living in there, rich in sheep and horses. It may be true and it may
not. But I do know there are bad Indians, half-breeds and outcasts,
hiding in there. Some of them have visited me here. Bad customers!
More than that, you'll be going close to the Utah line, and the Mormons
over there are unfriendly these days."

"Why?" queried Shefford, again with that curious thrill.

"They are being persecuted by the government."

Shefford asked no more questions and his host vouchsafed no more
information on that score. The conversation lagged. Then Shefford
inquired about the Indian girl and learned that she lived up the
valley somewhere. Presbrey had never seen her before Willetts came
with her to Red Lake. And this query brought out the fact that
Presbrey was comparatively new to Red Lake and vicinity. Shefford
wondered why a lonely six months there had not made the trader old in
experience. Probably the desert did not readily give up its secrets.
Moreover, this Red Lake house was only an occasionally used branch of
Presbrey's main trading-post, which was situated at Willow Springs,
fifty miles westward over the mesa.

"I'm closing up here soon for a spell," said Presbrey, and now his
face lost its set hardness and seemed singularly changed. It was a
difference, of light and softness. "Won't be so lonesome over at
Willow Springs. . . . I'm being married soon."

"That's fine," replied Shefford, warmly. He was glad for the sake of
this lonely desert man. What good a wife would bring into a trader's
life!