empty, sagging-roofed sheds and stables, and at the corral with its
open gate and warped rails and leaning posts. "I'll just about have to
rob a bank,--or write a book that will make me famous."

She touched Pard with a rein end and went on slowly. "Robbing a bank
would be the quickest and easiest," she decided whimsically, as she
neared the place where she always sheltered Pard. "But not so
ladylike. I guess I'll write a book. It should be something real
thrilly, so the people will rush madly to all the bookstores to buy it.
It should have a beautiful girl, and at least two handsome men,--one
with all the human virtues, and the other with all the arts of the
devil and the cruel strength of the savage. And--I think some Indians
and outlaws would add several dollars' worth of thrills; or else a
ghost and a haunted house. I wonder which would sell the best?
Indians could steal the girl and give her two handsome men a chance to
do chapters of stunts, and the wicked one could find her first and
carry her away in front of him on a horse (they do those things in
books!) and the hero could follow in a mad chase for miles and miles--

"But then, ghosts can be made very creepy, with tantalizing glimpses of
them now and then in about every other chapter, and mysterious hints
here and there, and characters coming down to breakfast with white,
drawn faces and haggard eyes. And the wicked one would look over his
shoulder and then utter a sardonic laugh. Sardonic is such an
effective word; I don't believe Indians would give him any excuse for
sardonic laughter."

She swung down from the saddle and led Pard into his stall, that was
very black next the manger and very light where the moon shone in at
the door. "I must have lots of moonlight and several stormy sunsets,
and the wind soughing in the branches. I shall have to buy a new
dictionary,--a big, fat, heavy one with the flags of all nations and
how to measure the contents of an empty hogshead, and the deaf and dumb
alphabet, and everything but the word you want to know the meaning of
and whether it begins with ph or an f."

She took the saddle off Pard and hung it up by a stirrup on the rusty
spike where she kept it, with the bridle hung over the stirrup, and the
saddle blanket folded over the horn. She groped in the manger and
decided that there was hay enough to last him till morning, and went
out and closed the door. Her shadow fell clean cut upon the rough
pla