re was any of those
home-stuff places left except in the movies. I never was much stuck on
home, so you needn't be afraid to call it 'jail' for fear of hurting my
feelings."

"You can't work on my sympathy that way," he said coldly.

"Dear me!" she replied with a silly, little giggle. "I gave up trying to
work the sympathy racket long ago. Everyone's too smart nowadays. Honest,
I've no longings for home. I feel sorry for anyone who's tied down to one.
Why don't you kick over the traces and come off your trail and see what's
on the other side of your hills? I'd hate to take root here. Say, Mr.
Sheriff Man, you look a good sort, even if you have played you were deaf
and dumb for the whole of this awful ride. Let's sidetrack the trail and
go--home--by moonlight."

His eyes remained rigid and relentless, but there was a slight twitching
of his strongest feature, the wide, mobile mouth.

He looked at his watch.

"We can wait for a few minutes," he said in a matter of fact voice.

"Please, may I get out and stretch?" she asked pleadingly.

Taking silence for consent, she climbed out of the car.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked, as he poured some water from an
improvised Thermos bottle into a traveling cup.

"Thanks for those first kind words," she exclaimed, taking the cup from
him and drinking eagerly.

"Why didn't you say you were thirsty?" he asked in a resentful tone,
without looking at her. He had, in fact, studiously refrained from looking
at her throughout the journey.

"I'm not used to asking for anything," she answered with a chuckle. "I
take what comes my way. 'Taking' is your job, too, isn't it?"

"To hell with my job!" he broke out fiercely. "I'd never have taken it if
I knew it meant this."

"It's your own fault," she retorted. "It wouldn't have been 'this' if you
hadn't been so grouchy. We could have had a chummy little gabfest, if you
hadn't been bunging holes in the landscape with your lamps all the way."

He made no response but began to examine the workings of his car.

"Does the county furnish it to you?" she asked. "It doesn't seem as if
you'd pick out anything like this. Was it 'Made in America?' Funny outfit
for a cowboy country, anyway."

"Get in," he commanded curtly. "We must be away."

"Oh, please, not yet," she implored. "It's so awful hot, and I won't have
all this outdoors for a long time, I suppose. I see there's a tidy little
bit of shade yonder. Let's go there and rest awhil