"Oh, before the war we agreed to try our fortune together down here," "Red"
told her; and the little machine went whirring along. "That's the Hardy
ranch," he said, pointing to the left. "Nice folks." His eyes seemed to
cling to the low house, and Lucia did not realize it at the time, but he
slowed up the car. Presently a young girl came out on the stone terrace and
waved to him. She was like a prairie flower. "Red" Giddings became another
man in the twinkling of an eye. A flush mounted to his cheeks, and a smile
as broad as a fat man's belt all but encircled his countenance. He took one
hand from the wheel and waved until they were out of sight down a curve in
the road.
"Friend of yours?" said Morgan Pell, smiling.
"You bet! No finer little girl in this territory!" Giddings replied
promptly.
They were now in sight of the Jones ranch. "There she is!" "Red" cried.
"Pretty, eh?"
The low adobe house, with its gleaming roof, looked like a jewel set in the
valley. Far away, seemingly to the very rim of the world, the flat lands
stretched; and then beyond, in a golden haze, the stern mountains loomed,
almost kissing the sky. The range dwindled away in an endless line, and
one could never say where the boundary of Arizona stopped and the unseen
border of Mexico began.
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