"I--you see, I did not happen to," confusedly murmured the girl.
"Chuckie Knowles is not your real name," Genevieve gently reproached her.
"No, it is the pet name Daddy gave me. My real one is--Isobel."
"Yes. Daddy's sister, in Denver, always calls me that. But here on the ranch--"
"Isobel--?" repeated Genevieve, with a rising inflection.
The color ebbed from the girl's face, but she answered steadily: "Chuckie--Isobel--Knowles. I am Daddy's daughter. I have no other father."
"Is-o-bel--Is-o-bel," Genevieve intoned the name musically. "It has a beautiful sound. I had a friend at school--Isabella--but we always called her Belle."
The girl suddenly faced away from her companion, and darted to meet Blake and Ashton, who were bringing the line of levels up over the ridge.
When the ladies explained their plans for remaining in camp on High Mesa, Blake gave a ready assent.
"All right, Jenny. It'll be something like old times. Can't scare you up any lions or fever, leopards or cyclones; but you may see that wolf."
"I should welcome all savage Africa if it would rid us of this awful cañon!" replied his wife.
"Won't you please give it up?" begged Isobel. "I am to blame for your coming here. If anything should happen to you, I--I could never forgive myself--never!"
Blake looked at the two lovely, anxious faces before him, and smiled gravely. "There you go again, and you have yet to see that gulch. But even if you find that it looks dangerous, you wouldn't want me to let a little risk interfere with my work, would you? Think of the fools who climb the highest and steepest mountains just for sport. I am going down there because it is necessary."
"Someone must do it, sooner or later," he replied, and he took his wife's hand in his big palm. "Come, little woman, speak up. Do you want your husband to be a shirker and quitter?"
"Of course not, Tom. Yet one should be reasonable."
"I have had enough experience in climbing to know not to attempt the impossible, Sweetheart," he assured her. "The worst looking places are not always the most dangerous. I promise you to take only reasonable risks."
"Have we time enough to look at the place this afternoon?" she inquired.
Blake glanced at the sun, and nodded. "The riding is good. We can get back long before dark. Ashton, you had better stretch out and rest."