book. Perhaps fate had urged her on to this unfriendly shore only
to feed her on the bitter herbs for her purification for a better
life.

The minister of her church investigated Swan Carlson and his claims,
finding him all that he professed to be. Hertha wrote to him; in time
Swan came to visit her, a tall, long-striding man, handsomer than his
picture in the paper, handsome as a Viking lord with his proud foot on
the neck of a fallen foe.

So she married him, and came away with him to the sheeplands, and
Swan's hand was as tender of her as a summer wind. It was shearing
time when they reached home; Swan was with her every day for a little
while, gathering his flocks from the range into the shearing sheds. He
was master of more than fifteen thousand sheep.

When the shearing was done, and Swan had gone with his wagons to ship
the clip, returning with his bankbook showing thousands in added
wealth, a change came into her life, so radiant with the blossoms of a
new happiness. Swan's big laugh was not so ready in his throat any
more; his great hand seemed forgetful of its caress. He told her that
the time of idling now was over; she must go with him in a sheep-wagon
to the range and care for her band of sheep, sharing the labors of his
life as she shared its rewards.

No; that was not to her liking. The wife of a rich man should not live
as a peasant woman, dew in her draggled skirts to her knees, the sun
browning her skin and bleaching her hair. It was not for his woman to
give him _no_, said Swan. Be ready at a certain hour in the morning;
they must make an early start, for the way was long.

But no; she refused to take the burden of a peasant woman on her back.
That was the first time Swan knocked her senseless. When she
recovered, the sheep-wagon was rocking her in its uneasy journey to
the distant range. Swan's cruelties multiplied with his impatience at
her slowness to master the shepherd's art. The dogs were sullen
creatures, unused to a woman's voice, unfriendly to a woman's
presence. Swan insisted that she lay aside her woman's attire and
dress as a man to gain the good-will of the dogs.

Again she defied his authority, all her refinement rising against the
degradation of her sex; again Swan laid her senseless with a blow.
When she woke her limbs were clad in overalls, a greasy jumper was
buttoned over her breast. But the dogs were wiser than their master;
no disguise of man's could cover her from the cont