g the plant loose from the
rock and the surrounding soil. The roots penetrated deeper than she
had supposed and in her interest she forgot her precarious footing and
pulled hard. The plant gave way unexpectedly, and losing her balance,
Linda plunged down the side of the canyon catching wildly at shrubs and
bushes and bruising herself severely on stones, finally landing in a
sitting posture on the road that traversed the canyon.

She was not seriously hurt, but she did not present a picturesque figure
as she sprawled in the road, her booted feet thrust straight before her,
one of her long black braids caught on a bush at her back, her blouse
pulled above her breeches, the contents of her knapsack decorating the
canyon side and the road around her; but high in one hand, without break
or blemish, she triumphantly held aloft the rare Cotyledon. She shrugged
her shoulders, wiggled her toes, and moved her arms to assure herself
that no bones were broken; then she glanced at her drawings and the
fruits of her day's collecting scattered on the roadside around her. She
was in the act of rising when a motor car containing two young men shot
around a curve of the canyon, swerved to avoid running over her, and
stopped as abruptly as possible.

"It's a girl!" cried the driver, and both men sprang to the road
and hurried to Linda's assistance. Her dark cheeks were red with
mortification, but she managed to recover her feet and tuck in her
blouse before they reached her.

"We heard you coming down," said the elder of the young men, "and we
thought you might be a bear. Are you sure you're not hurt?"

Linda stood before them, a lithe slender figure, vivid with youth and
vitality.

"I am able to stand," she said, "so of course I haven't broken any
bones. I think I am fairly well battered, but you will please to observe
that there isn't a scratch on Cotyledon, and I brought her down--at
least I think it's she--from the edge of that boulder away up there.
Isn't she a beauty? Only notice the delicate frosty 'bloom' on her
leaves!"

"I should prefer," said the younger of the men, "to know whether you have
any broken bones."

"I'm sure I am all right," answered Linda. "I have falling down
mountains reduced to an exact science. I'll bet you couldn't slide that
far and bring down Coty without a scratch."

"Well, which is the more precious," said the young man. "Yourself or
the specimen?"

"Why, the specimen!" answered Linda in impat