It was rather a hard face, for Keller's glance was keen and his lips were generally firmly set.

Yet he was liked by his customers.

Now he was breathing hard because he had helped a farmer to put a heavy bag of flour in his wagon.

The farmer drove away and a cloud of dust the team stirred up blew down the street.

The fronts of the wooden houses were cracking in the hot sun; there was not a tree to relieve the bare ugliness of the place, and the glare was dazzling.