The sun, falling to the horizon like a spinning copper disk, was as a sign of promise and help. The beauty of the hour stretched into the future. His glance, shifting to the distance, saw the scattered dots of the disappearing buffalo, the shadows sloping across the sand hills, and the long expanse of lupines blotting into a thick foam of lilac blue. Susan stirred, and he woke from his musings with a start. She sat up, the blanket falling from her shoulders, and looking at him with sleep-filled eyes, smiled the sweet, meaningless smile of a half-awakened child. Her consciousness had not yet fully returned, and her glance, curiously clear and liquid, rested on his without intelligence. The woman in her was never more apparent, her seduction never more potent. Her will dormant, her bounding energies at low ebb, she looked a thing to nestle, soft and yielding, against a man's heart. "Have I slept long?" she said stretching, and then, "Isn't it cold." "Come near the fire," he answered. "I've built it up while you were asleep." She came, trailing the blanket in a languid hand, and sat beside him. He drew it up about her shoulders and looked into her face. Meeting his eyes she broke into low laughter, and leaning nearer to him murmured in words only half articulated: "Oh, David, I'm so sleepy." He took her hand, and it stayed unresisting against his palm. She laughed again, and then yawned, lifting her shoulders with a supple movement that shook off the blanket. "It takes such a long time to wake up," she murmured apologetically. David made no answer, and for a space they sat silent looking at the sunset. As the mists of sleep dispersed she became aware of his hand pressure, and the contentment that marked her awakening was marred. But she felt in a kindly mood and did not withdraw her hand. Instead, she wanted to please him, to be as she thought he would like her to be, so she made a gallant effort and said: "What a wonderful sunset--all yellow to the middle of the sky." He nodded, looking at the flaming west. She went on: "And there are little bits of gold cloud floating over it, like the melted lead that you pour through a key on all Hallowe'en." He again made no answer, and leaning nearer to spy into his face, she asked naively: "Don't you think it beautiful?" He turned upon her sharply, and she drew back discomposed by his look. "Let me kiss you," he said, his voice a little husky.