d in the act there
was something simple, winning, blithe, as likewise in the swing of her
lissom figure beside his own there was an inimitable jauntiness and
cheer. He divined her eager, ardent spirit; and the closeness of her,
this comradeship, set his blood humming.

Abruptly he halted, laying a finger on her arm.

"I mustn't go the whole way, you know," he said, "though I should like
to. For, by heavens, you've opened my eyes! Didn't realize how
satiated with myself I'd become. But I'll make up for that now, Miss
Ruth, and it won't be very long before you and your friend will be
planning how to rid yourselves of me."

"Just try us and see," she exclaimed.

"Well, I shall. Till to-morrow, then."

"Till to-morrow, yes." She moved forward some paces and wheeled about,
pointing her forefinger at his head and working her thumb.
"Beware--and don't forget!" Then after another advance and face about
she concluded by blowing him a kiss off the palm of her hand, with
which performance she did actually start for home, weaving her way
through the sagebrush and going farther and farther off.

"What a pretty little witch she is!" thought Lee; and he, too, made
his way from the spot.

Dave's hot, harassed face greeted him at the door.

"Where is she? Didn't she come?" he cried, peering about everywhere.
"Well, thank goodness for that! But if that isn't the way with a
girl--and after I'd swept up and made the beds and scraped all the
skillets, too!"

CHAPTER IX

That Sunday afternoon at Sarita Creek! The dinner, so savoury, so
delectable; the two girls, arrayed in cool white lawn, rosy-cheeked,
beaming; the gay talk and banter and laughter; the blissful hours
together on the grass beneath the trees, with the wide mesa diffusing
an immense languor, with the mountains bestowing a vast peace, with
the brook at their feet murmuring an accompaniment to their
words--hours to treasure, hours of pure gold: Little wonder that Dave,
lying full length and gazing upward through the boughs at the blue
vault, allowed his eyelids to sink and at last to close. Little wonder
the girls' faces grew dreamy and their voices gentle. And none, none
at all, that Lee succumbed to the spell.

He was still under the enchantment when toward sunset Ruth suggested
they go up the canon. But Imogene, arousing herself, declared that she
had letters to write; and Dave, still fast asleep, was already on
roamings of his own. Ruth and Lee therefo