ad that there were no passersby, and no one
wanted to see him anyhow, but his loneliness became so great as he dwelt
upon it that on the remote chance that he might see someone even in the
distance he stopped washing and walked to the window, where with his
elbow he rubbed a spot clear of frost.

Looking out through the loop-hole, it was a white, tractless world he
gazed upon, and he might have been in the Arctic Circle for all the
signs of life he could discover. He told himself that he might have
known better than to hope for any.

As he squinted, he suddenly pressed his eye harder against the window.
Did he see a speck that moved or did he imagine it? He enlarged the hole
and strained his eyes until they watered. Surely it moved--surely. It
would be too disappointing for words if it were only a delusion.

It did! It did! There was now no mistake about it. Someone was coming
toward the cabin. Wallie shook with excitement at the prospect of a
visitor. Whoever it might be, Wallie would make him stay for dinner if
he had to pay him by the hour for his company. That was settled. Very
likely it was Pinkey, but to-day even Boise Bill would be welcome.

Wallie shoved his Christmas dinner in the oven and slammed the door upon
it, stoked the fire lavishly, then fell upon the washboard and rubbed
furiously that he might be done the sooner. At intervals he dashed to
the window, half afraid to look lest the rider had changed his mind and
gone in another direction.

But no, he kept coming, and there was something in the way he sat his
horse which made him think it was Pinkey.

And Pinkey it was, brilliant as a rainbow in orange chaps, red flannel
shirt, and a buckskin waistcoat. His coat tied behind the cantle
suggested that he either had become overheated or at only twelve below
zero had not yet felt the need of it. His horse was snorting steam like
a locomotive and icicles of frozen breath were pendent from its
nostrils.

Wallie stood in the door, suds to the elbow and his hands steaming,
waiting to receive him.

His voice trembled as he greeted him:

"I never was so glad to see anybody in my life, Pinkey."

"This is onct I know you ain't lyin'. Got anything to eat? I'm starvin'.
I been comin' sence daylight."

"I got something special," Wallie replied, mysteriously. "Tie your horse
to the haystack. I'll hurry things up a little."

Pinkey returned shortly and sniffed as he entered:

"It smells good, anyhow. There