ludicrously evident.
+
+As they rose into the higher levels the aspen shook its yellowish leaves
+in the breeze, and the purple foot-hills gained in majesty. Great new
+peaks came into view on the right, and the lofty cliffs of the Bear Tooth
+range loomed in naked grandeur high above the blue-green of the pines
+which clothed their sloping eastern sides.
+
+At intervals the road passed small log ranches crouching low on the banks
+of creeks; but aside from these--and the sparse animal life around
+them--no sign of settlement could be seen. The valley lay as it had lain
+for thousands of years, repeating its forests as the meadows of the lower
+levels send forth their annual grasses. Norcross said to himself: "I have
+circled the track of progress and have re-entered the border America,
+where the stage-coach is still the one stirring thing beneath the sun."
+
+At last the driver, with a note of exultation, called out: "Grab a root,
+everybody, it's all the way down-hill and time to feed."
+
+And so, as the dusk came over the mighty spread of the hills to the east,
+and the peaks to the west darkened from violet to purple-black, the stage
+rumbled and rattled and rushed down the winding road through thickening
+signs of civilization, and just at nightfall rolled into the little town
+of Bear Tooth, which is the eastern gateway of the Ute Plateau.
+
+Norcross had given a great deal of thought to the young girl behind him,
+and thought had deepened her charm. Her frankness, her humor, her superb
+physical strength and her calm self-reliance appealed to him, and the
+more dangerously, because he was so well aware of his own weakness and
+loneliness, and as the stage drew up before the hotel, he fervently said:
+"I hope I shall see you again?"
+
+Before she could reply a man's voice called: "Hello, there!" and a tall
+fellow stepped up to her with confident mien.
+
+Norcross awkwardly shrank away. This was her cowboy lover, of course. It
+was impossible that so attractive a girl should be unattached, and the
+knowledge produced in him a faint but very definite pang of envy and
+regret.
+
+The happy girl, even in the excitement of meeting her lover, did not
+forget the stranger. She gave him her hand in parting, and again he
+thrilled to its amazing power. It was small, but it was like a steel
+clamp. "Stop in on your way to Meeker's," she said, as a kindly man would
+have done. "You pass our gate. My father is Joseph McFarlane, the Forest
+Supervisor. Good night."
+
+"Good night," he returned, with sincere liking.
+
+"Who is that?" Norcross heard her companion ask.
+
+She replied in a low voice, but he overheard her answer, "A poor
+'lunger,' bound for Meeker's--and Kingdom Come, I'm afraid. He seems a
+nice young feller, too."
+
+"They always wait till the last minute," remarked the rancher, with
+indifferent tone.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+A RIDE IN THE RAIN
+
+
+There are two Colorados within the boundaries of the state of that name,
+distinct, almost irreconcilable. One is a plain (smooth, dry,
+monotonous), gently declining to the east, a land of sage-brush,
+wheat-fields, and alfalfa meadows--a rather commonplace region now, given
+over to humdrum folk intent on digging a living from the soil; but the
+other is an army of peaks, a region of storms, a spread of dark and
+tangled forests. In the one, shallow rivers trickle on their sandy way to
+the Gulf of Mexico; from the other, the waters rush, uniting to make the
+mighty stream whose silt-laden floods are slowly filling the Gulf of
+California.
+
+If you stand on one of the great naked crests which form the dividing
+wall, the rampart of the plains, you can see the Colorado of tradition to
+the west, still rolling in wave after wave of stupendous altitudes, each
+range cutting into the sky with a purple saw-tooth edge. The landscape
+seems to contain nothing but rocks and towering crags, a treasure-house
+for those who mine. But this is illusive. Between these purple heights
+charming valleys wind and meadows lie in which rich grasses grow and
+cattle feed.
+
+On certain slopes--where the devastating miners have not yet played their
+relentless game--dark forests rise to the high, bold summits of the
+chiefest mountains, and it is to guard these timbered tracts, growing
+each year more valuable, that the government has established its Forest
+Service to protect and develop the wealth-producing power of the
+watersheds.
+
+Chief among the wooded areas of this mighty inland empire of crag and
+stream is the Bear Tooth Forest, containing nearly eight hundred thousand
+acres of rock and trees, whose seat of administration is Bear Tooth
+Springs, the small town in which our young traveler found himself.
+
+He carefully explained to the landlord of the Cottage Hotel that he had
+never been in this valley before, and that he was filled with
+astonishment and delight of the scenery.
+
+"Scenery! Yes, too much scenery. What we want is settlers," retorted the
+landlord, who was shabby and sour and rather contemptuous, for the reason
+that he considered Norcross a poor consumptive, and a fool to boot--"one
+of those chaps who wait till they are nearly dead, then come out here
+expecting to live on climate."
+
+The hotel was hardly larger than the log shanty of a railway-grading
+camp; but the meat was edible, and just outside the door roared Bear
+Creek, which came down directly from Dome Mountain, and the young
+Easterner went to sleep beneath its singing that night. He should have
+dreamed of the happy mountain girl, but he did not; on the contrary, he
+imagined himself back at college in the midst of innumerable freshmen,
+yelling, "Bill McCoy, Bill McCoy!"
+
+He woke a little bewildered by his strange surroundings, and when he
+became aware of the cheap bed, the flimsy wash-stand, the ugly wallpaper,
+and thought how far he was from home and friends, he not only sighed, he
+shivered. The room was chill, the pitcher of water cold almost to the
+freezing-point, and his joints were stiff and painful from his ride. What
+folly to come so far into the wilderness at this time.
+
+As he crawled from his bed and looked from the window he was still
+further disheartened. In the foreground stood a half dozen frame
+buildings, graceless and cheap, without tree or shrub to give shadow or
+charm of line--all was bare, bleak, sere; but under his window the stream
+was singing its glorious mountain song, and away to the west rose the
+aspiring peaks from which it came. Romance brooded in that shadow, and on
+the lower foot-hills the frost-touched foliage glowed like a mosaic of
+jewels.
+
+Dressing hurriedly he went down to the small bar-room, whose litter of
+duffle-bags, guns, saddles, and camp utensils gave evidence of the
+presence of many hunters and fishermen. The slovenly landlord was poring
+over a newspaper, while a discouraged half-grown youth was sludging the
+floor with a mop; but a cheerful clamor from an open door at the back of
+the hall told that breakfast was on.
+
+Venturing over the threshold, Norcross found himself seated at table with
+some five or six men in corduroy jackets and laced boots, who were, in
+fact, merchants and professional men from Denver and Pueblo out for fish
+and such game as the law allowed, and all in holiday mood. They joked the
+waiter-girls, and joshed one another in noisy good-fellowship, ignoring
+the slim youth in English riding-suit, who came in with an air of mingled
+melancholy and timidity and took a seat at the lower corner of the long
+table.
+
+The landlady, tall, thin, worried, and inquisitive, was New
+England--Norcross recognized her type even before she came to him with a
+question on her lips. "So you're from the East, are you?"
+
+"I've been at school there."
+
+"Well, I'm glad to see you. My folks came from York State. I don't often
+get any one from the _real_ East. Come out to fish, I s'pose?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, thinking this the easiest way out.
+
+"Well, they's plenty of fishing--and they's plenty of air, not much of
+anything else."
+
+As he looked about the room, the tourist's eye was attracted by four
+young fellows seated at a small table to his right. They wore rough
+shirts of an olive-green shade, and their faces were wind-scorched; but
+their voices held a pleasant tone, and something in the manner of the
+landlady toward them made them noticeable. Norcross asked her who they
+were.
+
+"They're forestry boys."
+
+"Forestry boys?"
+
+"Yes; the Supervisor's office is here, and these are his help."
+
+This information added to Norcross's interest and cheered him a little.
+He knew something of the Forest Service, and had been told that many of
+the rangers were college men. He resolved to make their acquaintance. "If
+I'm to stay here they will help me endure the exile," he said.
+
+After breakfast he went forth to find the post-office, expecting a letter
+of instructions from Meeker. He found nothing of the sort, and this quite
+disconcerted him.
+
+"The stage is gone," the postmistress told him, "and you can't get up
+till day after to-morrow. You might reach Meeker by using the government
+'phone, however."
+
+"Where will I find the government 'phone?"
+
+"Down in the Supervisor's office. They're very accommodating; they'll let
+you use it, if you tell them who you want to reach."
+
+It was impossible to miss the forestry building for the reason that a
+handsome flag fluttered above it. The door being open, Norcross perceived
+from the threshold a young clerk at work on a typewriter, while in a
+corner close by the window another and older man was working intently on
+a map.
+
+"Is this the office of the Forest Supervisor?" asked the youth.
+
+The man at the machine looked up, and pleasantly answered: "It is, but
+the Supervisor is not in yet. Is there anything I can do for you?"
+
+"It may be you can. I am on my way to Meeker's Mill for a little outing.
+Perhaps you could tell me where Meeker's Mill is, and how I can best get
+there."
+
+The man at the map meditated. "It's not far, some eighteen or twenty
+miles; but it's over a pretty rough trail."
+
+"What kind of a place is it?"
+
+"Very charming. You'll like it. Real mountain country."
+
+This officer was a plain-featured man of about thirty-five, with keen and
+clear eyes. His voice, though strongly nasal, possessed a note of manly
+sincerity. As he studied his visitor, he smiled.
+
+"You look brand-new--haven't had time to season-check, have you?"
+
+"No; I'm a stranger in a strange land."
+
+"Out for your health?"
+
+"Yes. My name is Norcross. I'm just getting over a severe illness, and
+I'm up here to lay around and fish and recuperate--if I can."
+
+"You can--you will. You can't help it," the other assured him. "Join one
+of our surveying crews for a week and I'll mellow that suit of yours and
+make a real mountaineer of you. I see you wear a _Sigma Chi_ pin. What
+was your school?"
+
+"I am a 'Son of Eli.' Last year's class."
+
+The other man displayed his fob. "I'm ten classes ahead of you. My name
+is Nash. I'm what they call an 'expert.' I'm up here doing some
+estimating and surveying for a big ditch they're putting in. I was rather
+in hopes you had come to join our ranks. We sons of Eli are holding the
+conservation fort these days, and we need help."
+
+"My knowledge of your work is rather vague," admitted Norcross. "My
+father is in the lumber business; but his point of view isn't exactly
+yours."
+
+"He slays 'em, does he?"
+
+"He did. He helped devastate Michigan."
+
+"After me the deluge! I know the kind. Why not make yourself a sort of
+vicarious atonement?"
+
+Norcross smiled. "I had not thought of that. It would help some, wouldn't
+it?"
+
+"It certainly would. There's no great money in the work; but it's about
+the most enlightened of all the governmental bureaus."
+
+Norcross was strongly drawn to this forester, whose tone was that of a
+highly trained specialist. "I rode up on the stage yesterday with Miss
+Berrie McFarlane."
+
+"The Supervisor's daughter?"
+
+"She seemed a fine Western type."
+
+"She's not a type; she's an individual. She hasn't her like anywhere I've
+gone. She cuts a wide swath up here. Being an only child she's both son
+and daughter to McFarlane. She knows more about forestry than her father.
+In fact, half the time he depends on her judgment."
+
+Norcross was interested, but did not want to take up valuable time. He
+said: "Will you let me use your telephone to Meeker's?"
+
+"Very sorry, but our line is out of order. You'll have to wait a day or
+so--or use the mails. You're too late for to-day's stage, but it's only a
+short ride across. Come outside and I'll show you."
+
+Norcross followed him to the walk, and stood in silence while his guide
+indicated the pass over the range. It all looked very formidable to the
+Eastern youth. Thunderous clouds hung low upon the peaks, and the great
+crags to left and right of the notch were stern and barren. "I think I'll
+wait for the stage," he said, with candid weakness. "I couldn't make that
+trip alone."
+
+"You'll have to take many such a ride over that range in the _night_--if
+you join the service," Nash warningly replied.
+
+As they were standing there a girl came galloping up to the hitching-post
+and slid from her horse. It was Berea McFarlane. "Good morning, Emery,"
+she called to the surveyor. "Good morning," she nodded at Norcross. "How
+do you find yourself this morning?"
+
+"Homesick," he replied, smilingly.
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I'm disappointed in the town."
+
+"What's the matter with the town?"
+
+"It's so commonplace. I expected it to be--well, different. It's just
+like any other plains town."
+
+Berrie looked round at the forlorn shops, the irregular sidewalks, the
+grassless yards. "It isn't very pretty, that's a fact; but you can always
+forget it by just looking up at the high country. When you going up to
+the mill?"
+
+"I don't know. I haven't had any word from Meeker, and I can't reach him
+by telephone."
+
+"I know, the line is short-circuited somewhere; but they've sent a man
+out. He may close it any minute."
+
+"Where's the Supervisor?" asked Nash.
+
+"He's gone over to Moore's cutting. How are you getting on with those
+plats?"
+
+"Very well. I'll have 'em all in shape by Saturday."
+
+"Come in and make yourself at home," said the girl to Norcross. "You'll
+find the papers two or three days old," she smiled. "We never know about
+anything here till other people have forgotten it."
+
+Norcross followed her into the office, curious to know more about her.
+She was so changed from his previous conception of her that he was
+puzzled. She had the directness and the brevity of phrase of a business
+man, as she opened letters and discussed their contents with the men.
+
+"Truly she _is_ different," thought Norcross, and yet she lost something
+by reason of the display of her proficiency as a clerk. "I wish she would
+leave business to some one else," he inwardly grumbled as he rose to go.
+
+She looked up from her desk. "Come in again later. We may be able to
+reach the mill."
+
+He thanked her and went back to his hotel, where he overhauled his outfit
+and wrote some letters. His disgust of the town was lessened by the
+presence of that handsome girl, and the hope that he might see her at
+luncheon made him impatient of the clock.
+
+She did not appear in the dining-room, and when Norcross inquired of Nash
+whether she took her meals at the hotel or not, the expert replied: "No,
+she goes home. The ranch is only a few miles down the valley.
+Occasionally we invite her, but she don't think much of the cooking."
+
+One of the young surveyors put in a word: "I shouldn't think she would.
+I'd ride ten miles any time to eat one of Mrs. McFarlane's dinners."
+
+"Yes," agreed Nash with a reflective look in his eyes. "She's a mighty
+fine girl, and I join the boys in wishing her better luck than marrying
+Cliff Belden."
+
+"Is it settled that way?" asked Norcross.
+
+"Yes; the Supervisor warned us all, but even he never has any good words
+for Belden. He's a surly cuss, and violently opposed to the service. His
+brother is one of the proprietors of the Meeker mill, and they have all
+tried to bulldoze Landon, our ranger over there. By the way, you'll like
+Landon. He's a Harvard man, and a good ranger. His shack is only a
+half-mile from Meeker's house. It's a pretty well-known fact that Alec
+Belden is part proprietor of a saloon over there that worries the
+Supervisor worse than anything. Cliff swears he's not connected with it;
+but he's more or less sympathetic with the crowd."
+
+Norcross, already deeply interested in the present and future of a girl
+whom he had met for the first time only the day before, was quite ready
+to give up his trip to Meeker. After the men went back to work he
+wandered about the town for an hour or two, and then dropped in at the
+office to inquire if the telephone line had been repaired.
+
+"No, it's still dead."
+
+"Did Miss McFarlane return?"
+
+"No. She said she had work to do at home. This is ironing-day, I
+believe."
+
+"She plays all the parts, don't she?"
+
+"She sure does; and she plays one part as well as another. She can rope
+and tie a steer or bake a cake as well as play the piano."
+
+"Don't tell me she plays the piano!"
+
+Nash laughed. "She does; but it's one of those you operate with your
+feet."
+
+"I'm relieved to hear that. She seems almost weirdly gifted as it is."
+After a moment he broke in with: "What can a man do in this town?"
+
+"Work, nothing else."
+
+"What do you do for amusement?"
+
+"Once in a while there is a dance in the hall over the drug-store, and on
+Sunday you can listen to a wretched sermon in the log church. The rest of
+the time you work or loaf in the saloons--or read. Old Nature has done
+her part here. But man--! Ever been in the Tyrol?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, some day the people of the plains will have sense enough to use
+these mountains, these streams, the way they do over there."
+
+It required only a few hours for Norcross to size up the valley and its
+people. Aside from Nash and his associates, and one or two families
+connected with the mill to the north, the villagers were poor,
+thriftless, and uninteresting. They were lacking in the picturesque
+quality of ranchers and miners, and had not yet the grace of
+town-dwellers. They were, indeed, depressingly nondescript.
+
+Early on the second morning he went to the post-office--which was also
+the telephone station--to get a letter or message from Meeker. He found
+neither; but as he was standing in the door undecided about taking the
+stage, Berea came into town riding a fine bay pony, and leading a
+blaze-face buckskin behind her.
+
+Her face shone cordially, as she called out: "Well, how do you stack up
+this morning?"
+
+"Tip-top," he answered, in an attempt to match her cheery greeting.
+
+"Do you like our town better?"
+
+"Not a bit! But the hills are magnificent."
+
+"Anybody turned up from the mill?"
+
+"No, I haven't heard a word from there. The telephone is still out of
+commission."
+
+"They can't locate the break. Uncle Joe sent word by the stage-driver
+asking us to keep an eye out for you and send you over. I've come to take
+you over myself."
+
+"That's mighty good of you; but it's a good deal to ask."
+
+"I want to see Uncle Joe on business, anyhow, and you'll like the ride
+better than the journey by stage."
+
+Leaving the horses standing with their bridle-reins hanging on the
+ground, she led the way to the office.
+
+"When father comes in, tell him where I've gone, and send Mr. Norcross's
+packs by the first wagon. Is your outfit ready?" she asked.
+
+"Not quite. I can get it ready soon."
+
+He hurried away in pleasant excitement, and in twenty minutes was at the
+door ready to ride.
+
+"You'd better take my bay," said Berea. "Old Paint-face there is a little
+notional."
+
+Norcross approached his mount with a caution which indicated that he had
+at least been instructed in range-horse psychology, and as he gathered
+his reins together to mount, Berrie remarked:
+
+"I hope you're saddle-wise."
+
+"I had a few lessons in a riding-school," he replied, modestly.
+
+Young Downing approached the girl with a low-voiced protest: "You
+oughtn't to ride old Paint. He nearly pitched the Supervisor the other
+day."
+
+"I'm not worried," she said, and swung to her saddle.
+
+The ugly beast made off in a tearing sidewise rush, but she smilingly
+called back: "All set." And Norcross followed her in high admiration.
+
+Eventually she brought her bronco to subjection, and they trotted off
+together along the wagon-road quite comfortably. By this time the youth
+had forgotten his depression, his homesickness of the morning. The valley
+was again enchanted ground. Its vistas led to lofty heights. The air was
+regenerative, and though a part of this elation was due, no doubt, to the
+power of his singularly attractive guide, he laid it discreetly to the
+climate.
+
+After shacking along between some rather sorry fields of grain for a mile
+or two, Berea swung into a side-trail. "I want you to meet my mother,"
+she said.
+
+The grassy road led to a long, one-story, half-log, half-slab house,
+which stood on the bank of a small, swift, willow-bordered stream.
+
+"This is our ranch," she explained. "All the meadow in sight belongs to
+us."
+
+The young Easterner looked about in astonishment. Not a tree bigger than
+his thumb gave shade. The gate of the cattle corral stood but a few feet
+from the kitchen door, and rusty beef-bones, bleaching skulls, and scraps
+of sun-dried hides littered the ground or hung upon the fence. Exteriorly
+the low cabin made a drab, depressing picture; but as he alighted--upon
+Berea's invitation--and entered the house, he was met by a sweet-faced,
+brown-haired little woman in a neat gown, whose bearing was not in the
+least awkward or embarrassed.
+
+"This is Mr. Norcross, the tourist I told you about," explained Berrie.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane extended her small hand with friendly impulse. "I'm very
+glad to meet you, sir. Are you going to spend some time at the Mill?"
+
+"I don't know. I have a letter to Mr. Meeker from a friend of mine who
+hunted with him last year--a Mr. Sutler."
+
+"Mr. Sutler! Oh, we know him very well. Won't you sit down?"
+
+The interior of the house was not only well kept, but presented many
+evidences of refinement. A mechanical piano stood against the log wall,
+and books and magazines, dog-eared with use, littered the table; and
+Norcross, feeling the force of Nash's half-expressed criticism of his
+"superior," listened intently to Mrs. McFarlane's apologies for the
+condition of the farmyard.
+
+"Well," said Berea, sharply, "if we're to reach Uncle Joe's for dinner
+we'd better be scratching the hills." And to her mother she added: "I'll
+pull in about dark."
+
+The mother offered no objection to her daughter's plan, and the young
+people rode off together directly toward the high peaks to the east.
+
+"I'm going by way of the cut-off," Berrie explained; and Norcross,
+content and unafraid, nodded in acquiescence. "Here is the line," she
+called a few minutes later, pointing at a sign nailed to a tree at the
+foot of the first wooded hill.
+
+The notice, printed in black ink on a white square of cloth, proclaimed
+this to be the boundary of the Bear Tooth National Forest, and pleaded
+with all men to be watchful of fires. Its tone was not at all that of a
+strong government; it was deprecatory.
+
+The trail, hardly more than a wood road, grew wilder and lonelier as they
+climbed. Cattle fed on the hillsides in scattered bands like elk. Here
+and there a small cabin stood on the bank of a stream; but, for the most
+part, the trail mounted the high slopes in perfect solitude.
+
+The girl talked easily and leisurely, reading the brands of the ranchers,
+revealing the number of cattle they owned, quite as a young farmer would
+have done. She seemed not to be embarrassed in the slightest degree by
+the fact that she was guiding a strange man over a lonely road, and gave
+no outward sign of special interest in him till she suddenly turned to
+ask: "What kind of a slicker--I mean a raincoat--did you bring?"
+
+He looked blank. "I don't believe I brought any. I've a leather
+shooting-jacket, however."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders and looked up at the sky. "We're in for a
+storm. You'd ought 'o have a slicker, no fancy 'raincoat,' but a real
+old-fashioned cow-puncher's oilskin. They make a business of shedding
+rain. Leather's no good, neither is canvas; I've tried 'em all."
+
+She rode on for a few minutes in silence, as if disgusted with his folly,
+but she was really worrying about him. "Poor chap," she said to herself.
+"He can't stand a chill. I ought to have thought of his slicker myself.
+He's helpless as a baby."
+
+They were climbing fast now, winding upward along the bank of a stream,
+and the sky had grown suddenly gray, and the woodland path was dark and
+chill. The mountains were not less beautiful; but they were decidedly
+less amiable, and the youth shivered, casting an apprehensive eye at the
+thickening clouds.
+
+Berea perceived something of his dismay, and, drawing rein, dismounted.
+Behind her saddle was a tightly rolled bundle which, being untied and
+shaken out, proved to be a horseman's rainproof oilskin coat. "Put this
+on!" she commanded.
+
+"Oh no," he protested, "I can't take your coat."
+
+"Yes you can! You must! Don't you worry about me, I'm used to weather.
+Put this on over your jacket and all. You'll need it. Rain won't hurt
+_me_; but it will just about finish you."
+
+The worst of this lay in its truth, and Norcross lost all his pride of
+sex for the moment. A wetting would not dim this girl's splendid color,
+nor reduce her vitality one degree, while to him it might be a
+death-warrant. "You could throw me over my own horse," he admitted, in a
+kind of bitter admiration, and slipped the coat on, shivering with cold
+as he did so.
+
+"You think me a poor excuse of a trailer, don't you?" he said, ruefully,
+as the thunder began to roll.
+
+"You've got to be all made over new," she replied, tolerantly. "Stay here
+a year and you'll be able to stand anything."
+
+Remounting, she again led the way with cheery cry. The rain came dashing
+down in fitful, misty streams; but she merely pulled the rim of her
+sombrero closer over her eyes, and rode steadily on, while he followed,
+plunged in gloom as cold and gray as the storm. The splitting crashes of
+thunder echoed from the high peaks like the voices of siege-guns, and the
+lightning stabbed here and there as though blindly seeking some hidden
+foe. Long veils of falling water twisted and trailed through the valleys
+with swishing roar.
+
+"These mountain showers don't last long," the girl called back, her face
+shining like a rose. "We'll get the sun in a few minutes."
+
+And so it turned out. In less than an hour they rode into the warm light
+again, and in spite of himself Norcross returned her smile, though he
+said: "I feel like a selfish fool. You are soaked."
+
+"Hardly wet through," she reassured him. "My jacket and skirt turn water
+pretty well. I'll be dry in a jiffy. It does a body good to be wet once
+in a while."
+
+The shame of his action remained; but a closer friendship was
+established, and as he took off the coat and handed it back to her, he
+again apologized. "I feel like a pig. I don't see how I came to do it.
+The thunder and the chill scared me, that's the truth of it. You
+hypnotized me into taking it. How wet you _are_!" he exclaimed,
+remorsefully. "You'll surely take cold."
+
+"I never take cold," she returned. "I'm used to all kinds of weather.
+Don't you bother about me."
+
+Topping a low divide the youth caught a glimpse of the range to the
+southeast, which took his breath. "Isn't that superb!" he exclaimed.
+"It's like the shining roof of the world!"
+
+"Yes, that's the Continental Divide," she confirmed, casually; but the
+lyrical note which he struck again reached her heart. The men she knew
+had so few words for the beautiful in life. She wondered whether this
+man's illness had given him this refinement or whether it was native to
+his kind. "I'm glad he took my coat," was her thought.
+
+She pushed on down the slope, riding hard, but it was nearly two o'clock
+when they drew up at Meeker's house, which was a long, low, stone
+structure built along the north side of the road. The place was
+distinguished not merely by its masonry, but also by its picket fence,
+which had once been whitewashed. Farm-wagons of various degrees of decay
+stood by the gate, and in the barn-yard plows and harrows--deeply buried
+by the weeds--were rusting forlornly away. A little farther up the stream
+the tall pipe of a sawmill rose above the firs.
+
+A pack of dogs of all sizes and signs came clamoring to the fence,
+followed by a big, slovenly dressed, red-bearded man of sixty or
+thereabouts.
+
+"Hello, Uncle Joe," called the girl, in offhand boyish fashion. "How are
+you _to-day_?"
+
+"Howdy, girl," answered Meeker, gravely. "What brings you up here this
+time?"
+
+She laughed. "Here's a boarder who wants to learn how to raise cattle."
+
+Meeker's face lightened. "I reckon you're Mr. Norcross? I'm glad to see
+ye. Light off and make yourself to home. Turn your horses into the
+corral, the boys will feed 'em."
+
+"Am I in America?" Norcross asked himself, as he followed the slouchy old
+rancher into the unkempt yard. "This certainly is a long way from New
+Haven."
+
+Without ceremony Meeker led his guests directly into the dining-room, a
+long and rather narrow room, wherein a woman and six or seven roughly
+dressed young men were sitting at a rudely appointed table.
+
+"Earth and seas!" exclaimed Mrs. Meeker. "Here's Berrie, and I'll bet
+that's Sutler's friend, our boarder."
+
+"That's what, mother," admitted her husband. "Berrie brought him up."
+
+"You'd ought 'o gone for him yourself, you big lump," she retorted.
+
+Mrs. Meeker, who was as big as her husband, greeted Norcross warmly, and
+made a place for him beside her own chair.
+
+"Highst along there, boys, and give the company a chance," she commanded,
+sharply. "Our dinner's turrible late to-day."
+
+The boys--they were in reality full-grown cubs of eighteen or twenty--did
+as they were bid with much noise, chaffing Berrie with blunt humor. The
+table was covered with a red oil-cloth, and set with heavy blue-and-white
+china. The forks were two-tined, steel-pronged, and not very polished,
+and the food was of the simplest sort; but the girl seemed at home
+there--as she did everywhere--and was soon deep in a discussion of the
+price of beef, and whether it was advisable to ship now or wait a month.
+
+Meeker read Sutler's letter, which Norcross had handed him, and, after
+deliberation, remarked: "All right, we'll do the best we can for you, Mr.
+Norcross; but we haven't any fancy accommodations."
+
+"He don't expect any," replied Berrie. "What he needs is a little
+roughing it."
+
+"There's plinty of that to be had," said one of the herders, who sat
+below the salt. "'is the soft life I'm nadin'."
+
+"Pat's strong on soft jobs," said another; and Berea joined the laugh
+which followed this pointless joke. She appeared to be one of them, and
+it troubled Norcross a little. She had so little the sex feeling and
+demanded so few of the rights and privileges of a girl. The men all
+admired her, that was evident, almost too evident, and one or two of the
+older men felt the charm of her young womanhood too deeply even to meet
+her eyes; but of this Norcross was happily ignorant. Already in these two
+days he had acquired a distinct sense of proprietorship in her, a feeling
+which made him jealous of her good name.
+
+Meeker, it turned out, was an Englishman by way of Canada, and this was
+his second American wife. His first had been a sister to Mrs. McFarlane.
+He was a man of much reading--of the periodical sort--and the big
+sitting-room was littered with magazines both English and American, and
+his talk abounded in radical and rather foolish utterances. Norcross
+considered it the most disorderly home he had ever seen, and yet it was
+not without a certain dignity. The rooms were large and amply provided
+with furniture of a very mixed and gaudy sort, and the table was spread
+with abundance.
+
+One of the lads, Frank Meeker, a dark, intense youth of about twenty, was
+Berea's full cousin. The others were merely hired hands, but they all
+eyed the new-comer with disfavor. The fact that Berrie had brought him
+and that she seemed interested in him added to the effect of the smart
+riding-suit which he wore. "I'd like to roll him in the creek," muttered
+one of them to his neighbor.
+
+This dislike Berrie perceived--in some degree--and to Frank she privately
+said: "Now you fellows have got to treat Mr. Norcross right. He's been
+very sick."
+
+Frank maliciously grinned. "Oh, we'll treat him _right_. We won't do a
+thing to him!"
+
+"Now, Frank," she warned, "if you try any of your tricks on him you'll
+hear from me."
+
+"Why all this worry on your part?" he asked, keenly. "How long since you
+found him?"
+
+"We rode up on the stage day before yesterday, and he seemed so kind o'
+blue and lonesome I couldn't help trying to chirk him up."
+
+"How will Cliff take all this chirking business?"
+
+"Cliff ain't my guardian--yet," she laughingly responded. "Mr. Norcross
+is a college man, and not used to our ways--"
+
+"_Mister_ Norcross--what's his front name?"
+
+"Wayland."
+
+He snorted. "Wayland! If he gets past us without being called 'pasty'
+he's in luck. He's a 'lunger' if there ever was one."
+
+The girl was shrewd enough to see that the more she sought to soften the
+wind to her Eastern tenderfoot the more surely he was to be shorn, so she
+gave over her effort in that direction, and turned to the old folks. To
+Mrs. Meeker she privately said: "Mr. Norcross ain't used to rough ways,
+and he's not very rugged, you ought 'o kind o' favor him for a while."
+
+The girl herself did not understand the vital and almost painful interest
+which this young man had roused in her. He was both child and poet to
+her, and as she watched him trying to make friends with the men, her
+indignation rose against their clownish offishness. She understood fully
+that his neat speech, his Eastern accent, together with his tailor-cut
+clothing and the delicacy of his table manners, would surely mark him for
+slaughter among the cow-hands, and the wish to shield him made her face
+graver than anybody had ever seen it.
+
+"I don't feel right in leaving you here," she said, at last; "but I must
+be ridin'." And while Meeker ordered her horse brought out, she walked to
+the gate with Norcross at her side.
+
+"I'm tremendously obliged to you," he said, and his voice was vibrant.
+"You have been most kind. How can I repay you?"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," she replied, in true Western fashion. "I wanted
+to see the folks up here, anyhow. This is no jaunt at all for me." And,
+looking at her powerful figure, and feeling the trap-like grip of her
+cinch hand, he knew she spoke the truth.
+
+Frank had saddled his own horse, and was planning to ride over the hill
+with her; but to this she objected. "I'm going to leave Pete here for Mr.
+Norcross to ride," she said, "and there's no need of your going."
+
+Frank's face soured, and with instant perception of the effect her
+refusal might have on the fortunes of the stranger, she reconsidered.
+
+"Oh, come along! I reckon you want to get shut of some mean job."
+
+And so she rode away, leaving her ward to adjust himself to his new and
+strange surroundings as best he could, and with her going the whole
+valley darkened for the convalescent.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+WAYLAND RECEIVES A WARNING
+
+
+Distance is no barrier to gossip. It amazed young Norcross to observe how
+minutely the ranchers of the valley followed one another's most intimate
+domestic affairs. Not merely was each man in full possession of the color
+and number of every calf in his neighbor's herd, it seemed that nothing
+could happen in the most remote cabin and remain concealed. Any event
+which broke the monotony of their life loomed large, and in all matters
+of courtship curiosity was something more than keen, it was remorseless.
+
+Living miles apart, and riding the roads but seldom, these lonely gossips
+tore to tatters every scrap of rumor. No citizen came or went without
+being studied, characterized, accounted for, and every woman was
+scrutinized as closely as a stray horse, and if there was within her, the
+slightest wayward impulse some lawless centaur came to know it, to exult
+over it, to make test of it. Her every word, her minutest expression of a
+natural coquetry was enlarged upon as a sign of weakness, of yielding.
+Every personable female was the focus of a natural desire, intensified by
+lonely brooding on the part of the men.
+
+It was soon apparent to the Eastern observer that the entire male
+population for thirty miles around not only knew McFarlane's girl; but
+that every unmarried man--and some who were both husbands and
+fathers--kept a deeply interested eye upon her daily motion, and certain
+shameless ones openly boasted among their fellows of their intention to
+win her favor, while the shy ones reveled in secret exultation over every
+chance meeting with her. She was the topic of every lumber-camp, and the
+shining lure of every dance to which the ranch hands often rode over long
+and lonely trails.
+
+Part of this intense interest was due, naturally, to the scarcity of
+desirable women, but a larger part was called out by Berea's frank
+freedom of manner. Her ready camaraderie was taken for carelessness, and
+the candid grip of her hand was often misunderstood; and yet most of the
+men respected her, and some feared her. After her avowed choice of
+Clifford Belden they all kept aloof, for he was hot-tempered and
+formidably swift to avenge an insult.
+
+At the end of a week Norcross found himself restless and discontented
+with the Meekers. He was tired of fishing, tired of the old man's endless
+arguments, and tired of the obscene cow-hands. The men around the mill
+did not interest him, and their Saturday night spree at the saloon
+disgusted him. The one person who piqued his curiosity was Landon, the
+ranger who was stationed not far away, and who could be seen occasionally
+riding by on a handsome black horse. There was something in his bearing,
+in his neat and serviceable drab uniform, which attracted the
+convalescent, and on Sunday morning he decided to venture a call,
+although Frank Meeker had said the ranger was a "grouch."
+
+His cabin, a neat log structure, stood just above the road on a huge
+natural terrace of grassy boulders, and the flag which fluttered from a
+tall staff before it could be seen for several miles--the bright sign of
+federal control, the symbol of law and order, just as the saloon and the
+mill were signs of lawless vice and destructive greed. Around the door
+flowers bloomed and kittens played; while at the door of the dive broken
+bottles, swarms of flies, and heaps of refuse menaced every corner, and
+the mill immured itself in its own debris like a foul beast.
+
+It was strangely moving to come upon this flower-like place and this
+garden in the wilderness. A spring, which crept from the high wall back
+of "the station" (as these ranger headquarters are called), gave its
+delicious water into several winding ditches, trickled musically down the
+other side of the terrace in little life-giving cascades, and so finally,
+reunited in a single current, fell away into the creek. It was plain that
+loving care, and much of it, had been given to this tiny system of
+irrigation.
+
+The cabin's interior pleased Wayland almost as much as the garden. It was
+built of pine logs neatly matched and hewed on one side. There were but
+two rooms--one which served as sleeping-chamber and office, and one which
+was at once kitchen and dining-room. In the larger room a quaint
+fireplace with a flat arch, a bunk, a table supporting a typewriter, and
+several shelves full of books made up the furnishing. On the walls hung a
+rifle, a revolver in its belt, a couple of uniforms, and a yellow oilskin
+raincoat.
+
+The ranger, spurred and belted, with his cuffs turned back, was pounding
+the typewriter when Wayland appeared at the open door; but he rose with
+grave courtesy. "Come in," he said, and his voice had a pleasant
+inflection.
+
+"I'm interrupting."
+
+"Nothing serious, just a letter. There's no hurry. I'm always glad of an
+excuse to rest from this job." He was at once keenly interested in his
+visitor, for he perceived in him the gentleman and, of course, the
+alien.
