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A thrill, poignant, heart-stirring, beat through Rhoda's veins For one unspeakable th, of beauty, of gladness, too wild and sweet for words Then came the old sense of race distaste and she looked steadily into the young man's face

"I cannotat the far desert, his fine face somber and with a look of determination in the contracted eyes and firm-set lips that made Rhoda shiver, even while her heart throbbed with pity Tall, slender, inscrutable, as alien to her understanding as the call of the desert wind or the moon-drenched desert haze, she turned away and left hi there alone

She made her sloay to the ranch-house Kut-le did not follow Rhoda went to bed at once Yet she could not sleep, for through the silence Kut-le's deep voice beat on her ears

"I love you passionately! I love you tenderly! I am an Indian, but first of all I am a , Kut-le was ineer and never before had Kut-le been known to neglect his work Once a year he went on a long hunt with chosen friends of his tribe, but never until his as finished

Rhoda confided in no one regarding her last intervieith the Indian She missed Kut-le, but DeWitt was frankly relieved For the first tiilance On the fifth evening after Kut-le's disappearance, Jack and DeWitt rode over to a neighboring ranch Katherine was lazy with a headache So Rhoda took her evening stroll alone For once, she left the orchard and wandered out into the open desert, moved by an uncanny desire to let the full horror of the desertinto infinity, she did not know It see absorbed into the strange radiance of the afterglow At last she rose As she did so, a tall figure loomed silently before her Rhoda was too startled to screah nificently decorated loin-cloth The ood fellowship that she kneell It was Kut-le, standing like a young bronze god against the faint pink of the afterglow

"Hello!" he said nonchalantly "I've been watching for you"

"What do you want!" gasped Rhoda "What do youbefore me in--in--"