"While you're resting, I'll get supper, Though there ain't much here to eat, 'Cepting bran, to make some muffins, And a little rabbit meat. Wish I had that pinch of coffee I saved up for--oh, so long, Till one day I went and used it, Though I somehow felt 'twas wrong; For I kind o' thought that sometime Some one might be coming here Worn out with a long, long journey, And would crave that kind o' cheer. Now, then, Billy, draw your stool up; What we've got is scant and plain-- I ain't hungry--honest--Billy, While you eat--why--I'll 'explain.'" NANCY'S STORY 1 "I went off and left you, Billy, 'Cause I'm used to being free, And I love my dear old daddie-- He has been so good to me. Ever since I learned to toddle We've been living on the run, And my first and only playthings Were a saddle and a gun. When I went away with daddie, After trav'ling nigh a week, We were caught up by the posse In the bend on Old Man's Creek. Think I'd let them take my daddie? No: I held them all at bay, While the boys hitched up the horses, Crossed the creek and got away. 2 "I just told them I would follow After all the fuss was through, But instead, all night I wandered, Thinking all the time of you; For when we were last together You cast over me a spell That just seemed to change my nature, In a way that words can't tell; For it left a fire a-burning Like a live and glowing coal, That at length blazed into longing Till I craved with all my soul To be back, somehow, where you were, And to hear you tell once more That you loved me. That man-story I had never heard before. 3 "Then I trailed back o'er the prairie, Riding steady every night, Picking out the wildest country With my luck to guide me right. When I'd see the hungry morning Eat the stars up in the East, I would hide in gulch or timber Like a wild and hunted beast. How I learned to love the darkness As it spread its mighty arm, Close around me, like a lover, Fondly shielding me from harm! And I knew the sweet caresses Of the earth and sky above, As the night's mysterious voices Soothed me with their tale of love. 4 "Then I'd ride like forty devils Just to catch upon my face All the kisses which the tempest Pressed upon me in the race. How I thought of poor old daddie, Whom, perhaps, I'd see no more If I went clear back to your place, While he hurried on before! I could hardly bear the burden When I'd think of--both of you; But that fire you set a-burning, One night told me what to do-- I would see and ask you, Billy, If you wouldn't go with me Where we both could be with daddie, Way out West, where he must be. 5