uestions?"

"You'll see when you begin."

Bauer smiled at the other's irresistible grin. He had already made up
his mind to like Clifford tremendously.

"Well, then, I want to know, first, who saved my life when I was
drowning?"

"Why don't you ask Miss Gray?"

"I will, if you can't tell me."

Clifford chuckled softly.

"I don't know why I shouldn't tell you. But do you feel strong enough to
stand a good sized shock?"

"It takes a good deal to shock me," said Bauer gravely, his mind
recurring to his father.

"Of course we haven't encouraged your talking much up to this time, and
you don't strike me as a very rapid fire speaker, not exactly what is
called garrulous, you know. We've been wondering whether you would care
to hear about your little upset in there."

Bauer coloured a little. "I feel somewhat ashamed to think I haven't
asked before--But------"

"Yes, we know. Perfectly. You don't need to say anything. But you feel
pretty strong now, don't you?"

"Yes," said Bauer patiently. "I feel strong enough to know a good many
things about this wonderful place."

"'Tis wonderful, isn't it?" said Clifford, laying his work down on the
log and pointing at the river. "That old stream is one of the queerest
productions God ever made. I'm not criticising it, or saying I could
have done any better. But one day it rares up big enough to drown a pair
of hippopotamuses and the next day a child can dam it up with a piece of
mud, and the dust blows out of the channel so bad that it needs a
sprinkler to settle it. That's the Little Colorado. It will bear
watching."

Clifford picked up his work and seemed to be waiting for Bauer to repeat
his question, but that was not Bauer's way, and Clifford, after glancing
at him sharply, laughed and said:

"You can thank Miss Gray for pulling you out of the river."

"Miss Gray?"

"Yes. We sort of suspicioned that Tracker, that's the teamster you came
up with from Hardy, would try the ford and we went up there that day to
tell him not to go in because a part of the ford ledge had broken off
and we feared he hadn't heard of it. Well, we were too late. You had
driven down the bank and were half way across before we sighted you.
Miss Gray was in the water before you upset. She knew it was bound to
come. I got tangled up with the horses and Tracker------"

"Wait!" said Bauer with more emotion than he could control, "do you mean
to say that Miss Gray and you swam out to us while