's
some lumber I cut for you; now mend your road.'"

"Perhaps, well, perhaps," the girl laughed softly. "But if Fate had said
that to any other man, at least to any man I know, he would not have
heard."

But the Columbia was still far off when darkness closed, and with sunset
the thunder-heads they had watched across the Kittitas Valley gathered
behind them. It was as though armies encamped on the heights they had
left, waiting for night to pass. Then searchlights began to play on the
lower country; there was skirmishing along the skyline; blades flashed.

At last, between the lightning flashes, the blackness was so dense it was
hardly possible for Tisdale to see the road, and he could not trust the
nervous team to keep the track; it was necessary to stop, at least to wait
until the moon should rise. But while he was preparing to tell her so, the
silence was broken by the barking of a dog. Instantly it was swelled by a
deeper baying, and the echo rang a continuous clamor through the gorge.
Then a faint illumination brought out in silhouette a final bluff ahead;
rounding it, they saw a low-roofed habitation, and in the open door a
woman with a lamp.

One of the dogs stood bristling and growling beside her; the other,
barking furiously, sprang from the porch so that for a moment Tisdale was
busy with the plunging team. Then the woman spoke, and the setter,
whimpering, snapping furtively, crept back to her feet.

"We have been delayed by an accident," Tisdale explained briefly, "and I
want you to take this lady in for the night. Make her comfortable as
possible, and I will see it is worth your while."

"This ain't much of a road-house." The woman held the lamp higher to
scrutinize the lady's face. "We only got one room, an' the best I can do
is to double up with the kids an' give you my bed."

"That will do very well," answered Tisdale quickly. "I can take care of
myself. Of course there's a stable somewhere out here in the dark, and a
bale or two of hay."

"No, we got a shed up, but we're short on feed. We're short on 'bout
everything: flour, potatoes, bacon, beans. We've just took up this here
claim, an' things ain't growed. But my man's gone down to Wenatchee to
fetch a load." Then, seeing this fact was hardly one to solace her
transient guests, she laughed shortly and went into the cabin to set the
lamp on a table and bring a lantern that hung on the farther wall.

Tisdale turned to help Miss Armitage down. "