ious or the perishing man, time has no measuring. I do not
know how we spent the night, or how long it was. Some time it became
morning, if morning might be called this gray and cheerless lifting of
the gloom, revealing to us the sodden landscape, overcast with still
drizzling skies which blotted out each ray of sunlight.

Search what way I might, I could find nothing to relieve our plight. I
knew that Auberry would before this time have gone back to follow our
trail, perhaps starting after us even before night had approached; but
now the rain had blotted out all manner of trails, so rescue from that
source was not to be expected. Not even we ourselves could tell where we
had wandered, nor could we, using the best of our wits as we then had
them, do more than vaguely guess where our fellow travelers by that time
might be. Neither did we know distance nor direction of any settlement.
What geography we thought right was altogether wrong. The desert, the
wilderness, had us in its grip.

We sat, draggled and weary, at the shoulder of the little ravine,
haggard and worn by the long strain. Her skin garments, again wet
through, clung tight to her figure, uncomfortably. Now and again I could
see a tremor running through her body from the chill. Yet as I looked at
her I could not withhold my homage to her spirit. She was a splendid
creature, so my soul swore to me, thoroughbred as any in all the world.
Her chin was high, not drawn down in defeat. I caught sight of her small
ear, flat to the head, pink with cold, but the ear of a game creature.
Her nose, not aquiline, not masculine, still was not weak. Her chin, as
I remember I noted even then, was strong, but lean and not over-laden
with flesh. Her mouth, not thin-lipped and cold, yet not too loose and
easy, was now plaintive as it was sweet in its full, red Cupid bow.
Round and soft and gentle she seemed, yet all the lines of her figure,
all the features of her face, betokened bone and breeding. The low-cut
Indian shirt left her neck bare. I could see the brick red line of the
sunburn creeping down; but most I noted, since ever it was my delight to
trace good lineage in any creature, the splendid curve of her neck, not
long and weak, not short and animal, but round and strong--perfect, I
was willing to call that and every other thing about her.

She turned to me after a time and smiled wanly. "I am hungry," she said.

"We shall make a fire," I answered. "But first I must wai