He turned and saw a woman standing at the gate of a neat-looking cottage, a hundred feet back from the street. With her hair half-falling down, and her sleeves rolled up, this woman did not present a pretty picture at first sight; but, within hearing of Snake Nation, a face that wore the stamp of innocence was a thing of beauty. Private Chadwick saw it and felt it, and though the gesture with which he tipped his hat was awkward, it was quick and sincere.
"I 'mos' know you 've done fergot me," she said, as Chadwick went toward her. "But I 'd a know'd you if I 'd a seed you in Texas."
There was something pathetic in her eagerness to be recognized, yet her attitude was not one of expectation. Chadwick looked at her and shook his head slowly.
"No 'm. I disremember if I 've ever seed you. But, Lord! I 've been so tore up an' twisted aroun' sence this fuss begun, that I would n't know my own sister if she wuz to meet me in a strange place. You may be her, for all I know."
The woman smiled at the deftly put compliment.
"No, my goodness! I ain't your sister.