+
+Wayland, with something of the feeling of a civilian reporting to an
+officer, explained his presence in the neighborhood.
+
+"I've heard of you," responded the ranger, "and I've been hoping you'd
+look in on me. The Supervisor's daughter has just written me to look
+after you. She said you were not very well."
+
+Again Wayland protested that he was not a consumptive, only a student who
+needed mountain air; but he added: "It is very kind of Miss McFarlane to
+think of me."
+
+"Oh, she thinks of everybody," the young fellow declared. "She's one of
+the most unselfish creatures in the world."
+
+Something in the music of this speech, and something in the look of the
+ranger's eyes, caused Wayland to wonder if here were not still another of
+Berrie's subjects. He became certain of it as the young officer went on,
+with pleasing frankness, and it was not long before he had conveyed to
+Wayland his cause for sadness. "She's engaged to a man that is not her
+equal. In a certain sense no man is her equal; but Belden is a pretty
+hard type, and I believe, although I can't prove it, that he is part
+owner of the saloon over there."
+
+"How does that saloon happen to be here?"
+
+"It's on patented land--a so-called 'placer claim'--experts have reported
+against it. McFarlane has protested against it, but nothing is done. The
+mill is also on deeded land, and together they are a plague spot. I'm
+their enemy, and they know it; and they've threatened to burn me out. Of
+course they won't do that, but they're ready to play any kind of trick on
+me."
+
+"I can well believe that, for I am getting my share of practical jokes at
+Meeker's."
+
+"They're not a bad lot over there--only just rowdy. I suppose they're
+initiating you," said Landon.
+
+"I didn't come out here to be a cowboy," responded Norcross. "But Frank
+Meeker seems to be anxious to show me all the good old cowboy courtesies.
+On Monday he slipped a burr under my horse's saddle, and I came near to
+having my neck broken. Then he or some one else concealed a frog in my
+bed, and fouled my hair-brushes. In fact, I go to sleep each night in
+expectation of some new attack; but the air and the riding are doing me a
+great deal of good, and so I stay."
+
+"Come and bunk with me," urged Landon. "I'll be glad to have you. I get
+terribly lonesome here sometimes, although I'm supposed to have the best
+station in the forest. Bring your outfit and stay as long as you like."
+
+This offer touched Norcross deeply. "That's very kind of you; but I guess
+I'll stick it out. I hate to let those hoodlums drive me out."
+
+"All right, but come and see me often. I get so blue some days I wonder
+what's the use of it all. There's one fatal condition about this ranger
+business--it's a solitary job, it cuts out marriage for most of us. Many
+of the stations are fifteen or twenty miles from a post-office; then,
+too, the lines of promotion are few. I guess I'll have to get out,
+although I like the work. Come in any time and take a snack with me."
+
+Thereafter Wayland spent nearly every day with the ranger, either in his
+cabin or riding the trail, and during these hours confidence grew until
+at last Landon confessed that his unrest arose from his rejection by
+Berrie.
+
+"She was not to blame. She's so kind and free with every one, I thought I
+had a chance. I was conceited enough to feel sorry for the other fellows,
+and now I can't even feel sorry for myself. I'm just dazed and hanging to
+the ropes. She was mighty gentle about it--you know how sunny her face
+is--well, she just got grave and kind o' faint-voiced, and said--Oh, you
+know what she said! She let me know there was another man. I didn't ask
+her who, and when I found out, I lost my grip entirely. At first I
+thought I'd resign and get out of the country; but I couldn't do it--I
+can't yet. The chance of seeing her--of hearing from her once in a
+while--she never writes except on business for her father; but--you'll
+laugh--I can't see her signature without a tremor." He smiled, but his
+eyes were desperately sad. "I ought to resign, because I can't do my work
+as well as I ought to. As I ride the trail I'm thinking of her. I sit
+here half the night writing imaginary letters to her. And when I see her,
+and she takes my hand in hers--you know what a hand she has--my mind goes
+blank. Oh, I'm crazy! I admit it. I didn't know such a thing could happen
+to me; but it has."
+
+"I suppose it's being alone so much," Wayland started to argue, but the
+other would not have it so.
+
+"No, it's the girl herself. She's not only beautiful in body, she's all
+sweetness and sincerity in mind. There isn't a petty thing about her. And
+her happy smile--do you know, I have times when I resent that smile? How
+can she be so happy without me? That's crazy, too, but I think it,
+sometimes. Then I think of the time when she will not smile--when that
+brute Belden will begin to treat her as he does his sisters--then I get
+murderous."
+
+As Wayland listened to this outpouring he wondered at the intensity of
+the forester's passion. He marveled, too, at Berrie's choice, for there
+was something fine and high in Landon's worship. A college man with a
+mining engineer's training, he should go high in the service. "He made
+the mistake of being too precipitate as a lover," concluded Wayland. "His
+forthright courtship repelled her."
+
+Meanwhile his own troubles increased. Frank's dislike had grown to an
+impish vindictiveness, and if the old man Meeker had any knowledge of his
+son's deviltries, he gave no sign. Mrs. Meeker, however, openly reproved
+the scamp.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of worrying a sick man," she protested,
+indignantly.
+
+"He ain't so sick as all that; and, besides, he needs the starch taken
+out of him," was the boy's pitiless answer.
+
+"I don't know why I stay," Wayland wrote to Berea. "I'm disgusted with
+the men up here--they're all tiresome except Landon--but I hate to slink
+away, and besides, the country is glorious. I'd like to come down and see
+you this week. May I do so? Please send word that I may."
+
+She did not reply, and wondering whether she had received his letter or
+not, he mounted his horse one beautiful morning and rode away up the
+trail with a sense of elation, of eager joy, with intent to call upon her
+at the ranch as he went by.
+
+Hardly had he vanished among the pines when Clifford Belden rode in from
+his ranch on Hat Creek, and called at Meeker's for his mail.
+
+Frank Meeker was in the office, and as he both feared and disliked this
+big contemptuous young cattleman, he set to work to make him jealous.
+
+"You want to watch this one-lung boarder of ours," he warned, with a
+grin. "He's been writing to Berrie, and he's just gone down to see her.
+His highfalutin ways, and his fine white hands, have put her on the
+slant."
+
+Belden fixed a pair of cold, gray-blue eyes on his tormentor, and said:
+"You be careful of your tongue or I'll put _you_ on the slant."
+
+"I'm her own cousin," retorted Frank. "I reckon I can say what I please
+about her. I don't want that dude Easterner to cut you out. She guided
+him over here, and gave him her slicker to keep him dry, and I can see
+she's terribly taken with him. She's headstrong as a mule, once she gets
+started, and if she takes a notion to Norcross it's all up with you."
+
+"I'm not worrying," retorted Belden.
+
+"You'd better be. I was down there the other day, and it 'peared like she
+couldn't talk of anything else but Mister Norcross, Mister Norcross, till
+I was sick of his name."
+
+An hour later Belden left the mill and set off up the trail behind
+Norcross, his face fallen into stern lines. Frank writhed in delight.
+"There goes Cliff, hot under the collar, chasing Norcross. If he finds
+out that Berrie is interested in him, he'll just about wring that dude's
+neck."
+
+Meanwhile Wayland was riding through the pass with lightening heart, his
+thought dwelling on the girl at the end of his journey. Aside from Landon
+and Nash, she was the one soul in all this mountain world in whom he took
+the slightest interest. Her pity still hurt him, but he hoped to show her
+such change of color, such gain in horsemanship, that she could no longer
+consider him an invalid. His mind kept so closely to these interior
+matters that he hardly saw the path, but his horse led him safely back
+with precise knowledge and eager haste.
+
+As he reached the McFarlane ranch it seemed deserted of men, but a faint
+column of smoke rising from the roof of the kitchen gave evidence of a
+cook, and at his knock Berrie came to the door with a boyish word of
+frank surprise and pleasure. She was dressed in a blue-and-white calico
+gown with the collar turned in and the sleeves rolled up; but she seemed
+quite unembarrassed, and her pleasure in his coming quite repaid him for
+his long and tiresome ride.
+
+"I've been wondering about you," she said. "I'm mighty glad to see you.
+How do you stand it?"
+
+"You got my letter?"
+
+"I did--and I was going to write and tell you to come down, but I've had
+some special work to do at the office."
+
+She took the horse's rein from him, and together they started toward
+the stables. As she stepped over and around the old hoofs and
+meat-bones--which littered the way--without comment, Wayland again
+wondered at her apparent failure to realize the disgusting disorder of
+the yard. "Why don't she urge the men to clean it up?" he thought.
+
+This action of stabling the horses--a perfectly innocent and natural one
+for her--led one of the hands, a coarse-minded sneak, to watch them from
+a corral. "I wonder how Cliff would like that?" he evilly remarked.
+
+Berea was frankly pleased to see Wayland, and spoke of the improvement
+which had taken place in him. "You're looking fine," she said, as they
+were returning to the house. "But how do you get on with the boys?"
+
+"Not very well," he admitted. "They seem to have it in for me. It's a
+constant fight."
+
+"How about Frank?"
+
+"He's the worst of them all. He never speaks to me that he doesn't insult
+me. I don't know why. I've tried my best to get into his good graces, but
+I can't. Your uncle I like, and Mrs. Meeker is very kind; but all the
+others seem to be sworn enemies. I don't think I could stand it if it
+weren't for Landon. I spend a good deal of time with him."
+
+Her face grew grave. "I reckon you got started wrong," she said at last.
+"They'll like you better when you get browned up, and your clothes get
+dirty--you're a little too fancy for them just now."
+
+"But you see," he said, "I'm not trying for their admiration. I haven't
+the slightest ambition to shine as a cow-puncher, and if those fellows
+are fair samples I don't want anybody to mistake me for one."
+
+"Don't let that get around," she smilingly replied. "They'd run you out
+if they knew you despised them."
+
+"I've come down here to confer with you," he declared, as they reached
+the door. "I don't believe I want any more of their company. What's the
+use? As you say, I've started wrong with them, and I don't see any
+prospect of getting right; and, besides, I like the rangers better.
+Landon thinks I might work into the service. I wonder if I could? It
+would give me something to do."
+
+She considered a moment. "We'll think about that. Come into the kitchen.
+I'm cook to-day, mother's gone to town."
+
+The kitchen was clean and ample, and the delicious odor of new-made bread
+filled it with cheer. As the girl resumed her apron, Wayland settled into
+a chair with a sigh of content. "I like this," he said aloud. "There's
+nothing cowgirl about you now, you're the Anglo-Saxon housewife. You
+might be a Michigan or Connecticut girl at this moment."
+
+Her cheeks were ruddy with the heat, and her eyes intent on her work; but
+she caught enough of his meaning to be pleased with it. "Oh, I have to
+take a hand at the pots and pans now and then. I can't give all my time
+to the service; but I'd like to."
+
+He boldly announced his errand. "I wish you'd take me to board? I'm sure
+your cooking would build up my shattered system a good deal quicker than
+your aunt's."
+
+She laughed, but shook her head. "You ought to be on the hills riding
+hard every day. What you need is the high country and the air of the
+pines."
+
+"I'm not feeling any lack of scenery or pine-tree air," he retorted. "I'm
+perfectly satisfied right here. Civilized bread and the sight of you will
+do me more good than boiled beans and camp bread. I hate to say it, but
+the Meeker menu runs largely to beef. Moreover, just seeing you would
+help my recovery."
+
+She became self-conscious at this, and he hastened to add:
+
+"Not that I'm really sick. Mrs. Meeker, like yourself, persists in
+treating me as if I were. I'm feeling fine--perfectly well, only I'm not
+as rugged as I want to be."
+
+She had read that victims of the white plague always talk in this
+cheerful way about themselves, and she worked on without replying, and
+this gave him an excellent opportunity to study her closely. She was
+taller than most women and lithely powerful. There was nothing delicate
+about her--nothing spirituelle--on the contrary, she was markedly
+full-veined, cheerful and humorous, and yet she had responded several
+times to an allusive phrase with surprising quickness. She did so now as
+he remarked: "Somebody, I think it was Lowell, has said 'Nature is all
+very well for a vacation, but a poor substitute for the society of good
+men and women.' It's beautiful up at the mill, but I want some one to
+enjoy it with, and there is no one to turn to, except Landon, and he's
+rather sad and self-absorbed--you know why. If I were here--in the
+valley--you and I could ride together now and then, and you could show me
+all the trails. Why not let me come here and board? I'm going to ask your
+mother, if I may not do so?"
+
+Quite naturally he grew more and more personal. He told her of his
+father, the busy director of a lumber company, and of his mother, sickly
+and inert.
+
+"She ought never to have married," he said, with darkened brow. "Not one
+of her children has even a decent constitution. I'm the most robust of
+them all, and I must seem a pretty poor lot to you. However, I wasn't
+always like this, and if that young devil, Frank Meeker, hadn't tormented
+me out of my sleep, I would have shown you still greater improvement.
+Don't you see that it is your duty to let me stay here where I can build
+up on your cooking?"
+
+She turned this aside. "Mother don't think much of my cooking. She says I
+can handle a brandin'-iron a heap better than I can a rollin'-pin."
+
+"You certainly can ride," he replied, with admiring accent. "I shall
+never forget the picture you made that first time I saw you racing to
+intercept the stage. Do you _know_ how fine you are physically? You're a
+wonder." She uttered some protest, but he went on: "When I think of my
+mother and sisters in comparison with you, they seem like caricatures of
+women. I know I oughtn't to say such things of my mother--she really is
+an exceptional person--but a woman should be something more than mind. My
+sisters could no more do what you do than a lame duck can lead a ballet.
+I suppose it is because I have had to live with a lot of ailing women all
+my life that I feel as I do toward you. I worship your health and
+strength. I really do. Your care of me on that trip was very sweet--and
+yet it stung."
+
+"I didn't mean to hurt you."
+
+"I know you didn't, and I'm not complaining. I'm only wishing I could
+come here and be 'bossed' by you until I could hold my own against any
+weather. You make me feel just as I used to do when I went to a circus
+and watched the athletes, men and women, file past me in the sawdust.
+They seemed like demigods. As I sit here now I have a fierce desire to be
+as well, as strong, as full of life as you are. I hate being thin and
+timid. You have the physical perfection that queens ought to have."
+
+Her face was flushed with inward heat as she listened to his strange
+words, which sprang, she feared, from the heart of a man hopelessly ill;
+but she again protested. "It's all right to be able to throw a rope and
+ride a mean horse, but you have got something else--something I can never
+get. Learning is a thousand times finer than muscle."
+
+"Learning does not compensate for nine-inch shoulders and spindle legs,"
+he answered. "But I'm going to get well. Knowing you has given me renewed
+desire to be a man. I'm going to ride and rough it, and sleep out of
+doors till I can follow you anywhere. You'll be proud of me before the
+month is out. But I'm going to cut the Meeker outfit. I won't subject
+myself to their vulgarities another day. Why should I? It's false pride
+in me to hang on up there any longer."
+
+"Of course you can come here," she said. "Mother will be glad to have
+you, although our ranch isn't a bit pretty. Perhaps father will send you
+out with one of the rangers as a fire-guard. I'll ask him to-night."
+
+"I wish you would. I like these foresters. What I've seen of them. I
+wouldn't mind serving under a man like Landon. He's fine."
+
+Upon this pleasant conference Cliff Belden unexpectedly burst. Pushing
+the door open with a slam, he confronted Berrie with dark and angry
+face.
+
+"Why, Cliff, where did you come from?" she asked, rising in some
+confusion. "I didn't hear you ride up."
+
+"Apparently not," he sneeringly answered. "I reckon you were too much
+occupied."
+
+She tried to laugh away his black mood. "That's right, I was. I'm chief
+cook to-day. Come in and sit down. Mother's gone to town, and I'm playing
+her part," she explained, ignoring his sullen displeasure. "Cliff, this
+is Mr. Norcross, who is visiting Uncle Joe. Mr. Norcross, shake hands
+with Mr. Belden." She made this introduction with some awkwardness, for
+her lover's failure to even say, "Howdy," informed her that his jealous
+heart was aflame, and she went on, quickly: "Mr. Norcross dropped in on
+his way to the post-office, and I'm collecting a snack for him."
+
+Recognizing Belden's claims upon the girl, Wayland rose. "I must be
+going. It's a long ride over the hill."
+
+"Come again soon," urged Berrie; "father wants to see you."
+
+"Thank you. I will look in very shortly," he replied, and went out with
+such dignity as he could command, feeling, however, very much like a dog
+that has been kicked over the threshold.
+
+Closing the door behind him, Belden turned upon the girl. "What's that
+consumptive 'dogie' doing here? He 'peared to be very much at home with
+you--too dern much at home!"
+
+She was prepared for his displeasure, but not for words like these. She
+answered, quietly: "He just dropped in on his way to town, and he's not a
+dogie!" She resented his tone as well as his words.
+
+"I've heard about you taking him over to Meeker's and lending him your
+only slicker," he went on; "but I didn't expect to find him sittin' here
+like he owned you and the place. You're taking altogether too much pains
+with him. Can't he put his own horse out? Do you have to go to the stable
+with him? You never did have any sense about your actions with men.
+You've all along been too free of your reputation, and now I'm going to
+take care of it for you. I won't have you nursin' this runt any longer!"
+
+She perceived now the full measure of his base rage, and her face grew
+pale and set. "You're making a perfect fool of yourself, Cliff," she
+said, with portentous calmness.
+
+"Am I?" he asked.
+
+"You sure are, and you'll see it yourself by and by. You've no call to
+get wire-edged about Mr. Norcross. He's not very strong. He's just
+getting well of a long sickness. I knew a chill would finish him, that's
+why I gave him my slicker. It didn't hurt me, and maybe it saved his
+life. I'd do it again if necessary."
+
+"Since when did you start a hospital for Eastern tenderfeet?" he sneered;
+then his tone changed to one of downright command. "You want to cut this
+all out, I tell you! I won't have any more of it! The boys up at the mill
+are all talkin' about your interest in this little whelp, and I'm getting
+the branding-iron from every one I meet. Sam saw you go into the barn
+with that dude, and _that_ would have been all over the country
+to-morrow, if I hadn't told him I'd sew his mouth up if he said a word
+about it. Of course, I don't think you mean anything by this coddlin'."
+
+"Oh, thank you," she interrupted, with flaming, quick, indignant fury.
+"That's mighty nice of you. I went to the barn to show Mr. Norcross where
+to stall his horse. I didn't know Sam was here."
+
+He sneered: "No, I bet you didn't."
+
+She fired at this. "Come now! Spit it out! Something nasty is in your
+mind. Go on! What have I done? What makes you so hot?"
+
+He began to weaken. "I don't accuse you of anything. I--but I--"
+
+"Yes you do--in your heart you distrust me--you just as much as said
+so!"
+
+He was losing his high air of command. "Never mind what I said, Berrie,
+I--"
+
+She was blazing now. "But I _do_ mind--I mind a whole lot--I didn't think
+it of you," she added, as she realized his cheapness, his coarseness. "I
+didn't suppose you could even _think_ such things of me. I don't like
+it," she repeated, and her tone hardened, "and I guess you'd better pull
+out of here--for good. If you've no more faith in me than that, I want
+you to go and never come back."
+
+"You don't mean that!"
+
+"Yes, I do! You've shown this yellow streak before, and I'm tired of it.
+This is the limit. I'm done with you."
+
+She stood between tears and benumbing anger now, and he was scared.
+"Don't say that, Berrie!" he pleaded, trying to put his arm about her.
+
+"Keep away from me!" She dashed his hands aside. "I hate you. I never
+want to see you again!" She ran into her own room and slammed the door
+behind her.
+
+Belden stood for a long time with his back against the wall, the heat of
+his resentment utterly gone, an empty, aching place in his heart. He
+called her twice, but she made no answer, and so, at last, he mounted his
+horse and rode away.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE SUPERVISOR OF THE FOREST
+
+
+Young Norcross, much as he admired Berrie, was not seeking to exchange
+her favor for her lover's enmity, and he rode away with an uneasy feeling
+of having innocently made trouble for himself, as well as for a fine,
+true-hearted girl. "What a good friendly talk we were having," he said,
+regretfully, "and to think she is to marry that big, scowling brute. How
+could she turn Landon down for a savage like that?"
+
+He was just leaving the outer gate when Belden came clattering up and
+reined his horse across the path and called out: "See here, you young
+skunk, you're a poor, white-livered tenderfoot, and I can't bust you as I
+would a full-grown man, but I reckon you better not ride this trail any
+more."
+
+"Why not?" inquired Wayland.
+
+Belden glared. "Because I tell you so. Your sympathy-hunting game has
+just about run into the ground. You've worked this baby dodge about long
+enough. You're not so almighty sick as you put up to be, and you'd better
+hunt some other cure for lonesomeness, or I'll just about cave your chest
+in."
+
+All this was shockingly plain talk for a slender young scholar to listen
+to, but Norcross remained calm. "I think you're unnecessarily excited,"
+he remarked. "I have no desire to make trouble. I'm considering Miss
+Berea, who is too fine to be worried by us."
+
+His tone was conciliating, and the cowman, in spite of himself, responded
+to it. "That's why I advise you to go. She was all right till you came.
+Colorado's a big place, and there are plenty other fine ranges for men of
+your complaint--why not try Routt County? This is certain, you can't stay
+in the same valley with my girl. I serve notice of that."
+
+"You're making a prodigious ass of yourself," observed Wayland, with calm
+contempt.
+
+"You think so--do you? Well, I'll make a jack-rabbit out of you if I find
+you on this ranch again. You've worked on my girl in some way till she's
+jest about quit me. I don't see how you did it, you measly little pup,
+but you surely have turned her against me!" His rage burst into flame as
+he thought of her last words. "If you were so much as half a man I'd
+break you in two pieces right now; but you're not, you're nothing but a
+dead-on-the-hoof lunger, and there's nothing to do but run you out. So
+take this as your final notice. You straddle a horse and head east and
+keep a-ridin', and if I catch you with my girl again, I'll deal you a
+whole hatful of misery--now that's right!"
+
+Thereupon, with a final glance of hate in his face, he whirled his horse
+and galloped away, leaving Norcross dumb with resentment, intermingled
+with wonder.
+
+"Truly the West is a dramatic country! Here I am, involved in a lover's
+wrath, and under sentence of banishment, all within a month! Well, I
+suppose there's nothing to do but carry out Belden's orders. He's the
+boss," he said as he rode on. "I wonder just what happened after I left?
+Something stormy, evidently. She must have given him a sharp rebuff, or
+he wouldn't have been so furious with me. Perhaps she even broke her
+engagement with him. I sincerely hope she did. She's too good for him.
+That's the truth."
+
+And so, from point to point, he progressed till with fine indignation he
+reached a resolution to stay and meet whatever came. "I certainly would
+be a timorous animal if I let myself be scared into flight by that big
+bonehead," he said at last. "I have as much right here as he has, and the
+law must protect me. It can't be that this country is entirely
+barbaric."
+
+Nevertheless, he felt very weak and very much depressed as he rode up the
+street of the little town and dismounted at the hotel. The sidewalks were
+littered with loafing cowboys and lumber-jacks, and some of them quite
+openly ridiculed his riding-breeches and his thin legs. Others merely
+grinned, but in their grins lay something more insulting than words. "To
+them I am a poor thing," he admitted; but as he lifted his eyes to the
+mighty semicircular wall of the Bear Tooth Range, over which the daily
+storm was playing, he forgot his small worries. What gorgeous pageantry!
+What life-giving air! "If only civilized men and women possessed this
+glorious valley, what a place it would be!" he exclaimed, and in the heat
+of his indignant contempt he would have swept the valley clean.
+
+As his eyes caught the flutter of the flag on its staff above the Forest
+Service building, his heart went out to the men who unselfishly wrought
+beneath that symbol of federal unity for the good of the future. "That is
+civilized," he said; "that is prophetic," and alighted at the door in a
+glow of confidence.
+
+Nash, who was alone in the office, looked up from his work. "Come in," he
+called, heartily. "Come in and report."
+
+"Thank you. I'd like to do so; and may I use your desk? I have a letter
+to write."
+
+"Make yourself at home. Take any desk you like. The men are all out on
+duty."
+
+"You're very kind," replied Wayland, gratefully. There was something
+reassuring in this greeting, and in the many signs of skill and
+scientific reading which the place displayed. It was like a bit of
+Washington in the midst of a careless, slovenly, lawless mountain town,
+and Norcross took his seat and wrote his letter with a sense of
+proprietorship.
+
+"I'm getting up an enthusiasm for the Service just from hearing Alec
+Belden rave against it," he said a few minutes later, as he looked up
+from his letter.
+
+Nash grinned. "How did you like Meeker?"
+
+"He's a good man, but he has his peculiarities. Belden is your real
+enemy. He is blue with malignity--so are most of the cowmen I met up
+there. I wish I could do something for the Service. I'm a thoroughly
+up-to-date analytical chemist and a passable mining engineer, and my
+doctor says that for a year at least I must work in the open air. _Is_
+there anything in this Forest Service for a weakling like me?"
+
+Nash considered. "The Supervisor might put you on as a temporary guard.
+I'll speak to him if you like?"
+
+"I wish you would. Tell him to forget the pay. I'm not in need of money,
+but I do require some incentive--something to do--something to give me
+direction. It bores me stiff to fish, and I'm sick of loafing. If
+McFarlane can employ me I shall be happy. The country is glorious, but I
+can't live on scenery."
+
+"I think we can employ you, but you'll have to go on as fire-guard or
+something like that for the first year. You see, the work is getting to
+be more and more technical each year. As a matter of fact"--here he
+lowered his voice a little--"McFarlane is one of the old guard, and will
+have to give way. He don't know a thing about forestry, and is too old to
+learn. His girl knows more about it than he does. She helps him out on
+office work, too."
+
+Wayland wondered a little at the freedom of expression on the part of
+Nash; but said: "If he runs his office as he runs his ranch he surely is
+condemned to go."
+
+"There's where the girl comes in. She keeps the boys in the office lined
+up and maintains things in pretty fair shape. She knows the old man is in
+danger of losing his job, and she's doing her best to hold him to it.
+She's like a son to him and he relies on her judgment when a close
+decision comes up. But it's only a matter of time when he and all he
+represents must drift by. This is a big movement we're mixed with."
+
+"I begin to feel that that's why I'd like to take it up. It's the only
+thing out here that interests me--and I've got to do something. I can't
+loaf."
+
+"Well, you get Berrie to take up your case and you're all right. She has
+the say about who goes on the force in this forest."
+
+It was late in the afternoon before Wayland started back to Meeker's with
+intent to repack his belongings and leave the ranch for good. He had
+decided not to call at McFarlane's, a decision which came not so much
+from fear of Clifford Belden as from a desire to shield Berea from
+further trouble, but as he was passing the gate, the girl rose from
+behind a clump of willows and called to him: "Oh, Mr. Norcross! Wait a
+moment."
+
+He drew rein, and, slipping from his horse, approached her. "What is it,
+Miss Berrie?" he asked, with wondering politeness.
+
+She confronted him with gravity. "It's too late for you to cross the
+ridge. It'll be dark long before you reach the cut-off. You'd better not
+try to make it."
+
+"I think I can find my way," he answered, touched by her consideration.
+"I'm not so helpless as I was when I came."
+
+"Just the same you mustn't go on," she insisted. "Father told me to ask
+you to come in and stay all night. He wants to meet you. I was afraid you
+might ride by after what happened to-day, and so I came up here to head
+you off." She took his horse by the rein, and flashed a smiling glance up
+at him. "Come now, do as the Supervisor tells you."
+
+"Wait a moment," he pleaded. "On second thought, I don't believe it's a
+good thing for me to go home with you. It will only make further trouble
+for--for us both."
+
+She was almost as direct as Belden had been. "I know what you mean. I saw
+Cliff follow you. He jumped you, didn't he?"
+
+"He overtook me--yes."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+He hesitated. "He was pretty hot, and said things he'll be sorry for when
+he cools off."
+
+"He told you not to come here any more--advised you to hit the out-going
+trail--didn't he?"
+
+He flushed with returning shame of it all, but quietly answered: "Yes, he
+said something about riding east."
+
+"Are you going to do it?"
+
+"Not to-day; but I guess I'd better keep away from here."
+
+She looked at him steadily. "Why?"
+
+"Because you've been very kind to me, and I wouldn't for the world do
+anything to hurt or embarrass you."
+
+"Don't you mind about me," she responded, bluntly. "What happened this
+morning wasn't your fault nor mine. Cliff made a mighty coarse play,
+something he'll have to pay for. He knows that right now. He'll be back
+in a day or two begging my pardon, and he won't get it. Don't you worry
+about me, not for a minute--I can take care of myself--I grew up that
+way, and don't you be chased out of the country by anybody. Come, father
+will be looking for you."
+
+With a feeling that he was involving both the girl and himself in still
+darker storms, the young fellow yielded to her command, and together they
+walked along the weed-bordered path, while she continued:
+
+"This isn't the first time Cliff has started in to discipline me; but
+it's obliged to be the last. He's the kind that think they own a girl
+just as soon as they get her to wear an engagement ring; but Cliff don't
+own me. I told him I wouldn't stand for his coarse ways, and I won't!"
+
+Wayland tried to bring her back to humor. "You're a kind of 'new
+woman.'"
+
+She turned a stern look on him. "You bet I am! I was raised a free
+citizen. No man can make a slave of me. I thought he understood that; but
+it seems he didn't. He's all right in many ways--one of the best riders
+in the country--but he's pretty tolerable domineering--I've always known
+that--still, I never expected him to talk to me like he did to-day. It
+certainly was raw." She broke off abruptly. "You mustn't let Frank Meeker
+get the best of you, either," she advised. "He's a mean little weasel if
+he gets started. I'll bet he put Cliff up to this business."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Yes, he just as good as told me he'd do it. I know Frank, he's my own
+cousin, and someways I like him; but he's the limit when he gets going.
+You see, he wanted to get even with Cliff and took that way of doing it.
+I'll ride up there and give him a little good advice some Saturday."
+
+He was no longer amused by her blunt speech, and her dark look saddened
+him. She seemed so unlike the happy girl he met that first day, and the
+change in her subtended a big, rough, and pitiless world of men against
+which she was forced to contend all her life.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane greeted Norcross with cordial word and earnest hand-clasp.
+"I'm glad to see you looking so well," she said, with charming
+sincerity.
+
+"I'm browner, anyway," he answered, and turned to meet McFarlane, a
+short, black-bearded man, with fine dark eyes and shapely hands--hands
+that had never done anything more toilsome than to lift a bridle rein or
+to clutch the handle of a gun. He was the horseman in all his training,
+and though he owned hundreds of acres of land, he had never so much as
+held a plow or plied a spade. His manner was that of the cow-boss, the
+lord of great herds, the claimant of empires of government grass-land.
+Poor as his house looked, he was in reality rich. Narrow-minded in
+respect to his own interests, he was well in advance of his neighbors on
+matters relating to the general welfare, a curious mixture of greed and
+generosity, as most men are, and though he had been made Supervisor at a
+time when political pull still crippled the Service, he was loyal to the
+flag. "I'm mighty glad to see you," he heartily began. "We don't often
+get a man from the sea-level, and when we do we squeeze him dry."
+
+His voice, low, languid, and soft, was most insinuating, and for hours he
+kept his guest talking of the East and its industries and prejudices; and
+Berrie and her mother listened with deep admiration, for the youngster
+had seen a good deal of the old world, and was unusually well read on
+historical lines of inquiry. He talked well, too, inspired by his
+attentive audience.
+
+Berrie's eyes, wide and eager, were fixed upon him unwaveringly. He felt
+her wonder, her admiration, and was inspired to do his best. Something in
+her absorbed attention led him to speak of things so personal that he
+wondered at himself for uttering them.
+
+"I've been dilettante all my life," was one of his confessions. "I've
+traveled; I've studied in a tepid sort of fashion; I went through college
+without any idea of doing anything with what I got; I had a sort of pride
+in keeping up with my fellows; and I had no idea of preparing for any
+work in the world. Then came my breakdown, and my doctor ordered me out
+here. I came intending to fish and loaf around, but I can't do that. I've
+got to do something or go back home. I expected to have a chum of mine
+with me, but his father was injured in an automobile accident, so he went
+into the office to help out."
+
+As he talked the girl discovered new graces, new allurements in him. His
+smile, so subtly self-derisive, and his voice so flexible and so quietly
+eloquent, completed her subjugation. She had no further care concerning
+Clifford--indeed, she had forgotten him--for the time at least. The other
+part of her--the highly civilized latent power drawn from her mother--was
+in action. She lost her air of command, her sense of chieftainship, and
+sat humbly at the feet of this shining visitor from the East.
+
+At last Mrs. McFarlane rose, and Berea, reluctantly, like a child loath
+to miss a fairy story, held out her hand to say good night, and the young
+man saw on her face that look of adoration which marks the birth of
+sudden love; but his voice was frank and his glance kindly as he said:
+
+"Here I've done all the talking when I wanted you to tell _me_ all sorts
+of things."
+
+"I can't tell you anything."
+
+"Oh yes, you can; and, besides, I want you to intercede for me with your
+father and get me into the Service. But we'll talk about that to-morrow.
+Good night."
+
+After the women left the room Norcross said:
+
+"I really am in earnest about entering the Forest Service. Landon filled
+me with enthusiasm about it. Never mind the pay. I'm not in immediate
+need of money; but I do need an interest in life."
+
+McFarlane stared at him with kindly perplexity. "I don't know exactly
+what you can do, but I'll work you in somehow. You ought to work under a
+man like Settle, one that could put you through a training in the
+rudiments of the game. I'll see what can be done."
+
+"Thank you for that half promise," said Wayland, and he went to his bed
+happier than at any moment since leaving home.
+
+Berrie, on her part, did not analyze her feeling for Wayland, she only
+knew that he was as different from the men she knew as a hawk from a
+sage-hen, and that he appealed to her in a higher way than any other had
+done. His talk filled her with visions of great cities, and with thoughts
+of books, for though she was profoundly loyal to her mountain valley, she
+held other, more secret admirations. She was, in fact, compounded of two
+opposing tendencies. Her quiet little mother longing--in secret--for the
+placid, refined life of her native Kentucky town, had dowered her
+daughter with some part of her desire. She had always hated the slovenly,
+wasteful, and purposeless life of the cattle-rancher, and though she
+still patiently bore with her husband's shortcomings, she covertly hoped
+that Berea might find some other and more civilized lover than Clifford
+Belden. She understood her daughter too well to attempt to dictate her
+action; she merely said to her, as they were alone for a few moments: "I
+don't wonder your father is interested in Mr. Norcross, he's very
+intelligent--and very considerate."
+
+"Too considerate," said Berrie, shortly; "he makes other men seem like
+bears or pigs."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane said no more, but she knew that Cliff was, for the time,
+among the bears.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE GOLDEN PATHWAY
+
+
+Young Norcross soon became vitally engaged with the problems which
+confronted McFarlane, and his possible enrolment as a guard filled him
+with a sense of proprietorship in the forest, which made him quite
+content with Bear Tooth. He set to work at once to acquire a better
+knowledge of the extent and boundaries of the reservation. It was,
+indeed, a noble possession. Containing nearly eight hundred thousand
+acres of woodland, and reaching to the summits of the snow-lined peaks to
+the east, south, and west, it appealed to him with silent majesty. It
+drew upon his patriotism. Remembering how the timber of his own state had
+been slashed and burned, he began to feel a sense of personal
+responsibility. He had but to ride into it a few miles in order to
+appreciate in some degree its grandeur, considered merely as the source
+of a hundred swift streams, whose waters enriched the valleys lying
+below.
+
+He bought a horse of his own--although Berrie insisted upon his retaining
+Pete--and sent for a saddle of the army type, and from sheer desire to
+keep entirely clear of the cowboy equipment procured puttees like those
+worn by cavalry officers, and when he presented himself completely
+uniformed, he looked not unlike a slender, young lieutenant of the
+cavalry on field duty, and in Berrie's eyes was wondrous alluring.
+
+He took quarters at the hotel, but spent a larger part of each day in
+Berrie's company--a fact which was duly reported to Clifford Belden.
+Hardly a day passed without his taking at least one meal at the
+Supervisor's home.
