e because it saved time
and because it didn't cost anything, and he had nobody to look on or
interfere with him. No, it was not lonely; the coyotes and wild cats
sometimes came very near, but were always more surprised and frightened
than he was; and once a horseman who had strayed off the distant road
yonder mistook him for an animal and shot at him twice.

He told all this with such freedom from embarrassment and with such
apparent unconsciousness of the blue eyes that were following him, and
the light, graceful figure,--which was so near his own that in some
of his gestures his grimy hands almost touched its delicate
garments,--that, accustomed as she was to a certain masculine aberration
in her presence, she was greatly amused by his naive acceptance of her
as an equal. Suddenly, looking frankly in her face, he said:

"I'll show you a secret, if you care to see it."

Nothing would please her more.

He glanced hurriedly around, took a key from his pocket, and unlocked
the padlock that secured the closet she had noticed. Then, reaching
within, with infinite care he brought out a small mechanical model.

"There's an invention of my own. A reaper and thresher combined. I'm
going to have it patented and have a big one made from this model. This
will work, as you see."

He then explained to her with great precision how as it moved over the
field the double operation was performed by the same motive power. That
it would be a saving of a certain amount of labor and time which she
could not remember. She did not understand a word of his explanations;
she saw only a clean and pretty but complicated toy that under the
manipulation of his grimy fingers rattled a number of frail-like staves
and worked a number of wheels and drums, yet there was no indication of
her ignorance in her sparkling eyes and smiling, breathless attitude.
Perhaps she was interested in his own absorption; the revelation of
his preoccupation with this model struck her as if he had made her
a confidante of some boyish passion for one of her own sex, and she
regarded him with the same sympathizing superiority.

"You will make a fortune out of it," she said pleasantly.

Well, he might make enough to be able to go on with some other
inventions he had in his mind. They cost money and time, no matter how
careful one was.

This was another interesting revelation to the young girl. He not only
did not seem to care for the profit his devotion brought him,