of death seemed
more to her now like one of her own flower-lit canyons that led out to a
brighter, wider day, since she had heard the message of life he brought
her.

But as he looked afar over the long way he had come, and thought of the
bright little home where he had dined the day before, the sadness still
lingered in his face.

"It would be good to have somebody like that," he said, aloud again,
"somebody to expect me, and be glad,--but then"--thoughtfully--"I
suppose there are not many girls who are willing to give up their homes
and go out to rough it as she has done. It is a hard life for a
woman--for that kind of a woman!" A pause, then, "And I wouldn't want
any other kind!"

His eyes grew large with wistfulness. It was not often thus that the
cheery missionary stopped to think upon his own lot in life. His heart
was in his work, and he could turn his hand to anything. There was
always plenty to be done. Yet to-day for some inexplicable reason, for
the first time since he had really got into the work and outgrown his
first homesickness, he was hungry for companionship. He had seen a light
in the eyes of his fellow-missionary that spoke eloquently of the
comfort and joy he himself had missed and it struck deep into his heart.
He had stopped here on this mesa, with the vast panorama of the desert
spread before him, to have it out with himself.

The horse breathed restfully, drooping his head and closing his eyes to
make the most of the brief respite, and the man sat thinking, trying to
fill his soul with the beauty of the scene and crowd out the longings
that had pressed upon him. Suddenly he raised his head with a quiet
upward motion and said reverently:

"Oh, my Christ, you knew what this loneliness was! You were lonely too!
It is the way you went, and I will walk with you! That will be good."

He sat for a moment with uplifted face towards the vast sky, his fine
strong features touched with a tender light, their sadness changing into
peace. Then with the old cheery brightness coming into his face again he
returned to the earth and its duties.

"Billy, it's time we were getting on," he remarked to his horse
chummily. "Do you see that sun in the heavens? It'll get there before we
do if we don't look out, and we're due at the fort to-night if we can
possibly make it. We had too much vacation, that's about the size of it,
and we're spoiled! We're lazy, Billy! We'll have to get down to work.
Now how about i