"Wake up!" he said, shaking her gently. "Wake up, it's almost day!"
Even as he spoke he went back to the phrase of the cow-camp—where men rise before it is light. But Gracia woke up wondering and stared about her strangely, unable to understand.
"Why—what is it?" she cried. Then, as he spoke again and backed away, she remembered him with a smile.
"Oh," she said, "is it time to get up? Where are we, anyway?"
"About ten miles from Fortuna," answered Hooker soberly. "Too close—we ought to be over that divide."
He pointed ahead to where the valley narrowed and passed between two hills, and Gracia sat up, binding back her hair that had fallen from its place.
"Yes, yes!" she said resolutely. "We must go on—but why do you look at me so strangely?"
"Don't know," mumbled Bud. "Didn't know I was. Say, let me get them saddle-blankets, will you?"
He went about his work with embarrassed swiftness, slapping on saddles and bridles, coiling up ropes, and offering her his hand to mount. When he looked at her again it was not strangely.
"Hope you can ride," he said. "We got to get over that pass before anybody else makes it—after that we can take a rest."