and although his
way of showing it was more than open to criticism, it was true he loved
her with a deep, strong affection.

Foss River was far too sleepy to bother about these comings and goings.
Lablache, alone, of the sleepy hamlet, eyed the evening journeys with
suspicion. But even he was unable to fathom their object, and was forced
to set them down, his whole being consumed with jealousy the while, to
lovers' wanderings. However, these nightly rides were taken with
purpose. After galloping across the prairie in various directions they
always, as darkness crept on, terminated at a certain spot--the clump of
willows and reeds at which the secret path across the great keg began.

The sun was well down below the distant mountain peaks when Jacky and
her lover reached the scrubby bush of willows and reeds upon the evening
before the day of the sale of Bill's ranch. As they drew up their
panting horses, and dismounted, the evening twilight was deepening over
the vast expanse of the mire.

The girl stood at the brink of the bottomless caldron of viscid muck and
gazed out across the deadly plain. Bill stood still beside her, watching
her face with eager, hungry eyes.

"Well?" he said at last, as his impatience forced itself to his lips.

"Yes, Bill," the girl answered slowly, as one balancing her decision
well before giving judgment, "the path has widened. The rain has kept
off long enough, and the sun has done his best for us. It is a good
omen. Follow me."

She linked her arm through the reins of her horse's bridle, and leading
the faithful animal, stepped fearlessly out on to the muskeg. As she
trod the rotten crust she took a zigzag direction from one side of the
secret path to the other. That which, in early spring, had scarcely been
six feet in width, would now have borne ten horsemen abreast. Presently
she turned back. "We need go no further, Bill; what is safe here
continues safe across the keg. It will widen in places, but in no place
will the path grow narrower."

"But tell me," said the man, anxious to assure himself that no detail
was forgotten, "what about the trail of our footprints?"

The girl laughed. Then indenting the ground with her shapely boot until
the moisture below oozed into the imprint, she looked up into the lazy
face before her.

"See--we wait for one minute, and you shall see the result."

They waited in silence in the growing darkness. The night insects and
mosquitoes buzzed aroun