t her then. It was not that
he could not bear to look, but that he could not bear the disillusion
sure to follow his first glimpse of this adopted daughter of Belllounds.
Sweet to delude himself! Ah! the years were bearing sterner upon his
head! The old dreams persisted, sadder now for the fact that from long
use they had become half-realities! Wade shuffled slowly across the
green square to where the cowboy waited for him. His eyes were dim, and
a sickness attended the sinking of his heart.

"Wade, I ain't a bettin' fellar, but I'll bet Old Bill took you up,"
vouchsafed Billings, with interest.

"Glad to say he did," replied Wade. "You're to show me the new cabin
where I'm to bunk."

"Come along," said Lem, leading off. "Air you agoin' to handle stock or
chase coyotes?"

"My job's huntin'."

"Wal, it may be thet from sunup to sundown, but between times you'll be
sure busy otherwise, I opine," went on Lem. "Did you meet the
boss's son?"

"Yes, he was there. An' Belllounds made it plain I was to take orders
from him an' not from his son."

"Thet'll make your job a million times easier," declared Lem, as if to
make up for former hasty pessimism. He led the way past some log cabins,
and sheds with dirt roofs, and low, flat-topped barns, out across
another brook where willow-trees were turning yellow. Then the new cabin
came into view. It was small, with one door and one window, and a porch
across the front. It stood on a small elevation, near the swift brook,
and overlooking the ranch-house perhaps a quarter of a mile below. Above
it, and across the brook, had been built a high fence constructed of
aspen poles laced closely together. The sounds therefrom proclaimed this
stockade to be the dog-pen.

Lem helped Wade unpack and carry his outfit into the cabin. It contained
one room, the corner of which was filled with blocks and slabs of pine,
evidently left there after the construction of the cabin, and meant for
fire-wood. The ample size of the stone fireplace attested to the
severity of the winters.

"Real sawed boards on the floor!" exclaimed Lem, meaning to impress the
new-comer. "I call this a plumb good bunk."

"Much too good for me," replied Wade.

"Wal, I'll look after your hosses," said Lem. "I reckon you'll fix up
your bunk. Take my hunch an' ask Miss Collie to find you some furniture
an' sich like. She's Ole Bill's daughter, an' she makes up
fer--fer--wal, fer a lot we hev to stand. I'll fetch the b