stretched away interminably north and south,
gave way to a pink indescribably rich and delicate.
Steadily this pink crept over the heavens, rolling
up like the gradual unfolding of a giant canvas,
dragging along in its wake hues verging toward
golden yellow, until the whole eastern sky, aflame
with the light of approaching day, was a conflagration
of pinks and yellows in all their manifold
mixtures, promising, but not yet realizing, a
warmth which would dispel the spring chill left by
the long night. Then, with the whole east blazing
with molten gold, there came the feeling of actual
warmth, and with it the full radiance of day -- ?
bringing out in minute detail rock and arroyo
and verdant growth, and an expanse of desert
unbroken by the least vestige of animal life. At
this absence of all that which would suggest the
presence of life -- adobes, corrals, windmills -- Pat
awoke again to vague uneasiness and fell to pondering
his future under these men, whom he
now instinctively knew pursued ways outside the
bounds of the civilization of his past.

A voice behind, presumably that of the little
man, interrupted the protracted silence. It was
high-pitched.

"How's that boss?? a-holdin', Jim?"

Pat felt a slight twitch on the reins. Evidently
the man had been in deep thought, out of which the
voice had startled him. Directly he made answer.

"I got quality here, Glover -- I guess. Can't
never tell, though. He's a good horse, but he
mayn't pan out good for me."

[[163]]

p162 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p163w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p164

v?