a spell
to see you. They're goin' to California, too."

The gentleman lifted his hat. Now that he smiled his face was even
kindlier, and he, too, had a pleasant, mellowed utterance that linked
him with the world of superior quality of which David had had those two
glimpses.

"I am Dr. Gillespie," he said, "and this is my daughter Susan."

David bowed awkwardly, a bow that was supposed to include father and
daughter. He did not know whether this was a regular introduction, and
even if it had been he would not have known what to do. The young
woman made no attempt to return the salutation, not that she was rude,
but she had the air of regarding it as a frivolous interruption to
weighty matters. She fixed David with eyes, small, black, and bright
as a squirrel's, so devoid of any recognition that he was a member of
the rival sex--or, in fact, of the human family--that his
self-consciousness sunk down abashed as if before reproof.

"My father and I are going to California and the train we were going
with has gone on. We've come from Rochester, New York, and everywhere
we've been delayed and kept back. Even that boat up from St. Louis was
five days behind time. It's been nothing but disappointments and
delays since we left home. And when we got here the people we were
going with--a big train from Northern New York--had gone on and left
us."

She said all this rapidly, poured it out as if she were so full of the
injury and annoyance of it, that she had to ease her indignation by
letting it run over into the first pair of sympathetic ears. David's
were a very good pair. Any woman with a tale of trouble would have
found him a champion. How much more a fresh-faced young creature with
a melodious voice and anxious eyes.

"A good many trains have gone on," he said. And then, by way of
consolation for her manner demanded, that, "But they'll be stalled at
the fords with this rain. They'll have to wait till the rivers fall.
All the men who know say that."

"So we've heard," said the father, "but we hoped that we'd catch them
up. Our outfit is very light, only one wagon, and our driver is a
thoroughly capable and experienced man. What we want are some
companions with whom we can travel till we overhaul the others. I'd
start alone, but with my daughter----"

She cut in at once, giving his arm a little, irritated shake:

"Of course you couldn't do that." Then to the young men: "My father's
been sick for qui