t turn a dog away to-night, dad."
She motioned David Bond to enter.

As he crossed the sill, Dallas, for the first time, caught a glimpse of
the white horse and the pung, and saw Squaw Charley lifting his load of
chips from the wagon-box.

"You came together?" she asked.

"Charley pointed out your house to me," was the answer.

A sudden hope came to her. "Maybe I made a mistake," she said. "Tell me,
who are you?"

"David Bond--an evangelist by the grace of God."

She lifted the lantern, so that he could see the others. "My father and
my sister," she said. Then she put the light on the table, retired to a
corner and suddenly sank down.

Squaw Charley, having brought in and emptied the sack and blanket, fed
the blaze and crouched at one side of the fireplace. Evan and Marylyn
were across from him, intently examining the features and dress of the
traveller. It was Dallas who, eased, yet shaken, remembered to be
hospitable.

"Come, Charley," she said, rising, "we'll put the horse up. No, no," as
their guest would have accompanied her, "we won't need help. The mules
are used to Charley, now, and Simon's pretty ugly to strangers." She
started out. "Marylyn," she said, from the door, "you take Mr. Bond's
coat." Then, to the evangelist, "I'm glad it's you, and
not--somebody--else." A rare smile crossed her face.

The aged man, divested of his long ulster, advanced and, with fatherly
tenderness, lightly touched her braids.

"'I was a stranger, and ye took me in,'" he quoted solemnly.

Dallas lingered a moment, arrested by the picture: Lancaster was leaning
forward from his seat in unaccustomed silence; Marylyn sat beside him,
the nubia thrown across her arm; nearer was the Indian, his
copper-coloured face marvellously softened; and, before them all, stood
the evangelist, priestly, patriarchal.

When Dallas and Squaw Charley were gone, the section-boss and his
younger daughter were, for a space, tongue-tied through a lack of
something to say. Soon, however, David Bond broke the quiet to assure
Lancaster of his gratitude. And thereafter the two men talked freely.

"You need not fear any trouble with my horse," the evangelist said, as
Dallas was heard bidding Simon keep to his side of the stall. "Shadrach
is a gentle beast."

At the name, the section-boss cocked his head like an inquiring bird.
"M-m, Shadrach," he began in important reflection; "y' call y' hoss
Shadrach. Ah seem t' hev heerd thet name before."