+
+As he met the rangers one by one, he perceived by their outfits, as well
+as by their speech, that they were sharply divided upon old lines and
+new. The experts, the men of college training, were quite ready to be
+known as Uncle Sam's men. They held a pride in their duties, a respect
+for their superiors, and an understanding of the governmental policy
+which gave them dignity and a quiet authority. They were less policemen
+than trusted agents of a federal department. Nevertheless, there was much
+to admire in the older men, who possessed a self-reliance, a knowledge of
+nature, and a certain rough grace which made them interesting companions,
+and rendered them effective teachers of camping and trailing, and while
+they were secretly a little contemptuous of the "schoolboys"; they were
+all quite ready to ask for expert aid when knotty problems arose. It was
+no longer a question of grazing, it was a question of lumbering and
+reforestration.
+
+Nash, who took an almost brotherly interest in his apprentice,
+warningly said: "You want to go well clothed and well shod. You'll have
+to meet all kinds of weather. Every man in the service, I don't care
+what his technical job is, should be schooled in taking care of himself
+in the forest and on the trail. I often meet surveyors and civil
+engineers--experts--who are helpless as children in camp, and when I
+want them to go into the hills and do field work, they are almost
+useless. The old-style ranger has his virtues. Settle is just the kind
+of instructor you young fellows need."
+
+Berrie also had keen eyes for his outfit and his training, and under her
+direction he learned to pack a horse, set a tent, build a fire in the
+rain, and other duties.
+
+"You want to remember that you carry your bed and board with you," she
+said, "and you must be prepared to camp anywhere and at any time."
+
+The girl's skill in these particulars was marvelous to him, and added to
+the admiration he already felt for her. Her hand was as deft, as sure, as
+the best of them, and her knowledge of cayuse psychology more profound
+than any of the men excepting her father.
+
+One day, toward the end of his second week in the village, the Supervisor
+said: "Well, now, if you're ready to experiment I'll send you over to
+Settle, the ranger, on the Horseshoe. He's a little lame on his pen-hand
+side, and you may be able to help him out. Maybe I'll ride over there
+with you. I want to line out some timber sales on the west side of
+Ptarmigan."
+
+This commission delighted Norcross greatly. "I'm ready, sir, this
+moment," he answered, saluting soldier-wise.
+
+That night, as he sat in the saddle-littered, boot-haunted front room of
+Nash's little shack, his host said, quaintly: "Don't think you are
+inheriting a soft snap, son. The ranger's job was a man's job in the old
+days when it was a mere matter of patrolling; but it's worse and more of
+it to-day. A ranger must be ready and willing to build bridges, fight
+fire, scale logs, chop a hole through a windfall, use a pick in a ditch,
+build his own house, cook, launder, and do any other old trick that comes
+along. But you'll know more about all this at the end of ten days than I
+can tell you in a year."
+
+"I'm eager for duty," replied Wayland.
+
+The next morning, as he rode down to the office to meet the Supervisor,
+he was surprised and delighted to find Berea there. "I'm riding, too,"
+she announced, delightedly. "I've never been over that new trail, and
+father has agreed to let me go along." Then she added, earnestly: "I
+think it's fine you're going in for the Service; but it's hard work, and
+you must be careful till you're hardened to it. It's a long way to a
+doctor from Settle's station."
+
+He was annoyed as well as touched by her warning, for it proclaimed that
+he was still far from looking the brave forester he felt himself to be.
+He replied: "I'm not going to try anything wild, but I do intend to
+master the trailer's craft."
+
+"I'll teach you how to camp, if you'll let me," she continued. "I've been
+on lots of surveys with father, and I always take my share of the work. I
+threw that hitch alone." She nodded toward the pack-horse, whose neat
+load gave evidence of her skill. "I told father this was to be a real
+camping expedition, and as the grouse season is on we'll live on the
+country. Can you fish?"
+
+"Just about that," he laughed. "Good thing you didn't ask me if I could
+_catch_ fish?" He was recovering his spirits. "It will be great fun to
+have you as instructor in camp science. I seem to be in for all kinds of
+good luck."
+
+They both grew uneasy as time passed, for fear something or some one
+would intervene to prevent this trip, which grew in interest each moment;
+but at last the Supervisor came out and mounted his horse, the
+pack-ponies fell in behind, Berrie followed, and the student of woodcraft
+brought up to rear.
+
+"I hope it won't rain," the girl called back at him, "at least not till
+we get over the divide. It's a fine ride up the hill, and the foliage is
+at its best."
+
+It seemed to him the most glorious morning of his life. A few large white
+clouds were drifting like snow-laden war-vessels from west to east,
+silent and solemn, and on the highest peaks a gray vapor was lightly
+clinging. The near-by hills, still transcendently beautiful with the
+flaming gold of the aspen, burned against the dark green of the farther
+forest, and far beyond the deep purple of the shadowed slopes rose to
+smoky blue and tawny yellow. It was a season, an hour, to create raptures
+in a poet, so radiant, so wide-reaching, so tumultuous was the landscape.
+Nothing sad, nothing discouraging, showed itself. The wind was brisk, the
+air cool and clear, and jewel-like small, frost-painted vines and ripened
+shrubberies blazed upward from the ground. As he rode the youth silently
+repeated: "Beautiful! Beautiful!"
+
+For several miles they rode upward through golden forests of aspens. On
+either hand rose thick walls of snow-white boles, and in the mystic glow
+of their gilded leaves the face of the girl shone with unearthly beauty.
+It was as if the very air had become auriferous. Magic coins dangled from
+the branches. Filmy shadows fell over her hair and down her strong young
+arms like priceless lace. Gold, gold! Everywhere gold, gold and fire!
+
+Twice she stopped to gaze into Wayland's face to say, with hushed
+intensity: "Isn't it wonderful! Don't you wish it would last forever?"
+
+Her words were poor, ineffectual; but her look, her breathless voice made
+up for their lack of originality. Once she said: "I never saw it so
+lovely before; it is an enchanted land!" with no suspicion that the
+larger part of her ecstasy arose from the presence of her young and
+sympathetic companion. He, too, responded to the beauty of the day, of
+the golden forest as one who had taken new hold on life after long
+illness.
+
+Meanwhile the Supervisor was calmly leading the way upward, vaguely
+conscious of the magical air and mystic landscape in which his young folk
+floated as if on wings, thinking busily of the improvements which were
+still necessary in the trail, and weighing with care the clouds which
+still lingered upon the tallest summits, as if debating whether to go or
+to stay. He had never been an imaginative soul, and now that age had
+somewhat dimmed his eyes and blunted his senses he was placidly content
+with his path. The rapture of the lover, the song of the poet, had long
+since abandoned his heart. And yet he was not completely oblivious. To
+him it was a nice day, but a "weather breeder."
+
+"I wonder if I shall ever ride through this mountain world as unmoved as
+he seems to be?" Norcross asked himself, after some jarring prosaic
+remark from his chief. "I am glad Berrie responds to it."
+
+At last they left these lower, wondrous forest aisles and entered the
+unbroken cloak of firs whose dark and silent deeps had a stern beauty all
+their own; but the young people looked back upon the glowing world below
+with wistful hearts. Back and forth across a long, down-sweeping ridge
+they wove their toilsome way toward the clouds, which grew each hour more
+formidable, awesome with their weight, ponderous as continents in their
+majesty of movement. The horses began to labor with roaring breath, and
+Wayland, dismounting to lighten his pony's burden, was dismayed to
+discover how thin the air had become. Even to walk unburdened gave him a
+smothering pain in his breast.
+
+"Better stay on," called the girl. "My rule is to ride the hill going up
+and walk it going down. Down hill is harder on a horse than going up."
+
+Nevertheless he persisted in clambering up some of the steepest parts of
+the trail, and was increasingly dismayed by the endless upward reaches of
+the foot-hills. A dozen times he thought, "We must be nearly at the top,"
+and then other and far higher ridges suddenly developed. Occasionally the
+Supervisor was forced to unsling an ax and chop his way through a fallen
+tree, and each time the student hurried to the spot, ready to aid, but
+was quite useless. He admired the ease and skill with which the older man
+put his shining blade through the largest bole, and wondered if he could
+ever learn to do as well.
+
+"One of the first essentials of a ranger's training is to learn to swing
+an ax," remarked McFarlane, "and you never want to be without a real
+tool. _I_ won't stand for a hatchet ranger."
+
+Berrie called attention to the marks on the trees. "This is the
+government sign--a long blaze with two notches above it. You can trust
+these trails; they lead somewhere."
+
+"As you ride a trail study how to improve it," added the Supervisor,
+sheathing his ax. "They can all be improved."
+
+Wayland was sure of this a few steps farther on, when the Supervisor's
+horse went down in a small bog-hole, and Berrie's pony escaped only by
+the most desperate plunging. The girl laughed, but Wayland was appalled
+and stood transfixed watching McFarlane as he calmly extricated himself
+from the saddle of the fallen horse and chirped for him to rise.
+
+"You act as if this were a regular part of the journey," Wayland said to
+Berrie.
+
+"It's all in the day's work," she replied; "but I despise a bog worse
+than anything else on the trail. I'll show you how to go round this one."
+Thereupon she slid from her horse and came tiptoeing back along the edge
+of the mud-hole.
+
+McFarlane cut a stake and plunged it vertically in the mud. "That means
+'no bottom,'" he explained. "We must cut a new trail."
+
+Wayland was dismounting when Berrie said: "Stay on. Now put your horse
+right through where those rocks are. It's hard bottom there."
+
+He felt like a child; but he did as she bid, and so came safely through,
+while McFarlane set to work to blaze a new route which should avoid the
+slough which was already a bottomless horror to the city man.
+
+This mishap delayed them nearly half an hour, and the air grew dark and
+chill as they stood there, and the amateur ranger began to understand how
+serious a lone night journey might sometimes be. "What would I do if when
+riding in the dark my horse should go down like that and pin me in the
+mud?" he asked himself. "Eternal watchfulness is certainly one of the
+forester's first principles."
+
+The sky was overshadowed now, and a thin drizzle of rain filled the air.
+The novice hastened to throw his raincoat over his shoulders; but
+McFarlane rode steadily on, clad only in his shirtsleeves, unmindful of
+the wet. Berrie, however, approved Wayland's caution. "That's right; keep
+dry," she called back. "Don't pay attention to father, he'd rather get
+soaked any day than unroll his slicker. You mustn't take him for model
+yet awhile."
+
+He no longer resented her sweet solicitude, although he considered
+himself unentitled to it, and he rejoiced under the shelter of his fine
+new coat. He began to perceive that one could be defended against a
+storm.
+
+After passing two depressing marshes, they came to a hillside so steep,
+so slippery, so dark, so forbidding, that one of the pack-horses balked,
+shook his head, and reared furiously, as if to say "I can't do it, and I
+won't try." And Wayland sympathized with him. The forest was gloomy and
+cold, and apparently endless.
+
+After coaxing him for a time with admirable gentleness, the Supervisor,
+at Berrie's suggestion, shifted part of the load to her own saddle-horse,
+and they went on.
+
+Wayland, though incapable of comment--so great was the demand upon his
+lungs--was not too tired to admire the power and resolution of the girl,
+who seemed not to suffer any special inconvenience from the rarefied air.
+The dryness of his open mouth, the throbbing of his troubled pulse, the
+roaring of his breath, brought to him with increasing dismay the fact
+that he had overlooked another phase of the ranger's job. "I couldn't
+chop a hole through one of these windfalls in a week," he admitted, as
+McFarlane's blade again liberated them from a fallen tree. "To do office
+work at six thousand feet is quite different from swinging an ax up here
+at timber-line," he said to the girl. "I guess my chest is too narrow for
+high altitudes."
+
+"Oh, you'll get used to it," she replied, cheerily. "I always feel it a
+little at first; but I really think it's good for a body, kind o'
+stretches the lungs." Nevertheless, she eyed him with furtive anxiety.
+
+He was beginning to be hungry also--he had eaten a very early
+breakfast--and he fell to wondering just where and when they were to
+camp; but he endured in silence. "So long as Berrie makes no complaint my
+mouth is shut," he told himself. "Surely I can stand it if she can." And
+so struggled on.
+
+Up and up the pathway looped, crossing minute little boggy meadows, on
+whose bottomless ooze the grass shook like a blanket, descending steep
+ravines and climbing back to dark and muddy slopes. The forest was
+dripping, green, and silent now, a mysterious menacing jungle. All the
+warmth and magic of the golden forest below was lost as though it
+belonged to another and sunnier world. Nothing could be seen of the high,
+snow-flecked peaks which had allured them from the valley. All about them
+drifted the clouds, and yet through the mist the flushed face of the girl
+glowed like a dew-wet rose, and the imperturbable Supervisor jogged his
+remorseless, unhesitating way toward the dense, ascending night.
+
+"I'm glad I'm not riding this pass alone," Wayland said, as they paused
+again for breath.
+
+"So am I," she answered; but her thought was not his. She was happy at
+the prospect of teaching him how to camp.
+
+At last they reached the ragged edge of timber-line, and there, rolling
+away under the mist, lay the bare, grassy, upward-climbing, naked neck of
+the great peak. The wind had grown keener moment by moment, and when they
+left the storm-twisted pines below, its breath had a wintry nip. The rain
+had ceased to fall, but the clouds still hung densely to the loftiest
+summits. It was a sinister yet beautiful world--a world as silent as a
+dream, and through the short, thick grass the slender trail ran like a
+timid serpent. The hour seemed to have neither daytime nor season. All
+was obscure, mysterious, engulfing, and hostile. Had he been alone the
+youth would have been appalled by the prospect.
+
+"Now we're on the divide," called Berea; and as she spoke they seemed to
+enter upon a boundless Alpine plain of velvet-russet grass. "This is the
+Bear Tooth plateau." Low monuments of loose rock stood on small ledges,
+as though to mark the course, and in the hollows dark ponds of icy water
+lay, half surrounded by masses of compact snow.
+
+"This is a stormy place in winter," McFarlane explained. "These piles of
+stone are mighty valuable in a blizzard. I've crossed this divide in
+August in snow so thick I could not see a rod."
+
+Half an hour later they began to descend. Wind-twisted, storm-bleached
+dwarf pines were first to show, then the firs, then the blue-green
+spruces, and then the sheltering deeps of the undespoiled forest opened,
+and the roar of a splendid stream was heard; but still the Supervisor
+kept his resolute way, making no promises as to dinner, though his
+daughter called: "We'd better go into camp at Beaver Lake. I hope you're
+not starved," she called to Wayland.
+
+"But I am," he replied, so frankly that she never knew how faint he
+really was. His knees were trembling with weakness, and he stumbled
+dangerously as he trod the loose rocks in the path.
+
+They were all afoot now descending swiftly, and the horses ramped down
+the trail with expectant haste, so that in less than an hour from
+timber-line they were back into the sunshine of the lower valley, and at
+three o'clock or thereabouts they came out upon the bank of an exquisite
+lake, and with a cheery shout McFarlane called out: "Here we are, out of
+the wilderness!" Then to Wayland: "Well, boy, how did you stand it?"
+
+"Just middling," replied Wayland, reticent from weariness and with joy of
+their camping-place. The lake, dark as topaz and smooth as steel, lay in
+a frame of golden willows--as a jewel is filigreed with gold--and above
+it the cliffs rose three thousand feet in sheer majesty, their upper
+slopes glowing with autumnal grasses. A swift stream roared down a low
+ledge and fell into the pond near their feet. Grassy, pine-shadowed
+knolls afforded pasture for the horses, and two giant firs, at the edge
+of a little glade, made a natural shelter for their tent.
+
+With businesslike certitude Berrie unsaddled her horse, turned him loose,
+and lent a skilful hand at removing the panniers from the pack-animals,
+while Wayland, willing but a little uncertain, stood awkwardly about.
+Under her instruction he collected dead branches of a standing fir, and
+from these and a few cones kindled a blaze, while the Supervisor hobbled
+the horses and set the tent.
+
+"If the work of a forester were all like this it wouldn't be so bad," he
+remarked, wanly. "I think I know several fellows who would be glad to do
+it without a cent of pay."
+
+"Wait till you get to heaving a pick," she retorted, "or scaling lumber
+in a rain, or building a corduroy bridge."
+
+"I don't want to think of anything so dreadful. I want to enjoy this
+moment. I never was hungrier or happier in my life."
+
+"Do ye good," interjected McFarlane, who had paused to straighten up the
+coffee-pot. "Most people don't know what hunger means. There's nothing
+finer in the world than good old-fashioned hunger, provided you've got
+something to throw into yourself when you come into camp. This is a great
+place for fish. I think I'll see if I can't jerk a few out."
+
+"Better wait till night," said his daughter. "Mr. Norcross is starving,
+and so am I. Plain bacon will do me."
+
+The coffee came to a boil, the skillet gave off a wondrous savor, and
+when the corn and beans began to sizzle, the trailers sat down to their
+feast in hearty content, with one of the panniers for a table, and the
+fir-tree for roof. "This is one of the most perfectly appointed
+dining-rooms in the world," exclaimed the alien.
+
+The girl met his look with a tender smile. "I'm glad you like it, for
+perhaps we'll stay a week."
+
+"It looks stormy," the Supervisor announced, after a glance at the
+crests. "I'd like to see a soaking rain--it would end all our worry about
+fires. The country's very dry on this side the range, and your duty for
+the present will be to help Tony patrol."
+
+While he talked on, telling the youth how to beat out a small blaze and
+how to head off a large one, Wayland listened, but heard his instructions
+only as he sensed the brook, as an accompaniment to Berea's voice, for as
+she busied herself clearing away the dishes and putting the camp to
+rights, she sang.
+
+"You're to have the tent," said her father, "and we two huskies will
+sleep under the shade of this big fir. If you're ever caught out," he
+remarked to Wayland, "hunt for one of these balsam firs; there's always a
+dry spot under them. See here!" And he showed him the sheltered circle
+beneath the tree. "You can always get twigs for kindling from their inner
+branches," he added, "or you can hew into one of these dead trees and get
+some pitchy splinters. There's material for everything you want if you
+know where to find it. Shelter, food, fire are all here for us as they
+were for the Indians. A ranger who needs a roof all the time is not worth
+his bacon."
+
+So, one by one, the principles of camping were taught by the kindly old
+rancher; but the hints which the girl gave were quite as valuable, for
+Wayland was eager to show her that he could be, and intended to be, a
+forester of the first class or perish in the attempt.
+
+McFarlane went farther and talked freely of the forest and what it meant
+to the government. "We're all green at the work," he said, "and we old
+chaps are only holding the fort against the thieves till you youngsters
+learn how to make the best use of the domain."
+
+"I can see that it takes more than technical training to enable a man to
+be Supervisor of a forest," conceded Wayland.
+
+McFarlane was pleased with this remark. "That's true, too. It's a big
+responsibility. When I first came on, it was mainly patrolling; but now,
+with a half dozen sawmills, and these 'June Eleventh Homesteads,' and the
+new ways of marking timber, and the grazing and free-use permits, the
+office work has doubled. And this is only the beginning. Wait till
+Colorado has two millions of people, and all these lower valleys are
+clamoring for water. Then you'll see a new party spring up--right here in
+our state."
+
+Berrie was glowing with happiness. "Let's stay here till the end of the
+week," she suggested. "I've always wanted to camp on this lake, and now
+I'm here I want time to enjoy it."
+
+"We'll stay a day or two," said her father; "but I must get over to that
+ditch survey which is being made at the head of Poplar, and then Moore is
+coming over to look at some timber on Porcupine."
+
+The young people cut willow rods and went angling at the outlet of the
+lake with prodigious success. The water rippled with trout, and in half
+an hour they had all they could use for supper and breakfast, and,
+behold, even as they were returning with their spoil they met a covey of
+grouse strolling leisurely down to the lake's edge. "Isn't it a wonderful
+place!" exclaimed the happy girl. "I wish we could stay a month."
+
+"It's like being on the Swiss Family Robinson's Island. I never was more
+content," he said, fervently. "I wouldn't mind staying here all winter."
+
+"I would!" she laughed. "The snow falls four feet deep up here. It's
+likely there's snow on the divide this minute, and camping in the snow
+isn't so funny. Some people got snowed in over at Deep Lake last year and
+nearly all their horses starved before they could get them out. This is a
+fierce old place in winter-time."
+
+"I can't imagine it," he said, indicating the glowing amphitheater which
+inclosed the lake. "See how warmly the sun falls into that high basin!
+It's all as beautiful as the Tyrol."
+
+The air at the moment was golden October, and the dark clouds which lay
+to the east seemed the wings of a departing rather than an approaching
+storm; and even as they looked, a rainbow sprang into being, arching the
+lake as if in assurance of peace and plenty, and the young people, as
+they turned to face it, stood so close together that each felt the glow
+of the other's shoulder. The beauty of the scene seemed to bring them
+together in body as in spirit, and they fell silent.
+
+McFarlane seemed quite unconscious of any necromancy at work upon his
+daughter. He smoked his pipe, made notes in his field-book, directing an
+occasional remark toward his apprentice, enjoying in his tranquil,
+middle-age way the beauty and serenity of the hour.
+
+"This is the kind of thing that makes up for a hard day's ride," he said,
+jocosely.
+
+As the sunset came on, the young people again loitered down to the
+water's edge, and there, seated side by side, on a rocky knoll, watched
+the phantom gold lift from the willows and climb slowly to the cliffs
+above, while the water deepened in shadow, and busy muskrats marked its
+glossy surface with long silvery lines. Mischievous camp-birds peered at
+the couple from the branches of the pines uttering satirical comment,
+while squirrels, frankly insolent, dropped cones upon their heads and
+barked in saucy glee.
+
+Wayland forgot all the outside world, forgot that he was studying to be a
+forest ranger, and was alive only to the fact that in this most
+bewitching place, in this most entrancing hour, he had the companionship
+of a girl whose eyes sought his with every new phase of the silent and
+wonderful scene which shifted swiftly before their eyes like a noiseless
+yet prodigious drama. The blood in his thin body warmed. He forgot his
+fatigue, his weakness. He was the poet and the forest lover, and this the
+heart of the range.
+
+Lightly the golden glory rose till only the highest peaks retained its
+flame; then it leapt to the clouds behind the peaks, and gorgeously lit
+their somber sulphurous masses. The edges of the pool grew black as
+night; the voice of the stream grew stern; and a cold wind began to fall
+from the heights, sliding like an invisible but palpable icy cataract.
+
+At last the girl rose. "It is getting dark. I must go back and get
+supper."
+
+"We don't need any supper," he protested.
+
+"Father does, and you'll be hungry before morning," she retorted, with
+sure knowledge of men.
+
+He turned from the scene reluctantly; but once at the camp-fire
+cheerfully gave his best efforts to the work in hand, seconding Berrie's
+skill as best he could.
+
+The trout, deliciously crisp, and some potatoes and batter-cakes made a
+meal that tempted even his faint appetite, and when the dishes were
+washed and the towels hung out to dry, deep night possessed even the high
+summit of stately Ptarmigan.
+
+McFarlane then said: "I'll just take a little turn to see that the horses
+are all right, and then I think we'd better close in for the night."
+
+When they were alone in the light of the fire, Wayland turned to Berrie:
+"I'm glad you're here. It must be awesome to camp alone in a wilderness;
+and yet, I suppose, I must learn to do it."
+
+"Yes, the ranger often has to camp alone, ride alone, and work alone for
+weeks at a time," she assured him. "A good trailer don't mind a night
+trip any more than he does a day trip, or if he does he never admits it.
+Rain, snow, darkness, is all the same to him. Most of the boys are
+fifteen to forty miles from the post-office."
+
+He smiled ruefully. "I begin to have new doubts about this ranger
+business. It's a little more vigorous than I thought it was. Suppose a
+fellow breaks a leg on one of those high trails?"
+
+"He mustn't!" she hastened to say. "He can't afford really to take
+reckless chances; but then father won't expect as much of you as he does
+of the old-stagers. You'll have plenty of time to get used to it."
+
+"I may be like the old man's cow and the green shavings, just as I'm
+getting used to it I'll die."
+
+She didn't laugh at this. "You mustn't be rash; don't jump into any hard
+jobs for the present; let the other fellow do it."
+
+"But that's not very manly. If I go into the work I ought to be able to
+take my share of any task that turns up."
+
+"You'd better go slow," she argued. "Wait till you get hardened to it.
+You need something over your shoulders now," she added; and rose and laid
+a blanket over him. "You're tired; you'll take a chill if you're not
+careful."
+
+"You're very considerate," he said, looking up at her gratefully. "But it
+makes me feel like a child to think I need such care. If honestly trying,
+if going up against these hills and winds with Spartan courage will do me
+good, I'm for it. I'm resolved to show to you and your good father that I
+can learn to ride and pack and cut trail, and do all the rest of
+it--there's some honor in qualifying as a forester, and I'm going to do
+it."
+
+"Of course there isn't much in it for you. The pay, even of a full
+ranger, isn't much, after you count out his outlay for horses and saddles
+and their feed, and his own feed. It don't leave so very much of his
+ninety dollars a month."
+
+"I'm not thinking of that," he retorted. "If you had once seen a doctor
+shake his head over you, as I have, you'd think just being here in this
+glorious spot, as I am to-night, would be compensation enough. It's a joy
+to be in the world, and a delight to have you for my teacher."
+
+She was silent under the pleasure of his praise, and he went on: "I
+_know_ I'm better, and, I'm perfectly certain I can regain my strength.
+The very odor of these pines and the power of these winds will bring it
+back to me. See me now, and think how I looked when I came here six weeks
+ago."
+
+She looked at him with fond agreement. "You _are_ better. When I saw you
+first I surely thought you were--"
+
+"I know what you thought--and forget it, _please_! Think of me as one who
+has touched mother earth again and is on the way to being made a giant.
+You can't imagine how marvelous, how life-giving all this is to me. It is
+poetry, it is prophecy, it is fulfilment. I am fully alive again."
+
+McFarlane, upon his return, gave some advice relating to the care of
+horses. "All this stock which is accustomed to a barn or a pasture will
+quit you," he warned. "Watch your broncos. Put them on the outward side
+of your camp when you bed down, and pitch your tent near the trail, then
+you will hear the brutes if they start back. Some men tie their stock all
+up; but I usually picket my saddle-horse and hobble the rest."
+
+It was a delightful hour for schooling, and Wayland would have been
+content to sit there till morning listening; but the air bit, and at last
+the Supervisor asked: "Have you made your bed? If you have, turn in. I
+shall get you out early to-morrow." As he saw the bed, he added: "I see
+you've laid out a bed of boughs. That shows how Eastern you are. We don't
+do that out here. It's too cold in this climate, and it's too much work.
+You want to hug the ground--if it's dry."
+
+The weary youth went to his couch with a sense of timorous elation, for
+he had never before slept beneath the open sky. Over him the giant
+fir--tall as a steeple--dropped protecting shadow, and looking up he
+could see the firelight flickering on the wide-spread branches. His bed
+seemed to promise all the dreams and restful drowse which the books on
+outdoor life had described, and close by in her tiny little canvas house
+he could hear the girl in low-voiced conversation with her sire. All
+conditions seemed right for slumber, and yet slumber refused to come!
+
+After the Supervisor had rolled himself in the blanket, long after all
+sounds had ceased in the tent, there still remained for the youth a score
+of manifold excitations to wakefulness. Down on the lake the muskrats and
+beavers were at their work. Nocturnal birds uttered uncanny, disturbing
+cries. Some animal with stealthy crackling tread was ranging the
+hillside, and the roar of the little fall, so far from lulling him to
+sleep--as he had imagined it would--stimulated his imagination till he
+could discern in it the beat of scurrying wings and the patter of
+pernicious padded feet. "If I am appalled by the wilderness now, what
+would it seem to me were I alone!" he whispered.
+
+Then, too, his bed of boughs discovered unforeseen humps and knobs, and
+by the time he had adjusted himself to their discomfort, it became
+evident that his blankets were both too thin and too short. And the gelid
+air sweeping down from the high places submerged him as if with a flood
+of icy water. In vain he turned and twisted within his robes. No sooner
+were his shoulders covered and comfortable than his hip-bones began to
+ache. Later on the blood of his feet congealed, and in the effort to wrap
+them more closely, he uncovered his neck and shoulders. The frost became
+a wolf, the night an oppressor. "I must have a different outfit," he
+decided. And then thinking that this was but early autumn, he added:
+"What will it be a month later?" He began to doubt his ability to measure
+up to the heroic standard of a forest patrol.
+
+The firelight flickered low, and a prowling animal daringly sniffed about
+the camp, pawing at the castaway fragments of the evening meal. The youth
+was rigid with fear. "Is it a bear? Shall I call the Supervisor?" he
+asked himself.
+
+He felt sadly unprotected, and wished McFarlane nearer at hand. "It may
+be a lion, but probably it is only a coyote, or a porcupine," he
+concluded, and lay still for what seemed like hours waiting for the beast
+to gorge himself and go away.
+
+He longed for morning with intense desire, and watched an amazingly
+luminous star which hung above the eastern cliff, hoping to see it pale
+and die in dawn light, but it did not; and the wind bit even sharper. His
+legs ached almost to the cramping-point, and his hip-bones protruded like
+knots on a log. "I didn't know I had door-knobs on my hips," he remarked,
+with painful humor, and, looking down at his feet, he saw that a thick
+rime was gathering on his blanket. "This sleeping out at night isn't what
+the books crack it up to be," he groaned again, drawing his feet up to
+the middle of his bed to warm them. "Shall I resign to-morrow? No, I'll
+stay with it; but I'll have more clothing. I'll have blankets six inches
+thick. Heaps of blankets--the fleecy kind--I'll have an air-mattress."
+His mind luxuriated in these details till he fell into an uneasy drowse.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+STORM-BOUND
+
+
+Wayland was awakened by the mellow voice of his chief calling: "_All out!
+All out! Daylight down the creek!_" Breathing a prayer of thankfulness,
+the boy sat up and looked about him. "The long night is over at last, and
+I am alive!" he said, and congratulated himself.
+
+He drew on his shoes and, stiff and shivering, stood about in helpless
+misery, while McFarlane kicked the scattered, charred logs together, and
+fanned the embers into a blaze with his hat. It was heartening to see the
+flames leap up, flinging wide their gorgeous banners of heat and light,
+and in their glow the tenderfoot ranger rapidly recovered his courage,
+though his teeth still chattered and the forest was dark.
+
+"How did you sleep?" asked the Supervisor.
+
+"First rate--at least during the latter part of the night," Wayland
+briskly lied.
+
+"That's good. I was afraid that Adirondack bed of yours might let the
+white wolf in."
+
+"My blankets did seem a trifle thin," confessed Norcross.
+
+"It don't pay to sleep cold," the Supervisor went on. "A man wants to
+wake up refreshed, not tired out with fighting the night wind and frost.
+I always carry a good bed."
+
+It was instructive to see how quietly and methodically the old
+mountaineer went about his task of getting the breakfast. First he cut
+and laid a couple of eight-inch logs on either side of the fire, so that
+the wind drew through them properly, then placing his dutch-oven cover on
+the fire, he laid the bottom part where the flames touched it. Next he
+filled his coffee-pot with water, and set it on the coals. From his
+pannier he took his dishes and the flour and salt and pepper, arranging
+them all within reach, and at last laid some slices of bacon in the
+skillet.
+
+At this stage of the work a smothered cry, half yawn, half complaint,
+came from the tent. "Oh, hum! Is it morning?" inquired Berrie.
+
+"Morning!" replied her father. "It's going toward noon. You get up or
+you'll have no breakfast."
+
+Thereupon Wayland called: "Can I get you anything, Miss Berrie? Would you
+like some warm water?"
+
+"What for?" interposed McFarlane, before the girl could reply.
+
+"To bathe in," replied the youth.
+
+"To bathe in! If a daughter of mine should ask for warm water to wash
+with I'd throw her in the creek."
+
+Berrie chuckled. "Sometimes I think daddy has no feeling for me. I reckon
+he thinks I'm a boy."
+
+"Hot water is debilitating, and very bad for the complexion," retorted
+her father. "Ice-cold water is what you need. And if you don't get out o'
+there in five minutes I'll dowse you with a dipperful."
+
+This reminded Wayland that he had not yet made his own toilet, and,
+seizing soap, towel, and brushes, he hurried away down to the beach where
+he came face to face with the dawn. The splendor of it smote him full in
+the eyes. From the waveless surface of the water a spectral mist was
+rising, a light veil, through which the stupendous cliffs loomed three
+thousand feet in height, darkly shadowed, dim and far. The willows along
+the western marge burned as if dipped in liquid gold, and on the lofty
+crags the sun's coming created keen-edged shadows, violet as ink. Truly
+this forestry business was not so bad after all. It had its
+compensations.
+
+Back at the camp-fire he found Berrie at work, glowing, vigorous,
+laughing. Her comradeship with her father was very charming, and at the
+moment she was rallying him on his method of bread-mixing. "You should
+rub the lard into the flour," she said. "Don't be afraid to get your
+hands into it--after they are clean. You can't mix bread with a spoon."
+
+"Sis, I made camp bread for twenty years afore you were born."
+
+"It's a wonder you lived to tell of it," she retorted, and took the pan
+away from him. "That's another thing _you_ must learn," she said to
+Wayland. "You must know how to make bread. You can't expect to find
+bake-shops or ranchers along the way."
+
+In the heat of the fire, in the charm of the girl's presence, the young
+man forgot the discomforts of the night, and as they sat at breakfast,
+and the sun rising over the high summits flooded them with warmth and
+good cheer, and the frost melted like magic from the tent, the experience
+had all the satisfying elements of a picnic. It seemed that nothing
+remained to do; but McFarlane said: "Well, now, you youngsters wash up
+and pack whilst I reconnoiter the stock." And with his saddle and bridle
+on his shoulder he went away down the trail.
+
+Under Berrie's direction Wayland worked busily putting the camp equipment
+in proper parcels, taking no special thought of time till the tent was
+down and folded, the panniers filled and closed, and the fire carefully
+covered. Then the girl said: "I hope the horses haven't been stampeded.
+There are bears in this valley, and horses are afraid of bears. Father
+ought to have been back before this. I hope they haven't quit us."
+
+"Shall I go and see?"
+
+"No, he'll bring 'em--if they're in the land of the living. He picketed
+his saddle-horse, so he's not afoot. Nobody can teach him anything about
+trailing horses, and, besides, you might get lost. You'd better keep
+close to camp."
+
+Thereupon Wayland put aside all responsibility. "Let's see if we can
+catch some more fish," he urged.
+
+To this she agreed, and together they went again to the outlet of the
+lake--where the trout could be seen darting to and fro on the clear, dark
+flood--and there cast their flies till they had secured ten good-sized
+fish.
+
+"We'll stop now," declared the girl. "I don't believe in being
+wasteful."
+
+Once more at the camp they prepared the fish for the pan. The sun
+suddenly burned hot and the lake was still as brass, but great, splendid,
+leisurely, gleaming clouds were sailing in from the west, all centering
+about Chief Audobon, and the experienced girl looked often at the sky. "I
+don't like the feel of the air. See that gray cloud spreading out over
+the summits of the range, that means something more than a shower. I do
+hope daddy will overtake the horses before they cross the divide. It's
+going to pour up there."
+
+"What can I do?"
+
+"Nothing. We'll stay right here and get dinner for him. He'll be hungry
+when he gets back."
+
+As they were unpacking the panniers and getting out the dishes, thunder
+broke from the high crags above the lake, and the girl called out:
+
+"Quick! It's going to rain! We must reset the tent and get things under
+cover."
+
+Once more he was put to shame by the decision, the skill, and the
+strength with which she went about re-establishing the camp. She led, he
+followed in every action. In ten minutes the canvas was up, the beds
+rolled, the panniers protected, the food stored safely; but they were
+none too soon, for the thick gray veil of rain, which had clothed the
+loftiest crags for half an hour, swung out over the water--leaden-gray
+under its folds--and with a roar which began in the tall pines--a roar
+which deepened, hushed only when the thunder crashed resoundingly from
+crag to crest--the tempest fell upon the camp and the world of sun and
+odorous pine vanished almost instantly, and a dark, threatening, and
+forbidding world took its place.
+
+But the young people--huddled close together beneath the tent--would have
+enjoyed the change had it not been for the thought of the Supervisor. "I
+hope he took his slicker," the girl said, between the tearing, ripping
+flashes of the lightning. "It's raining hard up there."
+
+"How quickly it came. Who would have thought it could rain like this
+after so beautiful a morning?"
+
+"It storms when it storms--in the mountains," she responded, with the
+sententious air of her father. "You never can tell what the sky is going
+to do up here. It is probably snowing on the high divide. Looks now as
+though those cayuses pulled out sometime in the night and have hit the
+trail for home. That's the trouble with stall-fed stock. They'll quit you
+any time they feel cold and hungry. Here comes the hail!" she shouted, as
+a sharper, more spiteful roar sounded far away and approaching. "Now keep
+from under!"
