tions and from almost every state in
the Union--a shout as of triumph over the fulfillment of a ten-years'
dream. And, leaning forward on his pony, he was one of the army of
conquest that burst upon the desert, on foot, on horseback, and in
vehicles of every description, in the mad rush for homes in a land that
had never known the incense of the hearth or the civilizing touch of
the plow.

At noon, a wilderness, at night, a land of tents, and on the morrow, a
settled country of furrowed fields. "Pioneer work is awful quick,
nowadays!" grumbled Bill Atkins, as Brick concluded. "It wasn't so in
my time. Up there in the Oklahoma country, fifty years have been
squeezed into a week's time--it's like a magician making a seed grow
and sprout and blossom right before the audience. Lucky I came to
Greer County, Texas--I don't guess IT'LL ever be anything but sand and
a blow."

"It's a great story," Brick declared with enthusiasm. "I reckon it's
the greatest story that America can put out, in the pioneering line.
There they had everything in twenty-four hours that used to wear out
our ancestors: Injuns, unbroken land, no sign of life for hundreds of
miles--and just a turn of the hand and cities is a-coming up out of the
ground, and saloons and churches is rubbing shoulders, and there's talk
of getting out newspapers. What do you think of it, honey?"

Lahoma was sitting in grave silence, her hands clasped in her lap. She
turned slowly and looked at Willock. "Brick, I'm disappointed."

"Which?" asked Willock, somewhat taken aback. "Where?"

"In him--in Wilfred."

"As how so?"

"Going into that wilderness-life, instead of taking his place in the
world!"

"Well, honey if he hadn't come to THIS wilderness, you'd never of saw
him."

"Yes--but he wasn't settled, and now he's settled in it. Is that the
way to be a man? There's all those other people to do the thing he's
doing. Then what's the use of him?"

"Ain't we in the same box?"

"Yes, and that's why I mean to get out of it, some day. But it's
different with him. He's chosen his box, and gone in, and shut the lid
on himself! I'm disappointed in him. I've been thinking him a real
man. I guess I'm still to see what I'm looking for," added Lahoma,
shaking her head.

"We'll let it go at that," muttered Bill who was anxious to turn
Lahoma's mind from thoughts of Wilfred. "We'll just go ahead and look
for new prospects."

"Not till I make a remark," sa