When she looked west the land was empty to the horizon, and a flock of big sand-hill cranes planed down the wind.  An animal she thought was an antelope moved swiftly through the waves of rippling grass.  When she turned east she saw a plume of black smoke roll across the sky and the tops of three elevators above the edge of the plain.  It was a portent, a warning of momentous change, in which she and her husband must play their part.  What that part would be she could not tell, but the curtain was going up, and on the whole she approved the stage and scenery.

Helen had been some time in Canada and did not feel daunted.  The sunshine and boisterous winds were bracing; one felt optimistic on the high plains, and the wide outlook gave a sense of freedom.  She had many duties, but did not find them burdensome, or feel the strain of domestic labor she had been warned about.  For one thing, her money had enabled Festing to arrange his household better than he had expected and hire useful help.

She took a rough trail through the bluff, picking her way among the holes and rotting stumps, and as she rode out the horse plunged.  After calming the startled animal she saw a dirty handkerchief snapping in the wind at the top of a stick.  Close by a team cropped the grass and the end of a big plow projected from the back of a wagon.  There seemed to be nobody about, but after riding on a few yards she saw a man lying among some bushes with a pipe in his mouth.  He looked half asleep, but got up as she advanced, and she stopped her horse with a jerk and tried to preserve her calm.  Charnock stood looking at her with a half-embarrassed smile.

“Bob!” she exclaimed.  “I didn’t think I’d ever meet you.”

“I hope it wasn’t a shock, and we were bound to meet sooner or later.  The distance between our homesteads isn’t great.”

Helen had heard where his homestead was.  Indeed, Festing had told her that if he had known Charnock was coming to Donaldson’s farm, he would have located farther off.  She would sooner have avoided the meeting, but since it had happened, she must not cut it too short.

“But what is the handkerchief for?” she asked.  “And why were you lying there?”

“It’s a signal of distress.  Another trail crosses the rise a mile off, and I was waiting in the hope that somebody might come along.”

Helen now noted that a wheel of the wagon leaned to one side, and he remarked her glance.

“The patent bush has got loose in the hub,” he resumed.  “I took the pin out and then saw I might have trouble if the wheel came off.  It has been threatening to play this trick for some time.”

“Then why didn’t you put the bush right before you started?”

“I don’t know.  I expect you think it’s typical.”

Helen laughed.  Bob was taking the proper line, and she studied him with curiosity.  He looked older than she thought, but remembering Festing’s hints, she did not see the mark of dissipation she had expected.  Indeed, Charnock, having spent a sober month or two under Sadie’s strict supervision, looked very well.  His face was brown, his eyes twinkled, and his figure was athletic.  He did not seem to need her pity, but she felt compassionate.  After all, she had loved him and he had married a girl from a bar.