ent to her as she walked along. Meantime her guide was not
conversationally idle. Now, no doubt, she had never seen anything like
this before? It was ordinary wheat, only it was grown on adobe soil--the
richest in the valley. These stalks, she could see herself, were ten and
twelve feet high. That was the trouble, they all ran too much to stalk,
though the grain yield was "suthen' pow'ful." She could tell that to
her friends, for he reckoned she was the only young lady that had ever
walked under such a growth. Perhaps she was new to Californy? He thought
so from the start. Well, this was Californy, and this was not the least
of the ways it could "lay over" every other country on God's yearth.
Many folks thought it was the gold and the climate, but she could see
for herself what it could do with wheat. He wondered if her brother had
ever told, her of it? No, the stranger wasn't her brother. Nor cousin,
nor company? No; only the hired driver from a San Jose hotel, who was
takin' her over to Major Randolph's. Yes, he knew the old major; the
ranch was a pretty place, nigh unto three miles further on. Now that he
knew the driver was no relation of hers he didn't mind telling her that
the buggy was a "rather old consarn," and the driver didn't know his
business. Yes, it might be fixed up so as to take her over to the
major's; there was one of their own men--a young fellow--who could do
anything that COULD be done with wood and iron,--a reg'lar genius!--and
HE'D tackle it. It might take an hour, but she'd find it quite cool
waiting in the shanty. It was a rough place, for they only camped out
there during the season to look after the crop, and lived at their own
homes the rest of the time. Was she going to stay long at the major's?
He noticed she had not brought her trunk with her. Had she known the
major's wife long? Perhaps she thought of settling in the neighborhood?

All this naive, good-humored questioning--so often cruelly misunderstood
as mere vulgar curiosity, but as often the courteous instinct of simple
unaffected people to entertain the stranger by inviting him to talk of
what concerns himself rather than their own selves--was nevertheless,
I fear, met only by monosyllables from the young lady or an impatient
question in return. She scarcely raised her eyes to the broad
jean-shirted back that preceded her through the grain until the
man abruptly ceased talking, and his manner, without losing its
half-paternal courtes