CHAPTER II.
_Prune Pie and Coon-can._ Of a truth, Charming Billy Boyle, living his life in the wide land that is too big and too far removed from the man-made world for any but the strong of heart, knew little indeed of women--her kind of women.

When he returned with two chickens and found that the floor had been swept so thoroughly as to look strange to him, and that all his scattered belongings were laid in a neat pile upon the foot of the bunk which was unfamiliar under straightened blankets and pitifully plumped pillows, he was filled with astonishment.

Miss Bridger smiled a little and went on washing the dishes.
"It's beginning to storm, isn't it ?" she remarked.

"But we'll eat chicken stew before we--before I start home.

If you have a horse that I can borrow till morning, father will bring it back." Billy scattered a handful of feathers on the floor and gained a little time by stooping to pick them up one by one.