Wayside Courtships

ecause it arrived about eight o'clock of a dark day. He went to bed at once in order to

of the window saw a four-horse team standing before the little hotel.

E CREE

WILLI

lf hurriedly, and went down and out into the cool, keen dawn, eager to catch a glimpse of the

, and radiant with light on its crown. In such impassible grandeur, it must have loomed upon

tle else but gaze at the m

with all this splendor came to him with great force. He remembered the smooth, green swe

to the landlord his plans for findin

ces, but they're always snapped up

e it a good try," the y

and see some of these real-estate feller

m to-morrow," said Arthur, and he went off to bed

e had determined on his speech, and he went in

' practical experience, and am a graduate of the--Agricultura

oked at hi

hing cattle, but I don't think chances are good for a foreman's place." He was a kindly man, and repe

was not so depressi

nd took him for an investor.

he draft there? Oh, all right!" Then he settled himself in his swivel cha

kindly and interested in a way, and gave him the names of some ranchers likely to hire a hand. Some days passed in this sort of search and res

ountry, toiling from ranch to ranch over the dun-colored

l seasons at that altitude. The air was full of suspended mist-it did not rain, the road was almost dry under foot, and ye

on its levels with a short, dry grass, and on the side of the buttes were

The larks cried to him out of the mist, with their piercing sweet notes, cheerful and undaunted ever.

ard the sound of horses' hoofs behind him, and a man i

ld not help limping a little more markedly as th

u ride?"

he stranger was a fine-looking man, with a military cut

d, as he settled into the seat. "I guess I

rn man to feel mean when I pass a man on the road. A f

I guess. I'm trying to find some work to

o? What ki

get a place as fo

hat's too muc

ur s

known as much two weeks ago as

s plenty of work to do. I can give

e is nothing here for me but the place of a

en. Perhaps something better will open up later. Wh

d the man drove him

row morning; my partner does most of the hirin

away, the listening

you get a place with Ma

s he,

l the land up the creek, an

that

y a common hand's place, but here was the v

his supper. His youthful imagination had seized upon this slen