f filling her pocket. For to those who have learned to
like it, jerked venison is quite as desirable as milk chocolate or any
other nibbly tid-bit.

The opposite wall had sacks of flour stacked against it, and boxes of
staple canned goods, such as corn and tomatoes and milk and peaches. A
box of canned peaches stood at the head of the bed, and upon that a
case of tomatoes. Ward used them for a table and set the lantern there
when he wanted to read in bed. "He's got a pretty good supply of
grub," was the verdict of Billy Louise, sizing up the assortment while
she nibbled at the piece of jerky. "I wonder where he is, anyway?"
And a moment later: "He oughtn't to hang his best clothes up like that;
they'll be all wrinkled when he wants to put them on."

She went over and disposed of the best clothes to her liking, and shook
out the dust. She had to own to herself that for a bachelor Ward was
very orderly, though he did let his trousers hang down over the
flour-sacks in a way to whiten their hems. She hung them in a
different place.

But where was Ward? Billy Louise bethought her that Blue deserved
something to eat after that hard ride, and led him down to the stable.
There was no sign of Rattler, and Billy Louise wondered anew at Ward's
absence. It did not seem consistent with his haste to leave the
Wolverine and his frequent assertion that he must get to work. From
the stable door she could look over practically the whole creek-bottom
within his fence, and she could see the broad sweep of the hills on
either side. On her way back to the cabin, she tried to track Rattler,
but there were several stock-trails leading in different directions,
and the soil was too dry to leave any distinguishing marks.

She waited for an hour or two, sitting in the door-way, nibbling jerky
and trying to read a magazine. Then she found a stub of pencil, tore
out an advertising page which had a wide margin, wrote: "I don't think
you're a bit nice. Why don't you stay home when a fellow comes to see
you?" This she folded neatly and put in the cigar-box of tobacco over
Ward's pillow. It never once occurred to her that Ward, when he found
the note, would believe she had placed it there the day before, and
would never guess by its text that she had made a second trip to his
claim.

She resaddled Blue and rode away more depressed than ever, because her
depression was now mixed with a disappointment keener than she would
have cared