"He mustn't!" she hastened to say. "He can't afford really to take reckless chances; but then father won't expect as much of you as he does of the old-stagers. You'll have plenty of time to get used to it." "I may be like the old man's cow and the green shavings, just as I'm getting used to it I'll die." She didn't laugh at this. "You mustn't be rash; don't jump into any hard jobs for the present; let the other fellow do it." "But that's not very manly. If I go into the work I ought to be able to take my share of any task that turns up." "You'd better go slow," she argued. "Wait till you get hardened to it. You need something over your shoulders now," she added; and rose and laid a blanket over him. "You're tired; you'll take a chill if you're not careful." "You're very considerate," he said, looking up at her gratefully. "But it makes me feel like a child to think I need such care. If honestly trying, if going up against these hills and winds with Spartan courage will do me good, I'm for it. I'm resolved to show to you and your good father that I can learn to ride and pack and cut trail, and do all the rest of it--there's some honor in qualifying as a forester, and I'm going to do it." "Of course there isn't much in it for you. The pay, even of a full ranger, isn't much, after you count out his outlay for horses and saddles and their feed, and his own feed. It don't leave so very much of his ninety dollars a month." "I'm not thinking of that," he retorted. "If you had once seen a doctor shake his head over you, as I have, you'd think just being here in this glorious spot, as I am to-night, would be compensation enough. It's a joy to be in the world, and a delight to have you for my teacher." She was silent under the pleasure of his praise, and he went on: "I _know_ I'm better, and, I'm perfectly certain I can regain my strength. The very odor of these pines and the power of these winds will bring it back to me. See me now, and think how I looked when I came here six weeks ago." She looked at him with fond agreement. "You _are_ better. When I saw you first I surely thought you were--" "I know what you thought--and forget it, _please_! Think of me as one who has touched mother earth again and is on the way to being made a giant. You can't imagine how marvelous, how life-giving all this is to me. It is poetry, it is prophecy, it is fulfilment. I am fully alive again." McFarlane, upon his return, gave some advice relating to the care of horses. "All this stock which is accustomed to a barn or a pasture will quit you," he warned. "Watch your broncos. Put them on the outward side of your camp when you bed down, and pitch your tent near the trail, then you will hear the brutes if they start back. Some men tie their stock all up; but I usually picket my saddle-horse and hobble the rest."