ought had kept him up to this
hour, he slept soundly, for he was a healthy-minded man.

CHAPTER XII

CROSS PURPOSES

Seth was out haying. It was noon, and his dinner hour. He and his old
collie dog, General, were taking their leisure on the slope of Red Willow
slough, while the horses, relieved of their bits and traces, were nibbling
at the succulent roots of the grass over which the mower had already
passed.

General possessed a sense of duty. His master was apparently sleeping,
with his prairie hat drawn over his face. The dog crouched at his feet,
struggling hard to keep his eyes open, and remain alert while the other
rested from his labors. But the sun was hot, the scent of the grass
overpowering, and it was difficult.

At last the man roused and sat up. The dog sprang to his feet. His ears
were pricked, and he raced off across the slough. As he went, the sound of
wheels became distinctly audible. Rosebud, seated in a buckboard, and
driving the old farm mare, Hesper, appeared on the opposite side of the
slough. She was bringing Seth his dinner.

A moment later the girl drew rein and sprang out of the vehicle. The heat
in no way weighed upon her spirits. She looked as fresh and cool in her
white linen dress and sun-hat as if it were an early spring day. Her
laughing face was in marked contrast to the man's dark, serious
countenance. Her dazzling eyes seemed to be endowed with something of the
brilliancy of the sunlight that was so intensely pouring down upon them.

"Oh, Seth, I'm so sorry!" she cried, in anything but a penitent tone, "but
just as I was starting Wana came up with a note for you, and I'm afraid we
stopped and talked, and you know what a dozy old mare Hesper is, and she
just went slower than ever, and I hadn't the heart to whack her, she's
such a dear, tame old thing, and so I'm ever so late, and I'm afraid your
dinner's all spoiled, and you'll be horribly angry."

But Seth displayed no anger; he only held out his hand.

"An' the note?"

Rosebud thought for a moment. "Whatever did I do with it?" she said,
looking about her on the ground. Seth watched her a little anxiously.

"Who was it from?" he asked.

"Oh, just the old Agent. I don't suppose it was important, but I know I
put it somewhere."

"Guess so."

Seth lifted the dinner-box out of the buckboard. Suddenly Rosebud's face
cleared.

"That's it, Seth. I put it in there. In with the dinner. Oh, and, Seth, I
got Ma to let