He could not well refuse, and presently She
came and smiled upon him and put her long, slim hand, cool from contact
with iced towelling, into his hot, dry palm, and slipped the fingers
slowly forth again, and spoke almost in whisper, lest the sleeper might
hear her voice and know she had ventured forth and was conversing with
some other man--all in that exaggerated precaution of word and manner
that, whenever so much in love with one man, a girl so often observes
toward others even ever so little in love with her.

"You have been so good to--us, Mr. Harris, and I know how--he will
thank you when he is able. Till then you must let me. _Good_-by!" Poor
comfort at best, yet what one of us would not have sought it rather
than nothing? And then she was gone lest he should awake and
remember--or Harris should awake and--and forget. She was but a child,
after all, and her fond and beloved mother little less so.

And of such was Harris's leave taking, cool as his contribution to that
happy rival's comfort, he thought, as he rode drearily away to the
ford, with but a wave of the hand in response to the shout of Craney
and Watts at the shack, while "Barkeep" and a few hangers-on stood
gazing from under the canvas shade at the store, and Case, the silent
bookkeeper, bent over his desk by the east window--the desk wherein
still reposed that big calibre 44, with every chamber loaded and the
handle more coated with dust.

Half-way to the ford Harris's broncho stumbled and kicked up a muddy
splash in the shallow pool. His rider reined him up sharply and spurred
on; the three pack mules, following in file a scrawny Mexican on the
bell horse, shied clear of the water cloud and emerged with dripping
bellies from a deeper pool just to the left. The Indians, skipping
dry-shod over the bowlders, a dozen yards below, turned their heads at
sound of the stumble, and their keen eyes exchanged glances. Presently
one of them shed his moccasins and waded in toward the mud cloud on the
face of the rippling waters, and, while his companions stood at the
bank, began searching in the knee-deep puddle. Presently again he
swooped, thrust down a bare, brown arm almost to the shoulder, and drew
forth a dripping object a foot long, covered with rust and mud. "Huh!"
was all he said, as he splashed back to shore, exhibiting his prize to
his fellows. Then together the three went a jog trot after Harris and
held it up for his inspection. He took it curiously