snorted his sense of the grass and water far below. And she
knew that when she climbed there again to the wide outlook she would be
another woman.

"Nell, come on," said Dale, as he led on. "It's better to look up."

The sun had just sunk behind the ragged fringe of mountain-rim when
those three strong and efficient men of the open had pitched camp and
had prepared a bountiful supper. Then Roy Beeman took out the little
worn Bible which Helen had given him to use when he married Bo, and as
he opened it a light changed his dark face.

"Come, Helen an' Dale," he said.

They arose to stand before him. And he married them there under the
great, stately pines, with the fragrant blue smoke curling upward, and
the wind singing through the branches, while the waterfall murmured its
low, soft, dreamy music, and from the dark slope came the wild, lonely
cry of a wolf, full of the hunger for life and a mate.

"Let us pray," said Roy, as he closed the Bible, and knelt with them.

"There is only one God, an' Him I beseech in my humble office for the
woman an' man I have just wedded in holy bonds. Bless them an' watch
them an' keep them through all the comin' years. Bless the sons of
this strong man of the woods an' make them like him, with love an'
understandin' of the source from which life comes. Bless the daughters
of this woman an' send with them more of her love an' soul, which must
be the softenin' an' the salvation of the hard West. O Lord, blaze the
dim, dark trail for them through the unknown forest of life! O Lord,
lead the way across the naked range of the future no mortal knows! We
ask in Thy name! Amen."

When the preacher stood up again and raised the couple from their
kneeling posture, it seemed that a grave and solemn personage had left
him. This young man was again the dark-faced, clear-eyed Roy, droll and
dry, with the enigmatic smile on his lips.

"Mrs. Dale," he said, taking her hands, "I wish you joy.... An' now,
after this here, my crownin' service in your behalf--I reckon I'll claim
a reward."

Then he kissed her. Bo came next with her warm and loving felicitations,
and the cowboy, with characteristic action, also made at Helen.

"Nell, shore it's the only chance I'll ever have to kiss you," he
drawled. "Because when this heah big Indian once finds out what kissin'
is--!"

Las Vegas then proved how swift and hearty he could be upon occasions.
All this left Helen red and confused and unutterably