"Yes, Mose was gone an’ ther wan’t nobody else ter hit." "Hit? Do you mean he might have struck me?" She rose to her feet, facing the boy. "Do you— Do men in this settlement ever strike the women?" He gave her a sidelong glance and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. "You bet," he answered. There was a brief silence, then she said, and the vibration had not gone from her voice, "No, Lem, I was not afraid, but I might have been if I had known. Where I have lived men never strike women; they have other ways. I was just thinking of Mose. I wanted to ask Mr. Laramie not to be hard with him." "Oh, don’t you bother ’bout Mose. He kin take care hisself. He’s got more muscle now’n any other boy in ther hull deestrict, an’ it won’t be long ’fore he kin turn in an’ thrash ther ole man." There was another silence; the merriment again dimpled her mouth and she looked off through the open door. Lem stooped and picked up a loose sheet that had fluttered from the sketchbook to the floor. "Gee," he said, "gee, but you kin draw." "Yes?" Her glance returned and rested on the sheet interestedly. "What is it, Lem?" "Why, it’s er picture of ther timber-cruiser an’ that ther black horse o’ his. Here’s ther same nice little star atween ther eyes, an’ I’ve seen him fling up his head an’ point one ear jes that erway." "So you know Colonel," she said, flushing, yet pleased at the recognition. "Mr. Forrest bought him when he was a colt. He broke him, and I am the only woman who ever mounted him." "I ’low then you kin ride some. Ther ain’t never be’n no sech stepper in this hull deestrict. Mill Thornton calc’lated he hed er prize when he raised ther sorrel filly, but gee, I’ve seen ther black leave her clear out o’ sight in less’n er minute." The teacher laughed softly. "I know, I know, the beauty. And his master, Lem. Did you ever see such a man in the saddle? So straight, so easy, so ready at just the right instant with a quiet word, or else that soft whistle." "He kin ride," admitted Lem. "I’ve never seen him fizzle, an’ he’s be’n out here off an’ on considerable; timber-cruisin’ first an’ then prospectin’. He ’lowed last year he’d struck er gold mine or somethin’." "I know," she repeated, "I know. It was only a few miles from here he found those splendid indications." "Yes," said the boy with his impish smile, "an’ lost ’em." "The mineral is there," she said with an upward tilt of her chin. "The ore he brought down assayed remarkably rich. But he had broken his compass that day and a heavy mist settled over every peak and spur. There was absolutely nothing to mark a course from. Still, it’s there, Lem, locked in the heart of the hills. He will find it again, sometime." She went over and took her hat from its peg on the wall, and Lem followed, waiting on the steps while she locked the door.