From this hour Ellen Jorth bent all of her lately awakened intelligence and will to the only end that seemed to hold possible salvation for her.

In the crisis sure to come she did not want to be blind or weak.
Dreaming and indolence, habits born in her which were often a comfort to one as lonely as she, would ill fit her for the hard test she divined and dreaded.

In the matter of her father's fight she must stand by him whatever the issue or the outcome; in what pertained to her own principles, her womanhood, and her soul she stood absolutely alone.
Therefore, Ellen put dreams aside, and indolence of mind and body behind her.

Many tasks she found, and when these were done for a day she kept active in other ways, thus earning the poise and peace of labor.
Jorth rode off every day, sometimes with one or two of the men, often with a larger number.

If he spoke of such trips to Ellen it was to give an impression of visiting the ranches of his neighbors or the various sheep camps.