not
quarrel. What'll we do?"

"Suppose you tramp with me all around, until I'm good and hungry. Then
we'll come back here--and you can cook dinner for me."

"Fine! Oh, I know you're just bursting with curiosity to see how I'll do
it. Well, you may be surprised, miss."

"Let's go," she urged.

"Shall I take my gun or fishing rod?"

"You shall take nothing but me," retorted Carley. "What chance has a
girl with a man, if he can hunt or fish?"

So they went out hand in hand. Half of the belt of sky above was
obscured by swiftly moving gray clouds. The other half was blue and was
being slowly encroached upon by the dark storm-like pall. How cold
the air! Carley had already learned that when the sun was hidden the
atmosphere was cold. Glenn led her down a trail to the brook, where
he calmly picked her up in his arms, quite easily, it appeared, and
leisurely packed her across, kissing her half a dozen times before he
deposited her on her feet.

"Glenn, you do this sort of thing so well that it makes me imagine you
have practice now and then," she said.

"No. But you are pretty and sweet, and like the girl you were four years
ago. That takes me back to those days."

"I thank you. That's dear of you. I think I am something of a cat....
I'll be glad if this walk leads us often to the creek."

Spring might have been fresh and keen in the air, but it had not yet
brought much green to the brown earth or to the trees. The cotton-woods
showed a light feathery verdure. The long grass was a bleached white,
and low down close to the sod fresh tiny green blades showed. The great
fern leaves were sear and ragged, and they rustled in the breeze. Small
gray sheath-barked trees with clumpy foliage and snags of dead branches,
Glenn called cedars; and, grotesque as these were, Carley rather liked
them. They were approachable, not majestic and lofty like the pines, and
they smelled sweetly wild, and best of all they afforded some protection
from the bitter wind. Carley rested better than she walked. The huge
sections of red rock that had tumbled from above also interested Carley,
especially when the sun happened to come out for a few moments and
brought out their color. She enjoyed walking on the fallen pines, with
Glenn below, keeping pace with her and holding her hand. Carley looked
in vain for flowers and birds. The only living things she saw were
rainbow trout that Glenn pointed out to her in the beautiful clear
pools. The way t