hickory-pole newly reared as a flag-staff
beside her. The hickory-pole, the halliards, the fluttering scarf,
the young lady herself, were all glaring innovations on the familiar
landscape; but Rand, with his hand still on the rope, silently and
demurely enjoyed it.

For the better understanding of the general reader, who does not live on
an isolated mountain, it may be observed that the young lady's position
on the rock exhibited some study of POSE, and a certain exaggeration of
attitude, that betrayed the habit of an audience; also that her voice
had an artificial accent that was not wholly unconscious, even in this
lofty solitude. Yet the very next moment, when she turned, and caught
Rand's eye fixed upon her, she started naturally, colored slightly,
uttered that feminine adjuration, "Good Lord! gracious! goodness me!"
which is seldom used in reference to its effect upon the hearer, and
skipped instantly from the bowlder to the ground. Here, however, she
alighted in a POSE, brought the right heel of her neatly-fitting left
boot closely into the hollowed side of her right instep, at the same
moment deftly caught her flying skirt, whipped it around her ankles,
and, slightly raising it behind, permitted the chaste display of an inch
or two of frilled white petticoat. The most irreverent critic of the sex
will, I think, admit that it has some movements that are automatic.

"Hope I didn't disturb ye," said Rand, pointing to the flag-staff.

The young lady slightly turned her head. "No," she said; "but I didn't
know anybody was here, of course. Our PARTY"--she emphasized the word,
and accompanied it with a look toward the further extremity of the
plateau, to show she was not alone--"our party climbed this ridge,
and put up this pole as a sign to show they did it." The ridiculous
self-complacency of this record in the face of a man who was evidently
a dweller on the mountain apparently struck her for the first time. "We
didn't know," she stammered, looking at the shaft from which Rand had
emerged, "that--that--" She stopped, and, glancing again towards the
distant range where her friends had disappeared, began to edge away.

"They can't be far off," interposed Rand quietly, as if it were the most
natural thing in the world for the lady to be there. "Table Mountain
ain't as big as all that. Don't you be scared! So you thought nobody
lived up here?"

She turned upon him a pair of honest hazel eyes, which not only
contrad