The Washington herald., 1910-12-25
CHAPTER XIV. Continued.

~ II, what beautyr she had cried at
, Asight Of Bob. From the shining light in
her eyes and the face filled with delight
Y he could scarcely have believed that It
belonged to the young he had
known in the office, the young woman with the con-
trolled. subdued Office face.
4 didn't know you rode" was one of her first re-
marks. Il imagined you were welded to get-there.
quick machines"
1--WE just taken it up lately" was his answer. BE
ginning to get stout you know and had to take it OF
somehow"
She gave quick sidewise glance that embraced
him from head to heel including seat and saddle and
said
But you've ridden before"
She certainly had an eye for horses and things con-
nected With horses was his thought, as he replied
Not for many years. But ! used to think was
a regular ripsnorter when 1 y0ungster up in
Eastern Oregon, sneaking away from camp TO ride
with the cattle and break cayuses aud that sort Of
thing"
Thus and 10 his great relief they launched on
a topic of mutual interest. He told her about Bobs
tricks, and Of the whrl and his scheme TO overcome
it, and she agreed that horses had to be handled with
a certain rational severity no matter how much one
loved them. There was her Nab which she had had
for eight years, and which she had had TO break of
stall kicking The process had been painful for Nab
but it had cured her.
you've ridden a lot" Daylight said.
Il really can't remember the first time l was on a
horse" she told him. Il born on a ranch you
know. and they couldn't keep me away from the
horses. l must have been born with the IoYe for
them. I had my first pony all my own, when l was
six When 1 eight 1 knew what it was To be all
day in the saddle along with daddy. BY the time
u-os no obi
I'd be lost without a horse l hate indoors and with
out Nab here I suppose I'd have been sick and dead
long ago"
you like the country" he queried. at the same
moment catching his first glimpse Of a light in her
eyes other than gray.
AS much as detest the city" she answered But
a woman can't earn living in the country. SO
make the best Of it along with Nab"
And thereat she told him more Of her ranch life in
the days before her father died. And Daylight was
hugely pleased with himself They were getting ac
quanted The conversation had not Jagged In the full
half hour they had been together
I'VE come pretty close from the same part Of the
country he said. Il was raised in Eastern Oregon
and that's none so far from Sskyou"
The next moment he could have bitten out his
tongue, for her quick question was:-
How did you know from Slskiyou? I'm
sure never mentioned IT,"
al don't know" he foundered temporarily. II
heard somewhere that you were from thereabouts."
Wolf, sliding up at that moment sleek footed and
ike shadow caused her horse to shy and passed the
awkwardness off, for they talked Alaskan dogs until
the conversation drfted back to horses And horses
tt was all up the grade and down the other side
When she talked he listened and followed her. and
yet all the while he was following his own thoughts
and impressions as Well 1t was neryy thing for
her to do this riding astrde and he didn't know after
all whether he liked it or not His ideas of women
were prone 10 be old fashioned. They were the ones
he had imbbed in the early day frontier life of his
youth, when no woman seen anything but
side saddle He had grown up the tacit fiction that
women on horseback were not bipeds II came 10
him with shock this sight of her so manlike In her
saddle. But he had to confess that the sight looked
good 10 him just the same.
Two other immediate things about her struck him
First there were the golden spots in her eyes Queer
that he had never noticed them before Perhaps the
light in the office had not been right and perhaps
they came and went. No: Ihey were glows of color
a sort OF dinuSed, golden light. Nor was il golden,
either; but 1t was nearer that than any color he knew
1t certainly was not any shade of yellow. lovers
thoughts are ever coored and ii is to be doubted If
any else in the world would have called Dedes
eyes golden But paylights mood Yerged on the ten
der and melting, and he preferred think Of them as
golden, and therefore they were golden
And then she was natural. He had been prepared
10 find her a most difficult young woman to get ac-
quainted with Yet here it was proving so simple
There nothing highfaluting about her company