"You said you were going away," he recalled. "Is it to be a wedding journey?" "Yes," tensely. "Tell me of it, please; I wish to hear." "You would not be interested." "Elizabeth--" syllabalised, reproachfully. "Am I not your cousin?" No answer. "Haven't you forgiven me yet?" The voice was very low. Its owner was again very near. "You'd laugh at me if I told you," repressedly. "You wouldn't understand." Slowly, meaningly, Clayton Craig drew away--resumed the former position; the place from which, unobserved, he could himself watch. "We're going away out there," complied the girl suddenly, reluctantly. Her hand indicated the trackless waste to the right. "Just the two of us are going: How and I. We'll take a pack horse and a tent and How's camp kit and stay out there alone until winter comes." Against her will she was warming to the subject, was unconsciously painting a picture to please the solitary listener. "We'll have our ponies and ammunition and plenty to read. The cowboys laugh at How because ordinarily he never carries a gun; but he's a wonderful shot. We'll have game whenever we want it. We'll camp when we please and move on when we please." Again unconsciously she glanced at the listener to see the effect of her art. "We'll be together, How and I, and free--free as sunshine. There'll be nothing but winter, and that's a long way off, to bring us back. It's what I've always wanted to do, from the time I can remember. How goes away every year, and he's promised this once to take me along." Suddenly, almost challengingly, she turned, facing the man her companion. "Won't it be fine?" she queried abruptly. "Yes," answered a voice politely, a voice with a shade of listlessness in its depths, "fine indeed. And if you want anything at any time you can go to the nearest ranch house. One always does forget something you know." "That's just what we can't do," refuted the girl swiftly. "That's the best of it all. The Buffalo Butte is the last ranch that way, to the west, until you get to the Hills. We probably won't see another human being while we're gone. We'll be as much alone as though we were the only two people in the world." Craig hesitated; then he shrugged self-tolerantly.