ed that she had declined Purdy's invitation. It was not
too late, yet. She could plead a headache, or a slight indisposition.
She knew perfectly well that Endicott had been right and she wrong but,
with the thought, the very feminine perversity of her strengthened her
determination to see the adventure through.

"Men are such fools!" she muttered angrily. "I'll only stay a little
while, of course, but I'm going to that dance if it is the last thing I
ever do--just to show him that--that--" her words trailed into silence
without expressing just what it was she intended to show him.

As the minutes passed the girl's eyes glowed with a spark of hope.
"Maybe," she muttered, "maybe Mr. Purdy has forgotten, or--" the
sentence broke off shortly. Across the flat a rider was approaching
and beside him trotted a lead-horse upon whose back was an empty
saddle. For just an instant she hesitated, then rose from her seat and
walked boldly to the door of the coach.

"Good evenin', mom," the cowboy smiled as he dismounted to assist her
from the steps of the coach.

"Good evening," returned the girl. "But, you needn't to have gone to
the trouble of bringing a horse just to ride that little way."

"'Twasn't no trouble, mom, an' he's woman broke. I figured yeh
wouldn't have no ridin' outfit along so I loant a sideways saddle offen
a friend of mine which his gal usta use before she learnt to ride
straddle. The horse is hern, too, an' gentle as a dog. Here I'll give
yeh a h'ist." The lead-horse nickered softly, and reaching up, the
girl stroked his velvet nose.

"He's woman broke," repeated the cowboy, and as Alice looked up her
eyes strayed past him to the window of the coach where they met
Endicott's steady gaze.

The next moment Purdy was lifting her into the saddle, and without a
backward glance the two rode out across the flat.

The girl was a devoted horsewoman and with the feel of the horse under
her, her spirits revived and she drew in a long breath of the fragrant
night. There was a living tang to the air, soft with the balm of June,
and as they rode side by side the cowboy pointed toward the east where
the sharp edge of the bench cut the rim of the rising moon. Alice
gasped at the beauty of it. The horses stopped and the two watched in
silence until the great red disc rose clear of the clean-cut sky-line.

About the wreck torches flared and the night was torn by the clang and
rattle of gears as the great cra