cakes and desiccated fruits among the more solid viands on the snowy
tablecloth. Geoffrey found it difficult to refrain from glancing
wolfishly at the good things until his eyes rested upon Miss Savine,
and then it cost him an effort to turn them away. Helen reclined on an
ox-hide lounge. An early rose rested among the glossy clusters of her
thick, dark hair. A faint tinge of crimson showed through the pale
olive in her cheek, and he caught the glimmer of pearly teeth between
the ripe red lips. In her presence he grew painfully conscious that he
was ragged, toil-stained and dusty, though he had made the best toilet
he could beside a stream.

"I have removed the rock, and have brought the tools back," he said.

"How much did the explosives cost you?" asked Helen, and Geoffrey
smiled.

"If you will excuse me, is not that beside the question? I engaged to
remove the boulder, and I have done it," he answered.

Ever since her mother's death, Helen Savine had ruled her father and
most of the men with whom she came in contact. She had come to the
ranch with Mr. Savine, who was interested in many enterprises in the
neighborhood and she was prepared to be interested in whatever
occurred. Few of her wishes ever had been thwarted, so, naturally, she
was conscious of a faint displeasure that a disheveled wanderer should
even respectfully slight her question. Placing two silver coins on the
table, the said coldly:

"Then here are your covenanted wages, and we are obliged to you."

Geoffrey handed one of the coins back with a slight inclination of his
head. "Our bargain was one dollar, madam, and I cannot take more.
Perhaps you have forgotten," he replied.

Helen was distinctly annoyed now. The color grew a little warmer in
her cheek and her eyes brighter, but she uttered only a "Thank you,"
and took up the piece of silver.

Jean Graham, prompted by the Westerner's generous hospitality, and a
feeling that she had been overlooked, spoke:

"You have earned a square meal any way, and you're going to get it,"
she declared. "Sit right down there and we'll have supper when the
boys come in."

Uneasily conscious that Helen was watching him, Thurston cast a swift
hungry glance at the food. Then, remembering his frayed and tattered
garments and the hole in his boot, he answered: "I thank you, but as I
must be well on my way to-morrow I cannot stay."

"Then you'll take these along, and eat them when it suits you," s