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CHAPTER XII.

Held Up by Mr. Kelly.

"Traveler, what lies over the hill?" questioned a mischievous voice.

Keith, dreaming along a winding, rock-strewn trail in the cañon, looked up quickly and beheld his Heart's Desire sitting calmly upon her horse, ten feet before Redcloud's nose, watching him amusedly. Redcloud must have been dreaming also, or he would have whinnied warning and welcome with the same breath.

"Traveler, tell to me," she went on, seeing Keith only stared.

Keith, not to be outdone, searched his memory hurriedly for the reply which should rightly follow; secretly he was amazed at her sudden friendliness.

"'Child, there's a valley over there'—but it isn't 'pretty and wooded and shy'—not what you can notice. And there isn't any 'little town,' either, unless you go a long way. Why?" Keith rested his

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