moment. Had he surmised what
was passing in her mind?

"Seeing that you've got Pete Leddy out of town, I should say that you
were fairly entitled to a whole bed," Jim drawled. "These two Indians
here can make a hustle to get some kind of a litter."

Now she could go. That was her one crying thought: She could go! And
again he came to her rescue with his smiling considerateness.

"You have missed your breakfast, I'll warrant," he said to her. "Please
don't wait. You were so brave and cool about it all, and--I--" A faint
tide of color rose to his cheeks, which had been pale from loss of blood.
For once he seemed unable to find a word.

Mary denied him any assistance in his embarrassment.

"Yes," she answered, almost bluntly. Then she added an excuse: "And you
should have a doctor at once. I will send him."

She did not look at Jack again, but hastened away. When she was over the
bank of the _arroyo_ out of sight she put her fingers to her temples in
strong pressure. That pulse made her think of another, which had been
under her thumb, and she withdrew her fingers quickly.

"It is the sun! I have no hat," she said to herself, "and I didn't
sleep well."

X

MARY EXPLAINS

Dr. Patterson was still asleep when Mary rapped at his door. Having
aroused him to action by calling out that a stranger had been wounded in
the _arroyo_, she did not pause to offer any further details. With her
eyes level and dull, she walked rapidly along the main street where
nobody was yet abroad, her one thought to reach her room uninterrupted.
As she approached the house she saw her father standing on the porch, his
face beaming with the joy of a serenely-lived moment as he had his
morning look at the Eternal Painter's first display for the day. She had
crossed the bridge before he became conscious of her presence.

"Mary! You are up first! Out so early when you went to bed so late!" he
greeted her.

"I did not sleep well," she explained.

"What, Mary, you not sleep well!" All the preoccupation with the
heavens went from his eyes, which swept her from head to foot. "Mary!
Your hand is covered with blood! There is blood on your dress' What
does this mean?"

She looked down and for the first time saw dark red spots on her skirt.
The sight sent a shiver through her, which she mastered before she spoke.

"Oh, nothing--or a good deal, if you put it in another way. A real
sensation for Little Rivers!" she said.

"But you are no