She had been walking steadily for four hours, and she must surely have come nearly twenty miles.

If she ever reached the top of the hill, she believed that she would see her father's ranch just beyond.
The afterglow had deepened to dusk when she came at last to the highest point of that long grade.

Far ahead loomed a cluster of square, black objects which must be the ranch buildings of the Quirt, and Lorraine's spirits lightened a little.

What a surprise her father and all his cowboys would have when she walked in upon them! It was almost worth the walk, she told herself hearteningly.

She hoped that dad had a good cook.
He would wear a flour-sack apron, naturally, and would be tall and lean, or else very fat.