A Voice in the Wilderness

ing stray ladies in the wilderness every day of his life and understood the situation pe

r. Involuntarily she breathed a soft little exclamation of

rywhere it takes one's breath away, and yet the stars hang close, like a protection. It gives

he wide dome of luminous blue above. His voice was strangel

ve seen it when it was more like being al

t the fine young face beside her. In the starlight she could not make out the bitter hardness of lines that were beginning

can understand. I felt so, a little, while that terrible m

s some class to the skies. It's a case of 'Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile.'" And with the words his tone grew alm

he had been describing. Instantly he felt her with

the east like a hearth in a palace, and all this dome will glow like a great pink jewel

girl could not make him out; yet there had been a palpitating earnestne

she asked, half shyly. "O

barrassed. "No, I'm just a-bum!

a kind of embarrassment upon her after his last re

and turned his head away, as if there

sciously her tone took on a sympathetic sound. "And do

fairly sava

finally turned and in his kindly tone began to question her about

ankly about herself, as he questioned-

ad a brother out here. Father and mother would rather have kept me nearer home, of course, but everybody says the best opportunities are in the West, and this was a good opening,

I guess you'll manage to hit it off in Ashland. It's the limit as far as discipline is concerned, I

n't see how you know all that. I'm sure I didn't do anything particular

, and fainted again when they were rescued,

n. "I don't think I should care to faint out in the vast unive

owing very chummy with this stranger in the dark, s

s your c

her head. There was something in his speech

"Yale," and plunged into an elaborate account of Arizona in its early ages, including a detailed description of the cliff-dwellers

so wonderful to her to be actually out here where were all sorts of queer things about which she had read and wondered. It did not occur to her, unt

ed the coloring of the brilliant days in Arizona, where you stand on the edge of some flat-topped mesa and look off through the clear air to mountains that seem quite near by, but are in reality more than two hundred miles away. He pictured the strange colors and lights of the place; led

a picture to one he knew would appreciate it-for her sake, and not because he loved to put it into words; but in a new, stumbling way let

d more what manner of youth this might be w

was riding through the great darkness with an utter stranger, to a place she knew not, and to experiences most dubious. Her fears had fled an

instinctively she swerved a trifle toward her companion, then straightened up again and tried to seem not to notice. The Boy saw and watched her brave attempts at self-control with deep appreciation. But suddenly, as

she tried. It was all over in a second and the creature gone, so that she almost doubted her senses and wo

s the neck of her horse. "The pussy-cat was as unwilling for our company as we for hers. Bes

nk I am-very! But it's all so new and unexpected, you know. Do pe

ughed t

artle you even more than the wildcat. It seems I'm not fi

aret Earle, loyally, "and I'm glad to get used to

ss there gleamed a tiny, wizened light set in a blotch of blackness. Under the g

ll be snoring by this time, and we'll come away before he's about in the morning. He always sleeps late after

wide, starry sky, a furtive glance at the strong face of her

s, with only one window in which the flicker of the lanterns m