y it?" This
last anxiously, as he hesitated and looked doubtful.

The color came into the man's face. Somehow this girl put him in a very
bad light. He couldn't shoot; and, if he couldn't pray, what would she
think of him?

"Why, I think I could manage to say it with help," he answered uneasily.
"But what if that man should suddenly appear on the scene?"

"You don't think the prayer is any good, or you wouldn't say that." She
said it sadly, hopelessly.

"O, why, certainly," he said, "only I thought there might be some better
time to try it; but, if you say so, we'll stop right here." He sprang to
the ground, and offered to assist her; but she was beside him before he
could get around his horse's head.

Down she dropped, and clasped her hands as a little child might have done,
and closed her eyes.

"Our Father," she repeated slowly, precisely, as if every word belonged to
a charm and must be repeated just right or it would not work. The man's
mumbling words halted after hers. He was reflecting upon the curious
tableau they would make to the chance passer-by on the desert if there
were any passers-by. It was strange, this aloneness. There was a wideness
here that made praying seem more natural than it would have been at home
in the open country.

The prayer, by reason of the unaccustomed lips, went slowly; but, when it
was finished, the girl sprang to her saddle again with a businesslike
expression.

"I feel better," she said with a winning smile. "Don't you? Don't you
think He heard?"

"Who heard?"

"Why, 'our Father.'"

"O, certainly! That is, I've always been taught to suppose He did. I
haven't much experimental knowledge in this line, but I dare say it'll do
some good some where. Now do you suppose we could get some of that very
sparkling water? I feel exceedingly thirsty."

They spurred their horses, and were soon beside the stream, refreshing
themselves.

"Did you ride all night?" asked the girl.

"Pretty much," answered the man. "I stopped once to rest a few minutes;
but a sound in the distance stirred me up again, and I was afraid to lose
my chance of catching you, lest I should be hopelessly lost. You see, I
went out with a party hunting, and I sulked behind. They went off up a
steep climb, and I said I'd wander around below till they got back, or
perhaps ride back to camp; but, when I tried to find the camp, it wasn't
where I had left it."

"Well, you've got to lie down and sleep awhile," sa