anger who kept his trail apart from his
fellows and whose prosperity was out of proportion with his
opportunities. Why, even Billy Louise herself had been curious over
that prosperity, without being in the slightest degree suspicious.
Other people had not her faith in him; and they were not blind. They
would wonder--

There was no trail that way, and the ridges were steep and the canyons
circuitous. But Blue was a good horse, with plenty of stamina and much
experience. He carried his lady safely, and he carried her willingly.
Even her impatience could find no fault with the manner in which he
climbed steep pitches, slid down slopes as steep, jumped narrow
washouts, and picked his way through thickets of quaking aspens or over
wide stretches of shale rock and lava beds. He was wet to his ears
when finally he shuffled into Ward's trail up the creek bottom; but he
breathed evenly, and he carried his head high and perked his ears
knowingly forward when the corral and haystack came into view around a
sharp bend.. He splashed both front feet into the creek just before
the cabin and stopped to drink while Billy Louise stared at the silent
place.

By the tracks along the creek trail she knew that Ward had come home,
and she urged Blue across the ford and up the bank to the cabin. She
slid off and went in boldly to hide her inward embarrassment--and she
found nothing but emptiness there.

Billy Louise did not take long to investigate. The coffee-pot was
still warm on the stove when she laid her palm against it, and she
immediately poured herself a cup of coffee. A plate and a cup on the
table indicated that Ward had eaten a hurried meal and had not taken
time to clear away the litter. Billy Louise ate what was left, and
mechanically she washed the dishes and made everything neat before she
went down to look for Rattler. She had thought that Ward was out
somewhere about the place and would return very soon, probably. Blue
she had left standing in plain sight before the cabin, so that Ward
would see him and know she was there--a fact which she regretted.

While she was washing dishes and sweeping, she had been trying to think
of some excuse for her presence there. It was going to be awkward, her
coming there on his heels, one might say. She remembered for the first
time her statement that she had to help mommie and so could not take
the time to ride even a mile with him! Being a young person whose
chief amuseme