Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/81

 field, while steep bluffs of red sandstone on either side of the valley reflected the glow of the setting sun.

The air which rose from the blossoming, freshly irrigated alfalfa field was cool and sweet, and involuntarily Nan gave an exclamation of delight at the beauty of the peaceful scene below her.

"Only drawback to me is its lonesomeness, but now"—Spiser looked steadily at Nan—"I won't even have that complaint."

The remark recalled her to herself and intensified the growing conviction that she ought not to be there. Her eyebrows contracted in a frown as she scanned the road behind her once more in search of the distant speck which would relieve her anxiety.

The grating of the brake upon the cart-wheel brought a group of cowpunchers to the door of the bunk-house to quite frankly stare as Spiser drove past the door to the square white cottage across the road on the bank of the stream.

"How are you, boys?" he said briefly, and they responded with equal brevity:

"How are you?"