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From this hour Ellen Jorth bent all of her lately awakened intelligence and will to the only end that seemed to hold possible salvation for her In the crisis sure to co and indolence, habits born in her which were often a comfort to one as lonely as she, would ill fit her for the hard test she divined and dreaded In the ht she must stand by him whatever the issue or the outcome; in what pertained to her own principles, her womanhood, and her soul she stood absolutely alone

Therefore, Ellen put dreams aside, and indolence of mind and body behind her Many tasks she found, and when these were done for a day she kept active in other ways, thus earning the poise and peace of labor

Jorth rode off every day, soer nuive an ihbors or the various sheep caet back he smelled of rum and appeared heavy from need of sleep His horses were always dust and sweat covered During his absences Ellen fell victirew darker andfate Often he stayed up late, haranguing with the men in the dia i was on their minds Ellen had not yet lowered herself to the deceit and suspicion of eavesdropping, but she realized that there was a cli in which she would deliberately do so

In those closing May days Ellen learned the significance of s that previously she had taken as a matter of course Her father did not run a ranch There was absolutely no ranching done, and little work Often Ellen had to chop wood herself Jorth did not possess a plow Ellen was bound to confess that the evidence of this lack duue raised some hay, beets, turnips Jorth's cattle and horses fared ill during the winter Ellen res and aspens Many of them died in the snow The flocks of sheep, however, were driven down into the Basin in the fall, and across the Reno Pass to Phoenix and Maricopa