ended? He denied his father's indictment of her and accepted
the faith of his sister. "Reckon that's aboot all, as dad says," he
soliloquized. Yet was that all? He paced under the cedars. He watched
the sun set. He listened to the coyotes. He lingered there after the
call for supper; until out of the tumult of his conflicting emotions
and ponderings there evolved the staggering consciousness that he must
see Ellen Jorth again.

CHAPTER IV

Ellen Jorth hurried back into the forest, hotly resentful of the
accident that had thrown her in contact with an Isbel.

Disgust filled her--disgust that she had been amiable to a member of
the hated family that had ruined her father. The surprise of this
meeting did not come to her while she was under the spell of stronger
feeling. She walked under the trees, swiftly, with head erect, looking
straight before her, and every step seemed a relief.

Upon reaching camp, her attention was distracted from herself. Pepe,
the Mexican boy, with the two shepherd dogs, was trying to drive sheep
into a closer bunch to save the lambs from coyotes. Ellen loved the
fleecy, tottering little lambs, and at this season she hated all the
prowling beast of the forest. From this time on for weeks the flock
would be besieged by wolves, lions, bears, the last of which were often
bold and dangerous. The old grizzlies that killed the ewes to eat only
the milk-bags were particularly dreaded by Ellen. She was a good shot
with a rifle, but had orders from her father to let the bears alone.
Fortunately, such sheep-killing bears were but few, and were left to be
hunted by men from the ranch. Mexican sheep herders could not be
depended upon to protect their flocks from bears. Ellen helped Pepe
drive in the stragglers, and she took several shots at coyotes skulking
along the edge of the brush. The open glade in the forest was
favorable for herding the sheep at night, and the dogs could be
depended upon to guard the flock, and in most cases to drive predatory
beasts away.

After this task, which brought the time to sunset, Ellen had supper to
cook and eat. Darkness came, and a cool night wind set in. Here and
there a lamb bleated plaintively. With her work done for the day,
Ellen sat before a ruddy camp fire, and found her thoughts again
centering around the singular adventure that had befallen her.
Disdainfully she strove to think of something else. But there was
nothing that could dispel