s wearing a panama hat and an
"Oh-I-know-it-all" air. Both dabbed at their hats to the old man; but
Matthews saw them not till they had passed when he stopped and turned
with a look over his shoulder and a grunt. Eleanor had not learned yet
what had happened to the Sheriff; but somehow the old frontiersman's
look gave her a satisfaction. Where a crag jutted out from the face of
the Ridge and some spruce saplings spanned a spring trickling down from
the rocks, Matthews stopped. This was the place! Old rascal! How did
he know? Has age ever been young? Eleanor did not know that he was
looking at her, did not know that her face was wrapped in mystery and
light. Suddenly he placed both hands on her shoulder.

"Eleanor, y'r a magnificent woman! Y' don't mind me callin' y' a
woman?"

It was his highest compliment.

"Y're braver than my wife; an' she's the bravest o' them a'! D' y'
know that my wife came half way round the world t' marry me an' go
penniless to th' Indian Reserve? D' y' know when she found the Indians
sick, d' y' know she went East an' took a full four years' medical
course t' be able to attend them? D' y' know she goes all over the
Reserve day an' night an' for three hundred miles among th' settlers to
attend th' sick? But duty with us is easy. We're rich. Duty brought
us together! Duty's goin' t' push y' apart; an' y're not complainin'."

Eleanor could not answer. What was there to say? They went on up the
Ridge Trail, Matthews still talking to let her think her own thoughts.
There was the story of the last great buffalo hunt at Battleford; of
his first buffalo hunt when he had broken away from the other hunters
in his early boyhood days and the buffalo bull had got him down in a
crack of the earth under its feet. And there was the story of his
first Synod Meeting, "when A came all wild an' woolley out o' the West!
My five brithers were there; they were a' preachers! One is the
bishop! Oh, A guess they were on needles an' pins for fear o' what A'd
do! A'd been in the West so long, A didn't know enough not to go
shirtsleeves down the streets o' Montreal! Well, been a hot day!
'Twas an evenin' meetin'! All the missionaries to th' Indians were
givin' experiences. One got up an' he wanted th' _dear sisters_ to
raise a little money to build a fence; a fence, y' understand? An'
another got up an' wanted th' _dear sisters_ t' have a sewin' bee,
gossip buzz, A call 'em, to raise a little