it. There isn't a reason on earth why I should be served so
scurvy a trick as to miss it, and I never will believe that I shall----"

"David," interrupted the Girl, "go on talking and don't move a muscle,
just reach over presently and fix the fire or something, and then turn
naturally and look at the window beside your door."

"Shall miss it," said the Harvester steadily. "That would be too
unmerciful. What do you see, Ruth?"

"A face. If I am not greatly mistaken, it is my Uncle Henry and he
appears like a perfect fiend. Oh David, I am afraid!"

"Be quiet and don't look," said the Harvester.

He turned and tossed a piece of bark on the fire. Then he reached for
the poker, pushed it down and stirred the coals. He arose as he worked.

"Rise slowly and quietly and go to your room. Stay there until I call
you."

With the Girl out of the way, the Harvester pottered over the fire, and
when the flame leaped he lifted a stick of wood, hesitated as if it were
too small, and laying it down, started to bring a larger one. In the
dining-room he caught a small stick from the wood box, softly stepped
from the door, and ran around the house. But he awakened Belshazzar on
the kitchen floor, and the dog barked and ran after him. By the time the
Harvester reached the corner of his room the man leaped upon a horse and
went racing down the drive. The Harvester flung the stick of wood, but
missed the man and hit the horse. The dog sprang past the Harvester and
vanished. There was the sound and flash of a revolver, and the rattle
of the bridge as the horse crossed it. The dog came back unharmed. The
Harvester ran to the telephone, called the Onabasha police, and asked
them to send a mounted man to meet the intruder before he could reach a
cross road; but they were too slow and missed him. However, the Girl was
certain she had recognized her uncle, and was extremely nervous; but the
Harvester only laughed and told her it was a trip made out of curiosity.
Her uncle wanted to see if he could learn if she were well and happy,
and he finally convinced her that this was the case, although he was not
very sanguine himself.

For the next three days the Harvester worked in the woods and he kept
the Girl with him every minute. By the end of that time he really had
persuaded himself that it was merely curiosity. So through the cooling
fall days they worked together. They were very happy. Before her
wondering eyes the Harvester hung queer branc