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"Couldn't I take my nurse along?"

"If you did, some fool would coax her to marry him, so he and she could hold a double quota of land. Better leave her here with your little ones, or set her to washing dishes/ "In either case our landlord would marry her himself, I fear. But I'll risk it."

The older girls were out of school for a walk, in the company of their brother John and a black-robed Sister, and thus were permitted at this juncture to enter their mother's presence for an introduction to their uncle.

"John and Annie are Rangers, as you see, sir. My husband is very proud of them."

"And well he might be," thought the Captain, as he scanned them critically.

The sun was sinking behind the Coast Range the next evening, throwing the picturesque valley of the Willamette into deep shadows, and lighting up the tops of the Cascade heights with tinges of rose and gold and purple, when a carriage and pair were seen ascending the narrow grade leading to the great log house occupied temporarily by all the families of the Ranger colony. The unexpected arrival of the Captain created a sensation, which was not at all abated when he vaulted to the ground, followed, before he could turn to assist her, by a large, well-formed, and faultlessly attired Indian woman, with a sheen of gold in her raven-hued hair.

"Mrs. O'Dowd," said the Captain, offering his hand, "allow me to introduce Mrs. Ranger Number Two, — my brother Joseph's wife."