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 out or stay," she said, a strange, strained anxiety in her face, an unwonted timidity in her manner.

"No, I didn't tell Elmer," he replied.

Rawlins was standing at the open gate ready to mount, hand on the saddle-horn. It was a clear, placid night, the wind coming from the mountains refreshed and scented with the spicy dryness of sage and drought-withered herbs. There did not seem to be a mote in the age-old path of the starbeams, spearing through cold space to find their journey's end in the transitory reflection of a human eye.

"Are you going to give it up?"

"What do you say about it, Edith?"

"I haven't got anything to say. I was just wondering, after Elmer's talk."

"Elmer's talk was well-meant, and maybe I'd be wise to follow his advice. But I'm not going to do it."

"I'd have been disappointed in you if you had," she said, drawing a deep breath of satisfaction. "Hewitt expects you to leave, he thinks you'll act like a sheepman. I don't."

"You're not very strong for sheepmen. Aren't you a little disloyal to your craft?"

"I may be a little rough in my judgment of them," she admitted, "but they don't inspire much admiration when they'll ride forty miles around a fence to get their mail. I've hoped for years," she confessed wistfully, "that some man would come along here big enough to make them take down that fence. I've been betting on you, Ned. It would have given me an awful jolt if you'd let Elmer's talk scare you out."

"Now, I've got to make good!" he laughed.