, now? What did I say?"

"Why, you said that you always had the most extraordinary admiration for
heiresses whenever you met them."

"Well, what's wrong with that sentiment?" he said. "You can't find
fault with that!"

"It is utterly detestable."

"Not at all," he answered sullenly. "I consider it a tribute--a graceful
tribute."

Miss Fanhall arose and went forward to the edge of the cliff. She became
absorbed in the falls. Far below her a bough of a hemlock drooped to the
water, and each swirling, mad wave caught it and made it nod--nod--nod.
Her back was half turned toward Hawker.

After a time Stanley, the dog, discovered some ants scurrying in the
moss, and he at once began to watch them and wag his tail.

"Isn't it curious," observed Hawker, "how an animal as large as a dog
will sometimes be so entertained by the very smallest things?"

Stanley pawed gently at the moss, and then thrust his head forward to
see what the ants did under the circumstances.

"In the hunting season," continued Hawker, having waited a moment, "this
dog knows nothing on earth but his master and the partridges. He is lost
to all other sound and movement. He moves through the woods like a
steel machine. And when he scents the bird--ah, it is beautiful!
Shouldn't you like to see him then?"

Some of the ants had perhaps made war-like motions, and Stanley was
pretending that this was a reason for excitement. He reared aback, and
made grumbling noises in his throat.

After another pause Hawker went on: "And now see the precious old fool!
He is deeply interested in the movements of the little ants, and as
childish and ridiculous over them as if they were highly
important.--There, you old blockhead, let them alone!"

Stanley could not be induced to end his investigations, and he told his
master that the ants were the most thrilling and dramatic animals of his
experience.

"Oh, by the way," said Hawker at last, as his glance caught upon the
crags across the river, "did you ever hear the legend of those rocks
yonder? Over there where I am pointing? Where I'm pointing? Did you ever
hear it? What? Yes? No? Well, I shall tell it to you." He settled
comfortably in the long grass.

CHAPTER VII.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Indian maiden, of course. And
she was, of course, beloved by a youth from another tribe who was very
handsome and stalwart and a mighty hunter, of course. But the maiden's
father was, of course, a