er cheeks to free them
to the air; she sat regarding with interested eyes the group of three
standing a few paces off by the horses. In her gaze, too, there was a
faint curiosity, as if she wondered who the persons might be, and what
they were doing here, and of what they had been conversing when
interrupted. An exceedingly lovely girl she was, as the engineer had
instantly perceived; her features molded in soft lines and curves that
enchanted, a tint like that of peach petals in her cheeks, with warm,
sensitive lips and brown, shining eyes--a radiant, intelligent face.
Against the background of the place, the creek bed of sand and stones
and the banks fringed with dusty sagebrush, she glowed with the
freshness of a desert rose.

The driver of the car took a step toward Bryant, extending the bucket.

"Dip me some water out of that hole while I look at my tires, will
you?" he said.

At the words, which were rather more of a command than a request, the
engineer regarded him fixedly while the blood stirred beneath his tan,
but finally took the bucket. The other turned back to the car, where
he made a pretense of inspecting a front wheel and then, with a foot
on the running-board and elbow resting on knee, twisting indolently a
point of his small moustache, he began to converse with his companion
of the blue veil.

Bryant filled the radiator. Two trips to the pool were necessary to
obtain enough water for that purpose, but he finished the job with the
same thoroughness that he went through with any business once
undertaken, whether pleasant or otherwise. As he poured the contents
of the bucket into the radiator's spout, he took stock of the
automobile party. His face hardened with a slight contempt when he
considered the effeminate-appearing young Mexican who had bade him
bring water and the girl talking with him; which she must have noticed
and taken to herself, for when their eyes met he saw that a flush dyed
her cheeks and that she bit her lip nervously.

He snapped the radiator cap shut. At the click the man stopped
fingering his moustache, ended his talk, mounted to his seat, and
started the engine. Bryant handed him the bucket, folded flat again,
which the recipient tossed down by his feet.

"Here, my man," said the olive-skinned young fellow at the wheel, with
a forefinger and thumb searching a waistcoat pocket as the car began
slowly to move forward.

He tossed a quarter to the engineer. Bryant instinctivel