Hidden Creek

y notion of layin' off for the day." Even at its most urgent, his voice was soft, hushed by the great loneliness of this ca?on up which he slowly crept. Monkey and Fox had been plodding, foot by

cloud of dust. The great circle of the world had dwarfed them to a bitter insignificance: a team of crickets,

es, willows, and ferns, the frost-white stream fled toward the valley with all the seeming terror of escape. Here the team began their tugging and their panting and their long pauses to get breath. Thatcher would push forward the wooden handle that moved his brake, and at the sound and the grating of the wheel the horses would stop automatically and stand with heaving sides. The wagon shook slightly with their breathing. At such times the stream seemed to shout in the sti

tcher looked at this portion of his load he pulled more anxiously at his mustache. At last, when the noon sun stood straight above the pass and he stopped to water his horses at a trough which caught a trickle of spring water, he bent down and softly raised the piece of sacking, suspended like a tent from one fat sack to another above the object of his uneasiness. There, in the complete relaxation of exhausted sleep, lay Sheila, no

y, inch by inch, across the surface of a changeless, changeful earth and not come very near to some of the locked doors of the temple where clowns sleep and wise men meditate. And Thatcher was

She opened her eyes, looked vaguely from some

heila, woman and sprit

ens is my hat?

ed in a relieved fashion.

on one of the sacks and face

mall, isn't it? How very small it is! What air!" She shut her eyes, drawing in the perfumed tonic. The altitude had intoxicated her. Her heart wa

here, aren't they?" she said. "Wh

paint-

e! I don't believe I ever kne

he spring. On the other side you'll see a whole lot more-wild hollyhock and fireweed

e immensity above. A vast mosque of cloud, dome bubbles great and small, stood ahead of them, dwarfing every hum

the little trickling spring. The bruise of Hudson's kiss ached at the cold touch

is it now?"

Better eat y

ely, but ate it with absent-minded ea

lady that didn't want no f

id Sheila, between bites,

stretched her arms. "What a great sleep I've had! Since six o'clock!

the words a trifle as a Westerner does

M

're a real funny girl,

the saloon, and now I've left another Me. I

in kind of peels off easy and gradual-you don't get them shocks wh

put it on like a shadow above her fairness, she climbed up to Thatcher's side on the driver's seat. The hat was her felt Stetson, and, for the rest, she was clad in her riding-clothes, the boy's shirt, t

road?" asked Sh

mirth. "Don't it seem

ed herself from falling out at th

y slope of which the horse's foothold

ppish about hosses; said he didn't see the advantage of the critter. A mule now was steady and easy fed and strong. Well, ma'am, the hoss feller got kind of hot after some of this, so he says, 'Well, sir,' he says, 'there's this about it. When you got a hoss, you got a hoss. You know what you got. He's goin' to act like a hoss

nitely worse. Here, half the road was four feet of dirty, icy drift and half of abysmal mud. They slipped from drift to mire with awful perils and rackings of the wagon and painful struggles of the team. Sometimes the snow softened and let the horses in up to their necks when Thatcher plied whip and tongue with neces

shouted

stant it seemed that they would be dragged over the edge. Then the wagon stopped, and Thatcher, grim and pale, unhitched his team. He swore fluently

inning to roll a cigarette,

his driver. She brushed the snow from her skirt, climbed down from the drift to the edge of the mire by T

s, "I'm agoin' to do one of two things. I'm agoin' to lead my team over The Hill and come back

it be before th

four or f

t possibly overtake my

pick you up when I come by; like as not I'll spend the night at Duff's. By the time I get my load

ned. "No wagon,

uresquely into view. His pony dug sturdy feet into the steep roadside, avoiding the mud of the road itself. The man led two other horses, saddled, but em

th an inspiration. "Couldn't I hire one of your horses?" she asked,

n at her with grav

could," he said gently. "They'r

they

leave my hoss at Lander's and I c'd get him when I come along. I am stoppin' here to help with the load. It would co

ke the best care of him I know how to ta

er on hoofs than it is on wheels. You can't miss the road on account of it bein' the only r

sk her her destination,

am going to Miss Blake'

n, young face. "Yes, ma'am," he said with no expression. "We

ht and adventurous "Good-bye." thanked the unknown owner of the horse, and started. The pony showed some unwillingness to leave his companions, fretted and tossed his head, and made a few attempts at a right-about face, but Sheila dug in her small spurred heels and spoke beguilingly. At last he settled down to sober climbing. Sheila looked b