t, both hands up--I love you, dear, with my whole
heart. (That was Wayne's contribution to the code, and he insisted
that it be number one in the book.)_

_2. Leaning against a tree or post--I must see you immediately._

_3. Removing hat--Be careful. We are being watched._

_4. Turning back--Something has happened to prevent our meeting to-day._

_5. Stooping once--That's all. Good bye._

And so on until there were no less than two dozen signals each with its
meaning, each to carry across the miles a lover's message.

They agreed upon the exact time when every day their love would laugh
at the miles separating them; an early hour when they had waited just
long enough to give Wanda time to ride hither and the Bar L-M men time
to have gone about the day's work. And if Wayne were not upon his
porch then Wanda was to understand that he was already riding to meet
her.

"But your mother," he said. "Doesn't she often go with you?"

"Not when I want to be alone," Wanda smiled back at him. "Mamma knows,
Wayne."

"You have told her? Your father told her?"

"It isn't something that papa talks about, dear. I told. And, Wayne--"

Suddenly they ceased to be children playing and became very serious.
For while the love brimming their young hearts had been like a fountain
from which laughter bubbled up, still its song had not deafened their
ears to the murmur of life about them. There were things to be told
each other, questions to ask and answer, their own future to look
soberly in the face.

Day after day Shandon had looked for word from Martin Leland, had
counted on receiving from him an offer for the water to be employed in
bringing fertility to Dry Valley. He told her of Ruf Ettinger and his
counter scheme, how close he had come to being drawn into it; he
wondered if something had happened to cause Leland and Hume to give up
their proposition.

No, whatever this proposition was they had not given it up, Wanda was
sure of that. Her father was away much of the time; she knew that he
had been often in Dry Valley, that he had had some sort of dealings
with Ruf Ettinger. She had heard him say to her mother last night that
the man was a hog, that when offered an unheard of price for his land
he had held out for something still better, and that Leland had broken
off negotiations with him entirely. Yes, it must be the same
proposition about which Ettinger had gone to Shandon. Strange that
Garth had not told