+
+"What will your father do?" he called.
+
+"Don't worry about him. He's at home any place there's a tree. He's
+probably under a balsam somewhere, waiting for this ice to spill out. The
+only point is, they may get over the divide, and if they do it will be
+slippery coming back."
+
+For the first time the thought that the Supervisor might not be able to
+return entered Wayland's mind; but he said nothing of his fear.
+
+The hail soon changed to snow, great, clinging, drowsy, soft, slow-moving
+flakes, and with their coming the roar died away and the forest became as
+silent as a grave of bronze. Nothing moved, save the thick-falling,
+feathery, frozen vapor, and the world was again very beautiful and very
+mysterious.
+
+"We must keep the fire going," warned the girl. "It will be hard to start
+after this soaking."
+
+He threw upon the fire all of the wood which lay near, and Berrie, taking
+the ax, went to the big fir and began to chop off the dry branches which
+hung beneath, working almost as effectively as a man. Wayland insisted on
+taking a turn with the tool; but his efforts were so awkward that she
+laughed and took it away again. "You'll have to take lessons in swinging
+an ax," she said. "That's part of the job."
+
+Gradually the storm lightened, the snow changed back into rain, and
+finally to mist; but up on the heights the clouds still rolled wildly,
+and through their openings the white drifts bleakly shone.
+
+"It's all in the trip," said Berrie. "You have to take the weather as it
+comes on the trail." As the storm lessened she resumed the business of
+cooking the midday meal, and at two o'clock they were able to eat in
+comparative comfort, though the unmelted snow still covered the trees,
+and water dripped from the branches.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful!" exclaimed Wayland, with glowing boyish face. "The
+landscape is like a Christmas card. In its way it's quite as beautiful as
+that golden forest we rode through."
+
+"It wouldn't be so beautiful if you had to wallow through ten miles of
+it," she sagely responded. "Daddy will be wet to the skin, for I found he
+didn't take his slicker. However, the sun may be out before night. That's
+the way the thing goes in the hills."
+
+To the youth, though the peaks were storm-hid, the afternoon was joyous.
+Berrie was a sweet companion. Under her supervision he practised at
+chopping wood and took a hand at cooking. At her suggestion he stripped
+the tarpaulin from her father's bed and stretched it over a rope before
+the tent, thus providing a commodious kitchen and dining-room. Under this
+roof they sat and talked of everything except what they should do if the
+father did not return, and as they talked they grew to even closer
+understanding.
+
+Though quite unlearned of books, she had something which was much more
+piquant than anything which theaters and novels could give--she possessed
+a marvelous understanding of the natural world in which she lived. As the
+companion of her father on many of his trips, she had absorbed from him,
+as well as from the forest, a thousand observations of plant and animal
+life. Seemingly she had nothing of the woman's fear of the wilderness,
+she scarcely acknowledged any awe of it. Of the bears, and other
+predatory beasts, she spoke carelessly.
+
+"Bears are harmless if you let 'em alone," she said, "and the
+mountain-lion is a great big bluff. He won't fight, you can't make him
+fight; but the mother lion will. She's dangerous when she has cubs--most
+animals are. I was out hunting grouse one day with a little twenty-two
+rifle, when all at once, as I looked up along a rocky point I was
+crossing, I saw a mountain-lion looking at me. First I thought I'd let
+drive at him; but the chances were against my getting him from there, so
+I climbed up above him--or where I thought he was--and while I was
+looking for him I happened to glance to my right, and there he was about
+fifty feet away looking at me pleasant as you please. Didn't seem to be
+mad at all--'peared like he was just wondering what I'd do next. I jerked
+my gun into place, but he faded away. I crawled around to get behind him,
+and just when I reached the ledge on which he had been standing a few
+minutes before, I saw him just where I'd been. He had traded places with
+me. I began to have that creepy feeling. He was so silent and so kind of
+pleasant-looking I got leery of him. It just seemed like as though I'd
+dreamed him. He didn't seem real."
+
+Wayland shuddered. "You foolish girl! Why didn't you run?"
+
+"I did. I began to figure then that this was a mother lion, and that her
+cubs were close by, and that she could just as well sneak up and drop on
+me from above as not. So I got down and left her alone. It was her
+popping up now here and now there like a ghost that locoed me. I was sure
+scared."
+
+Wayland did not enjoy this tale. "I never heard of such folly. Did your
+father learn of that adventure?"
+
+"Yes, I told him."
+
+"Didn't he forbid your hunting any more?"
+
+"No, indeed! Why should he? He just said it probably was a lioness, and
+that it was just as well to let her alone. He knows I'm no chicken."
+
+"How about your mother--does she approve of such expeditions?"
+
+"No, mother worries more or less when I'm away; but then she knows it
+don't do any good. I'm taking all kinds of chances every day, anyhow."
+
+He had to admit that she was better able to care for herself in the
+wilderness than most men--even Western men--and though he had not yet
+witnessed a display of her skill with a rifle, he was ready to believe
+that she could shoot as well as her sire. Nevertheless, he liked her
+better when engaged in purely feminine duties, and he led the talk back
+to subjects concerning which her speech was less blunt and manlike.
+
+He liked her when she was joking, for delicious little curves of laughter
+played about her lips. She became very amusing, as she told of her
+"visits East," and of her embarrassments in the homes of city friends. "I
+just have to own up that about all the schooling I've got is from the
+magazines. Sometimes I wish I had pulled out for town when I was about
+fourteen; but, you see, I didn't feel like leaving mother, and she didn't
+feel like letting me go--and so I just got what I could at Bear Tooth."
+She sprang up. "There's a patch of blue sky. Let's go see if we can't get
+a grouse."
+
+The snow had nearly all sunk into the ground on their level; but it still
+lay deep on the heights above, and the torn masses of vapor still clouded
+the range. "Father has surely had to go over the divide," she said, as
+they walked down the path along the lake shore. "He'll be late getting
+back, and a plate of hot chicken will seem good to him."
+
+Together they strolled along the edge of the willows. "The grouse come
+down to feed about this time," she said. "We'll put up a covey soon."
+
+It seemed to him as though he were re-living the experiences of his
+ancestors--the pioneers of Michigan--as he walked this wilderness with
+this intrepid huntress whose alert eyes took note of every moving thing.
+She was delightfully unconscious of self, of sex, of any doubt or fear. A
+lovely Diana--strong and true and sweet.
+
+Within a quarter of a mile they found their birds, and she killed four
+with five shots. "This is all we need," she said, "and I don't believe in
+killing for the sake of killing. Rangers should set good examples in way
+of game preservation. They are deputy game-wardens in most states, and
+good ones, too."
+
+They stopped for a time on a high bank above the lake, while the sunset
+turned the storm-clouds into mountains of brass and iron, with sulphurous
+caves and molten glowing ledges. This grandiose picture lasted but a few
+minutes, and then the Western gates closed and all was again gray and
+forbidding. "Open and shut is a sign of wet," quoted Berrie, cheerily.
+
+The night rose formidably from the valley while they ate their supper;
+but Berrie remained tranquil. "Those horses probably went clean back to
+the ranch. If they did, daddy can't possibly get back before eight
+o'clock, and he may not get back till to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE WALK IN THE RAIN
+
+
+Norcross, with his city training, was acutely conscious of the delicacy
+of the situation. In his sister's circle a girl left alone in this way
+with a man would have been very seriously embarrassed; but it was evident
+that Berrie took it all joyously, innocently. Their being together was
+something which had happened in the natural course of weather, a
+condition for which they were in no way responsible. Therefore she
+permitted herself to be frankly happy in the charm of their enforced
+intimacy.
+
+She had never known a youth of his quality. He was so considerate, so
+refined, so quick of understanding, and so swift to serve. He filled her
+mind to the exclusion of unimportant matters like the snow, which was
+beginning again; indeed, her only anxiety concerned his health, and as he
+toiled amid the falling flakes, intent upon heaping up wood enough to
+last out the night, she became solicitous.
+
+"You will be soaked," she warningly cried. "Don't stay out any more. Come
+to the fire. I'll bring in the wood."
+
+Something primeval, some strength he did not know he possessed sustained
+him, and he toiled on. "Suppose this snow keeps falling?" he retorted.
+"The Supervisor will not be able to get back to-night--perhaps not for a
+couple of nights. We will need a lot of fuel."
+
+He did not voice the fear of the storm which filled his thought; but the
+girl understood it. "It won't be very cold," she calmly replied. "It
+never is during these early blizzards; and, besides, all we need to do is
+to drop down the trail ten miles and we'll be entirely out of it."
+
+"I'll feel safer with plenty of wood," he argued; but soon found it
+necessary to rest from his labors. Coming in to camp, he seated himself
+beside her on a roll of blankets, and so together they tended the fire
+and watched the darkness roll over the lake till the shining crystals
+seemed to drop from a measureless black arch, soundless and oppressive.
+The wind died away, and the trees stood as if turned into bronze,
+moveless, save when a small branch gave way and dropped its rimy burden,
+or a squirrel leaped from one top to another. Even the voice of the
+waterfall seemed muffled and remote.
+
+"I'm a long way from home and mother," Wayland said, with a smile;
+"but--I like it."
+
+"Isn't it fun?" she responded. "In a way it's nicer on account of the
+storm. But you are not dressed right; you should have waterproof boots.
+You never can tell when you may be set afoot. You should always go
+prepared for rain and snow, and, above all, have an extra pair of thick
+stockings. Your feet are soaked now, aren't they?"
+
+"They are; but your father told me to always dry my boots on my feet,
+otherwise they'd shrink out of shape."
+
+"That's right, too; but you'd better take 'em off and wring out your
+socks or else put on dry ones."
+
+"You insist on my playing the invalid," he complained, "and that makes me
+angry. When I've been over here a month you'll find me a glutton for
+hardship. I shall be a bear, a grizzly, fearful to contemplate. My roar
+will affright you."
+
+She laughed like a child at his ferocity. "You'll have to change a whole
+lot," she said, and drew the blanket closer about his shoulders. "Just
+now your job is to keep warm and dry. I hope you won't get lonesome over
+here."
+
+"I'm not going to open a book or read a newspaper. I'm not going to write
+to a single soul except you. I'll be obliged to report to you, won't I?"
+
+"I'm not the Supervisor."
+
+"You're the next thing to it," he quickly retorted. "You've been my board
+of health from the very first. I should have fled for home long ago had
+it not been for you."
+
+Her eyes fell under his glance. "You'll get pretty tired of things over
+here. It's one of the lonesomest stations in the forest."
+
+"I'll get lonesome for you; but not for the East." This remark, or rather
+the tone in which it was uttered, brought another flush of consciousness
+to the girl's face.
+
+"What time is it now?" she asked, abruptly.
+
+He looked at his watch. "Half after eight."
+
+"If father isn't on this side of the divide now he won't try to cross. If
+he's coming down the slope he'll be here in an hour, although that trail
+is a tolerably tough proposition this minute. A patch of dead timber on a
+dark night is sure a nuisance, even to a good man. He may not make it."
+
+"Shall I fire my gun?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"As a signal to him."
+
+This amused her. "Daddy don't need any hint about direction--what he
+needs is a light to see the twist of the trail through those fallen
+logs."
+
+"Couldn't I rig up a torch and go to meet him?"
+
+She put her hand on his arm. "You stay right here!" she commanded. "You
+couldn't follow that trail five minutes."
+
+"You have a very poor opinion of my skill."
+
+"No, I haven't; but I know how hard it is to keep direction on a night
+like this and I don't want you wandering around in the timber. Father can
+take care of himself. He's probably sitting under a big tree smoking his
+pipe before his fire--or else he's at home. He knows we're all right, and
+we are. We have wood and grub, and plenty of blankets, and a roof over
+us. You can make your bed under this fly," she said, looking up at the
+canvas. "It beats the old balsam as a roof. You mustn't sleep cold
+again."
+
+"I think I'd better sit up and keep the fire going," he replied,
+heroically. "There's a big log out there that I'm going to bring in to
+roll up on the windward side."
+
+"It'll be cold and wet early in the morning, and I don't like to hunt
+kindling in the snow," she said. "I always get everything ready the night
+before. I wish you had a better bed. It seems selfish of me to have the
+tent while you are cold."
+
+One by one--under her supervision--he made preparations for morning. He
+cut some shavings from a dead, dry branch of fir and put them under the
+fly, and brought a bucket of water from the creek, and then together they
+dragged up the dead tree.
+
+Had the young man been other than he was, the girl's purity, candor, and
+self-reliance would have conquered him, and when she withdrew to the
+little tent and let fall the frail barrier between them, she was as safe
+from intrusion as if she had taken refuge behind gates of triple brass.
+Nothing in all his life had moved him so deeply as her solicitude, her
+sweet trust in his honor, and he sat long in profound meditation. Any man
+would be rich in the ownership of her love, he admitted. That he
+possessed her pity and her friendship he knew, and he began to wonder if
+he had made a deeper appeal to her than this.
+
+"Can it be that I am really a man to her," he thought, "I who am only a
+poor weakling whom the rain and snow can appall?"
+
+Then he thought of the effect of this night upon her life. What would
+Clifford Belden do now? To what deeps would his rage descend if he should
+come to know of it?
+
+Berrie was serene. Twice she spoke from her couch to say: "You'd better
+go to bed. Daddy can't get here till to-morrow now."
+
+"I'll stay up awhile yet. My boots aren't entirely dried out."
+
+As the flame sank low the cold bit, and he built up the half-burned logs
+so that they blazed again. He worked as silently as he could; but the
+girl again spoke, with sweet authority: "Haven't you gone to bed yet?"
+
+"Oh yes, I've been asleep. I only got up to rebuild the fire."
+
+"I'm afraid you're cold."
+
+"I'm as comfortable as I deserve; it's all schooling, you know. Please go
+to sleep again." His teeth were chattering as he spoke, but he added:
+"I'm all right."
+
+After a silence she said: "You must not get chilled. Bring your bed into
+the tent. There is room for you."
+
+"Oh no, that isn't necessary. I'm standing it very well."
+
+"You'll be sick!" she urged, in a voice of alarm. "Please drag your bed
+inside the door. What would I do if you should have pneumonia to-morrow?
+You must not take any risk of a fever."
+
+The thought of a sheltered spot, of something to break the remorseless
+wind, overcame his scruples, and he drew his bed inside the tent and
+rearranged it there.
+
+"You're half frozen," she said. "Your teeth are chattering."
+
+"It isn't so much the cold," he stammered. "I'm tired."
+
+"You poor boy!" she exclaimed, and rose in her bed. "I'll get up and heat
+some water for you."
+
+"I'll be all right, in a few moments," he said. "Please go to sleep. I
+shall be snug as a bug in a moment."
+
+She watched his shadowy motions from her bed, and when at last he had
+nestled into his blankets, she said: "If you don't lose your chill I'll
+heat a rock and put at your feet."
+
+He was ready to cry out in shame of his weakness; but he lay silent till
+he could command his voice, then he said: "That would drive me from the
+country in disgrace. Think of what the fellows down below will say when
+they know of my cold feet."
+
+"They won't hear of it; and, besides, it is better to carry a hot-water
+bag than to be laid up with a fever."
+
+Her anxiety lessened as his voice resumed its pleasant tenor flow. "Dear
+girl," he said, "no one could have been sweeter--more like a guardian
+angel to me. Don't place me under any greater obligation. Go to sleep. I
+am better--much better now."
+
+She did not speak for a few moments, then in a voice that conveyed to him
+a knowledge that his words of endearment had deeply moved her, she softly
+said: "Good night."
+
+He heard her sigh drowsily thereafter once or twice, and then she slept,
+and her slumber redoubled in him his sense of guardianship, of
+responsibility. Lying there in the shelter of her tent, the whole
+situation seemed simple, innocent, and poetic; but looked at from the
+standpoint of Clifford Belden it held an accusation.
+
+"It cannot be helped," he said. "The only thing we can do is to conceal
+the fact that we spent the night beneath this tent alone."
+
+In the belief that the way would clear with the dawn, he, too, fell
+asleep, while the fire sputtered and smudged in the fitful mountain
+wind.
+
+The second dawn came slowly, as though crippled by the storm and walled
+back by the clouds. Gradually, austerely, the bleak, white peaks began to
+define themselves above the firs. The camp-birds called cheerily from the
+wet branches which overhung the smoldering embers of the fire, and so at
+last day was abroad in the sky.
+
+With a dull ache in his bones, Wayland crept out to the fire and set to
+work fanning the coals with his hat, as he had seen the Supervisor do. He
+worked desperately till one of the embers began to angrily sparkle and to
+smoke. Then slipping away out of earshot he broke an armful of dry fir
+branches to heap above the wet, charred logs. Soon these twigs broke into
+flame, and Berrie, awakened by the crackle of the pine branches, called
+out: "Is it daylight?"
+
+"Yes, but it's a very _dark_ daylight. Don't leave your warm bed for the
+dampness and cold out here; stay where you are; I'll get breakfast."
+
+"How are you this morning? Did you sleep?"
+
+"Fine!"
+
+"I'm afraid you had a bad night," she insisted, in a tone which indicated
+her knowledge of his suffering.
+
+"Camp life has its disadvantages," he admitted, as he put the coffee-pot
+on the fire. "But I'm feeling better now. I never fried a bird in my
+life, but I'm going to try it this morning. I have some water heating for
+your bath." He put the soap, towel, and basin of hot water just inside
+the tent flap. "Here it is. I'm going to bathe in the lake. I must show
+my hardihood."
+
+He heard her protesting as he went off down the bank, but his heart was
+resolute. "I'm not dead yet," he said, grimly. "An invalid who can spend
+two such nights as these, and still face a cold wind, has some vitality
+in his bones after all."
+
+When he returned he found the girl full dressed, alert, and glowing; but
+she greeted him with a touch of shyness and self-consciousness new to
+her, and her eyes veiled themselves before his glance.
+
+"_Now_, where do you suppose the Supervisor is?" he asked.
+
+"I hope he's at home," she replied, quite seriously. "I'd hate to think
+of him camped in the high country without bedding or tent."
+
+"Oughtn't I to take a turn up the trail and see? I feel guilty somehow--I
+must do something!"
+
+"You can't help matters any by hoofing about in the mud. No, we'll just
+hold the fort till he comes, that's what he'll expect us to do."
+
+He submitted once more to the force of her argument, and they ate
+breakfast in such intimacy and good cheer that the night's discomforts
+and anxieties counted for little. As the sun broke through the clouds
+Berrie hung out the bedding in order that its dampness might be warmed
+away.
+
+"We may have to camp here again to-night," she explained, demurely.
+
+"Worse things could happen than that," he gallantly answered. "I wouldn't
+mind a month of it, only I shouldn't want it to rain or snow all the
+time."
+
+"Poor boy! You did suffer, didn't you? I was afraid you would. Did you
+sleep at all?" she asked, tenderly.
+
+"Oh yes, after I came inside; but, of course, I was more or less restless
+expecting your father to ride up, and then it's all rather exciting
+business to a novice. I could hear all sorts of birds and beasts stepping
+and fluttering about. I was scared in spite of my best resolution."
+
+"That's funny; I never feel that way. I slept like a log after I knew you
+were comfortable. You must have a better bed and more blankets. It's
+always cold up here."
+
+The sunlight was short-lived. The clouds settled over the peaks, and
+ragged wisps of gray vapor dropped down the timbered slopes of the
+prodigious amphitheater in which the lake lay. Again Berrie made
+everything snug while her young woodsman toiled at bringing logs for the
+fire.
+
+In truth, he was more elated than he had been since leaving school, for
+he was not only doing a man's work in the world, he was serving a woman
+in the immemorial way of the hewer of wood and the carrier of water. His
+fatigue and the chill of the morning wore away, and he took vast pride in
+dragging long poles down the hillside, forcing Berrie to acknowledge that
+he was astonishingly strong. "But don't overdo it," she warned.
+
+At last fully provided for, they sat contentedly side by side under the
+awning and watched the falling rain as it splashed and sizzled on the
+sturdy fire. "It's a little like being shipwrecked on a desert island,
+isn't it?" he said. "As if our boats had drifted away."
+
+At noon she again prepared an elaborate meal. She served potatoes and
+grouse, hot biscuit with sugar syrup, and canned peaches, and coffee done
+to just the right color and aroma. He declared it wonderful, and they ate
+with repeated wishes that the Supervisor might turn up in time to share
+their feast; but he did not. Then Berrie said, firmly: "Now you must take
+a snooze, you look tired."
+
+He was, in truth, not only drowsy but lame and tired. Therefore, he
+yielded to her suggestion.
+
+She covered him with blankets and put him away like a child. "Now you
+have a good sleep," she said, tenderly. "I'll call you when daddy
+comes."
+
+With a delicious sense of her protecting care he lay for a few moments
+listening to the drip of the water on the tent, then drifted away into
+peace and silence.
+
+When he woke the ground was again covered with snow, and the girl was
+feeding the fire with wood which her own hands had supplied.
+
+Hearing him stir, she turned and fixed her eyes upon him with clear, soft
+gaze. "How do you feel by now?" she asked.
+
+"Quite made over," he replied, rising alertly.
+
+His cheer, however, was only pretense. He was greatly worried. "Something
+has happened to your father," he said. "His horse has thrown him, or he
+has slipped and fallen." His peace and exultation were gone. "How far is
+it down to the ranger station?"
+
+"About twelve miles."
+
+"Don't you think we'd better close camp and go down there? It is now
+three o'clock; we can walk it in five hours."
+
+She shook her head. "No, I think we'd better stay right here. It's a
+long, hard walk, and the trail is muddy."
+
+"But, dear girl," he began, desperately, "it won't do for us to camp
+here--alone--in this way another night. What will Cliff say?"
+
+She flamed red, then whitened. "I don't care what Cliff thinks--I'm done
+with him--and no one that I really care about would blame us." She was
+fully aware of his anxiety now. "It isn't our fault."
+
+"It will be _my_ fault if I keep you here longer!" he answered. "We must
+reach a telephone and send word out. Something may have happened to your
+father."
+
+"I'm not worried a bit about him. It may be that there's been a big
+snowfall up above us--or else a windstorm. The trail may be blocked; but
+don't worry. He may have to go round by Lost Lake pass." She pondered a
+moment. "I reckon you're right. We'd better pack up and rack down the
+trail to the ranger's cabin. Not on my account, but on yours. I'm afraid
+you've taken cold."
+
+"I'm all right, except I'm very lame; but I am anxious to go on. By the
+way, is this ranger Settle married?"
+
+"No, his station is one of the lonesomest cabins on the forest. No woman
+will stay there."
+
+This made Wayland ponder. "Nevertheless," he decided, "we'll go. After
+all, the man is a forest officer, and you are the Supervisor's
+daughter."
+
+She made no further protest, but busied herself closing the panniers and
+putting away the camp utensils. She seemed to recognize that his judgment
+was sound.
+
+It was after three when they left the tent and started down the trail,
+carrying nothing but a few toilet articles.
+
+He stopped at the edge of the clearing. "Should we have left a note for
+the Supervisor?"
+
+She pointed to their footprints. "There's all the writing he needs," she
+assured him, leading the way at a pace which made him ache. She plashed
+plumply into the first puddle in the path. "No use dodging 'em," she
+called over her shoulder, and he soon saw that she was right.
+
+The trees were dripping, the willows heavy with water, and the mud
+ankle-deep--in places--but she pushed on steadily, and he, following in
+her tracks, could only marvel at her strength and sturdy self-reliance.
+The swing of her shoulders, the poise of her head, and the lithe movement
+of her waist, made his own body seem a poor thing.
+
+For two hours they zigzagged down a narrow canyon heavily timbered with
+fir and spruce--a dark, stern avenue, crossed by roaring streams, and
+filled with frequent boggy meadows whereon the water lay mid-leg deep.
+
+"We'll get out of this very soon," she called, cheerily.
+
+By degrees the gorge widened, grew more open, more genial. Aspen thickets
+of pale-gold flashed upon their eyes like sunlight, and grassy bunches
+afforded firmer footing, but on the slopes their feet slipped and slid
+painfully. Still Berea kept her stride. "We must get to the middle fork
+before dark," she stopped to explain, "for I don't know the trail down
+there, and there's a lot of down timber just above the station. Now that
+we're cut loose from our camp I feel nervous. As long as I have a tent I
+am all right; but now we are in the open I worry. How are you standing
+it?" She studied him with keen and anxious glance, her hand upon his
+arm.
+
+"Fine as a fiddle," he replied, assuming a spirit he did not possess,
+"but you are marvelous. I thought cowgirls couldn't walk?"
+
+"I can do anything when I have to," she replied. "We've got three hours
+more of it." And she warningly exclaimed: "Look back there!"
+
+They had reached a point from which the range could be seen, and behold
+it was covered deep with a seamless robe of new snow.
+
+"That's why dad didn't get back last night. He's probably wallowing along
+up there this minute." And she set off again with resolute stride.
+Wayland's pale face and labored breath alarmed her. She was filled with
+love and pity, but she pressed forward desperately.
+
+As he grew tired, Wayland's boots, loaded with mud, became fetters, and
+every slope greasy with mire seemed an almost insurmountable barricade.
+He fell several times, but made no outcry. "I will not add to her
+anxiety," he said to himself.
+
+At last they came to the valley floor, over which a devastating fire had
+run some years before, and which was still covered with fallen trees in
+desolate confusion. Here the girl made her first mistake. She kept on
+toward the river, although Wayland called attention to a trail leading to
+the right up over the low grassy hills. For a mile the path was clear,
+but she soon found herself confronted by an endless maze of blackened
+tree-trunks, and at last the path ended abruptly.
+
+Dismayed and halting, she said: "We've got to go back to that trail which
+branched off to the right. I reckon that was the highland trail which
+Settle made to keep out of the swamp. I thought it was a trail from
+Cameron Peak, but it wasn't. Back we go."
+
+She was suffering keenly now, not on her own account, but on his, for she
+could see that he was very tired, and to climb up that hill again was
+like punishing him a second time.
+
+When she picked up the blazed trail it was so dark that she could
+scarcely follow it; but she felt her way onward, turning often to be sure
+that he was following. Once she saw him fall, and cried out: "It's a
+shame to make you climb this hill again. It's all my fault. I ought to
+have known that that lower road led down into the timber."
+
+Standing close beside him in the darkness, knowing that he was weary,
+wet, and ill, she permitted herself the expression of her love and pity.
+Putting her arm about him, she drew his cheek against her own, saying:
+"Poor boy, your hands are cold as ice." She took them in her own warm
+clasp. "Oh, I wish we had never left the camp! What does it matter what
+people say?" Then she broke down and wailed. "I shall never forgive
+myself if you--" Her voice failed her.
+
+[Illustration: SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE
+OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS]
+
+He bravely reassured her: "I'm not defeated, I'm just tired. That's all.
+I can go on."
+
+"But you are shaking."
+
+"That is merely a nervous chill. I'm good for another hour. It's better
+to keep moving, anyhow."
+
+She thrust her hand under his coat and laid it over his heart. "You are
+tired out," she said, and there was anguish in her voice. "Your heart is
+pounding terribly. You mustn't do any more climbing. And, hark, there's a
+wolf!"
+
+He listened. "I hear him; but we are both armed. There's no danger from
+wild animals."
+
+"Come!" she said, instantly recovering her natural resolution. "We can't
+stand here. The station can't be far away. We must go on."
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE OTHER GIRL
+
+
+The girl's voice stirred the benumbed youth into action again, and he
+followed her mechanically. His slender stock of physical strength was
+almost gone, but his will remained unbroken. At every rough place she
+came back to him to support him, to hearten him, and so he crept on
+through the darkness, falling often, stumbling against the trees,
+slipping and sliding, till at last his guide, pitching down a sharp
+slope, came directly upon a wire fence.
+
+"Glory be!" she called. "Here is a fence, and the cabin should be near,
+although I see no light. Hello! Tony!"
+
+No voice replied, and, keeping Wayland's hand, she felt her way along the
+fence till it revealed a gate; then she turned toward the roaring of the
+stream, which grew louder as they advanced. "The cabin is near the falls,
+that much I know," she assured him. Then a moment later she joyfully
+cried out: "Here it is!"
+
+Out of the darkness a blacker, sharper shadow rose. Again she called, but
+no one answered. "The ranger is away," she exclaimed, in a voice of
+indignant alarm. "I do hope he left the door unlocked."
+
+Too numb with fatigue, and too dazed by the darkness to offer any aid,
+Wayland waited--swaying unsteadily on his feet--while she tried the door.
+It was bolted, and with but a moment's hesitation, she said: "It looks
+like a case of breaking and entering. I'll try a window." The windows,
+too, were securely fastened. After trying them all, she came back to
+where Wayland stood. "Tony didn't intend to have anybody pushing in," she
+decided. "But if the windows will not raise they will smash."
+
+A crash of glass followed, and with a feeling that it was all part of a
+dream, Wayland waited while the girl made way through the broken sash
+into the dark interior. Her next utterance was a cry of joy: "Oh, but
+it's nice and warm in here! I can't open the door. You'll have to come in
+the same way I did."
+
+He was too weak and too irresolute to respond immediately, and, reaching
+out, she took him by the arms and dragged him across the sill. Her
+strength seemed prodigious. A delicious warmth, a grateful dryness, a
+sense of shelter enfolded him like a garment. The place smelled
+deliciously of food, of fire, of tobacco.
+
+Leading him toward the middle of the room, Berrie said: "Stand here till
+I strike a light."
+
+As her match flamed up Norcross found himself in a rough-walled cabin, in
+which stood a square cook-stove, a rude table littered with dishes, and
+three stools made of slabs. It was all very rude; but it had all the
+value of a palace at the moment.
+
+The girl's quick eye saw much else. She located an oil-lamp, some
+pine-wood, and a corner cupboard. In a few moments the lamp was lit, the
+stove refilled with fuel, and she was stripping Wayland's wet coat from
+his back, cheerily discoursing as she did so. "Here's one of Tony's old
+jackets, put that on while I see if I can't find some dry stockings for
+you. Sit right down here by the stove; put your feet in the oven. I'll
+have a fire in a jiffy. There, that's right. Now I'll start the
+coffee-pot." She soon found the coffee, but it was unground. "Wonder,
+where he keeps his coffee-mill." She rummaged about for a few minutes,
+then gave up the search. "Well, no matter, here's the coffee, and here's
+a hammer. One of the laws of the trail is this: If you can't do a thing
+one way, do it another."
+
+She poured the coffee beans into an empty tomato-can and began to pound
+them with the end of the hammer handle, laughing at Wayland's look of
+wonder and admiration. "Necessity sure is the mother of invention out
+here. How do you feel by now? Isn't it nice to own a roof and four walls?
+I'm going to close up that window as soon as I get the coffee started.
+Are you warming up?"
+
+"Oh yes, I'm all right now," he replied; but he didn't look it, and her
+own cheer was rather forced. He was in the grasp of a nervous chill, and
+she was deeply apprehensive of what the result of his exposure might be.
+It seemed as if the coffee would never come to a boil.
+
+"I depend on that to brace you up," she said.
+
+After hanging a blanket over the broken window, she set out some cold
+meat and a half dozen baking-powder biscuits, which she found in the
+cupboard, and as soon as the coffee was ready she poured it for him; but
+she would not let him leave the fire. She brought his supper to him and
+sat beside him while he ate and drank.
+
+"You must go right to bed," she urged, as she studied his weary eyes.
+"You ought to sleep for twenty-four hours."
+
+The hot, strong coffee revived him physically and brought back a little
+of his courage, and he said: "I'm ashamed to be such a weakling."
+
+"Now hush," she commanded. "It's not your fault that you are weak. Now,
+while I am eating my supper you slip off your wet clothes and creep into
+Tony's bunk, and I'll fill one of these syrup-cans with hot water to put
+at your feet."
+
+It was of no use for him to protest against her further care. She
+insisted, and while she ate he meekly carried out her instructions, and
+from the delicious warmth and security of his bed watched her moving
+about the stove till the shadows of the room became one with the dusky
+figures of his sleep.
+
+A moment later something falling on the floor woke him with a start, and,
+looking up, he found the sun shining, and Berrie confronting him with
+anxious face. "Did I waken you?" she asked. "I'm awfully sorry. I'm
+trying to be extra quiet. I dropped a pan. How do you feel this
+_morning_?"
+
+He pondered this question a moment. "Is it to-morrow or the next week?"
+
+She laughed happily. "It's only the next day. Just keep where you are
+till the sun gets a little higher." She drew near and put a hand on his
+brow. "You don't feel feverish. Oh, I hope this trip hasn't set you
+back."
+
+He laid his hands together, and then felt of his pulse. "I don't seem to
+have a temperature. I just feel lazy, limp and lazy; but I'm going to get
+up, if you'll just leave the room for a moment--"
+
+"Don't try it now. Wait till you have had your breakfast. You'll feel
+stronger then."
+
+He yielded again to the force of her will, and fell back into a luxurious
+drowse hearing the stove roar and the bacon sizzle in the pan. There was
+something primitive and broadly poetic in the girl's actions. Through the
+haze of the kitchen smoke she enlarged till she became the typical
+frontier wife, the goddess of the skillet and the coffee-pot, the consort
+of the pioneer, equally skilled with the rifle and the rolling-pin. How
+many millions of times had this scene been enacted on the long march of
+the borderman from the Susquehanna to the Bear Tooth Range?
+
+Into his epic vision the pitiful absurdity of his own part in the play
+broke like a sad discord. "Of course, it is not my fault that I am a
+weakling," he argued. "Only it was foolish for me to thrust myself into
+this stern world. If I come safely out of this adventure I will go back
+to the sheltered places where I belong."
+
+At this point came again the disturbing realization that this night of
+struggle, and the ministrations of his brave companion had involved him
+deeper in a mesh from which honorable escape was almost impossible. The
+ranger's cabin, so far from being an end of their compromising intimacy,
+had added and was still adding to the weight of evidence against them
+both. The presence of the ranger or the Supervisor himself could not now
+save Berea from the gossips.
+
+She brought his breakfast to him, and sat beside him while he ate,
+chatting the while of their good fortune. "It is glorious outside, and I
+am sure daddy will get across to-day, and Tony is certain to turn up
+before noon. He probably went down to Coal City to get his mail."
+
+"I must get up at once," he said, in a panic of fear and shame. "The
+Supervisor must not find me laid out on my back. Please leave me alone
+for a moment."
+
+She went out, closing the door behind her, and as he crawled from his bed
+every muscle in his body seemed to cry out against being moved.
+Nevertheless, he persisted, and at last succeeded in putting on his
+clothes, even his shoes--though he found tying the laces the hardest task
+of all--and he was at the wash-basin bathing his face and hands when
+Berrie hurriedly re-entered. "Some tourists are coming," she announced,
+in an excited tone. "A party of five or six people, a woman among them,
+is just coming down the slope. Now, who do you suppose it can be? It
+would be just our luck if it should turn out to be some one from the
+Mill."
+
+He divined at once the reason for her dismay. The visit of a woman at
+this moment would not merely embarrass them both, it would torture
+Berrie. "What is to be done?" he asked, roused to alertness.
+
+"Nothing; all we can do is to stand pat and act as if we belonged here."
+
+"Very well," he replied, moving stiffly toward the door. "Here's where I
+can be of some service. I am an excellent white liar."
+
+As our hero crawled out into the brilliant sunshine some part of his
+courage came back to him. Though lame in every muscle, he was not ill.
+That was the surprising thing. His head was clear, and his breath full
+and deep. "My lungs are all right," he said to himself. "I'm not going to
+collapse." And he looked round him with a new-born admiration of the
+wooded hills which rose in somber majesty on either side the roaring
+stream. "How different it all looks this morning," he said, remembering
+the deep blackness of the night.
+
+The beat of hoofs upon the bridge drew his attention to the cavalcade,
+which the keen eyes of the girl had detected as it came over the ridge to
+the east. The party consisted of two men and two women and three
+pack-horses completely outfitted for the trail.
+
+One of the women, spurring her horse to the front, rode serenely up to
+where Wayland stood, and called out: "Good morning. Are you the ranger?"
+
+"No, I'm only the guard. The ranger has gone down the trail."
+
+He perceived at once that the speaker was an alien like himself, for she
+wore tan-colored riding-boots, a divided skirt of expensive cloth, and a
+jaunty, wide-rimmed sombrero. She looked, indeed, precisely like the
+heroine of the prevalent Western drama. Her sleeves, rolled to the elbow,
+disclosed shapely brown arms, and her neck, bare to her bosom, was
+equally sun-smit; but she was so round-cheeked, so childishly charming,
+that the most critical observer could find no fault with her make-up.
