"I had to swim my horse across the
river to-day--he got into a deep spot--and I got wet." She congratulated
herself that she had made a very clever explanation.

He put his coat about her shoulders and drew it tight. Then he sat
beside her in silence. There were many things he could have said,
but this seemed to be neither the time nor the place. Grant was not
Transley. He had for this girl a delicate consideration which Transley's
nature could never know. Grant was a thinker--Transley a doer. Grant
knew that the charm which enveloped him in this girl's presence was the
perfectly natural product of a set of conditions. He was worldly-wise
enough to suspect that Zen also felt that charm. It was as natural as
the bursting of a seed in moist soil; as natural as the unfolding of a
rose in warm air....

Presently he felt her head rest against his shoulder. He looked down
upon her in awed delight. Her eyes had closed; her lips were smiling
faintly; her figure had relaxed. He could feel her warm breath upon his
face. He could have touched her lips with his.

Slowly the moon traced its long arc in the heavens.

CHAPTER VIII

Just as the first flush of dawn mellowed the East Grant heard the
pounding of horses' feet and the sound of voices borne across the
valley. They rapidly approached; he could tell by the hard pounding of
the hoofs that they were on a trail which he took to be the one he had
followed before he met Zen. It passed possibly a hundred yards to the
left. He must in some way make his presence known.

The girl had slept soundly, almost without stirring. Now he must wake
her. He shook her gently, and called her name; her eyes opened; he could
see them, strange and wondering, in the thin grey light. Then, with a
sudden start, she was quite awake.

"I have been sleeping!" she exclaimed, reproachfully. "You let me
sleep!"

"No use of two watching the moon," he returned, lightly.

"But you shouldn't have let me sleep," she reprimanded. "Besides, you
had to stay awake. You have had no sleep at all!"

There was a sympathy in her voice very pleasant to the ear. But Grant
could not continue so delightful an indulgence.

"I had to wake you," he explained. "There are several people riding up
the valley; undoubtedly a search party. I must attract their attention."

They listened, and could now hear the hoof-beats close at hand. Grant
called; not a loud shout; it seemed little more than his speaking voice,