ng but there's no possible way around.
No," she protested, when he would have taken the reins, "I'm able. I
learned once, years ago, on a great ranch in southern California. I'd
rather." She settled in her seat smiling a little. "It's in the blood."

Tisdale reached and took the whip. They had passed the drivers and were
pushing into the herd. Sometimes a red-eyed brute turned with lowered
horns and dripping mouth, then backed slowly out of the way of the team.
Sometimes, in a thicker press, an animal wheeled close to the tires and,
stemming the current, sounded a protest. But the young horses, less
playful now, divided the great herd and came at last safely out of the
smother. The road began to lift, as they rounded the first rampart of the
range, and Tisdale's glance fell to her hands. "Those gloves are done for,
as I expected," he exclaimed. "I'll wager your palms are blistered. Come,
own they hurt."

She nodded. "But it was worth it, though you may drive now, if you wish.
It's my wrists; they have been so long out of practice. You don't know how
they a--che."

"So," he said, when he had taken the reins, "so you are as fond of horses
as this."

"Horses like these, yes. I haven't felt as happy and young since I gave up
Pedro and Don Jose."

Tisdale turned a little to look in her face. She had said "young" with the
tone of one whose youth is past, yet the most conservative judge could not
place her age a day over twenty-five. And she was so buoyant, so vibrant.
His pulses quickened. It was as though currents of her vitality were being
continually transmitted through his veins.

As they ascended, the plain unfolded like a map below; harvest fields,
pastures of feeding cattle or sheep, meadows of alfalfa, unreclaimed
reaches of sage-brush, and, far off among her shade-trees, the roofs of
Ellensburg reflecting the late sun. Above the opposite range that hemmed
the valley southward some thunder-heads crowded fast towards a loftier
snow-peak. Far away across the divide, white, symmetrical, wrought of
alabaster, inlaid with opal, lifted a peerless dome.

"Mount Rainier!" exclaimed Tisdale.

"I knew it." Her voice vibrated softly. "Even at this distance I knew. It
was like seeing unexpectedly, in an unfamiliar country, the head of a
noble friend lifting above the crowd."

Tisdale's glance returned to her face. Surprise and understanding shone
softly in his own. She turned, and met the look with a smile. It was then,