"True enough," laughed Hope. "But it is the occupation--the ax, Louisa, dear. I never knew Larry to do a stroke of work!" "Ach, but he is handsome!" whispered Louisa. "Don't let him know you think so," returned Hope. "He's spoiled badly enough now." She turned to the man who rode on her opposite side. "He's from the ranch--one of the guests from New York. He's the _dearest_ character!" After which exclamation she rode ahead and greeted the newcomer. "It never rains but it pours," said O'Hara, as he entered the tent with Hope and Louisa, while Sydney and Livingston remained to take care of the horses. "I thought awhile ago that I was stranded in a wilderness, and here I am surrounded by beautiful ladies and foine gentlemen!" "Right in your natural element," commented Hope. "That's why I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you out there alone with the ax--Larry O'Hara chopping fire-wood!" "Now, what's there funny about that?" asked Larry. "I can't explain just now," laughed the girl. "But tell me, did you have any trouble getting over here? Jim started for the ranch this afternoon. Didn't you meet him on the road?" "Not one living soul," replied Larry. "For I took a road nobody ever traveled before." "And got lost," said Hope. "Yes, about four hundred toimes!" "And yet you live to tell the tale! I'm awfully glad to see you, Larry! Let's have a light in here, William, it's getting dark," she said. The cook hustled about, and soon two lanterns, suspended from each end of the ridge pole, flooded the tent with light. "Now I can see you," exclaimed O'Hara to Hope, who had taken a seat upon a box beside Louisa. "You're looking foine! The mountains must agree with you--and your friend also," he added. "Louisa is always fine! Are you not?" asked Hope. Louisa laughed in her quiet little way. "The young man is very polite!" Sydney opened the flap of the tent and looked in, then turned back again for an instant. "That'll be all right there, Livingston. There won't a thing touch it up that tree! Come along in and get some chuck!" "All right!" came the reply from the edge of the brush. Then Carter came inside and drew up a seat beside the two girls. "What's that you said, Miss Louisa?" he asked. "I didn't quite catch it. You surely weren't accusing Larry of _politeness_!" The girl bit her little white teeth into the red of her lower lip. Her cheeks flushed and the dimples came and went in the delicate coloring. "Was it wrong to say?" she asked hesitatingly. "Not if it was true," he replied. "It's never wrong to tell the truth, even in Montana." "Oh, Syd, don't plague her! Larry included her in a little flattery--a compliment; and she merely remarked upon his extreme politeness." "And I am completely squelched," said O'Hara despairingly. "Then you shouldn't try to flatter two people at once," declared Hope. "American girls aren't so honest," said Carter, looking soberly into Louisa's blue eyes.