"I'd forgot all about it."

"Like nothin'!" exclaimed the maid. "You've been countin' the hours till
you got here--I know you."

Meanwhile her companion had slipped from her horse. "Well, good-by,
Molly, wish I could stay longer."

"Good-by. Run down again."

"I will. You come up."

The young passenger sprang to the ground and politely said: "May I help
you in?"

Bill stared, the girl smiled, and her companion called: "Be careful,
Berrie, don't hurt yourself, the wagon might pitch."

The youth, perceiving that he had made another mistake, stammered an
apology.

The girl perceived his embarrassment and sweetly accepted his hand. "I am
much obliged, all the same."

Bill shook with malicious laughter. "Out in this country girls are
warranted to jump clean over a measly little hack like this," he
explained.

The girl took a seat in the back corner of the dusty vehicle, and Bill
opened conversation with her by asking what kind of a time she had been
having "in the East."

"Fine," said she.

"Did ye get as far back as my old town?"

"What town is that, Bill?"

"Oh, come off! You know I'm from Omaha."

"No, I only got as far as South Bend."

The picture which the girl had made as she dashed up to the pasture gate
(her hat-rim blown away from her brown face and sparkling eyes), united
with the kindliness in her voice as she accepted his gallant aid, entered
a deep impression on the tourist's mind; but he did not turn his head to
look at her--perhaps he feared Bill's elbow quite as much as his
guffaw--but he listened closely, and by listening learned that she had
been "East" for several weeks, and also that she was known, and favorably
known, all along the line, for whenever they met a team or passed a ranch
some one called out, "Hello, Berrie!" in cordial salute, and the men, old
and young, were especially pleased to see her.

[Illustration: THE GIRL BEHIND HIM WAS A WONDROUS PART OF THIS WILD
AND UNACCOUNTABLE COUNTRY]

Meanwhile the stage rose and fell over the gigantic swells like a tiny
boat on a monster sea, while the sun blazed ever more fervently from the
splendid sky, and the hills glowed with ever-increasing tumult of color.
Through this land of color, of repose, of romance, the young traveler
rode, drinking deep of the germless air, feeling that the girl behind him
was a wondrous part of this wild and unaccountable country.

He had no chance to study her face again till the coach rolled down