e the wall of a temple.

"Oh, let's take a run up that hill," Elsie said, with sudden change of
tone. "Come!" and, giving Curtis no time to protest, she scuttled away,
swift as a partridge. He followed her, calling:

"Wait a moment, please!"

When he overtook her at the foot of the first incline she was
breathless, but her eyes were joyous as a child's and her cheeks were
glowing.

"Let me help you," he said; "and if you slip, don't put your hand on the
ground; that is the way men get snake-bitten."

"Snakes!" She stopped short. "I forgot--are there rattlesnakes here?"

"There is always danger on the sunny side of these buttes at this time
of the year, especially where the rocks crop out."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't give me time."

"Do you really think there is danger?"

"Not if you walk slowly and follow me; I'll draw their poison. After
they bite me they'll have no virus left for you."

She began to smile roguishly. "You are tired--you want an excuse to
rest."

"If I thought you meant that, I'd run up to the summit and back again to
show you that I'm younger than my years."

She clapped her hands. "Do it! It will be like the knight in the
story--the glove-and-lion story."

"No. On reflection, I will not run; it would compromise my dignity. We
will climb soberly, side by side, like Darby and Joan on the hill of
life."

With a demure countenance she took his hand, and they scrambled briskly
up the slope. When they reached the brow of the hill she was fairly done
up, while he, breathing easily, showed little fatigue, although she had
felt his powerful arm sustaining her many times on the steeper slopes.
She could not speak, and he smilingly said, "I hope I haven't hurried
you?"

"You--are--strong," she admitted, brokenly. "I'm not tired, but I can't
get breath."

At length they reached the summit and looked about. "What is the meaning
of those little towers of stone?" she asked, after a moment's rest.

"Oh, they have different meanings. Sometimes they locate the springs of
water, sometimes they indicate the course of a trail. This one was put
here by a young fellow to mark the spot from whence he saw a famous herd
of buffalo--what time he made a wonderful killing."

"I suppose all this land has been the hunting-ground of these people for
ages. Do you suppose they had names for hills like this, and were fond
of them like white people?"

"Certainly. They had a geography of their own