he world. Indeed, it was very much more than they
had ever owned before, because their mother, in her care for them and
desire to have them look well in the eyes of this rich uncle, had spent
money and pains to give them pretty and serviceable clothes.

The girls sat together, with the heavy basket on their knees, and ate
while they gazed out at the cool, dark ridges. The train clattered
slowly on, apparently over a road that was all curves. And it was
supper-time for everybody in that crowded coach. If Helen had not been
so absorbed by the great, wild mountain-land she would have had more
interest in the passengers. As it was she saw them, and was amused
and thoughtful at the men and women and a few children in the car, all
middle-class people, poor and hopeful, traveling out there to the New
West to find homes. It was splendid and beautiful, this fact, yet it
inspired a brief and inexplicable sadness. From the train window, that
world of forest and crag, with its long bare reaches between, seemed so
lonely, so wild, so unlivable. How endless the distance! For hours and
miles upon miles no house, no hut, no Indian tepee! It was amazing, the
length and breadth of this beautiful land. And Helen, who loved brooks
and running streams, saw no water at all.

Then darkness settled down over the slow-moving panorama; a cool night
wind blew in at the window; white stars began to blink out of the blue.
The sisters, with hands clasped and heads nestled together, went to
sleep under a heavy cloak.

Early the next morning, while the girls were again delving into their
apparently bottomless basket, the train stopped at Las Vegas.

"Look! Look!" cried Bo, in thrilling voice. "Cowboys! Oh, Nell, look!"

Helen, laughing, looked first at her sister, and thought how most of all
she was good to look at. Bo was little, instinct with pulsating life,
and she had chestnut hair and dark-blue eyes. These eyes were flashing,
roguish, and they drew like magnets.

Outside on the rude station platform were railroad men, Mexicans, and
a group of lounging cowboys. Long, lean, bow-legged fellows they were,
with young, frank faces and intent eyes. One of them seemed particularly
attractive with his superb build, his red-bronze face and bright-red
scarf, his swinging gun, and the huge, long, curved spurs. Evidently
he caught Bo's admiring gaze, for, with a word to his companions, he
sauntered toward the window where the girls sat. His gait was si