the tent for ourselves. Won't it be fun! But will Thomas be all
right?"

"I can manage with what I have until tomorrow afternoon."

"How long do you think they will be down in the canyon?" the girl
inquired.

Genevieve shuddered. "I wish I could tell! If only Tom finds that he
cannot get down at all, how thankful I shall be!"

"And--Lafe!" murmured the girl.

"It is possible that they may be unable to do it in one day," went on
Genevieve apprehensively--"Down, down into those dreadful depths, and
then along the river, all the way to where the tunnel is to be, and
back again, and then up the awful cliffs! Surely they cannot finish in
one day! Of course they will succeed--Tom can do anything, _anything_!
Yet how I dread the very thought--!"

"We must prepare to stay right here on High Mesa until they do
finish!" declared Isobel. "It will be impossible to go back to the
ranch tomorrow if they are still in that frightful place! Kid will
have to take the hawsses down to the waterhole. He shall go on home,
and tomorrow morning fetch us cream and eggs and everything you need.
They will have to be told at the ranch; and if Daddy has returned, he
will come up to help and be with us."

"You dear girl! The more I think of this terrible descent, the more I
dread it. I feel a presentiment that--But I must try to be brave and
not interfere with Tom's work! It will be a great comfort to have your
father with us."

"Daddy will surely come if he has returned. Isn't he kind and good? He
couldn't have done more to make me happy if he had been my own real
father!"

Genevieve smiled into the girl's glowing face. "Yes, dear. Yet I am
far from surprised, since _you_ are the daughter he wished to make
happy. I was more surprised to have him tell me you were adopted. You
have never said a word about it."

"I--you see, I did not happen to," confusedly murmured the girl.

"Chuckie Knowles is not your real name," Genevieve gently reproached
her.

"No, it is the pet name Daddy gave me. My real one is--Isobel."

"Isobel--?"

"Yes. Daddy's sister, in Denver, always calls me that. But here on the
ranch--"

"Isobel--?" repeated Genevieve, with a rising inflection.

The color ebbed from the girl's face, but she answered steadily:
"Chuckie--Isobel--Knowles. I am Daddy's daughter. I have no other
father."

"Is-o-bel--Is-o-bel," Genevieve intoned the name musically. "It has a
beautiful sound. I had a friend at school--Isabella--but