will be directed at us from the outset. You must see that."

"Yes, I see it," she assented thoughtfully. "Very well, I'll be good to
the extent of not asking questions. But you can't expect me to be deaf
and blind."

"Of course not," he assented and began to talk of the ranch work. She
listened, making occasional shrewd comments, offering suggestions which
showed that she understood such matters thoroughly.

"Why shouldn't we ride around by Chakchak?" she asked. "I haven't seen
it for a month, and there's plenty of day left. And then I can go on to
Talapus by myself."

"Trying to shake me?"

"No. But why should you trail along with me? I've ridden all over the
country alone. I do it every day."

"Hush, Sheila! Let me tell you a secret. I ride with you because I like
to."

"Oh, blarney! That's what it is to have a mick ancestry. I suppose I'll
have to own up that if I didn't like you to ride with me I wouldn't let
you do it."

Casey grinned. Their mutual liking was genuine and so far
unsentimental. They were of the same breed--the breed of the
pioneer--and their hearts held the same seldom-voiced but deeply rooted
love for the same things; the great, sun-washed spaces winnowed by the
clean winds, the rosy dawns, violet dusks and nights when the earth
scents hung heavy, almost palpable, clinging to the nostrils, the
living things of fur and feather bright of eye and wary of habit. But
most of all unconsciously they loved and cherished the feeling of room,
of space in which to live and breathe and turn freely.

"The present time being inopportune, and Shiner's temper too uncertain
for a further avowal of my sentiments," he said, "I suggest that we
turn off here and hit a few high spots for Chakchak. Stir up that
slothful cayuse of yours. Maybe there's a lope left in him somewhere.
See if you can comb it out with a quirt."

"I like your nerve!" she exclaimed. "Beaver Boy can run the heart out
of that old buzzard-head of yours and come in dry-haired. Come on, or
take my dust!"

The hoofbeats drummed dull thunder from the brown earth, and the dust
cloud behind drew out and lengthened with the speed of their going.
Side by side they swept through the silent land, breasting small rises,
swooping down slopes, breathing their horses whenever they came to
heavier ascents.

Sometimes as they rode knee touched knee. It gave Casey Dunne a strange
but comfortable feeling of comradeship. He looked at the woman beside