rded blanket roll
from which he himself had arisen. "I will get you some breakfast," he
added.

"No, no," Mr. Ellsworth declined courteously. "We just came from
breakfast. We were moving around trying to find our engineer's camp;
Grayson, our chief of location, was to have been here before this. By
the way, how did you happen to come down here, after all, Anderson?"

Dan Anderson was conscious that this question drew upon him the gaze of a
pair of searching eyes, yet none the less he met the issue. He glanced
at the battered phonograph which leaned dejectedly against a tree.

"As near as I can figure," said he, "I made this pilgrimage to hear a
woman's voice." Saying which he leaned over and deliberately kicked the
phonograph down the side of the hill.

"I hope you enjoyed it," commented Constance, viciously, her cheeks
reddening.

"Very much," replied Dan Anderson, calmly, and he looked squarely at her.

Porter Barkley, quiet and alert, once more saw the glance which passed
between these two. Into his mind, ever bent upon the business phase of
any problem, there flashed a swift conviction. This was the girl! Here,
miraculously at hand, was the girl whom Dan Anderson had known back in
the East, the girl who had sent him West, perhaps the same girl to whom
her father had referred! If so, there was certainly a solution for the
riddle of Heart's Desire. Piqued as he was, his heart exulted. For the
time his own jealousy must be suppressed. His accounting with Dan
Anderson on this phase of the matter would come later; meanwhile he must
handle the situation carefully--literally for what it is worth.

"As I was saying," continued Dan Anderson, "what's a breakfast or two
among friends?"

"If it is among friends," replied Ellsworth, "and if you'll remember
that, we'll eat with you."

In answer Dan Anderson began to kick together the embers of the fire and
to busy himself with dishes. He was resolved to humiliate himself before
this girl, to show her how absolutely unfit was the life of this land for
such as herself.

Suddenly he stopped and listened, as there came to his ear the distant
thin report of a rifle. Ellsworth looked inquiringly at his host.

"That's my friend, Tom Osby," explained Dan Anderson, "He went out after
a deer. Tom and I came down together from the town."

"I presume you do have some sort of friends in here," began Barkley,
patronizingly.

"I have never found any in the world