+
+One of the men rode up. "Hello, Norcross. What are you doing over here?"
+
+The youth smiled blandly. "Good morning, Mr. Belden. I'm serving my
+apprenticeship. I'm in the service now."
+
+"The mischief you are!" exclaimed the other. "Where's Tony?"
+
+"Gone for his mail. He'll return soon. What are _you_ doing over here,
+may I ask?"
+
+"I'm here as guide to Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore, this is Norcross, one of
+McFarlane's men. Mr. Moore is connected with the tie-camp operations of
+the railway."
+
+Moore was a tall, thin man with a gray beard and keen blue eyes. "Where's
+McFarlane? We were to meet him here. Didn't he come over with you?"
+
+"We started together, but the horses got away, and he was obliged to go
+back after them. He also is likely to turn up soon."
+
+"I am frightfully hungry," interrupted the girl. "Can't you hand me out a
+hunk of bread and meat? We've been riding since daylight."
+
+Berrie suddenly appeared at the door. "Sure thing," she called out.
+"Slide down and come in."
+
+Moore removed his hat and bowed. "Good morning, Miss McFarlane, I didn't
+know you were here. You know my daughter Siona?"
+
+Berrie nodded coldly. "I've met her."
+
+He indicated the other woman. "And Mrs. Belden, of course, you know."
+
+Mrs. Belden, the fourth member of the party, a middle-aged, rather flabby
+person, just being eased down from her horse, turned on Berrie with a
+battery of questions. "Good Lord! Berrie McFarlane, what are you doing
+over in this forsaken hole? Where's your dad? And where is Tony? If Cliff
+had known you was over here he'd have come, too."
+
+Berrie retained her self-possession. "Come in and get some coffee, and
+we'll straighten things out."
+
+Apparently Mrs. Belden did not know that Cliff and Berrie had quarreled,
+for she treated the girl with maternal familiarity. She was a
+good-natured, well-intentioned old sloven, but a most renowned tattler,
+and the girl feared her more than she feared any other woman in the
+valley. She had always avoided her, but she showed nothing of this
+dislike at the moment.
+
+Wayland drew the younger woman's attention by saying: "It's plain that
+you, like myself, do not belong to these parts, Miss Moore."
+
+"What makes you think so?" she brightly queried.
+
+"Your costume is too appropriate. Haven't you noticed that the women who
+live out here carefully avoid convenient and artistic dress? Now your
+outfit is precisely what they should wear and don't."
+
+This amused her. "I know, but they all say they have to wear out their
+Sunday go-to-meeting clothes, whereas I can 'rag out proper.' I'm glad
+you like my 'rig.'"
+
+"When I look at you," he said, "I'm back on old Broadway at the Herald
+Square Theater. The play is 'Little Blossom, or the Cowgirl's Revenge.'
+The heroine has just come into the miner's cabin--"
+
+"Oh, go 'long," she replied, seizing her cue and speaking in character,
+"you're stringin' me."
+
+"Not on your life! Your outfit is a peacherino," he declared. "I am glad
+you rode by."
+
+At the moment he was bent on drawing the girl's attention from Berrie,
+but as she went on he came to like her. She said: "No, I don't belong
+here; but I come out every year during vacation with my father. I love
+this country. It's so big and wide and wild. Father has built a little
+bungalow down at the lower mill, and we enjoy every day of our stay."
+
+"You're a Smith girl," he abruptly asserted.
+
+"What makes you think so?"
+
+"Oh, there's something about you Smith girls that gives you dead away."
+
+"Gives us away! I like that!"
+
+"My phrase was unfortunate. I like Smith girls," he hastened to say; and
+in five minutes they were on the friendliest terms--talking of mutual
+acquaintances--a fact which both puzzled and hurt Berea. Their laughter
+angered her, and whenever she glanced at them and detected Siona looking
+into Wayland's face with coquettish simper, she was embittered. She was
+glad when Moore came in and interrupted the dialogue.
+
+Norcross did not relax, though he considered the dangers of
+cross-examination almost entirely passed. In this he was mistaken, for no
+sooner was the keen edge of Mrs. Belden's hunger dulled than her
+curiosity sharpened.
+
+"Where did you say the Supervisor was?" she repeated.
+
+"The horses got away, and he had to go back after them," again responded
+Berrie, who found the scrutiny of the other girl deeply disconcerting.
+
+"When do you expect him back?"
+
+"Any minute now," she replied, and in this she was not deceiving them,
+although she did not intend to volunteer any information which might
+embarrass either Wayland or herself.
+
+Norcross tried to create a diversion. "Isn't this a charming valley?"
+
+Siona took up the cue. "Isn't it! It's romantic enough to be the
+back-drop in a Bret Harte play. I love it!"
+
+Moore turned to Wayland. "I know a Norcross, a Michigan lumberman,
+Vice-President of the Association. Is he, by any chance, a relative?"
+
+"Only a father," retorted Wayland, with a smile. "But don't hold me
+responsible for anything he has done. We seldom agree."
+
+Moore's manner changed abruptly. "Indeed! And what is the son of W. W.
+Norcross doing out here in the Forest Service?"
+
+The change in her father's tone was not lost upon Siona, who ceased her
+banter and studied the young man with deeper interest, while Mrs. Belden,
+detecting some restraint in Berrie's tone, renewed her questioning:
+"Where did you camp last night?"
+
+"Right here."
+
+"I don't see how the horses got away. There's a pasture here, for we rode
+right through it."
+
+Berrie was aware that each moment of delay in explaining the situation
+looked like evasion, and deepened the significance of her predicament,
+and yet she could not bring herself to the task of minutely accounting
+for her time during the last two days.
+
+Belden came to her relief. "Well, well! We'll have to be moving on. We're
+going into camp at the mouth of the West Fork," he said, as he rose.
+"Tell Tony and the Supervisor that we want to line out that timber at the
+earliest possible moment."
+
+Siona, who was now distinctly coquetting with Wayland, held out her hand.
+"I hope you'll find time to come up and see us. I know we have other
+mutual friends, if we had time to get at them."
+
+His answer was humorous. "I am a soldier. I am on duty. I'm not at all
+sure that I shall have a moment's leave; but I will call if I can
+possibly do so."
+
+They started off at last without having learned in detail anything of the
+intimate relationship into which the Supervisor's daughter and young
+Norcross had been thrown, and Mrs. Belden was still so much in the dark
+that she called to Berrie: "I'm going to send word to Cliff that you are
+over here. He'll be crazy to come the minute he finds it out."
+
+"Don't do that!" protested Berrie.
+
+Wayland turned to Berrie. "That would be pleasant," he said, smilingly.
+
+But she did not return his smile. On the contrary, she remained very
+grave. "I wish that old tale-bearer had kept away. She's going to make
+trouble for us all. And that girl, isn't she a spectacle? I never could
+bear her."
+
+"Why, what's wrong with her? She seems a very nice, sprightly person."
+
+"She's a regular play actor. I don't like made-up people. Why does she go
+around with her sleeves rolled up that way, and--and her dress open at
+the throat?"
+
+"Oh, those are the affectations of the moment. She wants to look tough
+and boisterous. That's the fad with all the girls, just now. It's only a
+harmless piece of foolishness."
+
+She could not tell him how deeply she resented his ready tone of
+camaraderie with the other girl; but she was secretly suffering. It hurt
+her to think that he could forget his aches and be so free and easy with
+a stranger at a moment's notice. Under the influence of that girl's smile
+he seemed to have quite forgotten his exhaustion and his pain. It was
+wonderful how cheerful he had been while she was in sight.
+
+In all this Berrie did him an injustice. He had been keenly conscious,
+during every moment of the time, not only of his bodily ills, but of
+Berrie, and he had kept a brave face in order that he might prevent
+further questioning on the part of a malicious girl. It was his only way
+of being heroic. Now that the crisis was passed he was quite as much of a
+wreck as ever.
+
+A new anxiety beset her. "I hope they won't happen to meet father on the
+trail."
+
+"Perhaps I should go with them and warn him."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter," she wearily answered. "Old Mrs. Belden will
+never rest till she finds out just where we've been, and just what we've
+done. She's that kind. She knows everything that goes on."
+
+He understood her fear, and yet he was unable to comfort her in the only
+way she could be comforted. That brief encounter with Siona Moore--a girl
+of his own world--had made all thought of marriage with Berea suddenly
+absurd. Without losing in any degree the sense of gratitude he felt for
+her protecting care, and with full acknowledgment of her heroic support
+of his faltering feet, he revolted from putting into words a proposal of
+marriage. "I love her," he confessed to himself, "and she is a dear,
+brave girl; but I do not love her as a man should love the woman he is to
+marry."
+
+A gray shadow had plainly fallen between them. Berea sensed the change in
+his attitude, and traced it to the influence of the coquette whose
+smiling eyes and bared arms had openly challenged admiration. It saddened
+her to think that one so fine as he had seemed could yield even momentary
+tribute to an open and silly coquette.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+FURTHER PERPLEXITIES
+
+
+Wayland, for his part, was not deceived by Siona Moore. He knew her kind,
+and understood her method of attack. He liked her pert ways, for they
+brought back his days at college, when dozens of just such misses lent
+grace and humor and romance to the tennis court and to the football
+field. She carried with her the aroma of care-free, athletic girlhood.
+Flirtation was in her as charming and almost as meaningless as the
+preening of birds on the bank of a pool in the meadow.
+
+Speaking aloud, he said: "Miss Moore travels the trail with all known
+accessories, and I've no doubt she thinks she is a grand campaigner; but
+I am wondering how she would stand such a trip as that you took last
+night. I don't believe she could have done as well as I. She's the
+imitation--you're the real thing."
+
+The praise involved in this speech brought back a little of Berrie's
+humor. "I reckon those brown boots of hers would have melted," she said,
+with quaint smile.
+
+He became very grave. "If it had not been for you, dear girl, I would be
+lying up there in the forest this minute. Nothing but your indomitable
+spirit kept me moving. I shall be deeply hurt if any harm comes to you on
+account of me."
+
+"If it hadn't been for me you wouldn't have started on that trip last
+night. It was perfectly useless. It would have been better for us both if
+we had stayed in camp, for we wouldn't have met these people."
+
+"That's true," he replied; "but we didn't know that at the time. We acted
+for the best, and we must not blame ourselves, no matter what comes of
+it."
+
+They fell silent at this point, for each was again conscious of their new
+relationship. She, vaguely suffering, waited for him to resume the
+lover's tone, while he, oppressed by the sense of his own shortcomings
+and weakness, was planning an escape. "It's all nonsense, my remaining in
+the forest. I'm not fitted for it. It's too severe. I'll tell McFarlane
+so and get out."
+
+Perceiving his returning weakness and depression, Berea insisted on his
+lying down again while she set to work preparing dinner. "There is no
+telling when father will get here," she said. "And Tony will be hungry
+when he comes. Lie down and rest."
+
+He obeyed her silently, and, going to the bunk, at once fell asleep. How
+long he slept he could not tell, but he was awakened by the voice of the
+ranger, who was standing in the doorway and regarding Berrie with a
+round-eyed stare.
+
+He was a tall, awkward fellow of about thirty-five, plainly of the
+frontier type; but a man of intelligence. At the end of a brief
+explanation Berrie said, with an air of authority: "Now you'd better ride
+up the trail and bring our camp outfit down. We can't go back that way,
+anyhow."
+
+The ranger glanced toward Wayland. "All right, Miss Berrie, but perhaps
+your tenderfoot needs a doctor."
+
+Wayland rose painfully but resolutely. "Oh no, I am not sick. I'm a
+little lame, that's all. I'll go along with you."
+
+"No," said Berrie, decisively. "You're not well enough for that. Get up
+your horses, Tony, and by that time I'll have some dinner ready."
+
+"All right, Miss Berrie," replied the man, and turned away.
+
+Hardly had he crossed the bridge on his way to the pasture, when Berrie
+cried out: "There comes daddy."
+
+Wayland joined her at the door, and stood beside her watching the
+Supervisor, as he came zigzagging down the steep hill to the east, with
+all his horses trailing behind him roped together head-to-tail.
+
+"He's had to come round by Lost Lake," she exclaimed. "He'll be tired
+out, and absolutely starved. Wahoo!" she shouted in greeting, and the
+Supervisor waved his hand.
+
+There was something superb in the calm seat of the veteran as he slid
+down the slope. He kept his place in the saddle with the air of the rider
+to whom hunger, fatigue, windfalls, and snowslides were all a part of the
+day's work; and when he reined in before the door and dropped from his
+horse, he put his arm about his daughter's neck with quiet word: "I
+thought I'd find you here. How is everything?"
+
+"All right, daddy; but what about you? Where have you been?"
+
+"Clean back to Mill Park. The blamed cayuses kept just ahead of me all
+the way."
+
+"Poor old dad! And on top of that came the snow."
+
+"Yes, and a whole hatful. I couldn't get back over the high pass. Had to
+go round by Lost Lake, and to cap all, Old Baldy took a notion not to
+lead. Oh, I've had a peach of a time; but here I am. Have you seen Moore
+and his party?"
+
+"Yes, they're in camp up the trail. He and Alec Belden and two women. Are
+you hungry?"
+
+He turned a comical glance upon her. "Am I hungry? Sister, I am a wolf.
+Norcross, take my horses down to the pasture."
+
+She hastened to interpose. "Let me do that, daddy, Mr. Norcross is badly
+used up. You see, we started down here late yesterday afternoon. It was
+raining and horribly muddy, and I took the wrong trail. The darkness
+caught us and we didn't reach the station till nearly midnight."
+
+Wayland acknowledged his weakness. "I guess I made a mistake, Supervisor;
+I'm not fitted for this strenuous life."
+
+McFarlane was quick to understand. "I didn't intend to pitchfork you into
+the forest life quite so suddenly," he said. "Don't give up yet awhile.
+You'll harden to it."
+
+"Here comes Tony," said Berrie. "He'll look after the ponies."
+
+Nevertheless Wayland went out, believing that Berrie wished to be alone
+with her father for a short time.
+
+As he took his seat McFarlane said: "You stayed in camp till yesterday
+afternoon, did you?"
+
+"Yes, we were expecting you every moment."
+
+He saw nothing in this to remark upon. "Did it snow at the lake?"
+
+"Yes, a little; it mostly rained."
+
+"It stormed up on the divide like a January blizzard. When did Moore and
+his party arrive?"
+
+"About ten o'clock this morning."
+
+"I'll ride right up and see them. What about the outfit? That's at the
+lake, I reckon?"
+
+"Yes, I was just sending Tony after it. But, father, if you go up to
+Moore's camp, don't say too much about what has happened. Don't tell them
+just when you took the back-trail, and just how long Wayland and I were
+in camp."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+She reddened with confusion. "Because--You know what an old gossip Mrs.
+Belden is. I don't want her to know. She's an awful talker, and our being
+together up there all that time will give her a chance."
+
+A light broke in on the Supervisor's brain. In the midst of his
+preoccupation as a forester he suddenly became the father. His eyes
+narrowed and his face darkened. "That's so. The old rip could make a
+whole lot of capital out of your being left in camp that way. At the same
+time I don't believe in dodging. The worst thing we could do would be to
+try to blind the trail. Was Tony here last night when you came?"
+
+"No, he was down the valley after his mail."
+
+His face darkened again. "That's another piece of bad luck, too. How much
+does the old woman know at present?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"Didn't she cross-examine you?"
+
+"Sure she did; but Wayland side-tracked her. Of course it only delays
+things. She'll know all about it sooner or later. She's great at putting
+two and two together. Two and two with her always make five."
+
+McFarlane mused. "Cliff will be plumb crazy if she gets his ear first."
+
+"I don't care anything about Cliff, daddy. I don't care what he thinks or
+does, if he will only let Wayland alone."
+
+"See here, daughter, you do seem to be terribly interested in this
+tourist."
+
+"He's the finest man I ever knew, father."
+
+He looked at her with tender, trusting glance. "He isn't your kind,
+daughter. He's a nice clean boy, but he's different. He don't belong in
+our world. He's only just stopping here. Don't forget that."
+
+"I'm not forgetting that, daddy. I know he's different, that's why I like
+him." After a pause she added: "Nobody could have been nicer all through
+these days than he has been. He was like a brother."
+
+McFarlane fixed a keen glance upon her. "Has he said anything to you? Did
+you come to an understanding?"
+
+Her eyes fell. "Not the way you mean, daddy; but I think he--likes me.
+But do you know who he is? He's the son of W. W. Norcross, that big
+Michigan lumberman."
+
+McFarlane started. "How do you know that?"
+
+"Mr. Moore asked him if he was any relation to W.W. Norcross, and he
+said, 'Yes, a son.' You should have seen how that Moore girl changed her
+tune the moment he admitted that. She'd been very free with him up to
+that time; but when she found out he was a rich man's son she became as
+quiet and innocent as a kitten. I hate her; she's a deceitful snip."
+
+"Well, now, daughter, that being the case, it's all the more certain that
+he don't belong to our world, and you mustn't fix your mind on keeping
+him here."
+
+"A girl can't help fixing her mind, daddy."
+
+"Or changing it." He smiled a little. "You used to like Cliff. You liked
+him well enough to promise to marry him."
+
+"I know I did; but I despise him now."
+
+"Poor Cliff! He isn't so much to blame after all. Any man is likely to
+flare out when he finds another fellow cutting in ahead of him. Why, here
+you are wanting to kill Siona Moore just for making up to your young
+tourist."
+
+"But that's different."
+
+He laughed. "Of course it is. But the thing we've got to guard against is
+old lady Belden's tongue. She and that Belden gang have it in for me, and
+all that has kept them from open war has been Cliff's relationship to
+you. They'll take a keen delight in making the worst of all this camping
+business." McFarlane was now very grave. "I wish your mother was here
+this minute. I guess we had better cut out this timber cruise and go
+right back."
+
+"No, you mustn't do that; that would only make more talk. Go on with your
+plans. I'll stay here with you. It won't take you but a couple of days to
+do the work, and Wayland needs the rest."
+
+"But suppose Cliff hears of this business between you and Norcross and
+comes galloping over the ridge?"
+
+"Well, let him, he has no claim on me."
+
+He rose uneasily. "It's all mighty risky business, and it's my fault. I
+should never have permitted you to start on this trip."
+
+"Don't you worry about me, daddy, I'll pull through somehow. Anybody that
+knows me will understand how little there is in--in old lady Belden's
+gab. I've had a beautiful trip, and I won't let her nor anybody else
+spoil it for me."
+
+McFarlane was not merely troubled. He was distracted. He was afraid to
+meet the Beldens. He dreaded their questions, their innuendoes. He had
+perfect faith in his daughter's purity and honesty, and he liked and
+trusted Norcross, and yet he knew that should Belden find it to his
+advantage to slander these young people, and to read into their action
+the lawlessness of his own youth, Berea's reputation, high as it was,
+would suffer, and her mother's heart be rent with anxiety. In his growing
+pain and perplexity he decided to speak frankly to young Norcross
+himself. "He's a gentleman, and knows the way of the world. Perhaps he'll
+have some suggestion to offer." In his heart he hoped to learn that
+Wayland loved his daughter and wished to marry her.
+
+Wayland was down on the bridge leaning over the rail, listening to the
+song of the water.
+
+McFarlane approached gravely, but when he spoke it was in his usual soft
+monotone. "Mr. Norcross," he began, with candid inflection, "I am very
+sorry to say it; but I wish you and my daughter had never started on this
+trip."
+
+"I know what you mean, Supervisor, and I feel as you do about it. Of
+course, none of us foresaw any such complication as this, but now that we
+are snarled up in it we'll have to make the best of it. No one of us is
+to blame. It was all accidental."
+
+The youth's frank words and his sympathetic voice disarmed McFarlane
+completely. Even the slight resentment he felt melted away. "It's no use
+saying _if_," he remarked, at length. "What we've got to meet is Seth
+Belden's report--Berrie has cut loose from Cliff, and he's red-headed
+already. When he drops onto this story, when he learns that I had to
+chase back after the horses, and that you and Berrie were alone together
+for three days, he'll have a fine club to swing, and he'll swing it; and
+Alec will help him. They're all waiting a chance to get me, and they're
+mean enough to get me through my girl."
+
+"What can I do?" asked Wayland.
+
+McFarlane pondered. "I'll try to head off Marm Belden, and I'll have a
+talk with Moore. He's a pretty reasonable chap."
+
+"But you forget there's another tale-bearer. Moore's daughter is with
+them."
+
+"That's so. I'd forgotten her. Good Lord! we are in for it. There's no
+use trying to cover anything up."
+
+Here was the place for Norcross to speak up and say: "Never mind, I'm
+going to ask Berrie to be my wife." But he couldn't do it. Something rose
+in his throat which prevented speech. A strange repugnance, a kind of
+sullen resentment at being forced into a declaration, kept him silent,
+and McFarlane, disappointed, wondering and hurt, kept silence also.
+
+Norcross was the first to speak. "Of course those who know your daughter
+will not listen for an instant to the story of an unclean old thing like
+Mrs. Belden."
+
+"I'm not so sure about that," replied the father, gloomily. "People
+always listen to such stories, and a girl always gets the worst of a
+situation like this. Berrie's been brought up to take care of herself,
+and she's kept clear of criticism so far; but with Cliff on edge and this
+old rip snooping around--" His mind suddenly changed. "Your being the son
+of a rich man won't help any. Why didn't you tell me who you were?"
+
+"I didn't think it necessary. What difference does it make? I have
+nothing to do with my father's business. His notions of forest
+speculation are not mine."
+
+"It would have made a difference with me, and it might have made a
+difference with Berrie. She mightn't have been so free with you at the
+start, if she'd known who you were. You looked sick and kind of lonesome,
+and that worked on her sympathy."
+
+"I _was_ sick and I was lonesome, and she has been very sweet and lovely
+to me, and it breaks my heart to think that her kindness and your
+friendship should bring all this trouble and suspicion upon her. Let's go
+up to the Moore camp and have it out with them. I'll make any statement
+you think best."
+
+"I reckon the less said about it the better," responded the older man.
+"I'm going up to the camp, but not to talk about my daughter."
+
+"How can you help it? They'll force the topic."
+
+"If they do, I'll force them to let it alone," retorted McFarlane; but he
+went away disappointed and sorrowful. The young man's evident avoidance
+of the subject of marriage hurt him. He did not perceive, as Norcross
+did, that to make an announcement of his daughter's engagement at this
+moment would be taken as a confession of shameful need. It is probable
+that Berrie herself would not have seen this further complication.
+
+Each hour added to Wayland's sense of helplessness and bitterness. "I am
+in a trap. I can neither help Berrie nor help myself. Nothing remains for
+me but flight, and flight will also be a confession of guilt."
+
+Once again, and in far more definite terms, he perceived the injustice of
+the world toward women. Here with Berrie, as in ages upon ages of other
+times, the maiden must bear the burden of reproach. "In me it will be
+considered a joke, a romantic episode, in her a degrading misdemeanor.
+And yet what can I do?"
+
+When he re-entered the cabin the Supervisor had returned from the camp,
+and something in his manner, as well as in Berrie's, revealed the fact
+that the situation had not improved.
+
+"They forced me into a corner," McFarlane said to Wayland, peevishly. "I
+lied out of one night; but they know that you were here last night. Of
+course, they were respectful enough so long as I had an eye on them, but
+their tongues are wagging now."
+
+The rest of the evening was spent in talk on the forest, and in going
+over the ranger's books, for the Supervisor continued to plan for
+Wayland's stay at this station, and the young fellow thought it best not
+to refuse at the moment.
+
+As bedtime drew near Settle took a blanket and went to the corral, and
+Berrie insisted that her father and Wayland occupy the bunk.
+
+Norcross protested; but the Supervisor said: "Let her alone. She's better
+able to sleep on the floor than either of us."
+
+This was perfectly true; but, in spite of his bruised and aching body,
+the youth would gladly have taken her place beside the stove. It seemed
+pitifully unjust that she should have this physical hardship in addition
+to her uneasiness of mind.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE CAMP ON THE PASS
+
+
+Berea suffered a restless night, the most painful and broken she had
+known in all her life. She acknowledged that Siona Moore was prettier,
+and that she stood more nearly on Wayland's plane than herself; but the
+realization of this fact did not bring surrender--she was not of that
+temper. All her life she had been called upon to combat the elements, to
+hold her own amidst rude men and inconsiderate women, and she had no
+intention of yielding her place to a pert coquette, no matter what the
+gossips might say. She had seen this girl many times, but had refused to
+visit her house. She had held her in contempt, now she quite cordially
+hated her.
+
+"She shall not have her way with Wayland," she decided. "I know what she
+wants--she wants him at her side to-morrow; but I will not have it so.
+She is trying to get him away from me."
+
+The more she dwelt on this the hotter her jealous fever burned. The floor
+on which she lay was full of knots. She could not lose herself in sleep,
+tired as she was. The planks no longer turned their soft spots to her
+flesh, and she rolled from side to side in torment. She would have arisen
+and dressed only she did not care to disturb the men. The night seemed
+interminable.
+
+Her plan of action was simple. "I shall go home the morrow and take
+Wayland with me. I will not have him going with that girl--that's
+settled!" The very thought of his taking Siona's hand in greeting angered
+her beyond reason.
+
+She had put Cliff Belden completely out of her mind, and this was
+characteristic of her. She had no divided interests, no subtleties, no
+subterfuges. Forthright, hot-blooded, frank and simple, she had centered
+all her care, all her desires, on this pale youth whose appeal was at
+once mystic and maternal; but her pity was changing to something deeper,
+for she was convinced that he was gaining in strength, that he was in no
+danger of relapse. The hard trip of the day before had seemingly done him
+no permanent injury; on the contrary, a few hours' rest had almost
+restored him to his normal self. "To-morrow he will be able to ride
+again." And this thought reconciled her to her hard bed. She did not look
+beyond the long, delicious day which they must spend in returning to the
+Springs.
+
+She fell asleep at last, and was awakened only by her father tinkering
+about the stove.
+
+She rose alertly, signing to the Supervisor not to disturb her patient.
+
+However, Norcross also heard the rattle of the poker, opened his eyes and
+regarded Berrie with sleepy smile. "Good morning, if it _is_ morning," he
+said, slowly.
+
+She laughed back at him. "It's almost sunup."
+
+"You don't tell me! How could I have overslept like this? Makes me think
+of the Irishman who, upon being awakened to an early breakfast like this,
+ate it, then said to his employer, an extra thrifty farmer, 'Two suppers
+in wan night--and hurrah for bed again.'"
+
+This amused her greatly. "It's too bad. I hope you got some sleep?"
+
+"All there was time for." His voice changed. "I feel like a hound-pup, to
+be snoring on a downy couch like this while you were roughing it on the
+floor. How did I come to do it? It's shameful!"
+
+"Don't worry about me. How are you feeling this morning?"
+
+He stretched and yawned. "Fine! That is, I'm sore here and there, but I'm
+feeling wonderfully well. Do you know, I begin to hope that I can finally
+dominate the wilderness. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I got so I could
+ride and walk as you do, for instance? The fact that I'm not dead this
+morning is encouraging." He drew on his shoes as he talked, while she
+went about her toilet, which was quite as simple as his own. She had
+spent two nights in her day dress with almost no bathing facilities; but
+that didn't trouble her. It was a part of the game. She washed her face
+and hands in Settle's tin basin, but drew the line at his rubber comb.
+
+There was a distinct charm in seeing her thus adapting herself to the
+cabin, a charm quite as powerful as that which emanated from Siona
+Moore's dainty and theatrical personality. What it was he could not
+define, but the forester's daughter had something primeval about her,
+something close to the soil, something which aureoles the old Saxon
+words--_wife_ and _home_ and _fireplace_. Seeing her through the savory
+steam of the bacon she was frying, he forgot her marvelous skill as
+horsewoman and pathfinder, and thought of her only as the housewife. She
+belonged here, in this cabin. She was fitted to this landscape, whereas
+the other woman was alien and dissonant.
+
+He moved his arms about and shook his legs with comical effect of trying
+to see if they were still properly hinged. "It's miraculous! I'm not lame
+at all. No one can accuse me of being a 'lunger' now. Last night's sleep
+has made a new man of me. I've met the forest and it is mine."
+
+She beamed upon him with happy pride. "I'm mighty glad to hear you say
+that. I was terribly afraid that long, hard walk in the rain had been too
+much for you. I reckon you're all right for the work now."
+
+He recalled, as she spoke, her anguish of pity while they stood in the
+darkness of the trail, and it seemed that he could go no farther, and he
+said, soberly: "It must have seemed to you one while as if I were all in.
+I felt that way myself. I was numb from head to heel. I couldn't have
+gone another mile."
+
+Her face clouded with retrospective pain. "You mustn't try any more such
+stunts--not for a few weeks, anyway. But get ready for breakfast."
+
+He went out into the morning exultantly, and ran down to the river to
+bathe his face and hands, allured by its splendid voice. The world seemed
+very bright and beautiful and health-giving once more.
+
+As soon as she was alone with her father, Berrie said: "I'm going home
+to-day, dad."
+
+"Going home! What for?"
+
+"I've had enough of it."
+
+He glanced at her bed on the floor. "I can't say I blame you any. This
+has been a rough trip; but we'll go up and bring down the outfit, and
+then we men can sleep in the tent and let you have the bunk--you'll be
+comfortable to-night."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind sleeping on the floor," she replied; "but I want to get
+back. I don't want to meet those women. Another thing, you'd better use
+Mr. Norcross at the Springs instead of leaving him here with Tony."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Well, he isn't quite well enough to run the risk. It's a long way from
+here to a doctor."
+
+"He 'pears to be on deck this morning. Besides, I haven't anything in the
+office to offer him."
+
+"Then send him up to Meeker. Landon needs help, and he's a better
+forester than Tony, anyway."
+
+"How about Cliff? He may make trouble."
+
+Her face darkened. "Cliff will reach him if he wants to--no matter where
+he is. And then, too, Landon likes Mr. Norcross and will see that he is
+not abused."
+
+McFarlane ruminated over her suggestion, well knowing that she was
+planning this change in order that she might have Norcross a little
+nearer, a little more accessible.
+
+"I don't know but you're right. Landon is almost as good a hustler as
+Tony, and a much better forester. I thought of sending Norcross up there
+at first, but he told me that Frank and his gang had it in for him. Of
+course, he's only nominally in the service; but I want him to begin
+right."
+
+Berrie went further. "I want him to ride back with me to-day."
+
+He looked at her with grave inquiry. "Do you think that a wise thing to
+do? Won't that make more talk?"
+
+"We'll start early and ride straight through."
+
+"You'll have to go by Lost Lake, and that means a long, hard hike. Can he
+stand it?"
+
+"Oh yes. He rides well. It's the walking at a high altitude that does him
+up. Furthermore, Cliff may turn up here, and I don't want another
+mix-up."
+
+McFarlane was troubled. "I ought to go back with you; but Moore is over
+here to line out a cutting, and I must stay on for a couple of days.
+Suppose I send Tony along?"
+
+"No, Tony would be a nuisance and would do no good. Another day on the
+trail won't add to Mrs. Belden's story. If she wants to be mean she's got
+all the material for it already."
+
+In the end she had her way. McFarlane, perceiving that she had set her
+heart on this ride, and having perfect faith in her skill and judgment on
+the trail, finally said: "Well, if you do so, the quicker you start the
+better. With the best of luck you can't pull in before eight o'clock, and
+you'll have to ride hard to do that."
+
+"If I find we can't make it I'll pull into a ranch. But I'm sure we
+can."
+
+When Wayland came in the Supervisor inquired: "Do you feel able to ride
+back over the hill to-day?"
+
+"Entirely so. It isn't the riding that uses me up; it is the walking;
+and, besides, as candidate for promotion I must obey orders--especially
+orders to march."
+
+They breakfasted hurriedly, and while McFarlane and Tony were bringing in
+the horses Wayland and Berrie set the cabin to rights. Working thus side
+by side, she recovered her dominion over him, and at the same time
+regained her own cheerful self-confidence.
+
+"You're a wonder!" he exclaimed, as he watched her deft adjustment of the
+dishes and furniture. "You're ambidextrous."
+
+"I have to be to hold my job," she laughingly replied. "A feller must
+play all the parts when he's up here."
+
+It was still early morning as they mounted and set off up the trail; but
+Moore's camp was astir, and as McFarlane turned in--much against Berrie's
+will--the lumberman and his daughter both came out to meet them. "Come in
+and have some breakfast," said Siona, with cordial inclusiveness, while
+her eyes met Wayland's glance with mocking glee.
+
+"Thank you," said McFarlane, "we can't stop. I'm going to set my daughter
+over the divide. She has had enough camping, and Norcross is pretty well
+battered up, so I'm going to help them across. I'll be back to-night, and
+we'll take our turn up the valley to-morrow. Nash will be here then."
+
+Berrie did not mind her father's explanation; on the contrary, she took a
+distinct pleasure in letting the other girl know of the long and intimate
+day she was about to spend with her young lover.
+
+Siona, too adroit to display her disappointment, expressed polite regret.
+"I hope you won't get storm-bound," she said, showing her white teeth in
+a meaning smile.
+
+"If there is any sign of a storm we won't cross," declared McFarlane.
+"We're going round by the lower pass, anyhow. If I'm not here by dark,
+you may know I've stayed to set 'em down at the Mill."
+
+There was charm in Siona's alert poise, and in the neatness of her camp
+dress. Her dainty tent, with its stools and rugs, made the wilderness
+seem but a park. She reminded Norcross of the troops of tourists of the
+Tyrol, and her tent was of a kind to harmonize with the tea-houses on the
+path to the summit of the Matterhorn. Then, too, something triumphantly
+feminine shone in her bright eyes and glowed in her softly rounded
+cheeks. Her hand was little and pointed, not fitted like Berrie's for
+tightening a cinch or wielding an ax, and as he said "Good-by," he added:
+"I hope I shall see you again soon," and at the moment he meant it.
+
+"We'll return to the Springs in a few days," she replied. "Come and see
+us. Our bungalow is on the other side of the river--and you, too," she
+addressed Berrie; but her tone was so conventionally polite that the
+ranch-girl, burning with jealous heat, made no reply.
+
+McFarlane led the way to the lake rapidly and in silence. The splendors
+of the foliage, subdued by the rains, the grandeur of the peaks, the song
+of the glorious stream--all were lost on Berrie, for she now felt herself
+to be nothing but a big, clumsy, coarse-handed tomboy. Her worn gloves,
+her faded skirt, and her man's shoes had been made hateful to her by that
+smug, graceful, play-acting tourist with the cool, keen eyes and smirking
+lips. "She pretends to be a kitten; but she isn't; she's a sly grown-up
+cat," she bitterly accused, but she could not deny the charm of her
+personality.
+
+Wayland was forced to acknowledge that Berrie in this dark mood was not
+the delightful companion she had hitherto been. Something sweet and
+confiding had gone out of their relationship, and he was too keen-witted
+not to know what it was. He estimated precisely the value of the
+malicious parting words of Siona Moore. "She's a natural tease, the kind
+of woman who loves to torment other and less fortunate women. She cares
+nothing for me, of course, it's just her way of paying off old scores. It
+would seem that Berrie has not encouraged her advances in times past."
+
+That Berrie was suffering, and that her jealousy touchingly proved the
+depth of her love for him, brought no elation, only perplexity. He was
+not seeking such devotion. As a companion on the trail she had been a
+joy--as a jealous sweetheart she was less admirable. He realized
+perfectly that this return journey was of her arrangement, not
+McFarlane's, and while he was not resentful of her care, he was in doubt
+of the outcome. It hurried him into a further intimacy which might prove
+embarrassing.
+
+At the camp by the lake the Supervisor became sharply commanding. "Now
+let's throw these packs on lively. It will be slippery on the high trail,
+and you'll just naturally have to hit leather hard and keep jouncing if
+you reach the wagon-road before dark. But you'll make it."
+
+"Make it!" said Berrie. "Of course we'll make it. Don't you worry about
+that for a minute. Once I get out of the green timber the dark won't
+worry me. We'll push right through."
+
+In packing the camp stuff on the saddles, Berrie, almost as swift and
+powerful as her father, acted with perfect understanding of every task,
+and Wayland's admiration of her skill increased mightily.
+
+She insisted on her father's turning back. "We don't need you," she said.
+"I can find the pass."
