tay overnight?"

"Thur ain't no palace hotel round these diggin's, ef that's what you
mean," the man leered at her. "You c'n come along t' camp 'ith me ef you
ain't too stuck up."

"To camp!" faltered Margaret in dismay, wondering what her mother would
say. "Are there any ladies there?"

A loud guffaw greeted her question. "Wal, my woman's thar, sech es she
is; but she ain't no highflier like you. We mostly don't hev ladies to
camp, But I got t' git on. Ef you want to go too, you better light down
pretty speedy, fer I can't wait."

In fear and trembling Margaret descended her rude ladder step by step,
primitive man seated calmly on his horse, making no attempt whatever to
assist her.

"This ain't no baggage-car," he grumbled, as he saw the suit-case in her
hand. "Well, h'ist yerself up thar; I reckon we c'n pull through
somehow. Gimme the luggage."

Margaret stood appalled beside the bony horse and his uncouth rider. Did
he actually expect her to ride with him? "Couldn't I walk?" she
faltered, hoping he would offer to do so.

"'T's up t' you," the man replied, indifferently. "Try 't an' see!"

He spoke to the horse, and it started forward eagerly, while the girl in
horror struggled on behind. Over rough, uneven ground, between
greasewood, sage-brush, and cactus, back into the trail. The man,
oblivious of her presence, rode contentedly on, a silent shadow on a
dark horse wending a silent way between the purple-green clumps of other
shadows, until, bewildered, the girl almost lost sight of them. Her
breath came short, her ankle turned, and she fell with both hands in a
stinging bed of cactus. She cried out then and begged him to stop.

"L'arned yer lesson, hev yeh, sweety?" he jeered at her, foolishly.
"Well, get in yer box, then."

He let her struggle up to a seat behind himself with very little
assistance, but when she was seated and started on her way she began to
wish she had stayed behind and taken any perils of the way rather than
trust herself in proximity to this creature.

From time to time he took a bottle from his pocket and swallowed a
portion of its contents, becoming fluent in his language as they
proceeded on their way. Margaret remained silent, growing more and more
frightened every time the bottle came out. At last he offered it to her.
She declined it with cold politeness, which seemed to irritate the
little man, for he turned suddenly fierce.

"Oh, yer too fine to take a drap fer good com