ess only the cabin of some prospector,
such as she had often heard of. In the second place, night was almost
upon her, and she saw no desirable camping-place, or at least any with
the necessary water at hand.

What harm could come to her? Among Western men, she well knew a woman
is safer than all the law and the police of the settled East can make
her, so she nerved her courage and advanced toward the faint, changing
light.

The cabin was hidden very cunningly. Crouched among the mighty
boulders which earthquakes and storms of some wilder, earlier epoch had
torn away from the side of the crags above, the house was like another
stone, leaning its back to the mountain for support.

When she drew very close she knew that the light which glimmered at the
window must come from an open fire, and the thought of a fire warmed
her very heart. She hallooed, and receiving no answer, fastened the
horses and entered the house. The door swung to behind her, as if of
its own volition it wished to make her close prisoner.

The place consisted of one room, and not a spacious one at that, but
arranged as a shelter, not a home. The cooking, apparently, was done
over the open hearth, for there was no sign of any stove, and,
moreover, on the wall near the fireplace hung several soot-blackened
pans and the inevitable coffee-pot.

There were two bunks built on opposite sides of the room, and in the
middle a table was made of a long section split from the heart of a log
by wedges, apparently, and still rude and undressed, except for the
preliminary smoothing off which had been done with a broad-ax.

The great plank was supported at either end by a roughly constructed
saw-buck. It was very low, and for this reason two fairly square
boulders of comfortable proportions were sufficiently high to serve as
chairs.

For the rest, the furniture was almost too meager to suggest human
habitation, but from nails on the wall there depended a few shirts and
a pair of chaps, as well as a much-battered quirt. But a bucket of
water in a corner suggested cleanliness, and a small, round, highly
polished steel plate, hanging on the wall in lieu of a mirror, further
fortified her decision that the owner of this place must be a man
somewhat particular as to his appearance.

Here she interrupted her observations to build up the fire, which was
flickering down and apparently on the verge of going out. She worked
busily for a few minutes, and a roa