+
+McFarlane's faith in his daughter had been tested many times, and yet he
+was a little loath to have her start off on a trail new to her. He argued
+against it briefly, but she laughed at his fears. "I can go anywhere you
+can," she said. "Stand clear!" With final admonition he stood clear.
+
+"You'll have to keep off the boggy meadows," he warned; "these rains will
+have softened all those muck-holes on the other side; they'll be
+bottomless pits; watch out for 'em. Good-by! If you meet Nash hurry him
+along. Moore is anxious to run those lines. Keep in touch with Landon,
+and if anybody turns up from the district office say I'll be back on
+Friday. Good luck."
+
+"Same to you. So long."
+
+Berea led the way, and Norcross fell in behind the pack-horses, feeling
+as unimportant as a small boy at the heels of a circus parade. His girl
+captain was so competent, so self-reliant, and so sure that nothing he
+could say or do assisted in the slightest degree. Her leadership was a
+curiously close reproduction of her father's unhurried and graceful
+action. Her seat in the saddle was as easy as Landon's, and her eyes were
+alert to every rock and stream in the road. She was at home here, where
+the other girl would have been a bewildered child, and his words of
+praise lifted the shadow from her face.
+
+The sky was cloudy, and a delicious feeling of autumn was in the
+air--autumn that might turn to winter with a passing cloud, and the
+forest was dankly gloomy and grimly silent, save from the roaring stream
+which ran at times foam-white with speed. The high peaks, gray and
+streaked with new-fallen snow, shone grandly, bleakly through the firs.
+The radiant beauty of the road from the Springs, the golden glow of four
+days before was utterly gone, and yet there was exultation in this ride.
+A distinct pleasure, a delight of another sort, lay in thus daring the
+majesty of an unknown wind-swept pass.
+
+Wayland called out: "The air feels like Thanksgiving morning, doesn't
+it?"
+
+"It _is_ Thanksgiving for me, and I'm going to get a grouse for dinner,"
+she replied; and in less than an hour the snap of her rifle made good her
+promise.
+
+After leaving the upper lake she turned to the right and followed the
+course of a swift and splendid stream, which came churning through a
+cheerless, mossy swamp of spruce-trees. Inexperienced as he was, Wayland
+knew that this was not a well-marked trail; but his confidence in his
+guide was too great to permit of any worry over the pass, and he amused
+himself by watching the water-robins as they flitted from stone to stone
+in the torrent, and in calculating just where he would drop a line for
+trout if he had time to do so, and in recovered serenity enjoyed his
+ride. Gradually he put aside his perplexities concerning the future,
+permitting his mind to prefigure nothing but his duties with Landon at
+Meeker's Mill.
+
+He was rather glad of the decision to send him there, for it promised
+absorbing sport. "I shall see how Landon and Belden work out their
+problem," he said. He had no fear of Frank Meeker now. "As a forest guard
+with official duties to perform I can meet that young savage on other and
+more nearly equal terms," he assured himself.
+
+The trail grew slippery and in places ran full of water. "But there's a
+bottom, somewhere," Berrie confidently declared, and pushed ahead with
+resolute mien. It was noon when they rose above timber and entered upon
+the wide, smooth slopes of the pass. Snow filled the grass here, and the
+wind, keen, cutting, unhindered, came out of the desolate west with
+savage fury; but the sun occasionally shone through the clouds with vivid
+splendor. "It is December now," shouted Wayland, as he put on his slicker
+and cowered low to his saddle. "It will be January soon."
+
+"We will make it Christmas dinner," she laughed, and her glowing good
+humor warmed his heart. She was entirely her cheerful self again.
+
+As they rose, the view became magnificent, wintry, sparkling. The great
+clouds, drifting like ancient warships heavy with armament, sent down
+chill showers of hail over the frosted gold of the grassy slopes; but
+when the shadows passed the sunlight descended in silent cataracts
+deliriously spring-like. The conies squeaked from the rocky ridges, and a
+brace of eagles circling about a lone crag, as if exulting in their
+sovereign mastery of the air, screamed in shrill ecstatic duo. The sheer
+cliffs, on their shadowed sides, were violently purple. Everywhere the
+landscape exhibited crashing contrasts of primary pigments which bit into
+consciousness like the flare of a martial band.
+
+The youth would have lingered in spite of the cold; but the girl kept
+steadily on, knowing well that the hardest part of their journey was
+still before them, and he, though longing to ride by her side, and to
+enjoy the views with her, was forced to remain in the rear in order to
+hurry the reluctant pack-animals forward. They had now reached a point
+twelve thousand feet above the sea, and range beyond range, to the west
+and south, rose into sight like stupendous waves of a purple-green sea.
+To the east the park lay level as a floor and carpeted in tawny velvet.
+
+It was nearly two o'clock when they began to drop down behind the rocky
+ridges of the eastern slope, and soon, in the bottom of a warm and
+sheltered hollow just at timber-line, Berrie drew her horse to a stand
+and slipped from the saddle. "We'll rest here an hour," she said, "and
+cook our grouse; or are you too hungry to wait?"
+
+"I can wait," he answered, dramatically. "But it seems as if I had never
+eaten."
+
+"Well, then, we'll save the grouse till to-morrow; but I'll make some
+coffee. You bring some water while I start a fire."
+
+And so, while the tired horses cropped the russet grass, she boiled some
+coffee and laid out some bread and meat, while he sat by watching her and
+absorbing the beauty of the scene, the charm of the hour. "It is exactly
+like a warm afternoon in April," he said, "and here are some of the
+spring flowers."
+
+"There now, sit by and eat," she said, with humor; and in perfectly
+restored tranquillity they ate and drank, with no thought of critics or
+of rivals. They were alone, and content to be so.
+
+It was deliciously sweet and restful there in that sunny hollow on the
+breast of the mountain. The wind swept through the worn branches of the
+dwarfed spruce with immemorial wistfulness; but these young souls heard
+it only as a far-off song. Side by side on the soft Alpine clover they
+rested and talked, looking away at the shining peaks, and down over the
+dark-green billows of fir beneath them. Half the forest was under their
+eyes at the moment, and the man said: "Is it not magnificent! It makes me
+proud of my country. Just think, all this glorious spread of hill and
+valley is under your father's direction. I may say under _your_
+direction, for I notice he does just about what you tell him to do."
+
+"You've noticed that?" she laughed. "If I were a man I'd rather be
+Supervisor of this forest than Congressman."
+
+"So would I," he agreed. "Nash says you _are_ the Supervisor. I wonder if
+your father realizes how efficient you are? Does he ever sorrow over your
+not being a boy?"
+
+Her eyes shone with mirth. "Not that I can notice. He 'pears contented."
+
+"You're a good deal like a son to him, I imagine. You can do about all
+that a boy can do, anyhow--more than I could ever do. Does he realize how
+much you have to do with the management of his forest? I've never seen
+your like. I really believe you _could_ carry on the work as well as
+he."
+
+She flushed with pleasure. "You seem to think I'm a district forester in
+disguise."
+
+"I have eyes, Miss Supervisor, and also ears--which leads me to ask: Why
+don't you clean out that saloon gang? Landon is sure there's crooked work
+going on at that mill--certainly that open bar is a disgraceful and
+corrupting thing."
+
+Her face clouded. "We've tried to cut out that saloon, but it can't be
+done. You see, it's on a patented claim--the claim was bogus, of course,
+and we've made complaint, but the matter is hung up, and that gives 'em a
+chance to go on."
+
+"Well, let's not talk of that. It's too delicious an hour for any
+question of business. It is a moment for poetry. I wish I could write
+what I feel this moment. Why don't we camp here and watch the sun go down
+and the moon rise? From our lofty vantage-ground the coming of dawn would
+be an epic."
+
+"We mustn't think of that," she protested. "We must be going."
+
+"Not yet. The hour is too perfect. It may never come again. The wind in
+the pines, the sunshine, the conies crying from their rocks, the
+butterflies on the clover--my heart aches with the beauty of it. It's
+been a wonderful trip. Even that staggering walk in the rain had its
+splendid quality. I couldn't see the poetry in it then; but I do now.
+These few days have made us comrades, haven't they--comrades of the
+trail? You have been very considerate of me." He took her hand. "I've
+never seen such hands. They are like steel, and yet they are feminine."
+
+She drew her hands away. "I'm ashamed of my hands--they are so big and
+rough and dingy."
+
+"They're brown, of course, and calloused--a little--but they are not big,
+and they are beautifully modeled." He looked at her speculatively. "I am
+wondering how you would look in conventional dress."
+
+"Do you mean--" She hesitated. "I'd look like a gawk in one of those
+low-necked outfits. I'd never dare--and those tight skirts would sure
+cripple me."
+
+"Oh no, they wouldn't. You'd have to modify your stride a little; but
+you'd negotiate it. You're equal to anything."
+
+"You're making fun of me!"
+
+"No, I'm not. I'm in earnest. You're the kind of American girl that can
+go anywhere and do anything. My sisters would mortgage their share of the
+golden streets for your abounding health--and so would I."
+
+"You are all right now," she smiled. "You don't look or talk as you
+did."
+
+"It's this sunlight." He lifted a spread hand as if to clutch and hold
+something. "I feel it soaking into me like some magical oil. No more
+moping and whining for me. I've proved that hardship is good for me."
+
+"Don't crow till you're out of the woods. It's a long ride down the hill,
+and going down is harder on the tenderfoot than going up."
+
+"I'm no longer a tenderfoot. All I need is another trip like this with
+you and I shall be a master trailer."
+
+All this was very sweet to her, and though she knew they should be going,
+she lingered. Childishly reckless of the sinking sun, she played with the
+wild flowers at her side and listened to his voice in complete content.
+He was right. The hour was too beautiful to be shortened, although she
+saw no reason why others equally delightful might not come to them both.
+He was more of the lover than he had ever been before, that she knew, and
+in the light of his eyes all that was not girlish and charming melted
+away. She forgot her heavy shoes, her rough hands and sun-tanned face,
+and listened with wondering joy and pride to his words, which were of a
+fineness such as she had never heard spoken--only books contained such
+unusual and exquisite phrases.
+
+A cloud passing across the sun flung down a shadow of portentous chill
+and darkness. She started to her feet with startled recollection of the
+place and the hour.
+
+"We _must_ be going--at once!" she commanded.
+
+"Not yet," he pleaded. "It's only a cloud. The sun is coming out again. I
+have perfect confidence in your woodcraft. Why not spend another night on
+the trail? It may be our last trip together."
+
+He tempted her strongly, so frank and boyish and lovable were his glances
+and his words. But she was vaguely afraid of herself, and though the long
+ride at the moment seemed hard and dull, the thought of her mother
+waiting decided her action.
+
+"No, no!" she responded, firmly. "We've wasted too much time already. We
+must ride."
+
+He looked up at her with challenging glance. "Suppose I refuse--suppose I
+decide to stay here?"
+
+Upon her, as he talked, a sweet hesitation fell, a dream which held more
+of happiness than she had ever known. "It is a long, hard ride," she
+thought, "and another night on the trail will not matter." And so the
+moments passed on velvet feet, and still she lingered, reluctant to break
+the spell.
+
+Suddenly, into their idyllic drowse of content, so sweet, so youthful,
+and so pure of heart, broke the sound of a horse's hurrying, clashing,
+steel-shod feet, and looking up Berrie saw a mounted man coming down the
+mountainside with furious, reckless haste.
+
+"It is Cliff!" she cried out. "He's on our trail!" And into her face came
+a look of alarm. Her lips paled, her eyes widened. "He's mad--he's
+dangerous! Leave him to me," she added, in a low, tense voice.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE DEATH-GRAPPLE
+
+
+There was something so sinister in the rider's disregard of stone and
+tree and pace, something so menacing in the forward thrust of his body,
+that Berrie was able to divine his wrath, and was smitten into
+irresolution--all her hardy, boyish self-reliance swallowed up in the
+weakness of the woman. She forgot the pistol at her belt, and awaited the
+assault with rigid pose.
+
+As Belden neared them Norcross also perceived that the rider's face was
+distorted with passion, and that his glance was not directed upon Berrie,
+but upon himself, and he braced himself for the attack.
+
+Leaving his saddle with one flying leap, which the cowboy practises at
+play, Belden hurled himself upon his rival with the fury of a panther.
+
+The slender youth went down before the big rancher as though struck by a
+catapult; and the force of his fall against the stony earth stunned him
+so that he lay beneath his enemy as helpless as a child.
+
+[Illustration: THE SLENDER YOUTH WENT DOWN BEFORE THE BIG RANCHER
+AS THOUGH STRUCK BY A CATAPULT]
+
+Belden snarled between his teeth: "I told you I'd kill you, and I will."
+
+But this was not to be. Berea suddenly recovered her native force. With a
+cry of pain, of anger, she flung herself on the maddened man's back. Her
+hands encircled his neck like a collar of bronze. Hardened by incessant
+use of the cinch and the rope, her fingers sank into the sinews of his
+great throat, shutting off both blood and breath.
+
+"Let go!" she commanded, with deadly intensity. "Let go, or I'll choke
+the life out of you! Let go, I say!"
+
+He raised a hand to beat her off, but she was too strong, too desperate
+to be driven away. She was as blind to pain as a mother eagle, and bent
+above him so closely that he could not bring the full weight of his fist
+to bear. With one determined hand still clutching his throat, she ran the
+fingers of her other hand into his hair and twisted his head upward with
+a power which he could not resist. And so, looking into his upturned,
+ferocious eyes, she repeated with remorseless fury: "_Let go_, I say!"
+
+His swollen face grew rigid, his mouth gaped, his tongue protruded, and
+at last, releasing his hold on his victim, he rose, flinging Berrie off
+with a final desperate effort. "I'll kill you, too!" he gasped.
+
+Up to this moment the girl had felt no fear of herself; but now she
+resorted to other weapons. Snatching her pistol from its holster, she
+leveled it at his forehead. "Stop!" she said; and something in her voice
+froze him into calm. He was not a fiend; he was not a deliberate
+assassin; he was only a jealous, despairing, insane lover, and as he
+looked into the face he knew so well, and realized that nothing but hate
+and deadly resolution lit the eyes he had so often kissed, his heart gave
+way, and, dropping his head, he said: "Kill me if you want to. I've
+nothing left to live for."
+
+There was something unreal, appalling in this sudden reversion to
+weakness, and Berrie could not credit his remorse. "Give me your gun,"
+she said.
+
+He surrendered it to her and she threw it aside; then turned to Wayland,
+who was lying white and still with face upturned to the sky. With a moan
+of anguish she bent above him and called upon his name. He did not stir,
+and when she lifted his head to her lap his hair, streaming with blood,
+stained her dress. She kissed him and called again to him, then turned
+with accusing frenzy to Belden: "You've killed him! Do you hear? You've
+killed him!"
+
+The agony, the fury of hate in her voice reached the heart of the
+conquered man. He raised his head and stared at her with mingled fear and
+remorse. And so across that limp body these two souls, so lately lovers,
+looked into each other's eyes as though nothing but words of hate and
+loathing had ever passed between them. The girl saw in him only a savage,
+vengeful, bloodthirsty beast; the man confronted in her an accusing
+angel.
+
+"I didn't mean to kill him," he muttered.
+
+"Yes, you did! You meant it. You crushed his life out with your big
+hands--and now I'm going to kill you for it!"
+
+A fierce calm had come upon her. Some far-off ancestral deep of passion
+called for blood revenge. She lifted the weapon with steady hand and
+pointed it at his heart.
+
+His fear passed as his wrath had passed. His head drooped, his glance
+wavered. "Shoot!" he commanded, sullenly. "I'd sooner die than
+live--now."
+
+His words, his tone, brought back to her a vision of the man he had
+seemed when she first met and admired him. Her hand fell, the woman in
+her reasserted itself. A wave of weakness, of indecision, of passionate
+grief overwhelmed her. "Oh, Cliff!" she moaned. "Why did you do it? He
+was so gentle and sweet."
+
+He did not answer. His glance wandered to his horse, serenely cropping
+the grass in utter disregard of this tumultuous human drama; but the
+wind, less insensate than the brute, swept through the grove of dwarfed,
+distorted pines with a desolate, sympathetic moan which filled the man's
+heart with a new and exalted sorrow. "You're right," he said. "I was
+crazy. I deserve killing."
+
+But Berrie was now too deep in her own desolation to care what he said or
+did. She kissed the cold lips of the still youth, murmuring passionately:
+"I don't care to live without you--I shall go with you!"
+
+Belden's hand was on her wrist before she could raise her weapon. "Don't,
+for God's sake, don't do that! He may not be dead."
+
+She responded but dully to the suggestion. "No, no. He's gone. His breath
+is gone."
+
+"Maybe not. Let me see."
+
+Again she bent to the quiet face on which the sunlight fell with mocking
+splendor. It seemed all a dream till she felt once more the stain of his
+blood upon her hands. It was all so incredibly sudden. Only just now he
+was exulting over the warmth and beauty of the day--and now--
+
+How beautiful he was. He seemed asleep. The conies crying from their
+runways suddenly took on poignant pathos. They appeared to be grieving
+with her; but the eagles spoke of revenge.
+
+A sharp cry, a note of joy sprang from her lips. "He _is_ alive! I saw
+his eyelids quiver--quick! Bring some water."
+
+The man leaped to his feet, and, running down to the pool, filled his
+sombrero with icy water. He was as eager now to save his rival as he had
+been mad to destroy him. "Let me help," he pleaded. But she would not
+permit him to touch the body.
+
+Again, while splashing the water upon his face, the girl called upon her
+love to return. "He hears me!" she exulted to her enemy. "He is breathing
+now. He is opening his eyes."
+
+The wounded man did, indeed, open his eyes, but his look was a blank,
+uncomprehending stare, which plunged her back into despair. "He don't
+know me!" she said, with piteous accent. She now perceived the source of
+the blood upon her arm. It came from a wound in the boy's head which had
+been dashed upon a stone.
+
+The sight of this wound brought back the blaze of accusing anger to her
+eyes. "See what you did!" she said, with cold malignity. Then by sudden
+shift she bent to the sweet face in her arms and kissed it passionately.
+"Open your eyes, darling. You must not die! I won't let you die! Can't
+you hear me? Don't you know where you are?"
+
+He opened his eyes once more, quietly, and looked up into her face with a
+faint, drowsy smile. He could not yet locate himself in space and time,
+but he knew her and was comforted. He wondered why he should be looking
+up into a sunny sky. He heard the wind and the sound of a horse cropping
+grass, and the voice of the girl penetratingly sweet as that of a young
+mother calling her baby back to life, and slowly his benumbed brain began
+to resolve the mystery.
+
+Belden, forgotten, ignored as completely as the conies, sat with choking
+throat and smarting eyes. For him the world was only dust and ashes--a
+ruin which his own barbaric spirit had brought upon itself.
+
+Slowly the youth's eyes took on expression. "Are we still on the hill?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes, dearest," she assured him. Then to Belden, "He knows where he is!"
+
+Wayland again struggled with reality. "What has happened to me?"
+
+"You fell and hurt your head."
+
+He turned slightly and observed the other man looking down at her with
+dark and tragic glance. "Hello, Belden," he said, feebly. "How came you
+here?" Then noting Berrie's look, he added: "I remember. He tried to kill
+me." He again searched his antagonist's face. "Why didn't you finish the
+job?"
+
+The girl tried to turn his thought aside. "It's all right now, darling.
+He won't make any more trouble. Don't mind him. I don't care for anybody
+now you are coming back to me."
+
+Wayland wonderingly regarded the face of the girl. "And you--are you
+hurt?"
+
+"No, I'm not hurt. I am perfectly happy now." She turned to Belden with
+quick, authoritative command. "Unsaddle the horses and set up the tent.
+We won't be able to leave here to-night."
+
+He rose with instant obedience, glad of a chance to serve her, and soon
+had the tent pegged to its place and the bedding unrolled. Together they
+lifted the wounded youth and laid him upon his blankets beneath the low
+canvas roof which seemed heavenly helpful to Berea.
+
+"There!" she said, caressingly. "Now you are safe, no matter whether it
+rains or not."
+
+He smiled. "It seems I'm to have my way after all. I hope I shall be able
+to see the sun rise. I've sort of lost my interest in the sunset."
+
+"Now, Cliff," she said, as soon as the camp was in order and a fire
+started, "I reckon you'd better ride on. I haven't any further use for
+you."
+
+"Don't say that, Berrie," he pleaded. "I can't leave you here alone with
+a sick man. Let me stay and help."
+
+She looked at him for a long time before she replied. "I shall never be
+able to look at you again without hating you," she said. "I shall always
+remember you as you looked when you were killing that boy. So you'd
+better ride on and keep a-riding. I'm going to forget all this just as
+soon as I can, and it don't help me any to have you around. I never want
+to see you or hear your name again."
+
+"You don't mean that, Berrie!"
+
+"Yes, I do," she asserted, bitterly. "I mean just that. So saddle up and
+pull out. All I ask of you is to say nothing about what has happened
+here. You'd better leave the state. If Wayland should get worse it might
+go hard with you."
+
+He accepted his banishment. "All right. If you feel that way I'll ride.
+But I'd like to do something for you before I go. I'll pile up some
+wood--"
+
+"No. I'll take care of that." And without another word of farewell she
+turned away and re-entered the tent.
+
+Mounting his horse with painful slowness, as though suddenly grown old,
+the reprieved assassin rode away up the mountain, his head low, his eyes
+upon the ground.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+BERRIE'S VIGIL
+
+
+The situation in which Berea now found herself would have disheartened
+most women of mature age, but she remained not only composed, she was
+filled with an irrational delight. The nurse that is in every woman was
+aroused in her, and she looked forward with joy to a night of vigil,
+confident that Wayland was not seriously injured and that he would soon
+be able to ride. She had no fear of the forest or of the night. Nature
+held no menace now that her tent was set and her fire alight.
+
+Wayland, without really knowing anything about it, suspected that he owed
+his life to her intervention, and this belief deepened the feeling of
+admiration which he had hitherto felt toward her. He listened to her at
+work around the fire with a deepening sense of his indebtedness to her,
+and when she looked in to ask if she could do anything for him, his
+throat filled with an emotion which rendered his answer difficult.
+
+As his mind cleared he became very curious to know precisely what had
+taken place, but he did not feel free to ask her. "She will tell me if
+she wishes me to know." That she had vanquished Belden and sent him on
+his way was evident, although he had not been able to hear what she had
+said to him at the last. What lay between the enemy's furious onslaught
+and the aid he lent in making the camp could only be surmised. "I wonder
+if she used her pistol?" Wayland asked himself. "Something like death
+must have stared him in the face."
+
+"Strange how everything seems to throw me ever deeper into her debt," he
+thought, a little later. But he did not quite dare put into words the
+resentment which mingled with his gratitude. He hated to be put so
+constantly into the position of the one protected, defended. And yet it
+was his own fault. He had put himself among people and conditions where
+she was the stronger. Having ventured out of his world into hers he must
+take the consequences.
+
+That she loved him with the complete passion of her powerful and simple
+nature he knew, for her voice had reached through the daze of his
+semi-unconsciousness with thrilling power. The touch of her lips to his,
+the close clasp of her strong arms were of ever greater convincing
+quality. And yet he wished the revelation had come in some other way. His
+pride was abraded. His manhood seemed somehow lessened. It was a
+disconcerting reversal of the ordinary relations between hero and
+heroine, and he saw no way of re-establishing the normal attitude of the
+male.
+
+Entirely unaware of what was passing in the mind of her patient, Berrie
+went about her duties with a cheerfulness which astonished the sufferer
+in the tent. She seemed about to hum a song as she set the skillet on the
+fire, but a moment later she called out, in a tone of irritation: "Here
+comes Nash!"
+
+"I'm glad of that," answered Wayland, although he perceived something of
+her displeasure.
+
+Nash, on his way to join the Supervisor, raised a friendly greeting as he
+saw the girl, and drew rein. "I expected to meet you farther down the
+hill," he said. "Tony 'phoned that you had started. Where did you leave
+the Supervisor?"
+
+"Over at the station waiting for you. Where's your outfit?"
+
+"Camped down the trail a mile or so. I thought I'd better push through
+to-night. What about Norcross? Isn't he with you?"
+
+She hesitated an instant. "He's in the tent. He fell and struck his head
+on a rock, and I had to go into camp here."
+
+Nash was deeply concerned. "Is that so? Well, that's hard luck. Is he
+badly hurt?"
+
+"Well, he had a terrible fall. But he's easier now. I think he's
+asleep."
+
+"May I look in on him?"
+
+"I don't think you'd better take the time. It's a long, hard ride from
+here to the station. It will be deep night before you can make it--"
+
+"Don't you think the Supervisor would want me to camp here to-night and
+do what I could for you? If Norcross is badly injured you will need me."
+
+She liked Nash, and she knew he was right, and yet she was reluctant to
+give up the pleasure of her lone vigil. "He's not in any danger, and
+we'll be able to ride on in the morning."
+
+Nash, thinking of her as Clifford Belden's promised wife, had no
+suspicion of her feeling toward Norcross. Therefore he gently urged that
+to go on was quite out of order. "I _can't_ think of leaving you here
+alone--certainly not till I see Norcross and find out how badly he is
+hurt."
+
+She yielded. "I reckon you're right," she said. "I'll go see if he is
+awake."
+
+He followed her to the door of the tent, apprehending something new and
+inexplicable in her attitude. In the music of her voice as she spoke to
+the sick man was the love-note of the mate. "You may come in," she called
+back, and Nash, stooping, entered the small tent.
+
+"Hello, old man, what you been doing with yourself? Hitting the high
+spots?"
+
+Norcross smiled feebly. "No, the hill flew up and bumped _me_."
+
+"How did it all happen?"
+
+"I don't exactly know. It all came of a sudden. I had no share in it--I
+didn't go for to do it."
+
+"Whether you did or not, you seem to have made a good job of it."
+
+Nash examined the wounded man carefully, and his skill and strength in
+handling Norcross pleased Berrie, though she was jealous of the warm
+friendship which seemed to exist between the men.
+
+She had always liked Nash, but she resented him now, especially as he
+insisted on taking charge of the case; but she gave way finally, and went
+back to her pots and pans with pensive countenance.
+
+A little later, when Nash came out to make report, she was not very
+gracious in her manner. "He's pretty badly hurt," he said. "There's an
+ugly gash in his scalp, and the shock has produced a good deal of pain
+and confusion in his head; but he's going to be all right in a day or
+two. For a man seeking rest and recuperation he certainly has had a tough
+run of weather."
+
+Though a serious-minded, honorable forester, determined to keep sternly
+in mind that he was in the presence of the daughter of his chief, and
+that she was engaged to marry another, Nash was, after all, a man, and
+the witchery of the hour, the charm of the girl's graceful figure,
+asserted their power over him. His eyes grew tender, and his voice
+eloquent in spite of himself. His words he could guard, but it was hard
+to keep from his speech the song of the lover. The thought that he was to
+camp in her company, to help her about the fire, to see her from moment
+to moment, with full liberty to speak to her, to meet her glance, pleased
+him. It was the most romantic and moving episode in his life, and though
+of a rather dry and analytic temperament he had a sense of poesy.
+
+The night, black, oppressive, and silent, brought a closer bond of mutual
+help and understanding between them. He built a fire of dry branches
+close to the tent door, and there sat, side by side with the girl, in the
+glow of embers, so close to the injured youth that they could talk
+together, and as he spoke freely, yet modestly, of his experiences Berrie
+found him more deeply interesting than she had hitherto believed him to
+be. True, he saw things less poetically than Wayland, but he was finely
+observant, and a man of studious and refined habits.
+
+She grew friendlier, and asked him about his work, and especially about
+his ambitions and plans for the future. They discussed the forest and its
+enemies, and he wondered at her freedom in speaking of the Mill and
+saloon. He said: "Of course you know that Alec Belden is a partner in
+that business, and I'm told--of course I don't know this--that Clifford
+Belden is also interested."
+
+She offered no defense of young Belden, and this unconcern puzzled him.
+He had expected indignant protest, but she merely replied: "I don't care
+who owns it. It should be rooted out. I hate that kind of thing. It's
+just another way of robbing those poor tie-jacks."
+
+"Clifford should get out of it. Can't you persuade him to do so?"
+
+"I don't think I can."
+
+"His relationship to you--"
+
+"He is not related to me."
+
+Her tone amazed him. "You know what I mean."
+
+"Of course I do, but you're mistaken. We're not related that way any
+longer."
+
+This silenced him for a few moments, then he said: "I'm rather glad of
+that. He isn't anything like the man you thought he was--I couldn't say
+these things before--but he is as greedy as Alec, only not so open about
+it."
+
+All this comment, which moved the forester so deeply to utter, seemed not
+to interest Berea. She sat staring at the fire with the calm brow of an
+Indian. Clifford Belden had passed out of her life as completely as he
+had vanished out of the landscape. She felt an immense relief at being
+rid of him, and resented his being brought back even as a subject of
+conversation.
+
+Wayland, listening, fancied he understood her desire, and said nothing
+that might arouse Nash's curiosity.
+
+Nash, on his part, knowing that she had broken with Belden, began to
+understand the tenderness, the anxious care of her face and voice, as she
+bent above young Norcross. As the night deepened and the cold air stung,
+he asked: "Have you plenty of blankets for a bed?"
+
+"Oh yes," she answered, "but I don't intend to sleep."
+
+"Oh, you must!" he declared. "Go to bed. I will keep the fire going."
+
+At last she consented. "I will make my bed right here at the mouth of the
+tent close to the fire," she said, "and you can call me if you need me."
+
+"Why not put your bed in the tent? It's going to be cold up here."
+
+"I am all right outside," she protested.
+
+"Put your bed inside, Miss Berrie. We can't let conventions count above
+timber-line. I shall rest better if I know you are properly sheltered."
+
+And so it happened that for the third time she shared the same roof with
+her lover; but the nurse was uppermost in her now. At eleven thousand
+feet above the sea--with a cold drizzle of fine rain in the air--one does
+not consider the course of gossip as carefully as in a village, and
+Berrie slept unbrokenly till daylight.
+
+Nash was the first to arise in the dusk of dawn, and Berrie, awakened by
+the crackle of his fire, soon joined him. There is no sweeter sound than
+the voice of the flame at such a time, in such a place. It endows the
+bleak mountainside with comfort, makes the ledge a hearthstone. It holds
+the promise of savory meats and fragrant liquor, and robs the frosty air
+of its terrors.
+
+Wayland, hearing their voices, called out, with feeble humor: "Will some
+one please turn on the steam in my room?"
+
+Berrie uttered a happy word. "How do you feel this morning?" she asked.
+
+"Not precisely like a pugilist--well, yes, I believe I do--like the
+fellow who got second money."
+
+"How is the bump?" inquired Nash, thrusting his head inside the door.
+
+"Reduced to the size of a golf-ball as near as I can judge of it. I doubt
+if I can wear a hat; but I'm feeling fine. I'm going to get up."
+
+Berrie was greatly relieved. "I'm so glad! Do you feel like riding down
+the hill?"
+
+"Sure thing! I'm hungry, and as soon as I am fed I'm ready to start."
+
+Berrie joined the surveyor at the fire.
+
+"If you'll round up our horses, Mr. Nash, I'll rustle breakfast and we'll
+get going," she said.
+
+Nash, enthralled, lingered while she twisted her hair into place, then
+went out to bring in the ponies.
+
+Wayland came out a little uncertainly, but looking very well. "I think I
+shall discourage my friends from coming to this region for their health,"
+he said, ruefully. "If I were a novelist now all this would be grist for
+my mill."
+
+Beneath his joking he was profoundly chagrined. He had hoped by this time
+to be as sinewy, as alert as Nash, instead of which here he sat,
+shivering over the fire like a sick girl, his head swollen, his blood
+sluggish; but this discouragement only increased Berea's tenderness--a
+tenderness which melted all his reserve.
+
+"I'm not worth all your care," he said to her, with poignant glance.
+
+The sun rose clear and warm, and the fire, the coffee, put new courage
+into him as well as into the others, and while the morning was yet early
+and the forest chill and damp with rain, the surveyor brought up the
+horses and started packing the outfit.
+
+In this Berrie again took part, doing her half of the work quite as
+dextrously as Nash himself. Indeed, the forester was noticeably confused
+and not quite up to his usual level of adroit ease.
+
+At last both packs were on, and as they stood together for a moment, Nash
+said: "This has been a great experience--one I shall remember as long as
+I live."
+
+She stirred uneasily under his frank admiration. "I'm mightily obliged to
+you," she replied, as heartily as she could command.
+
+"Don't thank me, I'm indebted to you. There is so little in my life of
+such companionship as you and Norcross give me."
+
+"You'll find it lonesome over at the station, I'm afraid," said she. "But
+Moore intends to put a crew of tie-cutters in over there--that will help
+some." She smiled.
+
+"I'm not partial to the society of tie-jacks."
+
+"If you ride hard you may find that Moore girl in camp. She was there
+when we left." There was a sparkle of mischief in her glance.
+
+"I'm not interested in the Moore girl," he retorted.
+
+"Do you know her?"
+
+"I've seen her at the post-office once or twice; _she_ is not my kind."
+
+She gave him her hand. "Well, good-by. I'm all right now that Wayland can
+ride."
+
+He held her hand an instant. "I believe I'll ride back with you as far as
+the camp."
+
+"You'd better go on. Father is waiting for you. I'll send the men along."
+There was dismissal in her voice, and yet she recognized as never before
+the fine qualities that were his. "Please don't say anything of this to
+others, and tell my father not to worry about us. We'll pull in all
+right."
+
+He helped Norcross mount his horse, and as he put the lead rope into
+Berrie's hand, he said: with much feeling: "Good luck to you. I shall
+remember this night all the rest of my life."
+
+"I hate to be going to the rear," called Wayland, whose bare, bandaged
+head made him look like a wounded young officer. "But I guess it's better
+for me to lay off for a week or two and recover my tone."
+
+And so they parted, the surveyor riding his determined way up the naked
+mountainside toward the clouds, while Berrie and her ward plunged at once
+into the dark and dripping forest below. "If you can stand the grief,"
+she said, "we'll go clear through."
+
+Wayland had his misgivings, but did not say so. His confidence in his
+guide was complete. She would do her part, that was certain. Several
+times she was forced to dismount and blaze out a new path in order to
+avoid some bog; but she sternly refused his aid. "You must not get off,"
+she warned; "stay where you are. I can do this work better alone."
+
+They were again in that green, gloomy, and silent zone of the range,
+where giant spruces grow, and springs, oozing from the rocks, trickle
+over the trail. It was very beautiful, but menacing, by reason of its
+apparently endless thickets cut by stony ridges. It was here she met the
+two young men, Downing and Travis, bringing forward the surveying outfit,
+but she paused only to say: "Push along steadily. You are needed on the
+other side."
+
+After leaving the men, and with a knowledge that the remaining leagues of
+the trail were solitary, Norcross grew fearful. "The fall of a horse, an
+accident to that brave girl, and we would be helpless," he thought. "I
+wish Nash had returned with us." Once his blood chilled with horror as he
+watched his guide striking out across the marge of a grassy lake. This
+meadow, as he divined, was really a carpet of sod floating above a
+bottomless pool of muck, for it shook beneath her horse's feet.
+
+"Come on, it's all right," she called back, cheerily. "We'll soon pick up
+the other trail."
+
+He wondered how she knew, for to him each hill was precisely like
+another, each thicket a maze.
+
+Her caution was all for him. She tried each dangerous slough first, and
+thus was able to advise him which way was safest. His head throbbed with
+pain and his knees were weary, but he rode on, manifesting such cheer as
+he could, resolving not to complain at any cost; but his self-respect
+ebbed steadily, leaving him in bitter, silent dejection.
+
+At last they came into open ground on a high ridge, and were gladdened by
+the valley outspread below them, for it was still radiant with color,
+though not as brilliant as before the rain. It had been dimmed, but not
+darkened. And yet it seemed that a month had passed since their ecstatic
+ride upward through the golden forest, and Wayland said as much while
+they stood for a moment surveying the majestic park with its wall of
+guardian peaks.
+
+But Berrie replied: "It seems only a few hours to me."
+
+From this point the traveling was good, and they descended rapidly,
+zigzagging from side to side of a long, sweeping ridge. By noon they were
+once more down amid the aspens, basking in a world of sad gold leaves and
+delicious September sunshine.
+
+At one o'clock, on the bank of a clear stream, the girl halted. "I reckon
+we'd better camp awhile. You look tired, and I am hungry."
+
+He gratefully acquiesced in this stop, for his knees were trembling with
+the strain of the stirrups; but he would not permit her to ease him down
+from his saddle. Turning a wan glance upon her, he bitterly asked: "Must
+I always play the weakling before you? I am ashamed of myself. Ride on
+and leave me to rot here in the grass. I'm not worth keeping alive."
