t of beauty, the
splendid fling of head, and the piquant, finely cut features, with their
unconscious tale of Brahmin caste, the long lines of the supple body,
willowy and yet plump as a partridge--they went to his head like strong
wine. Here was an adventure from the gods--a stubborn will to bend, the
pride of a haughty young beauty to trail in the dust, her untamed heart
to break if need be. The lust of the battle was on him already. She was
a woman to dream about,

"Sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath,"

he told himself exultantly as he slid from his horse and stood bowing
before her.

And he, for his part, was a taking enough picture of devil-may-care
gallantry gone to seed. The touch of jaunty impudence in his humility,
not less than the daring admiration of his handsome eyes and the easy,
sinuous grace of his flexed muscles, labeled him what he was--a man bold
and capable to do what he willed, and a villain every inch of him.

Said she, after that first clash of stormy eyes with bold, admiring
ones:

"I am lost--from the Lazy D ranch."

"Why, no, you're found," he corrected, white teeth flashing in a smile.

"My motor ran out of gasolene this afternoon. I've been"--there was a
catch in her voice--"wandering ever since."

"You're played out, of course, and y'u've had no supper," he said, his
quiet close gaze on her.

"Yes, I'm played out and my nerve's gone." She laughed a little
hysterically. "I expect I'm hungry and thirsty, too, though I hadn't
noticed it before."

He whirled to his saddle, and had the canteen thongs unloosed in a
moment. While she drank he rummaged from his saddle-bags some sandwiches
of jerky and a flask of whiskey. She ate the sandwiches, he the while
watching her with amused sympathy in his swarthy countenance.

"You ain't half-bad at the chuck-wagon, Miss Messiter," he told her.

She stopped, the sandwich part way to her mouth. "I don't remember your
face. I've met so many people since I came to the Lazy D. Still, I think
I should remember you."

He immediately relieved of duty her quasi apology. "You haven't seen
my face before," he laughed, and, though she puzzled over the double
meaning that seemed to lurk behind his words and amuse him, she could
not find the key to it.

It was too dark to make out his features at all clearly, but she was
sure she had seen him before or somebody that looked very much like him.

"Life on the range ain'