of wild ducks in irregular geometric patterns sailed north at double the speed of express trains.  With their mellow “Honk—­honk,” sweetest sound of all to a frontiersman’s ears, harbingers of Spring indeed, far above the level of the ducks, amid the very clouds themselves, the geese, in regular triangles, winged their way toward the snow-lands.  At first they seemed to pass only by day; then, as the season advanced, the nights were melodious with the sound of their voices.  Themselves invisible, far below on the surface of earth the swish of their migratory wings sounded so distinctly that to a listening human ear it almost seemed it were a troop of angels passing overhead.

After them came the myriad small birds of the prairie,—­the countless flocks of blackbirds, whose “fl-ee-ce,” in continuous chorus filled all the daylight hours; the meadow-larks, singly or in pairs, announcing their arrival with a guttural “tuerk” and a saucy flit of the tail, or admonishing “fill your tea-kettle, fill your tea-kettle” with a persistence worthy a better cause.

Ere this the earth was bare and brown.  The chatter of the snow streams had ceased.  In the high places, on southern slopes, there was even a suggestion of green.  At last, on the sunny side of a knoll, there peeped forth the blue face of an anemone.  The following day it had several companions.  Within a week a very army of blue had arrived, stood erect at attention so far as the eye could reach and beyond.  No longer was there a doubt of the season.  Not precursors of Spring, but Spring itself had come.

Meanwhile, on the Box R ranch everything moved on as of yore.  Save on that first night, Ben Blair made no man his confidant, accepted without question his place as Rankin’s successor.  Most silent of these silent people, he did his work and did it well, burying deep beneath an impenetrable mask his thoughts and feelings.  Not until an early Summer was almost come did he make a move.  Then at last a note of three sentences went eastward: 

“Miss Baker:  I’ll be in New York in a few days, and if
convenient to you will call.  The prairies send greetings in
advance.  I saw the first wild rose of the season to-day.

“Ben Blair.”

A week later, after giving directions for the day’s work to Grannis one morning, Ben added some suggestions for the days to follow.  As to time, they were rather indefinite, and the overseer looked a question.

“I’m going away for a bit,” explained Ben, simply, in answer.  Then he turned to Graham.  “Hitch up the buckboard right away, please.  I want you to take me to town in time to catch the afternoon train East.”

CHAPTER XVII

GLITTER AND TINSEL

Clarence Sidwell—­Chad, his friends called him—­leaned farther back in the big wicker chair, with an involuntary motion adjusted his well-creased trousers so there might be no tension at the knees, and looked across the tiny separating table at his vis-a-vis, while his eyelids whimsically tightened.