selection of materials, and in the many subtle
touches that give distinction even to the plainest apparel, she
showed her awakening. To help her in this, there was Aunt Mollie
and a good ladies' magazine, which came to her regularly, through
the kindness of her teacher.

Sammy's father, too, came unconsciously under the shepherd's
influence. As his daughter grew, the man responded to the change
in her, as he always responded to her every thought and mood. He
talked often now of the old home in the south land, and sometimes
fell into the speech of other days, dropping, for a moment, the
rougher expressions of his associates. But all this was to Sammy
alone. To the world, there was no change in Jim, and he still went
on his long rides with Wash Gibbs. By fall, the place was fixed up
a bit; the fence was rebuilt, the yard trimmed, and another room
added to the cabin.

So the days slipped away over the wood fringed ridges. The soft
green of tree, and of bush, and grassy slope changed to brilliant
gold, and crimson, and russet brown, while the gray blue haze that
hangs always over the hollows took on a purple tone. Then in turn
this purple changed to a deeper, colder blue, when the leaves had
fallen, and the trees showed naked against the winter sky.

With the cold weather, the lessons were continued in the Lane
cabin on the southern slope of Dewey. All day, while the shepherd
was busy at the ranch, Sammy pored over her books; and every
evening the old scholar climbed the hill to direct the work of his
pupil, with long Jim sitting, silent and grim, by the fireside,
listening to the talk, and seeing who knows what visions of the
long ago in the dancing flame.

And so the winter passed, and the spring came again; came, with
its soft beauty of tender green; its wealth of blossoms, and sweet
fragrance of growing things. Then came the summer; that terrible
summer, when all the promises of spring were broken; when no rain
fell for weary months, and the settlers, in the total failure of
their crops, faced certain ruin.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE DROUGHT.

It began to be serious by the time corn was waist high. When the
growing grain lost its rich color and the long blades rustled
dryly in the hot air, the settlers looked anxiously for signs of
coming rain. The one topic of conversation at the mill was the
condition of the crops. The stories were all of past drought or
tales of hardship and want.

The moon changed an