"He c'n ride, cain't he? Wha's to hindeh him?"

"Quite right. He shall ride inside the coach. Go and look at if I can doanything for him."

Aunt Fanny returned in a few minutes.

"He says yo'll do him a great favoh if yo' jes' go to baid. He sends his'spects an' hopes yo' slumbeh won' be distubbed ag'in."

"He's a perfect brute!" exclaimed Beverly, but she went over and crawledunder the blankets and among the cushions the wounded man had scorned.

CHAPTER VII

S0ME FACTS AND FANCIES

There was a soft, hot, yellow glow to the world when Beverly Calhounnext looked upon it. The sun from his throne in the mountain tops wassmiling down upon the valley the evening had ravaged while he was on theother side of the earth. The leaves of the trees were a softer green,the green of the rocks and the yellow of the road were of a gentlertint; the brown and green reeds were proudly erect once more.

The stirring of the mountain men had awakened Aunt Fanny, and she inturn called her mistress from the surprisingly peaceful slumber intowhich perfect health had sent her not so many hours before. At theentrance to the improvised bedchamber stood buckets of water from thespring.