desire to know what she was thinking, that she
was so long silent, and he asked her. He was not sure that she answered
his question when she said prosaically:

"You had better go on down to camp and feed your horse--it's over the
ridge there; make a fire and put on the tea kettle. I'll be down in half
an hour or three-quarters."

Disston lingered to watch her as she pulled the bedroll from her horse;
and, clearing a space with her foot, freeing it of sticks and pebbles,
spread out the canvas, pulling the "tarp" over a pillow beneath which he
noticed a box of cartridges and a six-shooter.

"For close work," she said, with a short laugh, observing his interest.

He did not join her; instead his brows contracted.

"I can't bear to think of you going through such hardships."

"This isn't hardship--I'm used to it--I like it. I like to get awake in
the night and look at the stars and to feel the wind in my face. When it
rains, I pull the tarp over my head, and I love to listen to the patter
on it. The sheep 'bed' all around me, and some of them lie on the
corners, so it's not lonely." She said it with a touch of defiance, as
though she resented his pity and wished him to believe there was no room
for it.

"You see," she added, "I'm a typical sheepherder, even to mumbling to
myself occasionally."

The sheep in the meantime had grazed to the top of the ridge and had
spread out over the flat backbone for a few final mouthfuls before
pawing their little hollows. Soon they would sink down singly and in
pairs, by the dozen and half dozen, with a crackling of joints, their
jaws waggling, sniffing, coughing, grunting from overladen stomachs,
raising in their restless stirrings a little cloud of dust above the
bed-ground.

As he stood to go, Disston pictured her night after night waiting in
patient silence for the sheep to grow quiet and then creeping between
her blankets to sleep among them.

He left her reluctantly at length, for he had a feeling that, since his
time with her was short, each minute that he was away from her was
wasted; but as it was her wish, he could do nothing less than comply
and, obviously, she did not share his regret. So he followed her
directions and was soon at the summer camp, established near a spring
one lower ridge over.

A half hour passed--three-quarters. He smoked and looked at his watch
frequently. The stars came out and the moon rose full. The fire burned
down and the water cooled in t