Her eyes were sparkling. Falkner withdrew his own with a slight smile,
and raised his rifle with provoking deliberation.

"Are you quite sure it's what you want?" he asked demurely.

"Yes--quick!"

Nevertheless, it was some minutes before the rifle cracked again. The
wheeling bird suddenly struck the wind with its wings aslant, and then
fell like a plummet at a distance which showed the difficulty of the
feat. Falkner started from her side before the bird reached the ground.
He returned to her after a lapse of a few moments, bearing a trailing
wing in his hand. "You shall make your choice," he said gayly.

"Are you sure it was killed outright?"

"Head shot off," said Falkner briefly.

"And besides, the fall would have killed it," said Kate conclusively.
"It's lovely. I suppose they call you a very good shot?"

"They--who?"

"Oh! the people you know--your friends, and their sisters."

"George shoots better than I do, and has had more experience. I've seen
him do that with a pistol. Of course not such a long shot, but a more
difficult one."

Kate did not reply, but her face showed a conviction that as an artistic
and gentlemanly performance it was probably inferior to the one she
had witnessed. Falkner, who had picked up the hare also, again took his
place by her side, as they turned towards the house.

"Do you remember the day you came, when we were walking here, you
pointed out that rock on the mountain where the poor animals had taken
refuge from the snow?" said Kate suddenly.

"Yes," answered Falkner; "they seem to have diminished. I am afraid you
were right; they have either eaten each other or escaped. Let us hope
the latter."

"I looked at them with a glass every day," said Kate, "and they've got
down to only four. There's a bear and that shabby, over-grown cat you
call a California lion, and a wolf, and a creature like a fox or a
squirrel."

"It's a pity they're not all of a kind," said Falkner.

"Why?"

"There'd be nothing to keep them from being comfortable together."

"On the contrary, I should think it would be simply awful to be shut up
entirely with one's own kind."

"Then you believe it is possible for them, with their different
natures and habits, to be happy together?" said Falkner, with sudden
earnestness.

"I believe," said Kate hurriedly, "that the bear and the lion find the
fox and the wolf very amusing, and that the fox and the wolf--"

"Well?" said Falkner, stopping short