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She
kept steadily on. She knew it could not be far now to the fence; and once she
was on the road she would feel safer. But while she walked the gray of evening
came on; then somewhere in the distance a coyote barked. Her courage began to
depart, as the dusk deepened; it seemed to her as if all the loneliness in the
world had come home to roost. It was no use to watch for the fence now; it would
apprise her of its presence when she came to it. Regardless of the possibility
of running into its iron barbs, she walked faster; at times she ran. A star came
out faintly. It was night.
    The swish-swish of her feet in the grass, the rustle of her skirts, became
prominent sounds. She missed the company of her watch; she wound it up and got
it to ticking; anything to ward off the solitude. The thought of camping out she
did not like to entertain; but thoughts are unavoidable. Once she stood quite
still to make a little trial of it, but her pause was not long; she soon got her
feet to going again. She missed the sound of trees, the breezes playing upon
them. If there had only been something,she knew not what,it would have seemed
more world-like. There was an absence of everything familiar.
    To stop and rest was now out of the question. It were better to walk and keep
thinking of the road. That would be human ground. So she thought of the road and
tried to keep her mind flowing in its channel. How far might it be now? How
long?
    In the midst of this suspense she sighted a light aheada camp-fire. It was
somewhat to the left of her present course. Steadily it drew nearer, straight
aheadher footsteps had bent toward it. When she was beginning to distinguish
the play of the flames, it sank from sight; but presently it appeared again,
more plainly. Now a lantern was moving about behind a pair of legs. She could
see just the legs, scissors-like, cutting off the light at each step. The
lantern stopped and burned steadily; then another appeared. Then another.
    The open side of a shed became visible, a block of deeper darkness which made
the night seem lighter. Janet, scarce knowing her intentions, kept going towards
it. The lantern which first stopped now turned red and began ascending. It was a
coyote lantern. It was going up to the top of its pole. A sheep baaed with the suddenness of a bagpipe.
    Janet halted. She had now gone dangerously near. The fire invited her to
come; but many things warned her away. What to do she did not know.
    To her dismay, the problem very quickly took itself out of her hands. The
dog, alive to his duty, came out at her with alarming threats. A short distance
from her he circled around her to make his attack from the rear, as Scotch dogs
wisely do. Janet screamed and ran forward, though not so willingly as a sheep.
As the dog desisted, in obedience to a sharp command from his master, she halted
again. One of the lanterns was suddenly lifted, and being held up to give a
wider light it shone full on the face of the man. It was the countenance of Mr.
Stephen Brown.
    "Goodness gracious!" said Janet.
     
     
     
CHAPTER V
    Rumor worketh in a thousand ways her wonders to perform.
    On the day of Janet's runaway, Tuck Reedy, of Thornton, rode in at the
southeast gate and struck out in the direction of certain water-holes, his
mission being to look over some B.U.J. cattle which had recently been branded,
and see whether their burns had "peeled" properly.
    In a good many cases he found that the blow-flies had worked havoc, so that,
working single-handed, he had a great deal to do; and by the time he had thrown
a number of lusty calves and treated their sides with his bottle of maggot
medicine, he had pretty well worn-out the day. Being done, he turned his
attention to a cow which had become deeply involved in a boggy water-hole. He
threw the rope over her horns and pulled with his pony this way and that, but
without success. Finally, when the sun was going down on failure, he