tant her feet were on the floor, and, hand in hand, she and
Arthurs stole to the window. At first her eyes could distinguish
nothing in the darkness, but by following Arthurs' index finger she
at last located two gaunt, shaggy creatures a little way up the
hillside beyond the corral, and a couple of hundred yards from the
house.

"However did you know they were there?" she whispered. "You must have
cat's eyes. I could hardly see them when you pointed them out."

"Not cat's eyes, Beulah," he answered. "Just rancher's eyes. I heard
the horses snorting, and I fancied there were visitors. Now, will you
take first shot?"

"Oh, that would be a shame. They would get away, and besides, I might
kill a horse."

"Well, won't press it this time," said Arthurs, "because I have a
little personal score to settle with these fellows. I guess I have
about five hundred dollars invested in each of them."

The wolves were moving leisurely about on the hillside, showing no
disposition to run away, but apparently afraid to approach closer to
the ranch buildings. Arthurs leaned his rifle across the window sill
and took steady aim, while the girl held her breath with excitement.
Then there was a quick flash, that shut the scene momentarily from
their eyes; the next moment they saw one of the wolves leap into the
air and fall, a sprawling mass, upon the ground, while the other
darted with the speed of a greyhound toward the neighbouring bushes.
Arthurs followed him with a bullet, but even so fine a marksman could
have found him only by chance in that uncertain light.

"Well, I guess there's a widow in Wolfville this morning," said
Arthurs, as he leisurely threw the discharged cartridge from the
barrel. "My apologies, Miss Beulah, for this somewhat unconventional
call and the interruption of your beauty sleep."

But Beulah was standing, wrapped in admiration. "Oh, Uncle Fred," she
exclaimed. "You're just wonderful. If I could only shoot like that!"

"It's all a matter of training," he told her. "Of course, you must
have good eyes and steady nerves, but you have those already. The
rifle is yours whenever you want it, and all the ammunition you can
carry. There's just one stipulation--for the first week shoot only at
foothills, and, remember, aim low."

So Beulah became a rifle enthusiast, and it astonished her how
rapidly she improved in marksmanship. With a little instruction from
Arthurs and the cowboys in the matter of sighting and h