he went back to her father. He was sleeping heavily. She glanced at his
watch lying upon the table beside the chloral bottle. One o'clock! She
wondered whether the "store" would be open. She should hate to go to a
saloon. But then, that was no matter. If her father needed a stimulant
he must have it. She dressed herself quickly, and put her purse and the
brandy-flask into her pocket. Then she hurried to the shed, where she
saddled the bronco. Her father had once told her that she would have
made a first-rate cowboy. Well, now was her chance to prove it.

The collies, who had taken refuge from the wind on the south side of the
shed, came trotting in at the open door, and assembled, a curious little
shadowy group, about her. But they soon dropped off to sleep, and when
she led the bronco out and closed the door upon them, a feeble wag of a
tail or two was all the evidence of interest they gave.

She twisted the bridle round a post and slipped into the house for one
more look at her patient. He was sleeping profoundly. She placed the
lamp upon the floor in a corner, so that the bed was in shadow. Then she
came back to the bedside and watched the sleeper again for a moment. She
touched his forehead and found it damp and cool. The fever was past.
Perhaps he was right; there was no need of a doctor--it was nothing
serious. Perhaps the stuff in that little bottle had done something
queer to him. A stimulant was all he needed. But he needed that, for his
face was pitifully pallid and drawn.

A moment later the bronco was bearing her swiftly through the night, his
hoof-falls echoing in a dull rhythm. The wind still came in gusts,
blowing straight into her face, but it was warm and pleasant. When she
had passed through the gate of the ranch the road went between wire
fences, straight north to Cameron City. Now and then a group of horses,
roused, perhaps, by her approach, stood with their heads over the fence
watching her pass, while the wind stretched their manes and tails out
straight to one side. She wished she could stop and make friends with
them, but there was no time for that. Her father might wake up and call
for her. So on they sped, she and the bronco, waking the cattle on
either side of the road, startling more than one prowling coyote,
invisible to them, causing more than one prairie-dog, snug in his hole,
to fancy it must be morning. And the great night, encompassing the
world, gleaming in the heavens, brooding upon