She was about to retort when Endicott returned from the creek and placed the water pail beside her.
"Winthrop!" she cried, for the first time recognizing him. "Where in the world did you get those clothes, and what is the matter with your face?"
Endicott grinned: "I shaved myself for the first time."
"What did you do it with, some barbed wire?"
"Looks like somethin' that was left out in the rain an' had started to peel," ventured the irrepressible Tex.
Alice ignored him completely. "But the clothes? Where did you get them?"
Endicott nodded toward the Texan. "He loaned them to me!"
"But—surely they would never fit him."
"Didn't know it was necessary they should," drawled Tex, and having succeeded in building the fire, moved off to help Bat who was busying himself with the horses.
"Where has he been?" asked the girl as the voice of the Texan came from beyond the trees: