is yours because it is born of the spirit. You have
fought for it against the weakness of the flesh and the timidity of
your own soul. Some men are born without sense or imagination. They
don't know enough to be afraid. But the man who tramples down a great
fear wins his courage by earning it." She laughed a little, to make
light of her own enthusiasm. "Oh, I know I'm preaching like a little
prig. But it's the truth, just the same."

At the touch of her fingers his pulses throbbed. But once more he
tried to make her understand.

"No, I've had luck all the way through. Do you remember that night at
the cabin--before we went up the canon?"

"Yes."

"Some one shot at me as I ran into the cabin. I was so frightened that
I piled all the furniture against the door and hid in the cellar. It
was always that way with me. I used to jump if anybody rode up
unexpectedly at the ranch. Every little thing set my nerves
fluttering."

"But it isn't so now."

"No, not so much."

"That's what I'm telling you," she triumphed. "You came out here from
a soft life in town. But you've grown tough because you set your teeth
to go through no matter what the cost. I wish I could show you how
much I . . . admire you. Dad feels that way, too. So does Ned."

"But I don't deserve it. That's what humiliates me."

"Don't you?" She poured out her passionate protest. "Do you think I
don't know what happened back there at the prospect hole? Do you think
I don't know that you put Dan Meldrum down in the pit--and him with a
gun in his hand? Was it a coward that did that?"

"So you knew that all the time," he cried.

"I heard him calling you--and I went close. Yes, I knew it. But you
would never have told me because it might seem like bragging."

"It was easy enough. I wasn't thinking of myself, but of you. He saw
I meant business and he wilted."

"You were thinking about me--and you forgot to be afraid," the girl
exulted.

"Yes, that was it." A wave of happiness broke over his heart as the
sunlight does across a valley at dawn. "I'm always thinking of you.
Day and night you fill my thoughts, hillgirl. When I'm riding the
range--whatever I do--you're with me all the time."

"Yes."

Her lips were slightly parted, eyes eager and hungry. The heart of the
girl drank in his words as the thirsty roots of a rosebush do water.
She took a long deep breath and began to tremble.

"I think of you as the daughter of t