t and gathered up the flowers.

"Yes," he said gently, "I understand. I--I have been lost, too."

They smiled and sat down together in the shadow of a great rock,
gazing out over the peaks and pinnacles of the mountains which wall in
Hidden Water and talking placidly of the old days--until at last, when
the spell of the past was on him, Kitty fell silent, waiting for him
to speak his heart.

But instantly the spell of her laughter was broken an uneasy thought
came upon Hardy, and he glanced up at the soaring sun.

"Jeff will be worried about you," he said at last. "He will think you
are lost and give up the _rodeo_ to hunt for you. We must not stay
here so long."

He turned his head instinctively as he spoke, and Kitty knew he was
thinking of the sheep.

"Cattle and sheep--cattle and sheep," she repeated slowly. "Is there
nothing else that counts, Rufus, in all this broad land? Must
friendship, love, companionship, all go down before cattle and sheep?
I never knew before what a poor creature a woman was until I came to
Arizona."

She glanced at him from beneath her drooping lashes, and saw his jaws
set tense.

"And yet only yesterday," he said, with a sombre smile, "you had
twenty men risking their lives to give you some snake-tails for
playthings."

"But my old friend Rufus was not among them," rejoined Kitty quietly;
and once more she watched the venom working in his blood.

"No," he replied, "he refuses to compete with Bill Lightfoot at any
price."

"Oh, Rufus," cried Kitty, turning upon him angrily, "aren't you
ashamed? I want you to stop being jealous of all my friends. It is the
meanest and most contemptible thing a man can do. I--I won't stand
it!"

He glanced at her again with the same set look of disapproval still
upon his face.

"Kitty," he said, "if you knew what lives some of those men lead--the
thoughts they think, the language they speak--you--you would not--" He
stopped, for the sudden tears were in her eyes. Kitty was crying.

[Illustration: "No!" said Kitty, "you do not love me"]

"Oh, Rufus," she sobbed, "if--if you only knew! Who else could I go
with--how--how else--Oh, I cannot bear to be scolded and--I only did
it to make you jealous!" She bowed her head against her knees and
Hardy gazed at her in awe, shame and compassion sweeping over him as
he realized what she had done.

"Kitty--dear," he stammered, striving to unlock the twisted fingers,
"I--I didn't understand. Look, her