He exhausted his supply of fairy-stories and animal stories; and had begun to tell about the places and cities which he had visited when the eager-eyed children were peremptorily called within by Mother Mary. This pained him and he was at a loss to understand it. Enlightenment came, however, in the way of an argument between Naab and Mother Mary which he overheard. The elder wife said that the stranger was welcome to the children, but she insisted that they hear nothing of the outside world, and that they be kept to the teachings of the Mormon geography--which made all the world outside Utah an untrodden wilderness. August Naab did not hold to the letter of the Mormon law; he argued that if the children could not be raised as Mormons with a full knowledge of the world, they would only be lost in the end to the Church. Other developments surprised Hare. The house of this good Mormon was divided against itself. Precedence was given to the first and elder wife--Mother Mary; Mother Ruth's life was not without pain. The men were out on the ranges all day, usually two or more of them for several days at a time, and this left the women alone. One daughter taught the school, the other daughters did all the chores about the house, from feeding the stock to chopping wood. The work was hard, and the girls would rather have been in White Sage or Lund. They disliked Mescal, and said things inspired by jealousy. Snap Naab's wife was vindictive, and called Mescal “that Indian!” It struck him on hearing this gossip that he had missed Mescal. What had become of her? Curiosity prompting him, he asked little Billy about her. “Mescal's with the sheep,” piped Billy. That she was a shepherdess pleased Hare, and he thought of her as free on the open range, with the wind blowing her hair. One day when Hare felt stronger he took his walk round the farm with new zest. Upon his return to the house he saw Snap's cream pinto in the yard, and Dave's mustang cropping the grass near by. A dusty pack lay on the ground. Hare walked down the avenue of cottonwoods and was about to turn the corner of the old forge when he stopped short. “Now mind you, I'll take a bead on this white-faced spy if you send him up there.” It was Snap Naab's voice, and his speech concluded with the click of teeth characteristic of him in anger. “Stand there!” August Naab exclaimed in wrath. “Listen. You have been drinking again or you wouldn't talk of killing a man. I warned you. I won't do this thing you ask of me till I have your promise. Why won't you leave the bottle alone?” “I'll promise,” came the sullen reply. “Very well. Then pack and go across to Bitter Seeps.” “That job'll take all summer,” growled Snap. “So much the better. When you come home I'll keep my promise.”