swinging at his hip. "Nell, I'm that absent-minded these days!"

"Dad!" she cried.

"That'll do from you," he replied, in a voice he had never used to her.
"Get breakfast now, then pack to leave Forlorn River."

"Leave Forlorn River!" whispered Nell, with a thin white hand stealing
up to her breast. How changed the girl was! Belding reproached
himself for his hardness, but did not speak his thought aloud. Nell
was fading here, just as Mercedes had faded before the coming of Thorne.

Nell turned away to the west window and looked out across the desert
toward the dim blue peaks in the distance. Belding watched her;
likewise the Gales; and no one spoke. There ensued a long silence.
Belding felt a lump rise in his throat. Nell laid her arm against the
window frame, but gradually it dropped, and she was leaning with her
face against the wood. A low sob broke from her. Elsie Gale went to
her, embraced her, took the drooping head on her shoulder.

"We've come to be such friends," she said. "I believe it'll be good
for you to visit me in the city. Here--all day you look out across
that awful lonely desert.... Come, Nell."

Heavy steps sounded outside on the flagstones, then the door rattled
under a strong knock. Belding opened it. The Chases, father and son,
stood beyond the threshold.

"Good morning, Belding," said the elder Chase. "We were routed out
early by that big blast and came up to see what was wrong. All a
blunder. The Greaser foreman was drunk yesterday, and his ignorant men
made a mistake. Sorry if the blast bothered you."

"Chase, I reckon that's the first of your blasts I was ever glad to
hear," replied Belding, in a way that made Chase look blank.

"So? Well, I'm glad you're glad," he went on, evidently puzzled. "I
was a little worried--you've always been so touchy--we never could get
together. I hurried over, fearing maybe you might think the blast--you
see, Belding--"

"I see this, Mr. Ben Chase," interrupted Belding, in curt and ringing
voice. "That blast was a mistake, the biggest you ever made in your
life."

"What do you mean?" demanded Chase.

"You'll have to excuse me for a while, unless you're dead set on having
it out right now. Mr. Gale and his family are leaving, and my daughter
is going with them. I'd rather you'd wait a little."

"Nell going away!" exclaimed Radford Chase. He reminded Belding of an
overgrown boy in disappointment.

"Yes. But--Miss Burton to you