ner at the hotel, I met one of the old lawyers
who was still in practice, and he took me up to
his office and talked over the Cutter case with
me. After that, I scarcely knew how to put
in the time until the night express was due.

I took a long walk north of the town, out
into the pastures where the land was so rough
that it had never been ploughed up, and the
long red grass of early times still grew shaggy
over the draws and hillocks. Out there I felt
at home again. Overhead the sky was that
indescribable blue of autumn; bright and
shadowless, hard as enamel. To the south I
could see the dun-shaded river bluffs that
used to look so big to me, and all about
stretched drying cornfields, of the pale-gold
color I remembered so well. Russian thistles
were blowing across the uplands and piling
against the wire fences like barricades. Along
the cattle paths the plumes of golden-rod were
already fading into sun-warmed velvet, gray
with gold threads in it. I had escaped from
the curious depression that hangs over little
towns, and my mind was full of pleasant things;
trips I meant to take with the Cuzak boys, in
the Bad Lands and up on the Stinking Water.
There were enough Cuzaks to play with for

[[417]]

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v?