+
+"You must not talk like that," she gently admonished him. "You're not to
+blame."
+
+"Yes, I am. I should never have ventured into this man's country."
+
+"I'm glad you did," she answered, as if she were comforting a child. "For
+if you hadn't I should never have known you."
+
+"That would have been no loss--to you," he bitterly responded.
+
+She unsaddled one pack-animal and spread some blankets on the grass. "Lie
+down and rest while I boil some coffee," she commanded; and he obeyed,
+too tired to make pretension toward assisting.
+
+Lying so, feeling the magic of the sun, hearing the music of the water,
+and watching the girl, he regained a serener mood, and when she came back
+with his food he thanked her for it with a glance before which her eyes
+fell. "I don't see why you are so kind to me, I really believe you _like_
+to do things for me." Her head drooped to hide her face, and he went on:
+"Why do you care for me? Tell me!"
+
+"I don't know," she murmured. Then she added, with a flash of bravery:
+"But I do."
+
+"What a mystery it all is! You turn from a splendid fellow like Landon to
+a 'skate' like me. Landon worships you--you know that--don't you?"
+
+"I know--he--" she ended, vaguely distressed.
+
+"Did he ask you to marry him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why didn't you? He's just the mate for you. He's a man of high character
+and education." She made no answer to this, and he went on: "Dear girl,
+I'm not worth your care--truly I'm not. I resented your engagement to
+Belden, for he was a brute; but Landon is different. He thinks the world
+of you. He'll go high in the service. I've never done anything in the
+world--I never shall. It will be better for you if I go--to-morrow."
+
+She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek, then, putting her arm
+about his neck, drew him to her bosom and kissed him passionately. "You
+break my heart when you talk like that," she protested, with tears. "You
+mustn't say such gloomy things--I won't let you give up. You shall come
+right home with me, and I will nurse you till you are well. It was all my
+fault. If we had only stayed in camp at the lake daddy would have joined
+us that night, and if I had not loitered on the mountain yesterday Cliff
+would not have overtaken us. It's all my fault."
+
+"I will not have it go that way," he said. "I've brought you only care
+and unhappiness thus far. I'm an alien--my ways are not your ways."
+
+"I can change," she answered. "I hate my ways, and I like yours."
+
+As they argued she felt no shame, and he voiced no resentment. She knew
+his mood. She understood his doubt, his depression. She pleaded as a man
+might have done, ready to prove her love, eager to restore his
+self-respect, while he remained both bitter and sadly contemptuous.
+
+A cow-hand riding up the trail greeted Berrie respectfully, but a cynical
+smile broke out on his lips as he passed on. Another witness--another
+gossip.
+
+She did not care. She had no further concern of the valley's comment. Her
+life's happiness hung on the drooping eyelashes of this wounded boy, and
+to win him back to cheerful acceptance of life was her only concern.
+
+"I've never had any motives," he confessed. "I've always done what
+pleased me at the moment--or because it was easier to do as others were
+doing. I went to college that way. Truth is, I never had any surplus
+vitality, and my father never demanded anything of me. I haven't any
+motives now. A few days ago I was interested in forestry. At this time it
+all seems futile. What's the use of my trying to live?"
+
+Part of all this despairing cry arose from weariness, and part from a
+luxurious desire to be comforted, for it was sweet to feel her sympathy.
+He even took a morbid pleasure in the distress of her eyes and lips while
+her rich voice murmured in soothing protest.
+
+She, on her part, was frightened for him, and as she thought of the long
+ride still before them she wrung her hands. "Oh, what shall I do? What
+shall I do?" she moaned.
+
+Instantly smitten into shame, into manlier mood, he said: "Don't worry
+about me, please don't. I can ride. I'm feeling better. You must not
+weaken. Please forgive my selfish complaints. I'm done! You'll never hear
+it again. Come, let us go on. I can ride."
+
+"If we can reach Miller's ranch--"
+
+"I can ride to _your_ ranch," he declared, and rose with such new-found
+resolution that she stared at him in wonder.
+
+He was able to smile. "I've had my little crying spell. I've relieved my
+heart of its load. I didn't mean to agonize you. It was only a slump." He
+put his hand to his head. "I must be a comical figure. Wonder what that
+cowboy thought of me?"
+
+His sudden reversal to cheer was a little alarming to her, but at length
+she perceived that he had in truth mastered his depression, and bringing
+up the horses she saddled them, and helped him to mount. "If you get
+tired or feel worse, tell me, and we'll go into camp," she urged as they
+were about to start.
+
+"You keep going till I give the sign," he replied; and his voice was so
+firm and clear that her own sunny smile came back. "I don't know what to
+make of you," she said. "I reckon you must be a poet."
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE GOSSIPS AWAKE
+
+
+It was dark when they reached the village, but Wayland declared his
+ability to go on, although his wounded head was throbbing with fever and
+he was clinging to the pommel of his saddle; so Berrie rode on.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, hearing the horses on the bridge, was at the door and
+received her daughter with wondering question, while the stable-hands,
+quick to detect an injured man, hurried to lift Norcross down from his
+saddle.
+
+"What's the matter?" repeated Mrs. McFarlane.
+
+"He fell and struck his head on a stone," Berea hastily explained. "Take
+the horses, boys, mother and I will look out for Mr. Norcross."
+
+The men obeyed her and fell back, but they were consumed with curiosity,
+and their glances irritated the girl. "Slip the packs at once," she
+insisted.
+
+With instant sympathy her mother came to her aid in supporting the
+wounded, weary youth indoors, and as he stretched out on the couch in the
+sitting-room, he remarked, with a faint, ironic smile: "This beats any
+bed of balsam boughs."
+
+"Where's your father?" asked Mrs. McFarlane of her daughter.
+
+"He's over on the Ptarmigan. I've a powerful lot to tell you, mother; but
+not now; we must look after Wayland. He's nearly done up, and so am I."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane winced a little at her daughter's use of Norcross's first
+name, but she said nothing further at the moment, although she watched
+Berrie closely while she took off Wayland's shoes and stockings and
+rubbed his icy feet. "Get him something hot as quick as you can!" she
+commanded; and Mrs. McFarlane obeyed without a word.
+
+Gradually the tremor passed out of his limbs and a delicious sense of
+warmth, of safety, stole over him, and he closed his eyes in the comfort
+of her presence and care. "Rigorous business this life of the pioneer,"
+he said, with mocking inflection. "I think I prefer a place in the lumber
+trust."
+
+"Don't talk," she said. Then, with a rush of tender remorse: "Why didn't
+you tell me to stop? I didn't realize that you were so tired. We could
+have stopped at the Springs."
+
+"I didn't know how tired I was till I got here. Gee," he said, boyishly,
+"that door-knob at the back of my head is red-hot! You're good to me," he
+added, humbly.
+
+She hated to have him resume that tone of self-depreciation, and,
+kneeling to him, she kissed his cheek, and laid her head beside his.
+"You're splendid," she insisted. "Nobody could be braver; but you should
+have told me you were exhausted. You fooled me with your cheerful
+answers."
+
+He accepted her loving praise, her clasping arms, as a part of the rescue
+from the darkness and pain of the long ride, careless of what it might
+bring to him in the future. He ate his toast and drank his coffee, and
+permitted the women to lead him to his room, and then being alone he
+crept into his bed and fell instantly asleep.
+
+Berrie and her mother went back to the sitting-room, and Mrs. McFarlane
+closed the door behind them. "Now tell me all about it," she said, in the
+tone of one not to be denied.
+
+The story went along very smoothly till the girl came to the second night
+in camp beside the lake; there her voice faltered, and the reflective
+look in the mother's eyes deepened as she learned that her daughter had
+shared her tent with the young man. "It was the only thing to do,
+mother," Berrie bravely said. "It was cold and wet outside, and you know
+he isn't very strong, and his teeth were chattering, he was so chilled. I
+know it sounds strange down here; but up there in the woods in the storm
+what I did seemed right and natural. You know what I mean, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, I understand. I don't blame you--only--if others should hear of
+it--"
+
+"But they won't. No one knows of our being alone there except Tony and
+father."
+
+"Are you sure? Doesn't Mrs. Belden know?"
+
+"I don't think so--not yet."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's nervousness grew. "I wish you hadn't gone on this trip.
+If the Beldens find out you were alone with Mr. Norcross they'll make
+much of it. It will give them a chance at your father." Her mind turned
+upon another point. "When did Mr. Norcross get his fall?"
+
+"On the way back." Here Berrie hesitated again. "I don't like to tell
+you, mother, but he didn't fall, Cliff jumped him and tried to kill
+him."
+
+The mother doubted her ears. "Cliff did? How did he happen to meet you?"
+
+Berrie was quick to answer. "I don't know how he found out we were on the
+trail. I suppose the old lady 'phoned him. Anyhow, while we were camped
+for noon yesterday"--her face flamed again at thought of that tender,
+beautiful moment when they were resting on the grass--"while we were at
+our lunch he came tearing down the hill on that big bay horse of his and
+took a flying jump at Wayland. As Wayland went down he struck his head on
+a stone. I thought he was dead, and I was paralyzed for a second. Then I
+flew at Cliff and just about choked the life out of him. I'd have ended
+him right there if he hadn't let go."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, looking upon her daughter in amazement, saw on her face
+the shadow of the deadly rage which had burned in her heart as she
+clenched young Belden's throat.
+
+"What then? What happened then?"
+
+"He let go, you bet." Her smile came back. "And when he realized what
+he'd done--_he_ thought Wayland was dead--he began to weaken. Then I took
+my gun and was all for putting an end to him right there, when I saw
+Wayland's eyelids move. After that I didn't care what became of Cliff. I
+told him to ride on and keep a-ridin', and I reckon he's clear out of the
+state by this time. If he ever shows up I'll put him where he'll have all
+night to be sorry in."
+
+"When did this take place?"
+
+"Yesterday about two. Of course Wayland couldn't ride, he was so dizzy
+and kind o' confused, and so I went into camp right there at timber-line.
+Along about sunset Nash came riding up from this side, and insisted on
+staying to help me--so I let him."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's tense attitude relaxed. "Nash is not the kind that
+tattles. I'm glad he turned up."
+
+"And this morning I saddled and came down."
+
+"Did Nash go on?"
+
+"Yes, daddy was waiting for him, so I sent him along."
+
+"It's all sad business," groaned Mrs. McFarlane, "and I can see you're
+keeping something back. How did Cliff happen to know just where you were?
+And what started you back without your father?"
+
+For the first time Berrie showed signs of weakness and distress. "Why,
+you see, Alec Belden and Mr. Moore were over there to look at some
+timber, and old Marm Belden and that Moore girl went along. I suppose
+they sent word to Cliff, and I presume that Moore girl put him on our
+trail. Leastwise that's the way I figure it out. That's the worst of the
+whole business." She admitted this with darkened brow. "Mrs. Belden's
+tongue is hung in the middle and loose at both ends--and that Moore girl
+is spiteful mean." She could not keep the contempt out of her voice. "She
+saw us start off, and she is sure to follow it up and find out what
+happened on the way home; even if they don't see Cliff they'll _talk_."
+
+"Oh, I _wish_ you hadn't gone!" exclaimed the worried mother.
+
+"It can't be helped now, and it hasn't done me any real harm. It's all in
+the day's work, anyhow. I've always gone with daddy before, and this trip
+isn't going to spoil me. The boys all know me, and they will treat me
+fair."
+
+"Yes, but Mr. Norcross is an outsider--a city man. They will all think
+evil of him on that account."
+
+"I know; that's what troubles me. No one will know how fine and
+considerate he was. Mother, I've never known any one like him. He's a
+poet! He's taught me to see things I never saw before. Everything
+interests him--the birds, the clouds, the voices in the fire. I never was
+so happy in my life as I was during those first two days, and that night
+in camp before he began to worry--it was just wonderful." Words failed
+her, but her shining face and the forward straining pose of her body
+enlightened the mother. "I don't care what people say of me if only they
+will be just to him. They've _got_ to treat him right," she added,
+firmly.
+
+"Did he speak to you--are you engaged?"
+
+Her head drooped. "Not really engaged, mother; but he told me how much he
+liked me--and--it's all right, mother, I _know_ it is. I'm not fine
+enough for him, but I'm going to try to change my ways so he won't be
+ashamed of me."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane's face cleared. "He surely is a fine young fellow, and can
+be trusted to do the right thing. Well, we might as well go to bed. We
+can't settle anything till your father gets home," she said.
+
+Wayland rose next morning free from dizziness and almost free from pain,
+and when he came out of his room his expression was cheerful. "I feel as
+if I'd slept a week, and I'm hungry. I don't know why I should be, but I
+am."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane met him with something very intimate, something almost
+maternal in her look; but her words were as few and as restrained as
+ever. He divined that she had been talking with Berrie, and that a fairly
+clear understanding of the situation had been reached. That this
+understanding involved him closely he was aware; but nothing in his
+manner acknowledged it.
+
+She did not ask any questions, believing that sooner or later the whole
+story must come out. The fact that Siona Moore and Mrs. Belden knew that
+Berrie had started back on Thursday with young Norcross made it easy for
+the villagers to discover that she had not reached the ranch till
+Saturday. "What could Joe have been thinking of to allow them to go?" she
+said. "Mr. Nash's presence in the camp must be made known; but then there
+is Clifford's assault upon Mr. Norcross, can that be kept secret, too?"
+And so while the young people chatted, the troubled mother waited in
+fear, knowing that in a day or two the countryside would be aflame with
+accusation.
+
+In a landscape like this, as she well knew, nothing moves unobserved. The
+native--man or woman--is able to perceive and name objects scarcely
+discernible to the eye of the alien. A minute speck is discovered on the
+hillside. "Hello, there's Jim Sanders on his roan," says one, or "Here
+comes Kit Jenkins with her flea-bit gray. I wonder who's on the bay
+alongside of her," remarks another, and each of these observations is
+taken quite as a matter of course. With a wide and empty field of vision,
+and with trained, unspoiled optic nerves, the plainsman is marvelously
+penetrating of glance. Hence, Mrs. McFarlane was perfectly certain that
+not one but several of her neighbors had seen and recognized Berrie and
+young Norcross as they came down the hill. In a day or two every man
+would know just where they camped, and what had taken place in camp. Mrs.
+Belden would not rest till she had ferreted out every crook and turn of
+that trail, and her speech was quite as coarse as that of any of her male
+associates.
+
+Easy-going with regard to many things, these citizens were abnormally
+alive to all matters relating to courtship, and popular as she believed
+Berrie to be, Mrs. McFarlane could not hope that her daughter would be
+spared--especially by the Beldens, who would naturally feel that Clifford
+had been cheated. She sighed deeply. "Well, nothing can be done till Joe
+returns," she repeated.
+
+A long day's rest, a second night's sleep, set Wayland on his feet. He
+came to breakfast quite gay. "Barring the hickory-nut on the back of my
+head," he explained, "I'm feeling fine, almost ready for another
+expedition. I may make a ranger yet."
+
+Berrie, though equally gay, was not so sure of his ability to return to
+work. "I reckon you'd better go easy till daddy gets back; but if you
+feel like it we'll ride up to the post-office this afternoon."
+
+"I want to start right in to learn to throw that hitch, and I'm going to
+practise with an ax till I can strike twice in the same place. This trip
+was an eye-opener. Great man I'd be in a windfall--wouldn't I?"
+
+He was persuaded to remain very quiet for another day, and part of it was
+spent in conversation with Mrs. McFarlane--whom he liked very much--and
+an hour or more in writing a long letter wherein he announced to his
+father his intention of going into the Forest Service. "I've got to build
+up a constitution," he said, "and I don't know of a better place to do it
+in. Besides, I'm beginning to be interested in the scheme. I like the
+Supervisor. I'm living in his house at the present time, and I'm feeling
+contented and happy, so don't worry about me."
+
+He was indeed quite comfortable, save when he realized that Mrs.
+McFarlane was taking altogether too much for granted in their
+relationship. It was delightful to be so watched over, so waited upon, so
+instructed. "But where is it all leading me?" he continued to ask
+himself--and still that wall of reserve troubled and saddened Berrie.
+
+They expected McFarlane that night, and waited supper for him, but he did
+not come, and so they ate without him, and afterward Wayland helped
+Berrie do up the dishes while the mother bent above her sewing by the
+kitchen lamp.
+
+There was something very sweet and gentle about Mrs. McFarlane, and the
+exile took almost as much pleasure in talking with her as with her
+daughter. He led her to tell of her early experiences in the valley, and
+of the strange types of men and women with whom she had crossed the
+range.
+
+"Some of them are here yet," she said. "In fact the most violent of all
+the opponents to the Service are these old adventurers. I don't think
+they deserve to be called pioneers. They never did any work in clearing
+the land or in building homes. Some of them, who own big herds of cattle,
+still live in dug-outs. They raged at Mr. McFarlane for going into the
+Service--called him a traitor. Old Jake Proudfoot was especially
+furious--"
+
+"You should see where old Jake lives," interrupted Berrie. "He sleeps on
+the floor in one corner of his cabin, and never changes his shirt."
+
+"Hush!" warned Mrs. McFarlane.
+
+"That's what the men all say. Daddy declares if they were to scrape Jake
+they'd find at least five layers of shirts. His wife left him fifteen
+years ago, couldn't stand his habits, and he's got worse ever since.
+Naturally he is opposed to the Service."
+
+"Of course," her mother explained, "those who oppose the Supervisor
+aren't all like Jake; but it makes me angry to have the papers all
+quoting Jake as 'one of the leading ranchers of the valley.'"
+
+She could not bring herself to take up the most vital subject of all--the
+question of her daughter's future. "I'll wait till father gets home," she
+decided.
+
+On the fourth morning the 'phone rang, and the squawking voice of Mrs.
+Belden came over the wire. "I wanted to know if Berrie and her feller got
+home all right?"
+
+"Yes, they arrived safely."
+
+The old woman chuckled. "Last I see of Cliff he was hot on their
+trail--looked like he expected to take a hand in that expedition. Did he
+overtake 'em?"
+
+"I don't hear very well--where are you?"
+
+"I'm at the Scott ranch--we're coming round 'the horn' to-day."
+
+"Where is the Supervisor?"
+
+"He headed across yesterday. Say, Cliff was mad as a hornet when he
+started. I'd like to know what happened--"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane hung up the receiver. The old woman's nasty chuckle was
+intolerable; but in silencing the 'phone Mrs. McFarlane was perfectly
+aware that she was not silencing the gossip; on the contrary, she was
+certain that the Beldens would leave a trail of poisonous comment from
+the Ptarmigan to Bear Tooth. It was all sweet material for them.
+
+Berrie wanted to know who was speaking, and Mrs. McFarlane replied: "Mrs.
+Belden wanted to know if you got through all right."
+
+"She said something else, something to heat you up," persisted the girl,
+who perceived her mother's agitation. "What did she say--something about
+me--and Cliff?"
+
+The mother did not answer, for Wayland entered the room at the moment;
+but Berrie knew that traducers were already busy with her affairs. "I
+don't care anything about old lady Belden," she said, later; "but I hate
+to have that Moore girl telling lies about me."
+
+As for Wayland, the nights in the camp by the lake, and, indeed, all the
+experiences of his trip in the high places were becoming each moment more
+remote, more unreal. Camp life at timber-line did not seem to him subject
+to ordinary conventional laws of human conduct, and the fact that he and
+Berrie had shared the same tent under the stress of cold and snow, now
+seemed so far away as to be only a complication in a splendid mountain
+drama. Surely no blame could attach to the frank and generous girl, even
+though the jealous assault of Cliff Belden should throw the valley into a
+fever of chatter. "Furthermore, I don't believe he will be in haste to
+speak of his share in the play," he added. "It was too nearly criminal."
+
+It was almost noon of the fourth day when the Supervisor called up to say
+that he was at the office, and would reach the ranch at six o'clock.
+
+"I wish you would come home at once," his wife argued; and something in
+her voice convinced him that he was more needed at home, than in the
+town.
+
+"All right, mother. Hold the fort an hour and I'll be there."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane met him at the hitching-bar, and it required but a glance
+for him to read in her face a troubled state of mind.
+
+"This has been a disastrous trip for Berrie," she said, after one of the
+hands had relieved the Supervisor of his horse.
+
+"In what way?"
+
+She was a bit impatient. "Mrs. Belden is filling the valley with the
+story of Berrie's stay in camp with Mr. Norcross."
+
+His face showed a graver line. "It couldn't be helped. The horses had to
+be followed, and that youngster couldn't do it--and, besides, I expected
+to get back that night. Nobody but an old snoop like Seth Belden would
+think evil of our girl. And, besides, Norcross is a man to be trusted."
+
+"Of course he is, but the Beldens are ready to think evil of any one
+connected with us. And Cliff's assault on Wayland--"
+
+He looked up quickly. "Assault? Did he make trouble?"
+
+"Yes, he overtook them on the trail, and would have killed Norcross if
+Berrie hadn't interfered. He was crazy with jealousy."
+
+"Nash didn't say anything about any assault."
+
+"He didn't know it. Berrie told him that Norcross fell from his horse."
+
+McFarlane was deeply stirred. "I saw Cliff leave camp, but I didn't think
+anything of it. Why should he jump Norcross?"
+
+"I suppose Mrs. Belden filled him with distrust of Berrie. He was already
+jealous, and when he came up with them and found them lunching together,
+he lost his head and rushed at Wayland like a wild beast. Of course he
+couldn't stand against a big man like Cliff, and his head struck on a
+stone; and if Berrie hadn't throttled the brute he would have murdered
+the poor boy right there before her eyes."
+
+"Good God! I never suspected a word of this. I didn't think he'd do
+that."
+
+The Supervisor was now very grave. These domestic matters at once threw
+his work as forester into the region of vague and unimportant
+abstractions. He began to understand the danger into which Berea had
+fallen, and step by step he took up the trails which had brought them all
+to this pass.
+
+He fixed another penetrating look upon her face, and his voice was vibrant
+with anxiety as he said: "You don't think there's anything--wrong?"
+
+"No, nothing wrong; but she's profoundly in love with him. I never have
+seen her so wrapped up in any one. She thinks of nothing else. It scares
+me to see it, for I've studied him closely and I can't believe he feels
+the same toward her. His world is so different from ours. I don't know
+what to do or say. I fear she is in for a period of great unhappiness."
+
+She was at the beginning of tears, and he sought to comfort her. "Don't
+worry, honey, she's got too much horse sense to do anything foolish.
+She's grown up. I suppose it's his being so different from the other boys
+that catches her. We've always been good chums--let me talk with her. She
+mustn't make a mistake."
+
+The return of the crew from the corral cut short this conference, and
+when McFarlane went in Berrie greeted him with such frank and joyous
+expression that all his fears vanished.
+
+"Did you come over the high trail?" she asked.
+
+"No, I came your way. I didn't want to take any chances on getting mired.
+It's still raining up there," he answered, then turned to Wayland:
+"Here's your mail, Norcross, a whole hatful of it--and one telegram in
+the bunch. Hope it isn't serious."
+
+Wayland took the bundle of letters and retired to his room, glad to
+escape the persistent stare of the cow-hands. The despatch was from his
+father, and was curt and specific as a command: "Shall be in Denver on
+the 23d, meet me at the Palmer House. Am on my way to California. Come
+prepared to join me on the trip."
+
+With the letters unopened in his lap he sat in silent thought, profoundly
+troubled by the instant decision which this message demanded of him. At
+first glance nothing was simpler than to pack up and go. He was only a
+tourist in the valley with no intention of staying; but there was Berea!
+To go meant a violent end of their pleasant romance. To think of flight
+saddened him, and yet his better judgment was clearly on the side of
+going. "Much as I like her, much as I admire her, I cannot marry her. The
+simplest way is to frankly tell her so and go. It seems cowardly, but in
+the end she will be happier."
+
+His letters carried him back into his own world. One was from Will
+Halliday, who was going with Professor Holsman on an exploring trip up
+the Nile. "You must join us. Holsman has promised to take you on."
+Another classmate wrote to know if he did not want to go into a land deal
+on the Gulf of Mexico. A girl asked: "Are you to be in New York this
+winter? I am. I've decided to go into this Suffrage Movement." And so,
+one by one, the threads which bound him to Eastern city life re-spun
+their filaments. After all, this Colorado outing, even though it should
+last two years, would only be a vacation--his real life was in the cities
+of the East. Charming as Berea was, potent as she seemed, she was after
+all a fixed part of the mountain land, and not to be taken from it. At
+the moment marriage with her appeared absurd.
+
+A knock at his door and the Supervisor's voice gave him a keen shock.
+"Come in," he called, springing to his feet with a thrill of dread, of
+alarm.
+
+McFarlane entered slowly and shut the door behind him. His manner was
+serious, and his voice gravely gentle as he said: "I hope that telegram
+does not call you away?"
+
+"It is from my father, asking me to meet him in Denver," answered
+Norcross, with faltering breath. "He's on his way to California. Won't
+you sit down?"
+
+The older man took a seat with quiet dignity. "Seems like a mighty fine
+chance, don't it? I've always wanted to see the Coast. When do you plan
+for to pull out?"
+
+Wayland was not deceived by the Supervisor's casual tone; there was
+something ominously calm in his manner, something which expressed an
+almost dangerous interest in the subject.
+
+"I haven't decided to go at all. I'm still dazed by the suddenness of it.
+I didn't know my father was planning this trip."
+
+"I see. Well, before you decide to go I'd like to have a little talk with
+you. My daughter has told me part of what happened to you on the trail. I
+want to know _all_ of it. You're young, but you've been out in the world,
+and you know what people can say about you and my girl." His voice became
+level and menacing, as he added: "And I don't intend to have her put in
+wrong on account of you."
+
+Norcross was quick to reply. "Nobody will dare accuse her of wrongdoing.
+She's a noble girl. No one will dare to criticize her for what she could
+not prevent."
+
+"You don't know the Beldens. My girl's character will be on trial in
+every house in the county to-morrow. The Belden side of it will appear in
+the city papers. Sympathy will be with Clifford. Berrie will be made an
+issue by my enemies. They'll get me through her."
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed Norcross, in sudden realization of the gravity of
+the case. "What beasts they are!"
+
+"Moore's gang will seize upon it and work it hard," McFarlane went on,
+with calm insistence. "They want to bring the district forester down on
+me. This is a fine chance to badger me. They will make a great deal of my
+putting you on the roll. Our little camping trip is likely to prove a
+serious matter to us all."
+
+"Surely you don't consider me at fault?"
+
+Worried as he was, the father was just. "No, you're not to blame--no one
+is to blame. It all dates back to the horses quitting camp; but you've
+got to stand pat now--for Berrie's sake."
+
+"But what can I do? I'm at your service. What role shall I play? Tell me
+what to do, and I will do it."
+
+McFarlane was staggered, but he answered: "You can at least stay on the
+ground and help fight. This is no time to stampede."
+
+"You're right. I'll stay, and I'll make any statement you see fit. I'll
+do anything that will protect Berrie."
+
+McFarlane again looked him squarely in the eyes. "Is there a--an
+agreement between you?"
+
+"Nothing formal--that is--I mean I admire her, and I told her--" He
+stopped, feeling himself on the verge of the irrevocable. "She's a
+splendid girl," he went on. "I like her exceedingly, but I've known her
+only a few weeks."
+
+McFarlane interrupted. "Girls are flighty critters," he said, sadly. "I
+don't know why she's taken to you so terrible strong; but she has. She
+don't seem to care what people say so long as they do not blame you; but
+if you should pull out you might just as well cut her heart to pieces--"
+His voice broke, and it was a long time before he could finish. "You're
+not at fault, I know that, but if you _can_ stay on a little while and
+make it an ounce or two easier for her and for her mother, I wish you'd
+do it."
+
+Wayland extended his hand impulsively. "Of course I'll stay. I never
+really thought of leaving." In the grip of McFarlane's hand was something
+warm and tender.
+
+He rose. "I'm terribly obliged," he said; "but we mustn't let her suspect
+for a minute that we've been discussing her. She hates being pitied or
+helped."
+
+"She shall not experience a moment's uneasiness that I can prevent,"
+replied the youth; and at the moment he meant it.
+
+Berrie could not be entirely deceived. She read in her father's face a
+subtle change of line which she related to something Wayland had said.
+"Did he tell you what was in the telegram? Has he got to go away?" she
+asked, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, he said it was from his father."
+
+"What does his father want of him?"
+
+"He's on his way to California and wants Wayland to go with him; but
+Wayland says he's not going."
+
+A pang shot through Berrie's heart. "He mustn't go--he isn't able to go,"
+she exclaimed, and her pain, her fear, came out in her sharpened,
+constricted tone. "I won't let him go--till he's well."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane gently interposed. "He'll have to go, honey, if his father
+needs him."
+
+"Let his father come here." She rose, and, going to his door, decisively
+knocked. "May I come in?" she demanded, rather than asked, before her
+mother could protest. "I must see you."
+
+Wayland opened the door, and she entered, leaving her parents facing each
+other in mute helplessness.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane turned toward her husband with a face of despair. "She's
+ours no longer, Joe. Our time of bereavement has come."
+
+He took her in his arms. "There, there, mother. Don't cry. It can't be
+helped. You cut loose from your parents and came to me in just the same
+way. Our daughter's a grown woman, and must have her own life. All we can
+do is to defend her against the coyotes who are busy with her name."
+
+"But what of _him_, Joe; he don't care for her as she does for him--can't
+you see that?"
+
+"He'll do the right thing, mother; he told me he would. He knows how much
+depends on his staying here now, and he intends to do it."
+
+"But in the end, Joe, after this scandal is lived down, can he--will
+he--marry her? And if he marries her can they live together and be happy?
+His way of life is so different. He can't content himself here, and she
+can't fit in where he belongs. It all seems hopeless to me. Wouldn't it
+be better for her to suffer for a little while now than to make a mistake
+that may last a lifetime?"
+
+"Mebbe it would, mother, but the decision is not ours. She's too strong
+for us to control. She's of age, and if she comes to a full understanding
+of the situation, she can decide the question a whole lot better than
+either of us."
+
+"That's true," she sighed. "In some ways she's bigger and stronger than
+both of us. Sometimes I wish she were not so self-reliant."
+
+"Well, that's the way life is, sometimes, and I reckon there's nothin'
+left for you an' me but to draw closer together and try to fill up the
+empty place she's going to leave between us."
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE SUMMONS
+
+
+When Wayland caught the startled look on Berrie's face he knew that she
+had learned from her father the contents of his telegram, and that she
+would require an explanation.
+
+"Are you going away?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. At least, I must go down to Denver to see my father. I shall be
+gone only over night."
+
+"And will you tell him about our trip?" she pursued, with unflinching
+directness. "And about--me?"
+
+He gave her a chair, and took a seat himself before replying. "Yes, I
+shall tell him all about it, and about you and your father and mother. He
+shall know how kind you've all been to me."
+
+He said this bravely, and at the moment he meant it; but as his father's
+big, impassive face and cold, keen eyes came back to him his courage
+sank, and in spite of his firm resolution some part of his secret anxiety
+communicated itself to the girl, who asked many questions, with intent to
+find out more particularly what kind of man the elder Norcross was.
+
+Wayland's replies did not entirely reassure her. He admitted that his
+father was harsh and domineering in character, and that he was ambitious
+to have his son take up and carry forward his work. "He was willing
+enough to have me go to college till he found I was specializing on wrong
+lines. Then I had to fight in order to keep my place. He's glad I'm out
+here, for he thinks I'm regaining my strength. But just as soon as I'm
+well enough he expects me to go to Chicago and take charge of the Western
+office. Of course, I don't want to do that. I'd rather work out some
+problem in chemistry that interests me; but I may have to give in, for a
+time at least."
+
+"Will your mother and sisters be with your father?"
+
+"No, indeed! You couldn't get any one of them west of the Hudson River
+with a log-chain. My sisters were both born in Michigan, but they want to
+forget it--they pretend they have forgotten it. They both have
+New-Yorkitis. Nothing but the Plaza will do them now."
+
+"I suppose they think we're all 'Injuns' out here?"
+
+"Oh no, not so bad as that; but they wouldn't comprehend anything about
+you except your muscle. That would catch 'em. They'd worship your
+splendid health, just as I do. It's pitiful the way they both try to put
+on weight. They're always testing some new food, some new tonic--they'll
+do anything except exercise regularly and go to bed at ten o'clock."
+
+All that he said of his family deepened her dismay. Their interests were
+so alien to her own.
+
+"I'm afraid to have you go even for a day," she admitted, with simple
+honesty, which moved him deeply. "I don't know what I should do if you
+went away. I think of nothing but you now."
+
+Her face was pitiful, and he put his arm about her neck as if she were a
+child. "You mustn't do that. You must go on with your life just as if I'd
+never been. Think of your father's job--of the forest and the ranch."
+
+"I can't do it. I've lost interest in the service. I never want to go
+into the high country again, and I don't want you to go, either. It's too
+savage and cruel."
+
+"That is only a mood," he said, confidently. "It is splendid up there. I
+shall certainly go back some time."
+
+He could not divine, and she could not tell him, how poignantly she had
+sensed the menace of the cold and darkness during his illness. For the
+first time in her life she had realized to the full the unrelenting
+enmity of the clouds, the wind, the night; and during that interminable
+ride toward home, when she saw him bending lower and lower over his
+saddle-bow, her allegiance to the trail, her devotion to the stirrup was
+broken. His weariness and pain had changed the universe for her. Never
+again would she look upon the range with the eyes of the care-free girl.
+The other, the civilized, the domestic, side of her was now dominant. A
+new desire, a bigger aspiration, had taken possession of her.
+
+Little by little he realized this change in her, and was touched with the
+wonder of it. He had never had any great self-love either as man or
+scholar, and the thought of this fine, self-sufficient womanly soul
+centering all its interests on him was humbling. Each moment his
+responsibility deepened, and he heard her voice but dimly as she went
+on.
+
+"Of course we are not rich; but we are not poor, and my mother's family
+is one of the oldest in Kentucky." She uttered this with a touch of her
+mother's quiet dignity. "Your father need not despise us."
+
+"So far as my father is concerned, family don't count, and neither does
+money. But he confidently expects me to take up his business in Chicago,
+and I suppose it is my duty to do so. If he finds me looking fit he may
+order me into the ranks at once."
+
+"I'll go there--I'll do anything you want me to do," she urged. "You can
+tell your father that I'll help you in the office. I can learn. I'm ready
+to use a typewriter--anything."
+
+He was silent in the face of her naive expression of self-sacrificing
+love, and after a moment she added, hesitatingly: "I wish I could meet
+your father. Perhaps he'd come up here if you asked him to do so?"
+
+He seized upon the suggestion. "By George! I believe he would. I don't
+want to go to town. I just believe I'll wire him that I'm laid up here
+and can't come." Then a shade of new trouble came over his face. How
+would the stern, methodical old business man regard this slovenly ranch
+and its primitive ways? She felt the question in his face.
+
+"You're afraid to have him come," she said, with the same disconcerting
+penetration which had marked every moment of her interview thus far.
+"You're afraid he wouldn't like me?"
+
+With almost equal frankness he replied: "No. I think he'd like _you_, but
+this town and the people up here would gall him. Order is a religion with
+him. Then he's got a vicious slant against all this conservation
+business--calls it tommy-rot. He and your father might lock horns first
+crack out of the box. But I'll risk it. I'll wire him at once."
+
+A knock at the door interrupted him, and Mrs. McFarlane's voice, filled
+with new excitement, called out: "Berrie, the District office is on the
+wire."
+
+Berrie opened the door and confronted her mother, who said: "Mr. Evingham
+'phones that the afternoon papers contain an account of a fight at Coal
+City between Settle and one of Alec Belden's men, and that the District
+Forester is coming down to investigate it."
+
+"Let him come," answered Berrie, defiantly. "He can't do us any harm.
+What was the row about?"
+
+"I didn't hear much of it. Your father was at the 'phone."
+
+McFarlane, with the receiver to his ear, was saying: "Don't know a thing
+about it, Mr. Evingham. Settle was at the station when I left. I didn't
+know he was going down to Coal City. No, that's a mistake. My daughter
+was never engaged to Alec Belden. Alec Belden is the older of the
+brothers, and is married. I can't go into that just now. If you come down
+I'll explain fully."
+
+He hung up the receiver and slowly turned toward his wife and daughter.
+"This sure is our day of trouble," he said, with dejected countenance.
