"No; thanks all the same," the man answered. "I've fixed up everything, and can shove along."
"But there's the little 'un; and what about the—the other?" Taylor asked, as he put his foot on one rail and made as though to climb over the fence.
The man came up to him from the shadow.
"I've fixed all that up. She'll come along with me, while I leave the little 'un here, if you don't mind, till I've time to come back for it. This is Taylor's Flat, ain't it?"
"Yes," Taylor answered. "And I am Taylor."
"I guessed as much," the other replied; "they told me back along the road I should reach here about dark."
"Which way did you come?" Taylor asked.
"West," the other answered briefly.
"Far back?" Taylor inquired, somewhat puzzled at the arrival of a woman from the lonely wilderness of the west.
"Fairish," the other replied evasively; and Taylor grew suspicious.