hands and the sweat of the brow was no love at all; and that the harder
was the road to him the gladder I'd be, so that it didn't keep me too
long, and brought me to him at last.

"He looked me up and down very earnestly for a minute, and then he said:
'What is there under the roof of heaven like the love of an honest woman!
It makes the world worth livin' in.'

"'Yes,' said I, 'when love has hope, and a place to lay its head.'

"'Take this,' said he--and he drew from his pocket his watch--'and carry
it to him with the regard of Duke Lawless, and this for yourself'--
fetching from his pocket a revolver and putting it into my hands; 'for
the prairies are but rough places after all, and it's better to be safe
than--worried. . . . Never fear though but the prairies will bring
back the finest of blooms to your cheek, if fair enough it is now, and
flush his eye with pride of you; and God be with you both, if a sinner
may say that, and breakin' no saint's prerogative.' And he mounted to
ride away, havin' shaken my hand like a brother; but he turned again
before he went, and said: 'Tell him and his comrades that I'll shoulder
my gun and join them before the world is a year older, if I can. For
that land is God's land, and its people are my people, and I care not
who knows it, whatever here I be.'

"I worked my way across the sea, and stayed awhile in the East earning
money to carry me over the land and into the Pipi Valley. I joined a
party of emigrants that were goin' westward, and travelled far with them.
But they quarrelled and separated, I goin' with these that I liked best.
One night though, I took my horse and left; for I knew there was evil in
the heart of a man who sought me continually, and the thing drove me mad.