"Won't you let me help you get up?" he asked.

Without answering, the girl sprang lightly to the bull's back, Once
only she looked around at him. He took off his hat, and a puzzled
expression came into her face. Then, without a word or a nod, she
rode away. Clayton watched the odd pair till the bushes hid them.

"Europa, by Jove!" he exclaimed, and he sat down in
bewilderment.

She was so very odd a creature, so different from the timid
mountain women who shrank with averted faces almost into the
bushes when he met them. She had looked him straight in the face
with steady eyes, and had spoken as though her sway over
mountain and road were undisputed and he had been a wretched
trespasser. She paid no attention to his apologies, and she scorned
his offers of assistance. She seemed no more angered by the loss
of the meal than by his incapacity to manage his dog, which
seemed to typify to her his general worthlessness. He had been
bruised by his fall, and she did not even ask if he were hurt.
Indeed, she seemed not to care, and she had ridden away from him
as though he were worth no more consideration than the stone
under him.

He was amused, and a trifle irritated. How could there be such a
curious growth in the mountains? he questioned, as he rose and
continued the descent. There was an unusual grace about her, in
spite of her masculine air. Her features were regular, the nose
straight and delicate, the mouth resolute, the brow broad, and the
eyes intensely blue, perhaps tender, when not flashing with anger,