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Two riders followed the trail to Yeager's Spur--one a irl, with sunshine in her dancing eyes and a voice full of the lilt of laughter What theyabout, though neither knew as yet They were the best of friends--good couardedly too h for the man He knew that he had found the one woman he wanted for his wife But Phyllis only wondered, let her thoughts rove over s For instance, why queer throbs and sudden shyness swept her soft young body She liked Larrabie Keller--oh, so much!--but her untutored heart could not quite tell her whether she loved him His eyes drilled into her electric pulsations whenever they met hers The youth in him called to the youth in her She adination, and yet--and yet---They rode through a valley of gold and russet, all ith yellow sunlight In front of thee into thefor a job, but not very anxious to find one," she was hazarding, answering a question

"No That leaves you one uess"

"That forces me to believe that you are what you say you are," she mocked; "just a plain, prosaic homesteader"

She had often considered in her ered week after week and rode trail with the cowboys; but it had not been the part of hospitality to ask questions of her friend This ht seem to imply a doubt, and of doubt she had none To-day, he hiht it up, he now dropped it for the ti that held his attention--a little curl of s from the wash in front of them

"What is it?" she asked, impatient that his mind could so easily be diverted fro to find out Stay here!"

Rifle in hand, Keller slipped forward through the brush His imperative "Stay here!" annoyed her just a little She uncased her rifle, dropped froh the cacti Her stealthy advance did not take her far before she ca, crouched like a panther ready for the spring, quite ed the edge of the wash, and now the s faintly from the embers of a fire