owering to talk about. I would have been more useful had I looked
for smoke, as that would mean a house."

Kermode nodded.

"We have stores enough for another meal or two and had better get on. I
believe I've kept pretty near the line I was told to take, but I'd be
glad to see the first ranch in the Drummond district by supper time."

They went down into the valley, struggling through belts of timber and
clumps of brush, until they reached a broad expanse of grass broken by
small bluffs. After camping for a meal, they pushed on steadily while the
girl grappled with a growing fatigue, until the white peaks faded into
dusky blue and the waste grew shadowy. Kermode had seen no sign of life
and he was getting anxious when, as they approached a bluff, he pulled up
the horse.

"Listen!" he exclaimed. "I think I heard something!"

There was silence for a moment or two, and then he caught a soft drumming
and a rattle that might have been made by wheels.

"Yes," he said. "It's a team and wagon."

The sound grew plainer, and when Kermode shouted, an answer came out of
the gathering darkness. Then a moving shape appeared from behind the
bluff, and a minute or two later the newcomer pulled up his team.

"Well," he said, "what do you want?"

"Tom!" cried the girl excitedly.

The man sprang down, and Kermode needed no explanation. After his
companion had dismounted and run forward, he stood quietly holding the
horse, until she beckoned him.

"This is Mr. Kermode, who brought me here," she said. "My brother, Tom
Foster."

"Indebted to you," responded the man. "I was driving home when you
shouted; my place is about six miles off. If you'll follow, I'll take my
sister in the wagon."

Kermode thought it better that she should explain the reason for their
journey, and he got into the saddle and contented himself with keeping
the vehicle in sight until it stopped at a wooden house that stood near a
sod stable and rude log barn. When he entered the dwelling after putting
up the horse, the lamp was lighted and the stove burning. He saw that
Foster was a young man with a good-humored brown face.

"I understand that I owe you more than I thought at first," he said.
"Helen seems to have been pretty awkwardly situated when you appeared on
the scene. Sit down and smoke while I get supper."

They talked gaily during the meal.

"Is there any means of sending back the horse I brought?" Kermode asked
after a while.

"I've been t