+
+"What is it all about?" asked Berrie.
+
+"Why, it seems that after I left yesterday Settle rode down the valley
+with Belden's outfit, and they all got to drinking, ending in a row, and
+Tony beat one of Belden's men almost to death. The sheriff has gone over
+to get Tony, and the Beldens declare they're going to railroad him. That
+means we'll all be brought into it. Belden has seized the moment to
+prefer charges against me for keeping Settle in the service and for
+putting a non-resident on the roll as guard. The whelp will dig up
+everything he can to queer me with the office. All that kept him from
+doing it before was Cliff's interest in you."
+
+"He can't make any of his charges stick," declared Berrie.
+
+"Of course he can't. He knows that. But he can bring us all into court.
+You and Mr. Norcross will both be called as witnesses, for it seems that
+Tony was defending your name. The papers call it 'a fight for a girl.'
+Oh, it's a sweet mess."
+
+For the first time Berrie betrayed alarm. "What shall we do? I can't go
+on the stand! They can't make me do that, can they?" She turned to
+Wayland. "Now you _must_ go away. It is a shame to have you mixed up in
+such a trial."
+
+"I shall not run away and leave you and the Supervisor to bear all the
+burden of this fight."
+
+He anticipated in imagination--as they all did--some of the consequences
+of this trial. The entire story of the camping trip would be dragged in,
+distorted into a scandal, and flashed over the country as a disgraceful
+episode. The country would ring with laughter and coarse jest. Berrie's
+testimony would be a feast for court-room loafers.
+
+"There's only one thing to do," said McFarlane, after a few moments of
+thought. "You and Berrie and Mrs. McFarlane must get out of here before
+you are subpoenaed."
+
+"And leave you to fight it out alone?" exclaimed his wife. "I shall do
+nothing of the kind. Berrie and Mr. Norcross can go."
+
+"That won't do," retorted McFarlane, quickly. "That won't do at all. You
+must go with them. I can take care of myself. I will not have you dragged
+into this muck-hole. We've got to think quick and act quick. There won't
+be any delay about their side of the game. I don't think they'll do
+anything to-day; but you've got to fade out of the valley. You all get
+ready and I'll have one of the boys hook up the surrey as if for a little
+drive, and you can pull out over the old stage-road to Flume and catch
+the narrow-gage morning train for Denver. You've been wanting for some
+time to go down the line. Now here's a good time to start."
+
+Berrie now argued against running away. Her blood was up. She joined her
+mother. "We won't leave you to inherit all this trouble. Who will look
+after the ranch? Who will keep house for you?"
+
+McFarlane remained firm. "I'll manage. Don't worry about me. Just get out
+of reach. The more I consider this thing, the more worrisome it gets.
+Suppose Cliff should come back to testify?"
+
+"He won't. If he does I'll have him arrested for trying to kill Wayland,"
+retorted Berrie.
+
+"And make the whole thing worse! No. You are all going to cross the
+range. You can start out as if for a little turn round the valley, and
+just naturally keep going. It can't do any harm, and it may save a nasty
+time in court."
+
+"One would think we were a lot of criminals," remarked Wayland.
+
+"That's the way you'll be treated," retorted McFarlane. "Belden has
+retained old Whitby, the foulest old brute in the business, and he'll
+bring you all into it if he can."
+
+"But running away from it will not prevent talk," argued his wife.
+
+"Not entirely; but talk and testimony are two different things. Suppose
+they call daughter to the stand? Do you want her cross-examined as to
+what basis there was for this gossip? They know something of Cliff's
+being let out, and that will inflame them. He may be at the mill this
+minute."
+
+"I guess you're right," said Norcross, sadly. "Our delightful excursion
+into the forest has led us into a predicament from which there is only
+one way of escape, and that is flight."
+
+Back of all this talk, this argument, there remained still unanswered the
+most vital, most important question: "Shall I speak of marriage at this
+time? Would it be a source of comfort to them as well as a joy to her?"
+At the moment he was ready to speak, for he felt himself to be the direct
+cause of all their embarrassment. But closer thought made it clear that a
+hasty ceremony would only be considered a cloak to cover something
+illicit. "I'll leave it to the future," he decided.
+
+McFarlane was again called to the telephone. Landon, with characteristic
+brevity, conveyed to him the fact that Mrs. Belden was at home and busily
+'phoning scandalous stories about the country. "If you don't stop her
+she's going to poison every ear in the valley," ended the ranger.
+
+"You'd think they'd all know my daughter well enough not to believe
+anything Mrs. Belden says," responded McFarlane, bitterly.
+
+"All the boys are ready to do what Tony did. But nobody can stop this old
+fool's mouth but you. Cliff has disappeared, and that adds to the
+excitement."
+
+"Thank the boys for me," said McFarlane, "and tell them not to fight.
+Tell 'em to keep cool. It will all be cleared up soon."
+
+As McFarlane went out to order the horses hooked up, Wayland followed him
+as far as the bars. "I'm conscience-smitten over this thing, Supervisor,
+for I am aware that I am the cause of all your trouble."
+
+"Don't let that worry you," responded the older man. But he spoke with
+effort. "It can't be helped. It was all unavoidable."
+
+"The most appalling thing to me is the fact that not even your daughter's
+popularity can neutralize the gossip of a woman like Mrs. Belden. My
+being an outsider counts against Berrie, and I'm ready to do
+anything--anything," he repeated, earnestly. "I love your daughter, Mr.
+McFarlane, and I'm ready to marry her at once if you think best. She's a
+noble girl, and I cannot bear to be the cause of her calumniation."
+
+There was mist in the Supervisor's eyes as he turned them on the young
+man. "I'm right glad to hear you say that, my boy." He reached out his
+hand, and Wayland took it. "I knew you'd say the word when the time came.
+I didn't know how strongly she felt toward you till to-day. I knew she
+liked you, of course, for she said so, but I didn't know that she had
+plum set her heart on you. I didn't expect her to marry a city man;
+but--I like you and--well, she's the doctor! What suits her suits me.
+Don't you be afraid of her not meeting all comers." He went on after a
+pause, "She's never seen much of city life, but she'll hold her own
+anywhere, you can gamble on that."
+
+"She has wonderful adaptability, I know," answered Wayland, slowly. "But
+I don't like to take her away from here--from you."
+
+"If you hadn't come she would have married Cliff--and what kind of a life
+would she have led with him?" demanded McFarlane. "I knew Cliff was
+rough, but I couldn't convince her that he was cheap. I live only for her
+happiness, my boy, and, though I know you will take her away from me, I
+believe you can make her happy, and so--I give her over to you. As to
+time and place, arrange that--with--her mother." He turned and walked
+away, unable to utter another word.
+
+Wayland's throat was aching also, and he went back into the house with a
+sense of responsibility which exalted him into sturdier manhood.
+
+Berea met him in a pretty gown, a dress he had never seen her wear, a
+costume which transformed her into something entirely feminine.
+
+She seemed to have put away the self-reliant manner of the trail, and in
+its stead presented the lambent gaze, the tremulous lips of the bride. As
+he looked at her thus transfigured his heart cast out its hesitancy and
+he entered upon his new adventure without further question or regret.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+A MATTER OF MILLINERY
+
+
+It was three o'clock of a fine, clear, golden afternoon as they said
+good-by to McFarlane and started eastward, as if for a little drive.
+Berrie held the reins in spite of Wayland's protestations. "These
+bronchos are only about half busted," she said. "They need watching. I
+know them better than you do." Therefore he submitted, well knowing that
+she was entirely competent and fully informed.
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, while looking back at her husband, sadly exclaimed: "I
+feel like a coward running away like this."
+
+"Forget it, mother," commanded her daughter, cheerily. "Just imagine
+we're off for a short vacation. I'm for going clear through to Chicago.
+So long as we _must_ go, let's go whooping. Father's better off without
+us."
+
+Her voice was gay, her eyes shining, and Wayland saw her as she had been
+that first day in the coach--the care-free, laughing girl. The trouble
+they were fleeing from was less real to her than the happiness toward
+which she rode.
+
+Her hand on the reins, her foot on the brake, brought back her
+confidence; but Wayland did not feel so sure of his part in the
+adventure. She seemed so unalterably a part of this life, so fitted to
+this landscape, that the thought of transplanting her to the East brought
+uneasiness and question. Could such a creature of the open air be content
+with the walls of a city?
+
+For several miles the road ran over the level floor of the valley, and
+she urged the team to full speed. "I don't want to meet anybody if I can
+help it. Once we reach the old stage route the chances of being scouted
+are few. Nobody uses that road since the broad-gauge reached Cragg's."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane could not rid herself of the resentment with which she
+suffered this enforced departure; but she had small opportunity to
+protest, for the wagon bumped and clattered over the stony stretches with
+a motion which confused as well as silenced her. It was all so
+humiliating, so unlike the position which she had imagined herself to
+have attained in the eyes of her neighbors. Furthermore, she was going
+away without a trunk, with only one small bag for herself and
+Berrie--running away like a criminal from an intangible foe. However, she
+was somewhat comforted by the gaiety of the young people before her. They
+were indeed jocund as jaybirds. With the resiliency of youth they had
+accepted the situation, and were making the best of it.
+
+"Here comes somebody," called Berrie, pulling her ponies to a walk.
+"Throw a blanket over that valise." She was chuckling as if it were all a
+good joke. "It's old Jake Proudfoot. I can smell him. Now hang on. I'm
+going to pass him on the jump."
+
+Wayland, who was riding with his hat in his hand because he could not
+make it cover his bump, held it up as if to keep the wind from his face,
+and so defeated the round-eyed, owl-like stare of the inquisitive
+rancher, who brought his team to a full stop in order to peer after them,
+muttering in a stupor of resentment and surprise.
+
+"He'll worry himself sick over us," predicted Berrie. "He'll wonder where
+we're going and what was under that blanket till the end of summer. He is
+as curious as a fool hen."
+
+A few minutes more and they were at the fork in the way, and, leaving the
+trail to Cragg's, the girl pulled into the grass-grown, less-traveled
+trail to the south, which entered the timber at this point and began to
+climb with steady grade. Letting the reins fall slack, she turned to her
+mother with reassuring words. "There! Now we're safe. We won't meet
+anybody on this road except possibly a mover's outfit. We're in the
+forest again," she added.
+
+For two hours they crawled slowly upward, with a roaring stream on one
+side and the pine-covered slopes on the other. Jays and camp-birds called
+from the trees. Water-robins fluttered from rock to rock in the foaming
+flood. Squirrels and minute chipmunks raced across the fallen tree-trunks
+or clattered from great boulders, and in the peace and order and beauty
+of the forest they all recovered a serener outlook on the noisome tumult
+they were leaving behind them. Invisible as well as inaudible, the
+serpent of slander lost its terror.
+
+Once, as they paused to rest the horses, Wayland said: "It is hard to
+realize that down in that ethereal valley people like old Jake and Mrs.
+Belden have their dwelling-place."
+
+This moved Mrs. McFarlane to admit that it might all turn out a blessing
+in disguise. "Mr. McFarlane may resign and move to Denver, as I've long
+wanted him to do."
+
+"I wish he would," exclaimed Berrie, fervently. "It's time you had a
+rest. Daddy will hate to quit under fire, but he'd better do it."
+
+Peak by peak the Bear Tooth Range rose behind them, while before them the
+smooth, grassy slopes of the pass told that they were nearing
+timber-line. The air was chill, the sun was hidden by old Solidor, and
+the stream had diminished to a silent rill winding among sear grass and
+yellowed willows. The valley behind them was vague with mist. The
+southern boundary of the forest was in sight.
+
+At last the topmost looming crags of the Continental Divide cut the
+sky-line, and then in the smooth hollow between two rounded grassy
+summits Berrie halted, and they all silently contemplated the two worlds.
+To the west and north lay an endless spread of mountains, wave on wave,
+snow-lined, savage, sullen in the dying light; while to the east and
+southeast the foot-hills faded into the plain, whose dim cities,
+insubstantial as flecks in a veil of violet mist, were hardly
+distinguishable without the aid of glasses.
+
+To the girl there was something splendid, something heroical in that
+majestic, menacing landscape to the west. In one of its folds she had
+begun her life. In another she had grown to womanhood and self-confident
+power. The rough men, the coarse, ungainly women of that land seemed less
+hateful now that she was leaving them, perhaps forever, and a confused
+memory of the many splendid dawns and purple sunsets she had loved filled
+her thought.
+
+Wayland, divining some part of what was moving in her mind, cheerily
+remarked, "Yes, it's a splendid place for a summer vacation, but a stern
+place in winter-time, and for a lifelong residence it is not inspiring."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane agreed with him in this estimate. "It _is_ terribly
+lonesome in there at times. I've had enough of it. I'm ready for the
+comforts of civilization."
+
+Berrie turned in her seat, and was about to take up the reins when
+Wayland asserted himself. "Wait a moment. Here's where my dominion
+begins. Here's where you change seats with me. I am the driver now."
+
+She looked at him with questioning, smiling glance. "Can you drive? It's
+all the way down-hill--and steep?"
+
+"If I can't I'll ask your aid. I'm old enough to remember the family
+carriage. I've even driven a four-in-hand."
+
+She surrendered her seat doubtfully, and smiled to see him take up the
+reins as if he were starting a four-horse coach. He proved adequate and
+careful, and she was proud of him as, with foot on the brake and the
+bronchos well in hand, he swung down the long looping road to the
+railway. She was pleased, too, by his care of the weary animals, easing
+them down the steepest slopes and sending them along on the comparatively
+level spots.
+
+Their descent was rapid, but it was long after dark before they reached
+Flume, which lay up the valley to the right. It was a poor little
+decaying mining-town set against the hillside, and had but one hotel, a
+sun-warped and sagging pine building just above the station.
+
+"Not much like the Profile House," said Wayland, as he drew up to the
+porch. "But I see no choice."
+
+"There isn't any," Berrie assured him.
+
+"Well, now," he went on, "I am in command of this expedition. From this
+on I lead this outfit. When it comes to hotels, railways, and the like o'
+that, I'm head ranger."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, tired, hungry, and a little dismayed, accepted his
+control gladly; but Berrie could not at once slip aside her
+responsibility. "Tell the hostler--"
+
+"Not a word!" commanded Norcross; and the girl with a smile submitted to
+his guidance, and thereafter his efficiency, his self-possession, his
+tact delighted her. He persuaded the sullen landlady to get them supper.
+He secured the best rooms in the house, and arranged for the care of the
+team, and when they were all seated around the dim, fly-specked oil-lamp
+at the end of the crumby dining-room table he discovered such a gay and
+confident mien that the women looked at each other in surprise.
+
+Berrie was correspondingly less masculine. In drawing off her buckskin
+driving-gloves she had put away the cowgirl, and was silent, a little sad
+even, in the midst of her enjoyment of his dictatorship. And when he
+said, "If my father reaches Denver in time I want you to meet him," she
+looked the dismay she felt.
+
+"I'll do it--but I'm scared of him."
+
+"You needn't be. I'll see him first and draw his fire."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane interposed. "We must do a little shopping first. We can't
+meet your father as we are."
+
+"Very well. I'll go with you if you'll let me. I'm a great little
+shopper. I have infallible taste, so my sisters say. If it's a case of
+buying new hats, for instance, I'm the final authority with them." This
+amused Berrie, but her mother took it seriously.
+
+"Of course, I'm anxious to have my daughter make the best possible
+impression."
+
+"Very well. It is arranged. We get in, I find, about noon. We'll go
+straight to the biggest shop in town. If we work with speed we'll be able
+to lunch with my father. He'll be at the Palmer House at one."
+
+Berrie said nothing, either in acceptance or rejection of his plan. Her
+mind was concerned with new conceptions, new relationships, and when in
+the hall he took her face between his hands and said, "Cheer up! All is
+not lost," she put her arms about his neck and laid her cheek against his
+breast to hide her tears. "Oh, Wayland! I'm such an idiot in the city.
+I'm afraid your father will despise me."
+
+What he said was not very cogent, and not in the least literary, but it
+was reassuring and lover-like, and when he turned her over to her mother
+she was composed, though unwontedly grave.
+
+She woke to a new life next morning--a life of compliance, of following,
+of dependence upon the judgment of another. She stood in silence while
+her lover paid the bills, bought the tickets, and telegraphed their
+coming to his father. She acquiesced when he prevented her mother from
+telephoning to the ranch. She complied when he countermanded her order to
+have the team sent back at once. His judgment ruled, and she enjoyed her
+sudden freedom from responsibility. It was novel, and it was very sweet
+to think that she was being cared for as she had cared for and shielded
+him in the world of the trail.
+
+In the little railway-coach, which held a score of passengers, she found
+herself among some Eastern travelers who had taken the trip up the Valley
+of the Flume in the full belief that they were piercing the heart of the
+Rocky Mountains! It amused Wayland almost as much as it amused Berrie
+when one man said to his wife:
+
+"Well, I'm glad we've seen the Rockies."
+
+"He really believes it!" exclaimed Norcross.
+
+After an hour's ride Wayland tactfully withdrew, leaving mother and
+daughter to discuss clothes undisturbed by his presence.
+
+"We must look our best, honey," said Mrs. McFarlane. "We will go right to
+Mme. Crosby at Battle's, and she'll fit us out. I wish we had more time;
+but we haven't, so we must do the best we can."
+
+"I want Wayland to choose my hat and traveling-suit," replied Berrie.
+
+"Of course. But you've got to have a lot of other things besides." And
+they bent to the joyous work of making out a list of goods to be
+purchased as soon as they reached Chicago.
+
+Wayland came back with a Denver paper in his hand and a look of disgust
+on his face. "It's all in here--at least, the outlines of it."
+
+Berrie took the journal, and there read the details of Settle's assault
+upon the foreman. "The fight arose from a remark concerning the Forest
+Supervisor's daughter. Ranger Settle resented the gossip, and fell upon
+the other man, beating him with the butt of his revolver. Friends of the
+foreman claim that the ranger is a drunken bully, and should have been
+discharged long ago. The Supervisor for some mysterious reason retains
+this man, although he is an incompetent. It is also claimed that
+McFarlane put a man on the roll without examination." The Supervisor was
+the protagonist of the play, which was plainly political. The attack upon
+him was bitter and unjust, and Mrs. McFarlane again declared her
+intention of returning to help him in his fight. However, Wayland again
+proved to her that her presence would only embarrass the Supervisor. "You
+would not aid him in the slightest degree. Nash and Landon are with him,
+and will refute all these charges."
+
+This newspaper story took the light out of their day and the smile from
+Berrie's lips, and the women entered the city silent and distressed in
+spite of the efforts of their young guide. The nearer the girl came to
+the ordeal of facing the elder Norcross, the more she feared the outcome;
+but Wayland kept his air of easy confidence, and drove them directly to
+the shopping center, believing that under the influence of hats and
+gloves they would regain their customary cheer.
+
+In this he was largely justified. They had a delightful hour trying on
+millinery and coats and gloves. The forewoman, who knew Mrs. McFarlane,
+gladly accepted her commission, and, while suspecting the tender
+relationship between the girl and the man, she was tactful enough to
+conceal her suspicion. "The gentleman is right; you carry simple things
+best," she remarked to Berrie, thus showing her own good judgment.
+"Smartly tailored gray or blue suits are your style."
+
+Silent, blushing, tousled by the hands of her decorators, Berrie
+permitted hats to be perched on her head and jackets buttoned and
+unbuttoned about her shoulders till she felt like a worn clothes-horse.
+Wayland beamed with delight, but she was far less satisfied than he; and
+when at last selection was made, she still had her doubts, not of the
+clothes, but of her ability to wear them. They seemed so alien to her, so
+restrictive and enslaving.
+
+"You're an easy fitter," said the saleswoman. "But"--here she lowered her
+voice--"you need a new corset. This old one is out of date. Nobody is
+wearing hips now."
+
+Thereupon Berrie meekly permitted herself to be led away to a
+torture-room. Wayland waited patiently, and when she reappeared all
+traces of Bear Tooth Forest had vanished. In a neat tailored suit and a
+very "chic" hat, with shoes, gloves, and stockings to match, she was so
+transformed, so charmingly girlish in her self-conscious glory, that he
+was tempted to embrace her in the presence of the saleswoman. But he
+didn't. He merely said: "I see the governor's finish! Let's go to lunch.
+You are stunning!"
+
+"I don't know myself," responded Berrie. "The only thing that feels
+natural is my hand. They cinched me so tight I can't eat a thing, and my
+shoes hurt." She laughed as she said this, for her use of the vernacular
+was conscious. "I'm a fraud. Your father will spot my brand first shot.
+Look at my face--red as a saddle!"
+
+"Don't let that trouble you. This is the time of year when tan is
+fashionable. Don't you be afraid of the governor. Just smile at him, give
+him your grip, and he'll melt."
+
+"I'm the one to melt. I'm beginning now."
+
+"I know how you feel, but you'll get used to the conventional
+boiler-plate and all the rest of it. We all groan and growl when we come
+back to it each autumn; but it's a part of being civilized, and we
+submit."
+
+Notwithstanding his confident advice, Wayland led the two silent and
+inwardly dismayed women into the showy cafe of the hotel with some degree
+of personal apprehension concerning the approaching interview with his
+father. Of course, he did not permit this to appear in the slightest
+degree. On the contrary, he gaily ordered a choice lunch, and did his
+best to keep his companions from sinking into deeper depression.
+
+It pleased him to observe the admiring glances which were turned upon
+Berrie, whose hat became her mightily, and, leaning over, he said in a
+low voice to Mrs. McFarlane: "Who is the lovely young lady opposite?
+Won't you introduce me?"
+
+This rejoiced the mother almost as much as it pleased the daughter, and
+she answered, "She looks like one of the Radburns of Lexington, but I
+think she's from Louisville."
+
+This little play being over, he said, "Now, while our order is coming
+I'll run out to the desk and see if the governor has come in or not."
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PRIVATE CAR
+
+
+After he went away Berrie turned to her mother with a look in which humor
+and awe were blent. "Am I dreaming, mother, or am I actually sitting here
+in the city? My head is dizzy with it all." Then, without waiting for an
+answer, she fervently added: "Isn't he fine! I'm the tenderfoot now. I
+hope his father won't despise me."
+
+With justifiable pride in her child, the mother replied: "He can't help
+liking you, honey. You look exactly like your grandmother at this moment.
+Meet Mr. Norcross in her spirit."
+
+"I'll try; but I feel like a woodchuck out of his hole."
+
+Mrs. McFarlane continued: "I'm glad we were forced out of the valley. You
+might have been shut in there all your life as I have been with your
+father."
+
+"You don't blame father, do you?"
+
+"Not entirely. And yet he always was rather easy-going, and you know how
+untidy the ranch is. He's always been kindness and sympathy itself; but
+his lack of order is a cross. Perhaps now he will resign, rent the ranch,
+and move over here. I should like to live in the city for a while, and
+I'd like to travel a little."
+
+"Wouldn't it be fine if you could! You could live at this hotel if you
+wanted to. Yes, you're right. You need a rest from the ranch and
+dish-washing."
+
+Wayland returned with an increase of tension in his face.
+
+"He's here! I've sent word saying, 'I am lunching in the cafe with
+ladies.' I think he'll come round. But don't be afraid of him. He's a
+good deal rougher on the outside than he is at heart. Of course, he's a
+bluff old business man, and not at all pretty, and he'll transfix you
+with a kind of estimating glare as if you were a tree; but he's actually
+very easy to manage if you know how to handle him. Now, I'm not going to
+try to explain everything to him at the beginning. I'm going to introduce
+him to you in a casual kind of way and give him time to take to you both.
+He forms his likes and dislikes very quickly."
+
+"What if he don't like us?" inquired Berrie, with troubled brow.
+
+"He can't help it." His tone was so positive that her eyes misted with
+happiness. "But here comes our food. I hope you aren't too nervous to
+eat. Here is where I shine as provider. This is the kind of camp fare I
+can recommend."
+
+Berrie's healthy appetite rose above her apprehension, and she ate with
+the keen enjoyment of a child, and her mother said, "It surely is a treat
+to get a chance at somebody else's cooking."
+
+"Don't you slander your home fare," warned Wayland. "It's as good as
+this, only different."
+
+He sat where he could watch the door, and despite his jocund pose his
+eyes expressed growing impatience and some anxiety. They were all well
+into their dessert before he called out: "Here he is!"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane could not see the new-comer from where she sat, but Berrie
+rose in great excitement as a heavy-set, full-faced man with short, gray
+mustache and high, smooth brow entered the room. He did not smile as he
+greeted his son, and his penetrating glance questioned even before he
+spoke. He seemed to silently ask: "Well, what's all this? How do you
+happen to be here? Who are these women?"
+
+Wayland said: "Mrs. McFarlane, this is my father. Father, this is Miss
+Berea McFarlane, of Bear Tooth Springs."
+
+The elder Norcross shook hands with Mrs. McFarlane politely, coldly; but
+he betrayed surprise as Berea took his fingers in her grip. At his son's
+solicitation he accepted a seat opposite Berea, but refused dessert.
+
+Wayland explained: "Mrs. McFarlane and her daughter quite saved my life
+over in the valley. Their ranch is the best health resort in Colorado."
+
+"Your complexion indicates that," his father responded, dryly. "You look
+something the way a man of your age ought to look. I needn't ask how
+you're feeling."
+
+"You needn't, but you may. I'm feeling like a new fiddle--barring a
+bruise at the back of my head, which makes a 'hard hat' a burden. I may
+as well tell you first off that Mrs. McFarlane is the wife of the Forest
+Supervisor at Bear Tooth, and Miss Berea is the able assistant of her
+father. We are all rank conservationists."
+
+Norcross, Senior, examined Berrie precisely as if his eyes were a couple
+of X-ray tubes, and as she flushed under his slow scrutiny he said: "I
+was not expecting to find the Forest Service in such hands."
+
+Wayland laughed.
+
+"I hope you didn't mash his fingers, Berrie."
+
+She smiled guiltily. "I'm afraid I did. I hope I didn't hurt
+you--sometimes I forget."
+
+Norcross, Senior, was waking up. "You have a most extraordinary grip.
+What did it? Piano practice?"
+
+Wayland grinned. "Piano! No--the cinch."
+
+"The what?"
+
+Wayland explained. "Miss McFarlane was brought up on a ranch. She can
+rope and tie a steer, saddle her own horse, pack an outfit, and all the
+rest of it."
+
+"Oh! Kind of cowgirl, eh?"
+
+Mrs. McFarlane, eager to put Berrie's better part forward, explained:
+"She's our only child, Mr. Norcross, and as such has been a constant
+companion to her father. She's not all cow-hand. She's been to school,
+and she can cook and sew as well."
+
+He looked from one to the other. "Neither of you correspond exactly to my
+notions of a forester's wife and daughter."
+
+"Mrs. McFarlane comes from an old Kentucky family, father. Her
+grandfather helped to found a college down there."
+
+Wayland's anxious desire to create a favorable impression of the women
+did not escape the lumberman, but his face remained quite expressionless
+as he replied:
+
+"If the life of a cow-hand would give you the vigor this young lady
+appears to possess, I'm not sure but you'd better stick to it."
+
+Wayland and the two women exchanged glances of relief.
+
+"Why not tell him now?" they seemed to ask. But he said: "There's a long
+story to tell before we decide on my career. Let's finish our lunch. How
+is mother, and how are the girls?"
+
+Once, in the midst of a lame pursuit of other topics, the elder Norcross
+again fixed his eyes on Berea, saying: "I wish my girls had your weight
+and color." He paused a moment, then resumed with weary infliction: "Mrs.
+Norcross has always been delicate, and all her children--even her
+son--take after her. I've maintained a private and very expensive
+hospital for nearly thirty years."
+
+This regretful note in his father's voice gave Wayland confidence. His
+spirits rose.
+
+"Come, let's adjourn to the parlor and talk things over at our ease."
+
+They all followed him, and after showing the mother and daughter to their
+seats near a window he drew his father into a corner, and in rapid
+undertone related the story of his first meeting with Berrie, of his
+trouble with young Belden, of his camping trip, minutely describing the
+encounter on the mountainside, and ended by saying, with manly
+directness: "I would be up there in the mountains in a box if Berrie had
+not intervened. She's a noble girl, father, and is foolish enough to like
+me, and I'm going to marry her and try to make her happy."
+
+The old lumberman, who had listened intently all through this impassioned
+story, displayed no sign of surprise at its closing declaration; but his
+eyes explored his son's soul with calm abstraction. "Send her over to
+me," he said, at last. "Marriage is a serious matter. I want to talk with
+her--alone."
+
+Wayland went back to the women with an air of victory. "He wants to see
+you, Berrie. He's mellowing. Don't be afraid of him."
+
+She might have resented the father's lack of gallantry; but she did not.
+On the contrary, she rose and walked resolutely over to where he sat,
+quite ready to defend herself. He did not rise to meet her, but she did
+not count that against him, for there was nothing essentially rude in his
+manner. He was merely her elder, and inert.
+
+"Sit down," he said, not unkindly. "I want to have _you_ tell me about my
+son. He has been telling me all about you. Now let's have your side of
+the story."
+
+She took a seat and faced him with eyes as steady as his own. "Where
+shall I begin?" she bluntly challenged.
+
+"He wants to marry you. Now, it seems to me that seven weeks is very
+short acquaintance for a decision like that. Are you sure you want him?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I am." Her answer was most decided.
+
+His voice was slightly cynical as he went on. "But you were tolerably
+sure about that other fellow--that rancher with the fancy name--weren't
+you?" She flushed at this, but waited for him to go on. "Don't you think
+it possible that your fancy for Wayland is also temporary?"
+
+"No, sir!" she bravely declared. "I never felt toward any one the way I
+do toward Wayland. He's different. I shall _never_ change toward him."
+
+Her tone, her expression of eyes stopped this line of inquiry. He took up
+another. "Now, my dear young lady, I am a business man as well as a
+father, and the marriage of my son is a weighty matter. He is my main
+dependence. I am hoping to have him take up and carry on my business. To
+be quite candid, I didn't expect him to select his wife from a Colorado
+ranch. I considered him out of the danger-zone. I have always understood
+that women were scarce in the mountains. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm
+not one of those fools who are always trying to marry their sons and
+daughters into the ranks of the idle rich. I don't care a hang about
+social position, and I've got money enough for my son and my son's wife.
+But he's all the boy I have, and I don't want him to make a mistake."
+
+"Neither do I," she answered, simply, her eyes suffused with tears. "If I
+thought he would be sorry--"
+
+He interrupted again. "Oh, you can't tell that now. Any marriage is a
+risk. I don't say he's making a mistake in selecting you. You may be just
+the woman he needs. Only I want to be consulted. I want to know more
+about you. He tells me you have taken an active part in the management of
+the ranch and the forest. Is that true?"
+
+"I've always worked with my father--yes, sir."
+
+"You like that kind of life?"
+
+"I don't know much about any other kind. Yes, I like it. But I've had
+enough of it. I'm willing to change."
+
+"Well, how about city life--housekeeping and all that?"
+
+"So long as I am with Wayland I sha'n't mind what I do or where I live."
+
+"At the same time you figure he's going to have a large income, I
+suppose? He's told you of his rich father, hasn't he?"
+
+Berrie's tone was a shade resentful of his insinuation. "He has never
+said much about his family one way or another. He only said you wanted
+him to go into business in Chicago, and that he wanted to do something
+else. Of course, I could see by his ways and the clothes he wore that
+he'd been brought up in what we'd call luxury, but we never inquired into
+his affairs."
+
+"And you didn't care?"
+
+"Well, not that, exactly. But money don't count for as much with us in
+the valley as it does in the East. Wayland seemed so kind of sick and
+lonesome, and I felt sorry for him the first time I saw him. I felt like
+mothering him. And then his way of talking, of looking at things was so
+new and beautiful to me I couldn't help caring for him. I had never met
+any one like him. I thought he was a 'lunger'--"
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A consumptive; that is, I did at first. And it bothered me. It seemed
+terrible that any one so fine should be condemned like that--and so--I
+did all I could to help him, to make him happy. I thought he hadn't long
+to live. Everything he said and did was wonderful to me, like poetry and
+music. And then when he began to grow stronger and I saw that he was
+going to get well, and Cliff went on the rampage and showed the yellow
+streak, and I gave him back his ring--I didn't know even then how much
+Wayland meant to me. But on our trip over the Range I understood. He
+meant everything to me. He made Cliff seem like a savage, and I wanted
+him to know it. I'm not ashamed of loving him. I want to make him happy,
+and if he wishes me to be his wife I'll go anywhere he says--only I think
+he should stay out here till he gets entirely well."
+
+The old man's eyes softened during her plea, and at its close a slight
+smile moved the corners of his mouth. "You've thought it all out, I see.
+Your mind is clear and your conscience easy. Well, I like your spirit. I
+guess he's right. The decision is up to you. But if he takes you and
+stays in Colorado he can't expect me to share the profits of my business
+with him, can he? He'll have to make his own way." He rose and held out
+his hand. "However, I'm persuaded he's in good hands."
+
+She took his hand, not knowing just what to reply. He examined her
+fingers with intent gaze.
+
+"I didn't know any woman could have such a grip." He thoughtfully took
+her biceps in his left hand. "You are magnificent." Then, in ironical
+protest, he added: "Good God, no! I can't have you come into my family.
+You'd make caricatures of my wife and daughters. Are all the girls out in
+the valley like you?"
+
+She laughed. "No. Most of them pride themselves on _not_ being
+horsewomen. Mighty few of 'em ever ride a horse. I'm a kind of a tomboy
+to them."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear that. It's the same old story. I suppose they'd all
+like to live in the city and wear low-necked gowns and high-heeled shoes.
+No, I can't consent to your marriage with my son. I must save you from
+corruption. Go back to the ranch. I can see already signs of your
+deterioration. Except for your color and that grip you already look like
+upper Broadway. The next thing will be a slit skirt and a diamond
+garter."
+
+She flushed redly, conscious of her new corset, her silk stockings, and
+her pinching shoes. "It's all on the outside," she declared. "Under this
+toggery I'm the same old trailer. It don't take long to get rid of these
+things. I'm just playing a part to-day--for you."
+
+He smiled and dropped her hand. "No, no. You've said good-by to the
+cinch, I can see that. You're on the road to opera boxes and limousines.
+What is your plan? What would you advise Wayland to do if you knew I was
+hard against his marrying you? Come, now, I can see you're a
+clear-sighted individual. What can he do to earn a living? How will you
+live without my aid? Have you figured on these things?"
+
+"Yes; I'm going to ask my father to buy a ranch near here, where mother
+can have more of the comforts of life, and where we can all live together
+till Wayland is able to stand city life again. Then, if you want him to
+go East, I will go with him."
+
+They had moved slowly back toward the others, and as Wayland came to meet
+them Norcross said, with dry humor: "I admire your lady of the cinch
+hand. She seems to be a person of singular good nature and most uncommon
+shrewd--"
+
+Wayland, interrupting, caught at his father's hand and wrung it
+frenziedly. "I'm glad--"
+
+"Here! Here!" A look of pain covered the father's face. "That's the fist
+she put in the press."
+
+They all laughed at his joke, and then he gravely resumed. "I say I
+admire her, but it's a shame to ask such a girl to marry an invalid like
+you. Furthermore, I won't have her taken East. She'd bleach out and lose
+that grip in a year. I won't have her contaminated by the city." He mused
+deeply while looking at his son. "Would life on a wheat-ranch accessible
+to this hotel by motor-car be endurable to you?"
+
+"You mean with Berea?"
+
+"If she'll go. Mind you, I don't advise her to do it!" he added,
+interrupting his son's outcry. "I think she's taking all the chances." He
+turned to Mrs. McFarlane. "I'm old-fashioned in my notions of marriage,
+Mrs. McFarlane. I grew up when women were helpmates, such as, I judge,
+you've been. Of course, it's all guesswork to me at the moment; but I
+have an impression that my son has fallen into an unusual run of luck. As
+I understand it, you're all out for a pleasure trip. Now, my private car
+is over in the yards, and I suggest you all come along with me to
+California--"
+
+"Governor, you're a wonder!" exclaimed Wayland.
+
+"That'll give us time to get better acquainted, and if we all like one
+another just as well when we get back--well, we'll buy the best farm in
+the North Platte and--"
+
+"It's a cinch we get that ranch," interrupted Wayland, with a triumphant
+glance at Berea.
+
+"Don't be so sure of it!" replied the lumberman. "A private car, like a
+yacht, is a terrible test of friendship." But his warning held no terrors
+for the young lovers. They had entered upon certainties.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland
+
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