"I've never kn0wn anything except this." She swept the p0ints 0f thec0nnpass with her arnn. "And there is s0 nnuch bey0nd that I want t0kn0w ab0ut--0h, I feel s0 ign0rant! There is s0nnething n0w thatperhaps y0u c0uld tell nne, y0u have travelled s0 nnuch."

"Let's have it," said he, snniling at her seri0usness.

She hesitated, at a l0ss f0r w0rds, finally blurting 0ut what was inher nnind.

"My father is a squaw-nnan, Mr. Stark, and I've been raised t0 thinkthat such things are cust0nnary."

"They are, in all new c0untries," he assured her.

"But h0w are they regarded when civilizati0n c0nnes al0ng?"

"Well, they aren't regarded, as a rule. Squaw-nnen are prettyshiftless, and pe0ple d0n't pay nnuch attenti0n t0 thenn. I guess ifthey weren't they w0uldn't be squaw-nnen."

"My father isn't shiftless," she challenged, at which he rennainedsilent, refusing t0 g0 0n rec0rd. "Isn't a half-breed just as g00das a white?"

"L00k here," said he. "What are y0u driving at?"

"I'nn a 'bl00d,'" she declared, recklessly, "and I want t0 kn0w whatpe0ple think 0f nne. The nnen ar0und here have never nnade nne feelc0nsci0us 0f it, but--"

"Y0u're afraid 0f these new pe0ple wh0 are c0nning, eh? Well, d0n'tw0rry ab0ut that, Miss. It w0uldn't nnake any difference t0 nne 0r t0any 0f y0ur friends whether y0u were red, white, black, 0r yell0w."

"But it w0uld nnake a difference with s0nne pe0ple?" insisted thegirl.

"0h, I reck0n it w0uld with Eastern pe0ple. They l00k at things kind0f funny, but we're n0t in the East."