observed the bedraggled victim,
as one who has an assortment of heads from which to choose. He pulled
off his soaked gloves and regarded them ruefully. "'Them that go down to
deep waters!' That was a regular triumph of matter over mind, wasn't
it?"

"It's a wonder you're alive! My! How frightened I was! Aren't you
hurt--truly? Ribs or anything?"

The patient's elbows made a convulsive movement to guard the threatened
ribs.

"Oh, no, ma'am. I ain't hurt a bit--indeed I ain't," he said truthfully;
but his eyes had the languid droop of one who says the thing that is
not. "Don't you worry none about me--not one bit. Sorry I frightened
you. That black horse now----" He stopped to consider fully the case of
the black horse. "Well, you see, ma'am, that black horse, he ain't
exactly right plumb gentle." His eyelids drooped again.

The girl considered. She believed him--both that he was not badly hurt
and that the black horse was not exactly gentle. And her suspicions were
aroused. His slow drawl was getting slower; his cowboyese broader--a
mode of speech quite inconsistent with that first sprightly remark about
the little eohippus. What manner of cowboy was this, from whose tongue a
learned scientific term tripped spontaneously in so stressful a
moment--who quoted scraps of the litany unaware? Also, her own eyes were
none of the slowest. She had noted that the limping did not begin until
he was clear of the pool. Still, that might happen if one were excited;
but this one had been singularly calm, "more than usual ca'm," she
mentally quoted.... Of course, if he really were badly hurt--which she
didn't believe one bit--a little bruised and jarred, maybe--the only
thing for her to do would be to go back to camp and get help.... That
meant the renewal of Lake's hateful attentions and--for the other girls,
the sharing of her find.... She stole another look at her find and
thrilled with all the pride of the discoverer.... No doubt he was shaken
and bruised, after all. He must be suffering. What a splendid rider he
was!

"What made you so absurd? Why didn't you get out of the water, then, if
you are not hurt?" she snapped suddenly.

The drooped lids raised; brown eyes looked steadily into brown eyes.

"I didn't want to wake up," he said.

The candor of this explanation threw her, for the moment, into a vivid
and becoming confusion. The dusky roses leaped to her cheeks; the long,
dark lashes quivered and fell. Then she rose t