full of nuts. She merely nodded in the direction of Cunora.

"Give me some, Cunora!"

The younger girl gave no reply, but backed away from him as he
approached; her eyes sparkled mischievously and the doctor thought,
somewhat affectionately. Dulnop made a sudden darting move toward her
branch, and she as swiftly whirled in her tracks, so that he missed.
However, he instantly changed his mind and grasped the girl instead.
Like a flash he drew her to him and kissed her noisily.

Next second he was staggering backward under the weight of her hard
brown fist. "Do that again, and I'll have the hair out of thy head!" the
girl screamed, her face flaming. Yet Kinney saw that the man was
laughing joyously even as he rubbed the spot where her blow had landed,
while the expression of her eyes quite belied what she had said.

Not until then did the doctor's agent say anything. When she spoke it
was in a deep, contralto voice which gave the impression of riper years
than either of the other two. Afterward Kinney learned that Rolla was
nearly ten years their senior, a somewhat more lithe specimen of the
same type, clad in the skin of what was once a magnificent goat. She
carried only a single small knife in her belt. As seen reflected in
pools of water, her complexion was slightly paler and her whole
expression a little less self-assertive and distinctively philosophical.
To those who admire serious, thoughtful women of regular feature and
different manner, Rolla would have seemed downright beautiful.

"Dulnop," said she, with a laugh in her voice, "ye will do well to seek
the nut tree, first as last." She nonchalantly crushed another shell in