wn closer, "I
didn't quite get that last."

"Why, Dusty Rhodes came up here to look for Mr. Calhoun, and when I told
him that I had loaned him my mule he said Mr. Calhoun would _steal_
him! And then he went up and told Mother all about it and said that Mr.
Calhoun would do _anything_, and he said he'd probably take
Tellurium to Wild Rose and trade him off to some _squaw_! And when
I defended him he just whooped and laughed at me--and now he's got to
_apologise_!"

She darted a hateful glance at the perspiring Dusty Rhodes, who was
vainly trying to get Campbell's ear; and at the end of her recital there
was a look in Wunpost's eye that spoke of reprisals to come. The fat was
in the fire, as far as Rhodes was concerned, but he surprised them all
by retracting. He apologized in haste, before Wunpost could make a reach
for him, and then he recanted in detail, and when the tumult was over
they had signed a joint agreement to give him one third of the mine.

"All right, boys," he yelled, thrusting his copy into his pocket and
making a dash for his horse. "One third! It's all right with me! But if
we'd gone to the courts I'd got half, sure as shooting! 'Sall right, but
just watch my dust!"

CHAPTER IV

THE TREE OF LIFE

As the evening came on they walked out together, Wunpost and the
worshipful Wilhelmina, and from the portals of her House of Dreams they
looked out over the Sink where they had met but the evening before. Less
than a single day had passed since their stars had crossed, and already
they were talking of life and eternal friendship and of all the great
dreams that youth loves. Each had given of what they had without
counting the cost or considering what others might say; and now they
walked together like reunited lovers, though their friendship was not
twenty-four hours old. Yet in that single eventful day what a gamut they
had run of the emotions which make up the soul's life--of dangers boldly
met, of mutual sacrifice and trust and the joys of vindication and
success. They had staked all they had in the greatest game in life and,
miracle of miracles, they had won. They had sought out each other's
souls in the murk of death and doubt and each had been proven pure gold;
yet even youth, for all its madness, has its moments of clairvoyance and
Billy sensed that her joy could not last. It was too great, too perfect,
to endure forever, and as she gazed across the desert she sighed.

"What's the matter