'm cooking our dinner, you see," she explained. "To keep good men, I
figure that they must be well cared for. When my father ran this
freight outfit our skinners cooked for themselves, and often were
obliged to eat cold lunches. When they did cook, there was no time for
anything better than fried steak, or fried ham, or fried bacon and
eggs. One grows terribly tired of fried things, and, besides, they're
not good for the digestion.

"I've resolved that on this job we're going to live like people who are
permanently situated. That chest there is a fireless cooker. My own
scheme. In it now vegetables and a beef roast are cooking, and they'll
be ready by noon. I mean to make biscuits and bread and cakes and pies
in my oil-stove oven, which is a dandy. I can arrange to do all that
on the smoothest portions of the road. I'll roll my biscuit dough soon
now, and when we camp there'll be fresh, hot biscuits, roast beef with
brown gravy, and steamed vegetables all ready for us. What do you
think of my scheme, Hiram?"

Hiram knew nothing of the advantages of a fireless cooker, but he did
know that food such as she had spoken of was unheard of on a freighting
trip, and told her so.

"Besides," she added, "I have bought some large thermos bottles, and no
matter how hot the desert is we'll always have cold water to drink.
Every night it will get almost ice cold in this country, you know; and
if we bottle it early in the morning it will remain cold all day."

Hiram was looking at the typewriter. "This is my office and study,"
said the girl. "My foster father's recent death called me from a
preparatory school back in the Middle West, just when I was getting
along so well toward gaining an education. I decided not to give up.
I am taking two correspondence courses, and mean to continue my studies
here in my wagon. Also I am learning stenography and touch-typewriting.

"At first I thought I'd open an office at Julia or the rag town that
will spring up soon, and not drive a team myself. Then it occurred to
me that I could save money by driving a team, and could continue my
studies and attend to my business affairs while on the road. With
well-trained teams, like we have, a freight skinner has hours and hours
on the road when he has nothing to do but loll on his seat and smoke.
As I don't smoke, I mean to improve the time with study. Don't you
think I'm a wonderful schemer, Hiram?"

Hiram nodded, and thoughts of pi