It was the girl; and when Clayton disappeared she too turned and
went on her way. She had stopped there because she knew he
must pass a point where she might see him again. She was little
less indifferent than she seemed; her motive was little more than
curiosity. She had never seen that manner of man before.
Evidently he was a " furriner "from the " settlemints." No man in
the mountains had a smooth, round face like his, or wore such a
queer hat, such a soft, white shirt, and no galluses," or carried
such a shiny, weak-looking stick, or owned a dog that he couldn't
make mind him. She was not wholly contemptuous, however. She
had felt vaguely the meaning of his politeness and deference. She
was puzzled and pleased, she scarcely knew why.
"He was mighty accomodatin'," she thought. But whut," she asked
herself as she rode slowly homeward-" whut did he take off his hat
fer
II
LIGHTS twinkled from every cabin as Clayton passed through the
camp. Outside the kitchen doors, miners, bare to the waist, were
bathing their blackened faces and bodies, with children, tattered
and unclean, but healthful, playing about them; within, women in
loose gowns, with sleeves unrolled and with disordered hair,
moved like phantoms through clouds of savory smoke. The
commissary was brilliantly lighted.
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