"And may I ask if she loves you?" The sheep-man's tone was quiet and friendly. Carter wished that it might have been insolent. As it was he could only laugh uneasily. "It would seem not," he answered. "To-day she is like an icicle--to-morrow she will be a most devoted girl. That is Hope--as changeable as the wind. One never knows what to expect. One day loving--the next, cold and indifferent. But then, you see, I am used to her little ways." "I wish you all the happiness you deserve, Mr. Carter," said Livingston a little later, as he rode off, taking a short cut to his ranch. "_Hope_--_Hope Hathaway_; Carter's cousin. What an idiot I've been to think of her as an Indian girl! An odd name--Hope. _Hope Hath a way_," he mused as he rode homeward. "If only I had the right to hope!" CHAPTER V "I wish there was a shorter cut to get home," said the girl wearily. "I'm just about tired. Climbing mountains is a little out of my line. I wonder how long it will take to get used to it." "There is a shorter way, Miss Hathaway," said one of the breed boys. "It's through that sheep-ranch there. We always used to go that way before they fenced it in, but there's gates to it if we can find 'em." "Let's go through that way, then, if it's shorter. Of course it is shorter--I can see that, and we'll trust to luck to be able to see the gates. I suppose they're wire gates." "Yes, just regular wire gates, an' it's gettin' dark pretty blame fast, but mebbe we can find 'em all right." So they followed the fence, searching in the dim light for the almost invisible gate--the girl who had that day appointed herself commanding officer and her three brave scouts. Alongside the wire fence they followed a narrow cow-trail for nearly a quarter of a mile, then the path disappeared inside the field, and the side-hills along which they were obliged to travel were rough and dangerous. It was late, and darkness settled down around them, cutting from their vision everything but a small line of fence and the nearby hills.