uation was beyond any subtlety of the man, and he sat in silence
while she wept. When he could command himself he said:

"I'm mighty sorry, Cory, but I reckon the best way out of it is to just
take myself off in the hills where I can't interfere with any one's fun
but my own. Seems to me I'm fated to make trouble all along the line,
and I'm going to pull out where there's nobody but wolves and grizzlies,
and fight it out with them."

She was filled with a new terror: "What do you mean? I don't believe you
intend to come back at all!" She looked at him piteously, the tears on
her cheeks.

"Oh, yes, I'll round the circle some time."

She flung herself down on the chair arm and sobbed unrestrainedly.
"Don't go--please!"

Mose felt a sudden touch of the same disgust which came upon him in the
presence of his father's enforcing affection. He arose. "Now, Cory, see
here; don't you waste any time on me. I'm no good under the sun. I like
you and I like Pinkie, but I don't want you to cry over me. I ain't
worth it. Now that's the God's truth. I'm a black hoodoo, and you'll
never prosper till I skip; I'm not fit to marry any woman."

Singularly enough, this gave the girl almost instant comfort, and she
lifted her head and dried her eyes, and before he left she smiled a
little, though her face was haggard and tear stained.

Mose was up early and had his packs ready and Kintuck saddled when Mrs.
Reynolds called him to breakfast. Cora's pale face and piteous eyes
moved him more deeply than her sobbing the night before, but there was a
certain inexorable fixedness in his resolution, and he did not falter.
At bottom the deciding cause was Mary. She had passed out of his life,
but no other woman could take her place--therefore he was ready to cut
loose from all things feminine.

"Well, Mose, I'm sorry to see you go, I certainly am so," said Reynolds.
"_But_, you ah you' own master. All I can say is, this old ranch is
open to you, and shall be so long as we stay hyer--though I am mighty
uncertain how long we shall be able to hold out agin this new land-boom.
You had better not stay away too long, or you may miss us. I reckon we
ah all to be driven to the mountains very soon."

"I may be back in the spring. I'm likely to need money, and be obliged
to come back to you for a job."

On this tiny crumb of comfort Cora's hungry heart seized greedily. The
little pink-cheeked one helped out the sad meal. She knew nothing of the
long