“They’ve had enough,” Prescott remarked. “We made the last mile at a pretty good clip; I kept them at it. Guess they won’t start another circus if we meet a freight locomotive on the switches.”
The settlement was reached without further mis-adventure, and Prescott, as a special favor, secured a separate table at the hotel, where Gertrude was served with an excellent meal. Afterward he showed her how to despatch her father’s message, and as she turned away the telegraph operator grinned at Prescott.
“Where are all these high-toned English girls coming from, Jack?” he said. “You have brought another one this time.”
Leaving the man without an answer, Prescott rejoined his companion.
“Are there any English people staying near the settlement?” she asked.
“The fellow was alluding to Miss Hurst.”
“Muriel Hurst?” Gertrude exclaimed sharply. “Was she here with you?”
“Yes.” Prescott regretted that she had asked for an explanation of the operator’s remarks. “I once drove her in; Cyril’s team was doing something else. But you said you wanted to visit the drygoods store, didn’t you?”
Gertrude accompanied him there and when he left her in the hands of a lady clerk she fancied that she was favored with somewhat unusual attention on his account. The man seemed to be a favorite in the settlement. She spent a tedious afternoon in the hotel parlor while he went about the business that had brought him in and the team rested. It was a relief when he reappeared in time for supper; and after that they set out again. The sun set before they reached the homestead, the air grew bracingly cool, and the prairie rolled away before them, dim and mysterious, streaked with shadowy blurs of bluffs until a full moon rose and flooded it with silvery light. There was strange, deep silence except for the thud of hoofs which rose and fell in sharp staccato rhythm.
Gertrude was tired when Prescott helped her down at the homestead, but all her senses were unusually alert. She had enjoyed what she felt had been an invigorating day, and she admitted that, although she by no means agreed with all the rancher said, his breezy talk had added to its zest.