It is better thus, for it couldn't otherwise was,'" he improvised mockingly, while his chilled fingers fumbled to release the paper, which was evidently a leaf torn from a man's memorandum book.

"Lordy me, a letter from a lady! Ain't that sweet!" When he read it, however, the smile vanished with a click of the teeth which betrayed his returning anger.

One cold, curt sentence bidding him wait until help came--that was all.

His eye measured accusingly the wide margin left blank under the words; she had not omitted apology or explanation for lack of space, at any rate.

His face grew cynically amused again.
"Oh, certainly! I'd roost on this side-hill for a month, if a lady told me to," he sneered, speaking aloud as he frequently did in the solitude of the range land.