"As long as you think it necessary," she answered, with a smile whose
meaning did not at once make itself felt, but when it did he reached his
hand as one man to another. She took it, smiling up at him in full
understanding of the promise she had made.
"Right here I make a new start," he said.
"I shall begin a new life also," she replied, and they walked on in
silence.
_AFTERWORD_
_Have you seen sunsets so beautiful that your heart ached to watch them
fade? So my heart aches to see the trails fading from the earth._
_As I re-enter the mountain forest I am a reactionary. I would restore
every hill-stream to its former beauty if I could. I would carry forward
every sign, every symbol, of the border in order that the children of
the future should not be deprived of any part of their nation's epic
westward march._
_I here make acknowledgment to the trail and the trail-makers. They have
taught me much. I have lifted the latch-string of the lonely shack, and
broken bread with the red hunter. I know the varied voices of the
coyote, wizard of the mesa. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a
silken cord, opalescent dawns and ruby sunsets. My camping-places return
in the music of gold and amber streams. The hunter, the miner, the
prospector, have been my companions and my tutors--and what they have
given me I hold with jealous hand._
_The high trail leads away to shadow-dappled pools. It enables me to
overtake the things vanishing, to enter the deserted cabin, to bend to
the rude fireplace and to blow again upon the embers, gray with ashes,
till a flame leaps out and shadows of mournful beauty dance upon the
wall._
_I am glad that I was born early enough to hear the songs of the
trailers and to bask in the light of their fires._
[Illustration: Signature: Hamlin Garland]
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Typographical errors corrected in the text: |
| |
| Page 108 ranche changed to ranch |
| Page 109 penon changed to pinyon |
| Page 171 to changed to do |
| Page 314 worthy changed to worth |
| Page 316 misnumbered section V changed to VI |
| Page 329 misnumbered section VI changed to VII |
| Page 331 jurisdication changed to jurisdiction |
| Page 338 misnumbered section VII changed to VIII |
| Page 358 misnumbered section VIII changed to IX |
| Page 362 Kaufman changed to Kauffman |
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