The Valley of Gold

from the west. Speeding valleyward a horse and rider zigzagged in easy canter through the shrublands. They clung to the d

on a high shoulder of The Qu'Appelle. Here the bare hill was ribbed with the parallel paths to the number of seven or eight that slipped over the r

valley was pricked out into a landscape of gold. The bank upon which they stood swept away to the southeast in a forest crescent wonderful with the variegated leafage of the searing year. Paling greens, bright yellows, faint oranges ming

here along the crests hung over the edges of the great, harvest blanket, strips of wheat fields studded with their nuggets of brown stooks. In the blue radiance above drifted a fleet

!" cried the girl softly.

-drift. At length she granted release to her impatient horse and let him dash down into the trees. Under their branches she drew h

tself into a little pond before its last wild rush to the lake. As they cleared the trees Bobs pricked up his ears and quickened his step, giving a low whinny. His rider glance

my lucky day. Darkey and I have been haunting Willow Glade for an hour past

was coming?" deman

a Sunday morning and conceived a long chance of meeting you here. It was necessary to hav

the girl suddenly, a soberness dr

e, Mary," said Ned

ll by the innocence, the solicitude of them that they had

her anxious query. "I h

may pass by. Indeed you have brightened things a lot for me

the horses he secured them to adjacent trees and followed to where sh

, throwing himself on the leaves at her fee

e, expressing a mys

e!" was his

d! It is your fina

a final year? So it seemed to me for a li

s he averte

face, an expression of

nx. Swale's bar is a powerful lodestone. But he is bracing gamely. He has not touched the stuff for three weeks and if I stay with him now I believe he'll win out.

l be mis

r eyes. They were a peculiar

istrar will grieve at the non-appearance of my hitherto regular fee. And Grimes,

mourn Captain and star punter at one fell stroke or rather in the unavailable person of one fellow, Pullar. Methinks there was to have been a great International Debate. But now?-How can I g

up with a r

sity will gradually recover from her terrible handicap. Infinitely more terrible is it for me. Cal

d Mary slyly in

rise a smile uniquely pleasing in its whimsical

usly, holding her gaz

ly to tree, sky, brook, finally

d she, absorbed apparently in the task of pecking a ho

uietly Ned

ntment there. And all because of you. Soon you will be rejoining the

dee

l be in clover. This obsession has been actively depressing since last Thursday. Perhaps yo

l spattered and

girl with peeping curls of brown hair, flashing ey

ot have rec

oubly precious to me. How can I resign you, Mary, to the

flectively while she re

miling frankly down at him. "Do you mea

prise the population of

o forego the society of this

is eyes that

ing out. No Varsity for me this term. You see me to-day, Ned, a specially permitted schoolma'am. Last Thursday as I rode by Spa

ok his

our. Mary McClure is not flitting away from you. Combes and his

cry. "I am sorry for you bu

ent with eyes brimmingly glad,

ear with Mother and D

rs. Stifling the gay words leaping to his lips he r

is planned for a year ahead. Home

l, everything good for Mother and Dad was described as 'bestest.' This is to be th

We shall see to that. Now for my trouble, the thing that drove me out to find you. These last moments have made it dee

and I are not as intimate with

earnestly. "There was an encounter in t

fear flashed into

ow's. I cannot say the event has helped any. We are now enemies publicly acknowledged. At least your father so considers me. The

lips a-tremble. "You d

scar on his cheek. He thought of the wager. A staggering regret swept over him. He was about to tell he

at scratch is from the boot of Bill Baird. I was able to restrain the Valley Gang, thanks to Easy Murphy's loyalty. Othe

ef filled th

strange comprehension searching his face. "You hel

shed him, but before he c

his, Ned. If you can prevent the terrible po

me do it, Mary?" w

itude as the moments passed. At length she loo

r helpless confession.

the slow answer. "He would turn over heaven or

. Watching the quivering face h

ut there is a condition I want to make. You will be right

utt into stone walls at times, but we shall win out. There is only one great, lurking dread

ished so swiftly he doubted he had ever glimpsed it. The big eyes reading his were h

d he penitently. "Nothing conceivable can eve

d with his new friendship. It is a thousand pities that the friend should be Chesley Sykes. His presence in Pellawa is an ominous mystery to me. So f

y together,"

our yet," ca

iding No-trail Gu

ghed the girl gail

eted Ned, leading

er the gravel bed of the brook a