The Rim of the Desert

ising, remained fixed absently on the winding road. Once, when the woman beside him ventured to look in his face, she drew herself a little more erect and aloof. She must have seen the futility of h

nes, etched again at the corners of her mouth,

which, toppling from the bluff they were skirting, had carried down a strip of the road and started an incipient slide

e steep mountainside. "We never could turn in this pla-ace,

arricade, but she left us an open door. I must

hing for that door. The top of the tree, with its debris of branches, rested prone on the slope below the road; but the trunk was supported by a shoulder of the

ng this trap over that will take time. But I pledge myself to see you through these mountains befo

ce shook a little. "And there isn't a house in sight-anywhere. M

ese bays through to the fair at North Yakima? And here is a hatchet-he expected to cut fire-wood-and this looks like his lunch-box. Yes,"-and he lifted the lid to glance in-"here a

sometimes from her seat in the buggy. Presently he lifted the remaining strap, but before he could snap the hook in the ring, the colt's ears flattened back, and he gri

r and, keeping his feet with difficulty, ran hugging the bluff. Rocks, slipping beneath the bay's incautious hoofs, rattled do

ment she untied him and led him through the passage. He followed easily, crowding her sometimes, yet choosing his steps with the caution of a superior animal in a hard situation. Midway over the break in the road, where it was narrowest, he halted with a foref

orse. He backed off, jerking the halter taut, but she kept her hold, springing again to the surface of the rock. Loose splinters of granite began to clatter down the slope; then, in the moment she paused to gather her equilibrium, she felt Tisdale's arm rea

ld hurry back. What made you? handicapped,

e vixen meant to hurt-a

ought you mi

dowy and, looking into their depths, the light began to play so

She regarded his broad back, pursing her lips a little and ruffling her brows. "It is only a bruis

hand. The hitching-place he had chosen was in a cleft formed by a divided spur of the mountain. It was roofed by the boughs of two pines, and the boles of th

t is like coming unexpectedly into a ro

s a floor, and I could make you a bed, springy and fragrant, of boughs; the camp-fire would close the door. And you nee

. "We really must hurry, Mr. Tisdale," she said, rising. "Though it may be impossible to reach Wenatchee to-night, we

st two hours of daylight left. Don't worry; I

make bread. He had learned that first winter he had spent in Alaska with Weatherbee. At the thought of that experimental mixture, he smiled grimly. Then, suddenly, he imagined this gently nurtured woman confronted by a night in such a shack as they had occupied. He saw her waiting expectantly for that impossible chaperon; and, grasping the situati

bough on the fallen pine. Other broken limbs, gathered from the debris, were piled along the slide to build up the edge. When his branch dropped, he sprang down and dragged it lengthwise to reinforce the rest. Presently he was on the log again, reaching now for the buggy tongue, he set his knee as a brace on the stump of the limb, his muscular body bent, lifted, strained. Then the front wheels rolled up across the bole; he slipped to the ground and gr

him ten minutes' delay, and eight, nine o'clock at the latest, would have found him putting up for the night at the hotel in Wenatchee. But here he was hardly over the divide; it was almost sunset, but he was dragging a buggy by hand around a mountain top. He hoped Foster never would find out what he had paid for these bays-the team of huskies that had carried him the long trek from Nome to the Aurora mine and on through Rainy Pass had cost less. Still, under the circumstances, would not Foster himself have done the same? She was no ordinary woman; she was mo

resourceful, how strong you are. It looked simply impossible; I couldn't guess what you meant to do, and now we have

deepen anew. "I told you Fate was on our side. She threw those boughs there in easy rea

. "But if Fate had said that to any other man, at

Kittitas Valley gathered behind them. It was as though armies encamped on the heights they had left, waiting for night

p, 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

prang from the porch so that for a moment Tisdale was busy with the plunging team. Then

y, "and I want you to take this lady in for the night. Make her

r to scrutinize the lady's face. "We only got one room, an' the

can take care of myself. Of course there's a stable som

e 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

when the moon rises," he said, "but I can't be as sure of another-chaperon." Then, looking into her face, he ad

complete along the new railroad. It was battered and weak, showing old earmarks of transportation, but it was furnished with a rusty cook-stove, some bench chairs, and two beds, which stood in the farther corners and nearly filled that half of the room. A few heavy dishes, the part of a loaf of bread, and several slices of indifferently fried bacon were on the table, between the lamp and a bucket containing a little water. Presently, still holding her skirts, she crossed the grimy floor and stood in

y and, seating herself with her back to the room, kept on dabbing her lips and her cheeks with the cool, delicately pungent perfume, and so gathered up the remnants of her scattered fortitude. Finally, when the lanter

esources were even more meager than he had supposed. He swung around and looked up through the darkness towards that sheltered cleft they had left near the Pass. He did not say anything

t go hungry, with that lunch of Lighter's and your apples, to say nothing of the sandwiches I asked the steward to make before I left the train

e. And besides the apples, I have tea. I always tuck a little in my suitcase

fine show of courage that accepted and made the best of the inevitable, went straight to Tisdale's heart. "Tea," he repeated mellowly, "tea and all the outf

the whole it was a rather gay little supper and, considering the limitations of the menu, it bridged a long interval. Tisdale, who had been accustomed to drink tea black and bitter on a hard

hung on a nail in the wall above the table, struck an exceedingly large ruby she wore on her left hand. It glowed blood-red, scintillated, flamed. He saw the stone was mounted with diamonds in a unique setting of some foreign workmanship, and he told himself it was pro

d widening gulfwise towards the Columbia desert. The pent air seemed surcharged. It was as though that table was set in a space between running dynamos, and when a stronger flash came,

e asked breathless

ds carry in these mountain gorges, and his cry was picked up by some cross wind miles from here. Look at those dogs! They wou

in her eyes. At last, when Tisdale rose to say good night, she, too, left her chair. She laid her hand on the edge of t

ind the soft side of a plank. Yes, it's true. There have been times when I'

while her imagination gr

been very tir

e halted and put the light down to pick up his bag, which he opened. "Here's a bunch of my handkerch

disappeared in the gloom, his whistle, sweet, soft, almost tender, fluted back to her. It was the "Good ni

hold. "Mr. Tisdale!" she called, and the currents hel

wung an arc. He came qu

eaking the pause, "

ost on a level with his. Her eyes in the semi-darkness were luminously big; her face, her whole body quivered. S

rowded in, dressed as she is, to sleep with the children. There isn't any air to breathe. I-I really can

note. "You mean you are afraid o

ghts; javelins of it; whole broadsides. I know it is foolish, but I can't help f

our chair." He moved it around from the table and laid his hand on her arm, impelling her into the seat. "Now fac

her face with her hands; he believed she was crying, and he desired beyond all reason to take her to his heart and quiet her. He only said: "But I understa

her head. "I am sorry," she said, "but it is all o

ned, and the mellowness stole into his voice. "I didn't expect you t

"You have found a fl

answered and waited, looking int

ed, "and I warned you I should disapp

n the steps, he looked up again to the night-enshrouded Pass. The air was cooler; a light wind, drawing down from the divide, brought a hint