Hetty laughed. "If you will think a little, you can't help seeing that you
are very wrong."

Again the little weary smile crept into Grant's face. "One naturally
thinks a good deal before starting in with this kind of thing, and I have
to go through. I can't stop now, even to please you. But can't we still be
friends?"

For a moment there was astonishment in the girl's face, then it flushed,
and as her lips hardened and every line in her slight figure seemed to
grow rigid, she reminded Miss Schuyler of the autocrat of Cedar Range.

"You ask me that?" she said. "You, an American, turning Dutchmen and these
bush-choppers loose upon the people you belong to. Can't you see what the
answer must be?"

Grant did apparently, for he mutely bent his head; but there was a shout
just then, and when one of the vedettes on the skyline suddenly moved
forward he seized Miss Torrance's bridle and wheeled her horse.

"Ride back to the Range," he said sharply, "as straight as you can. Tell
your father that you met me. Let your horse go, Miss Schuyler."

As he spoke he brought his hand down upon the beast's flank and it went
forward with a bound. The one Flora Schuyler rode flung up its head, and
in another moment they were sweeping at a gallop across the prairie. A
mile had been left behind before Hetty could pull her half-broken horse
up; but the struggle that taxed every sinew had been beneficial, and she
laughed a trifle breathlessly.

"I'm afraid I lost my temper; and I'm angry yet," she said. "It's the
first time Larry wouldn't do what I asked him, and it was mean of him to
send us off like that, just when one wanted to put on all one's dignity."

Miss Schuyler appeared thoughtful. "I fancy he did it because it was
necessary. Didn't it strike you that you were hurting him? That is a good
man and an honest one, though, of course, he may be mistaken."

"He must be," said Hetty. "Now I used to think ever so much of Larry, and
that is why I got angry with him. It isn't nice to feel one has been
fooled. How can he be good when he wants to take our land from us?"

Flora Schuyler laughed. "You are quite delightful, Hetty, now and then.
You have read a little, and been taught history. Can't you remember any?"

"Oh yes," said Hetty, with a little thoughtful nod. "Still, the men who
made the trouble in those old days were usually buried before anyone was
quite sure whether they were right or not. Try to put yourself in my
place. Wha