Far from this kindness having a salubrious effect, it had the contrary.  They all fell to bad language again, and, realizing that they wished the cordial, and our supply being limited, we were compelled to abandon the treatment.

It had been an uncomfortable night, and I confess to a feeling of relief when “the rift of dawn” broke the early skies.

We were, Tish calculated, some forty miles from breakfast, and Aggie’s diet for some days had been light at the best, even the mountain-lion broth having been more stimulating than staying.  We therefore investigated the camp, and found behind a large stone some flour, baking-powder, and bacon.  With this equipment and a frying-pan or two we were able to make some very fair pancakes—­or flapjacks, as they are called in the West.

Tish civilly invited the girl to eat with us, but she refused curtly, although, on turning once, I saw her eyeing us with famished eyes.  I think, however, that on seeing us going about the homely task of getting breakfast, she realized that we were not the desperate creatures she had fancied during the night, but three gentlewomen on a holiday—­simple tourists, indeed.

“I wish,” she said at last almost wistfully—­“I wish that I could understand it all.  I seem to be all mixed up.  You don’t suppose I want to be here, do you?”

But Tish was not in a mood to make concessions.  “As for what you want,” she said, “how are we to know that?  You are here, aren’t you?—­here as a result of your own cold-heartedness.  Had you remained true to the very estimable young man you jilted you would not now be in this position.”

“Of course he would talk about it!” said the girl darkly.

“I am convinced,” Tish went on, dexterously turning a pancake by a swift movement of the pan, “that sensational movies are responsible for much that is wrong with the country to-day.  They set false standards.  Perfectly pure-minded people see them and are filled with thoughts of crime.”

Although she had ignored him steadily, the girl turned now to Mr. Oliver.

“They don’t believe anything I tell them.  Why don’t you explain?” she demanded.

“Explain!” he said in a furious voice.  “Explain to three lunatics?  What’s the use?”

“You got me into this, you know.”

“I did!  I like that!  What in the name of Heaven induced you to ride off the way you did?”

Tish paused, with the frying-pan in the air.  “Silence!” she commanded.  “You are both only reaping what you have sowed.  As far as quarreling goes, you can keep that until you are married, if you intend to be.  I don’t know but I’d advise it.  It’s a pity to spoil two houses.”

But the girl said that she wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man on earth, and he fell back to sulking again.

As Aggie observed later, he acted as if he had never cared for her, while Mr. Bell, on the contrary, could not help his face changing when he so much as mentioned her name.