The Valley of the Moon

e parallel roads through acres of intense cultivation where the land was farmed to the wheel-tracks. Saxon looked with amazement at these small, brown-skinned

over. They seemed never to let it rest. And it rewarded them. It must reward them, or their children would not be able to

py and contented. They haven't faces like the pe

out all over them. But they needn't get chesty with ME, I can tell you tha

ng any signs of chesti

All the same, they ain't so wise. I b

of Niles. Billy, who had been silent for the l

room in the hotel just as w

ook her head

that rate? Besides, the only way to begin is to begin

n. "I'm game. I was ju

he flashed forgivingly. "And now we'll hav

s, with the tarpaulin underneath, for a table, having first removed all twigs from the sand. She had much to learn in the matter of cooking over a camp-fire, and made fair progress, discovering, first of all, that control of the fire meant far more than the size of it. When the coffee was boiled, she settled the grounds with a part-cup of cold water and placed the pot on the edge of the coals where it would keep hot and yet not boi

re was burning brightly, and Saxon's color was heightened by the flickering flames. "Now our folks, when they was on the move, had to be afraid for Indians, and wild animals and all sorts of things; an' here we are

white flash of teeth. "If you weren't smoking a cigarette I'd a

omething, if you don't mind. Now, of course, I don't want to hurt your feelin

she inquired, afte

t here's night come on, an' we're a thousand miles from anywhere, and-w

uly," she assu

ttin' embarrassed, you know, because if we wasn't, s

he time and place for you to get in the firewood for morni

w her close. Neither spoke, but when he went his way Saxon's brea

clouds that seemed to have arisen from nowhere. It was the beginning of California Indian

d, joined her on the blankets before the fire. "I've learned more to-day than ten years in Oakla

was staring into the fire, and she knew

had reached a conclusion, at the same t

t, down alongside some creek, my mares are most likely grazin', an' their little colts grazin' with 'em or kickin' up their heels. You know, there's money in raisin' horses-especially the big workhorses that run to eighteen hundred an' two thousand pounds. They're payin' for 'em, in the cities, every day in the year, seven

e cherished subject, and, best of all, Billy was the aut

nd for everything on a quart

t and chickens an' everything, just like the Porchugeeze, an

e colts cost

s, from the ones knocked out by the city. I know THAT end of it. They sell 'em at a

n the dying fire both were b

, and tossed several sticks on the fire. "Just the same, it's the best kind of a climate in the world. Many's the time, when I was a little kid, I've heard

d to them after crossing the deserts and mountains. They called it the land of milk and h

ther, he drove cattle from the San Joaquin to the Columbia river. He had forty men help

whole herds of elk around Santa Rosa. Some tim

in the open, he an' the Mexicans used to ride up an' rope them-catch them with lariats, you know. He said a horse that wasn't afraid of grizzlies fetched ten times as much as any other horse. A

t sleep. On the contrary, she had never been more wide awake. She had never slept out of doors in her life, and by no exertion of will could she overcome the strangeness of it. In addition, she was stiffened from the long trudge, and

whispered, "a

his sand is harder'n a cement floor. It's on

but vain was the attempt to escape fro

cricket gave Saxon another startle. She endured t

ts my goat wh

nake?" she asked, maintainin

I've been

you know, Billy, they've got a hollow fang, and when t

ot altogether mockery. "Certain death, everybo

barker. "Just the same, all Bosco's rattlers had the poison-sacs cut outa them. They must a-had. Gee! It

cided. "All the rattlesnake

ly demanded with unimpeachable logi

s," was her reply. "You see,

and sighed heavily. "But we'll get used to it in time, I guess. What other folks can do, we can, an' a mighty

ng. When they tried to locate it, it mysteriously ceased, and when the first

eping up on us," Saxon sugges

ffer in the way of comfort. He yawned deliberately. "Aw, shucks! What'

houlders began to shake, an

she was in, was attacked by Indians. They got all the wagons in a circle, an' all hands an' the oxen inside, an' drove the Indians off, killin' a lot of 'em. They was too strong that way, so what'd the Indians do, to draw 'em out into the open, but take two

Susan do, but get out an old, long-barreled Kentucky rifle. She rams down about three times the regular load of powder, takes aim at a big buck that's pretty busy at the torturin',

e'd souse herself to the ears every chance she got. An' her sons an' daughters an' the o

t?" ask

from Oregon. An' old Susan claimed her rheumatics was hurtin' her an' so she couldn't go. But the family was on. There was a two-gallon demijohn of whisky in the house. They said all right, but before they left they s

all," Saxon hazarded, when Billy h

n the ground square under the demijohn. Then she got out her old rifle an' shot t

ser. To her excited apprehension there was something stealthy about it, an

n' to it," came his

a panther, or ma

was killed off long ago. This

abruptness. Then, from the rustling noise, ensued a dull but heavy thump that caused both Saxon and Billy to sit up

know what it was. It was a rabbit. I've heard tame o

r flesh and her bones ached from contact with it. And, though her reason flouted an

d some large body passing through the brush. Sometimes twigs crackled and brok

ephant," was Billy's uncheering opinion. "It's go

in, always louder, always closer. Billy sat up in the blankets

complained. "-There it goes

ly," Saxon chattered, partly from nervou

grasshopper,

ve the blankets, but

you goin

s gettin' on my nerves. If I don't find what that thing is, it'll g

ost to sight. She sat and waited. The sound had ceased, though she could follow Billy's progress by

t heard me comin' it skinned out most likely. I did my dangd

p. Saxon n

est of whispers. "I can hear it b

and so near at hand, that bo

ts foolin'," Billy declared wrathfull

ing to do?" she

ad off. I'll get a fal

breath and emit

instant the darkness erupted into terrible sound and movement. There were trashings of underbrush and lunges and plung

nk of that?" Billy

was scairt of nothin'. Just the same

t of that blamed sand. I'm goin

ed the wood he threw on. A few stars were peeping out in the misty

u going now?"

oncommittally, and walked boldly awa

dmired his courage. He had not even taken the hatchet, and he w

ater he came

n shadow next.-What was they? Huh! You couldn't guess in a thousand ye

the fire, then rejoined

ves can scare the stuffin' outa me. I bet your father or mine wouldn

nt, that's all. We've lived in cities all our lives. We know the city sounds and thugs, but we don't know the country ones. Our training has been unnatural, that's

sand," Bil

od and all, we've learned the very firs

its unyieldingness. Billy dozed off first, and roosters were crowing somewhere in the distan

hiveringly. They were hollow-eyed and weary. Saxon began to laugh. Billy joined sulkily, the