ue fatigue or freezing as an
excuse for procrastination; he passed over these rather too briefly and
enlarged upon his safe status as a settler.

"All bosh," he asserted as he watched Dallas and Marylyn busy with
preparations for breakfast. "A hull regiment of soldiers couldn' put us
offen this lan', t' say nothin' of a man thet ain't done a thing on it
sence he took it up. Ah might _jes'_ as well stay home."

But he found that Dallas was firm on the question of his
going--"haidstrong," he termed it--and would not even pause for a
discussion. She had risen early to feed the occupants of the
lean-to--Shadrach in particular; next, with a promise of rest later on,
she had awaked Marylyn. Formerly, the younger girl would have persisted
in questioning her about the proposed journey, and in knowing its
purpose. Now, however, her interest in it, like that in most things, was
so small that she appeared totally indifferent, and went about her work
silently. Despite the fact that this somewhat revived Dallas' anxiety
over her sister, the elder girl felt freshly strengthened in spirit. In
all her twenty years of life no other morning had, like this one,
promised her so much happiness.

When the evangelist emerged and, after a sojourn in front of the
hearth, joined the family at table, Lancaster pined to ask him what he
thought of their braving the elements foolishly. Not that the
section-boss esteemed his aged guest. On the contrary, Dallas' evident
interest in the stranger had stirred the unnatural jealousy in her
father's wizen brain. Already, he hated David Bond, and had set him down
for a crank. But Dallas needed a lesson. It was all very well for her to
do the outside duties as if she were a man; that did not privilege her
to ride roughshod over his opinions, or to rule affairs in general with
a heavy hand. However, he found no opportunity for questions. She,
reading impatience and mutiny in her father's every glance, kept up
throughout the meal an unwonted flow of talk.

"Dad," she said, covering his plate with a crisp hot-cake for the
dozenth time, "I haven't told Mr. Bond all about the claim--all the
reasons why we want him to take you to Bismarck;"--the section-boss
grunted at the "we"--"so you please tell him as you're going along. And
don't let your coat get unbuttoned, or your ears froze. I heated some
big rocks for the bottom of the sleigh and some little ones for your
pockets. You'll both weigh so much that Shadr