l's white draperies were picturesque anywhere. In
this dramatic setting they were startlingly beautiful, and her face,
outlined in the dim light, was a thing rare to see. I could not hear her
words, but her soft Hopi voice had a tender tone.

I was waiting to let them pass in when I heard Beverly's voice, and I
saw him bend over the little maiden, and, putting one arm around her, he
drew her close to him and kissed her forehead. I knew it was a brother's
sympathetic act--and all men know how dangerous a thing that is; that
there are no ties binding brother to sister except the bonds of kindred
blood. The girl slipped inside the dining-room door, and a minute later
a candle flickered behind her bedroom window-blind in the gable of the
house. I waited for Beverly to go, determined never to mention what I
had seen, when I caught the clear low voice whose tones could make my
pulse thresh in its walls.

"Beverly, Beverly, it breaks my heart--" I lost the remainder of the
sentence, but Beverly's words were clear and direct and full of a frank
surprise.

"Eloise, do you really care?"

I turned away quickly that I might not hear any more. The rest of that
night I sat wide awake and staring at the misty valley of the Kaw, where
silvery ripples flashed up here and there against the shadowy sand-bars.

* * * * *

The steamboat for St. Louis left the Westport Landing wharf at six
o'clock in the morning, before the mists had lifted over the big yellow
Missouri. From our bluff I saw the smoke belch from its stacks as it
pulled away and started down-stream; but only Uncle Esmond and Jondo
waited to wave good-by to the sweet-faced girl looking back at them from
its deck. Beverly had overslept, and Little Blue Flower had left an hour
earlier with a wagon-train starting west toward Council Grove. In her
room lay the white Grecian robe and the headband of wrought silver with
coral pendants. On the little white pin-cushion on the dressing-table
the bright pin-heads spelled out one Hopi word that carries all good
will and blessing,

LOLOMI.

Twenty-four hours later Rex Krane left his bride, and he and Bill Banney
and Beverly and I, under command of Jondo, started on our long trip
overland to Santa Fe. And two of us carried some memories we hoped to
lose when new scenes and certain perils should surround us.

XI

"OUR FRIENDS--THE ENEMY"

And you all know security
Is mortal's chiefest