"Oh, it's quite simple. If you don't bump against a tree or fall into the creek you may be quite sure you're on the trail," laughed Ross. Mrs. Redfield knew the true reason for his coming, and was not at all pleased, "for with all Lee's personal charm," she said to her husband, "she is socially beneath Ross Cavanagh, even in a State where social barriers are few." "Come out on the veranda," suggested Cavanagh, "and I'll show you the hills I must climb." Lee accepted innocently; but as the young people left the room Mrs. Enderby looked at her hostess with significant glance. "There's the lady Ross rode down to meet. Who is she?" "Her mother is that dreadful old creature that keeps the Wetherford Hotel in Roaring Fork." "No!" exclaimed Mrs. Enderby. "Yes; Lee Virginia is Lize Wetherford's daughter." "But the girl is charming." "I cannot understand it. Hugh came home a week or so ago full of her praise--" And at this point her voice dropped lower and the other drew closer. Outside, the young people stood in silence. There was no moon, and the mountains rose darkly, a sheer wall at the end of the garden, their tops cutting into the starry sky with a dull edge, over which a dim white cone peered. "That snow-peak is Wolftooth, and thirty miles from here, and at the head of my 'beat,'" said the ranger, after a pause, as they leaned against the railing and looked away to the south. "I go up that ridge which you see faintly at the left of the main canon, and through that deep notch which is above timber-line." The girl's eyes widened with awe of the big, silent, dark world he indicated. "Aren't you afraid to start out on such a trip alone--I mean, don't you dread it?" "I'll be sorry to start back, yes, but not because of the dark. I've enjoyed my visit here so much it will be hard to say good-night." "It seems strange to me that you should prefer this wild country to England." "Do you like the East better than the West?" "In some ways; but then, you see, I was born out here." "So was I--I mean to say I was regenerated out here. The truth is I was a good deal of a scapegrace when I left England. I was always for hunting and horses, and naturally I came directly to the wild West country, and here I've been ever since. I've had my turn at each phase of it--cow-puncher, soldier, Rough-rider, and finally forest ranger. I reckon I've found my job at last." "Do you like it so much?"