hard
on the head. It hurt and startled her, and roused her mettle. Roy was
keeping to the easy trot that covered ground so well, and he led up
a slope to the open pine forest. Here the ride for several miles was
straight, level, and open. Helen liked the forest to-day. It was brown
and green, with patches of gold where the sun struck. She saw her first
bird--big blue grouse that whirred up from under her horse, and little
checkered gray quail that appeared awkward on the wing. Several times
Roy pointed out deer flashing gray across some forest aisle, and often
when he pointed Helen was not quick enough to see.

Helen realized that this ride would make up for the hideous one of
yesterday. So far she had been only barely conscious of sore places
and aching bones. These she would bear with. She loved the wild and the
beautiful, both of which increased manifestly with every mile. The sun
was warm, the air fragrant and cool, the sky blue as azure and so deep
that she imagined that she could look far up into it.

Suddenly Roy reined in so sharply that he pulled the bay up short.

"Look!" he called, sharply.

Bo screamed.

"Not thet way! Here! Aw, he's gone!"

"Nell! It was a bear! I saw it! Oh! not like circus bears at all!" cried
Bo.

Helen had missed her opportunity.

"Reckon he was a grizzly, an' I'm jest as well pleased thet he loped
off," said Roy. Altering his course somewhat, he led to an old rotten
log that the bear had been digging in. "After grubs. There, see his
track. He was a whopper shore enough."

They rode on, out to a high point that overlooked canuon and range,
gorge and ridge, green and black as far as Helen could see. The ranges
were bold and long, climbing to the central uplift, where a number of
fringed peaks raised their heads to the vast bare dome of Old Baldy.
Far as vision could see, to the right lay one rolling forest of pine,
beautiful and serene. Somewhere down beyond must have lain the desert,
but it was not in sight.

"I see turkeys 'way down there," said Roy, backing away. "We'll go down
and around an' mebbe I'll get a shot."

Descent beyond a rocky point was made through thick brush. This slope
consisted of wide benches covered with copses and scattered pines and
many oaks. Helen was delighted to see the familiar trees, although these
were different from Missouri oaks. Rugged and gnarled, but not tall,
these trees spread wide branches, the leaves of which were yellowing.
Roy led