“My experience with men in this country has taught me that when they’re hungry, they’re hungry,” replied the girl. “And it wasn’t much trouble. Those beans were in the oven and already warm. I just had to make the coffee. I was expecting my brother.”
“I didn’t see any men around the place,” he said, beginning to eat. “If I had I’d have made myself known to them before coming to the house. Where is he––out with the cattle?”
He saw her gaze was troubled. “I don’t know just where he is––to-day,” she confessed. “He goes away and sometimes doesn’t come back for a day or two.” She stood in the doorway.
Rathburn noted her trim, slim figure and her wealth of chestnut hair. She was pretty and capable. 18 He surmised that her parents were dead, although he could not ascribe the reason for this deduction. Evidently the boy was a younger brother. He wondered if the older brother would return before he finished eating.
“How far is it to Dry Lake?” he asked casually.
“Oh––why, didn’t you come from there?” She seemed surprised.
“No. I came from over to eastward.”
“But it’s miles and miles to any place east of here, isn’t it?” she asked, puzzled. “You must have had a long ride.”
A ghost of a frown played on his brows. Then he laughed. “Yes, miss, I’ve been ridin’ some,” he confessed. “I didn’t know how far it was to anywhere or I mightn’t have come in this direction.”
She looked at him wonderingly, and again he thought he saw a troubled look in her eyes.