From the high summit of the butte all the world lay spread out like a panorama,--the slopes and canyons of Bronco Mesa, picketed with giant _sahuaros_; the silvery course of the river flowing below; the unpeopled peaks and cliffs of the Superstitions; and a faint haze-like zephyr, floating upon the eastern horizon. And there at last the eyes of Rufus Hardy and Kitty Bonnair met, questioning each other, and the world below them took on a soft, dreamy veil of beauty. "Why, how did you come here?" he asked, looking down upon her wonderingly. "Were you lost?" And Kitty smiled wistfully as she answered: "Yes--till I found you." "Oh!" said Hardy, and he studied her face warily, as if doubtful of her intent. "But how could you be lost," he asked again, "and travel so far? This is a rough country, and you got here before I did." He swung down from his horse and stood beside her, but Kitty only laughed mischievously and shook her head--at which, by some lover's magic, the dainty forget-me-nots fell from her hair in a shower of snowy blossoms. "I was lost," she reiterated, smiling into his eyes, and in her gaze Hardy could read--"without you." For a moment the stern sorrow of the night withheld him. His eyes narrowed, and he opened his lips to speak. Then, bowing his head, he knelt and gathered up the flowers. "Yes," he said gently, "I understand. I--I have been lost, too." They smiled and sat down together in the shadow of a great rock, gazing out over the peaks and pinnacles of the mountains which wall in Hidden Water and talking placidly of the old days--until at last, when the spell of the past was on him, Kitty fell silent, waiting for him to speak his heart. But instantly the spell of her laughter was broken an uneasy thought came upon Hardy, and he glanced up at the soaring sun. "Jeff will be worried about you," he said at last. "He will think you are lost and give up the _rodeo_ to hunt for you. We must not stay here so long." He turned his head instinctively as he spoke, and Kitty knew he was thinking of the sheep. "Cattle and sheep--cattle and sheep," she repeated slowly. "Is there nothing else that counts, Rufus, in all this broad land? Must friendship, love, companionship, all go down before cattle and sheep? I never knew before what a poor creature a woman was until I came to Arizona." She glanced at him from beneath her drooping lashes, and saw his jaws set tense. "And yet only yesterday," he said, with a sombre smile, "you had twenty men risking their lives to give you some snake-tails for playthings." "But my old friend Rufus was not among them," rejoined Kitty quietly; and once more she watched the venom working in his blood. "No," he replied, "he refuses to compete with Bill Lightfoot at any price." "Oh, Rufus," cried Kitty, turning upon him angrily, "aren't you ashamed? I want you to stop being jealous of all my friends. It is the meanest and most contemptible thing a man can do. I--I won't stand it!"