name, you said. Wal, it's pretty an' easy
to say."

Next day Allie showed an almost imperceptible improvement. It might have
been Neale's imagination leading him to believe that there were really
grounds for hope. The trapper and the cowboy could not get any response
from her, but there was certain proof that he could. The conviction
moved him to deep emotion.

An hour before sunset Neale decided to depart, and told Larry to get the
horses. Then he went to Allie, undecided what to say, feeling that he
must have tortured her this day with his ceaseless importunities.
How small the chance that he might again awaken the springs of life
interest. Yet the desire was strong within him to try.

"Allie." He repeated her name before she heard him. Then she looked up.
The depths--the tragic lonesomeness--of her eyes--haunted Neale.

"I'm going back. I'll come again soon."

She made a quick movement--seized his arm. He remembered the close,
tight grip of her hands.

"Don't go!" she implored. Black fear stared out of her eyes.

Neale was thunderstruck at the suddenness of her speech--at its
intensity. Also he felt an unfamiliar kind of joy. He began to explain
that he must return to work, that he would soon come to see her again;
but even as he talked she faded back into that dull and somber apathy.

Neale rode away with only one conviction gained from the developments
of the two days; it was that he would be restless and haunted until he
could go to her again. Something big and moving--something equal to his
ambition for his work on the great railroad--had risen in him and would
not be denied.

7

Neale rode to Slingerland's cabin twice during the ensuing fortnight,
but did not note any improvement in Allie's condition or demeanor. The
trapper, however, assured Neale that she was gradually gaining a little
and taking some slight interest in things; he said that if Neale could
only spend enough time there the girl might recover. This made Neale
thoughtful.

General Lodge and his staff had decided to station several engineers
in camp along the line of the railroad for the purpose of studying the
drift of snow. It was important that all information possible should be
obtained during the next few winters. There would be severe hardships
attached to this work, but Neale volunteered to serve, and the chief
complimented him warmly. He was to study the action of the snowdrift
along Sherman Pass.

Upon his next visit