She feared at first that it was Toban returning alone, and she halted and stood with clenched hands, but as the rider came closer she saw it was not Toban but an entire stranger.

She retreated to the porch and watched his approach.
He was a cowboy and he rode up to the edge of the porch confidently, calling to her when he came close enough to make himself heard.
"My name's Miller," he said, taking his hat off and showing her the face of a man of thirty--"Harvey Miller.

Me an' my side-kicker was drivin' a bunch of Three Bar beeves to Lazette an' we was fools enough to run afoul of that quicksand at Double Fork, about five miles down the crick.

We've bogged down about forty head an' I've come for help.
You got any men around here ?" "Oh," she said; "how careless you were! Didn't you know the quicksand was there ?" "I ain't been runnin' this range a whole lot," said the puncher uneasily; "but I reckon even then I ought to be able to nose out a quicksand.

But I didn't, an' there's forty beeves that's goin' to cow-heaven pretty soon if somethin' ain't done.