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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dennison Grant, by Robert Stead
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Dennison Grant
+       A Novel of To-day
+
+Author: Robert Stead
+
+Release Date: June 3, 2006 [EBook #3264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DENNISON GRANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+DENNISON GRANT
+
+A Novel of To-day
+
+
+By Robert Stead
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Chuck at the Y.D. to-night, and a bed under the shingles," shouted
+Transley, waving to the procession to be off.
+
+Linder, foreman and head teamster, straightened up from the half load
+of new hay in which he had been awaiting the final word, tightened the
+lines, made an unique sound in his throat, and the horses pressed their
+shoulders into the collars. Linder glanced back to see each wagon or
+implement take up the slack with a jerk like the cars of a freight
+train; the cushioned rumble of wagon wheels on the soft earth, and the
+noisy chatter of the steel teeth of the hay-rakes came up from the rear.
+Transley's "outfit" was under way.
+
+Transley was a contractor; a master of men and of circumstances. Six
+weeks before, the suspension of a grading order had left him high and
+dry, with a dozen men and as many teams on his hands and hired for the
+season. Transley galloped all that night into the foothills; when he
+returned next evening he had a contract with the Y.D. to cut all the
+hay from the ranch buildings to The Forks. By some deft touch of those
+financial strings on which he was one day to become so skilled a player
+Transley converted his dump scrapers into mowing machines, and three
+days later his outfit was at work in the upper reaches of the Y.D.
+
+The contract had been decidedly profitable. Not an hour of broken
+weather had interrupted the operations, and to-day, with two thousand
+tons of hay in stack, Transley was moving down to the headquarters of
+the Y.D. The trail lay along a broad valley, warded on either side by
+ranges of foothills; hills which in any other country would have been
+dignified by the name of mountains. From their summits the grey-green
+up-tilted limestone protruded, whipped clean of soil by the chinooks of
+centuries. Here and there on their northern slopes hung a beard of
+scrub timber; sharp gulleys cut into their fastnesses to bring down the
+turbulent waters of their snows.
+
+Some miles to the left of the trail lay the bed of the Y.D., fringed
+with poplar and cottonwood and occasional dark green splashes of spruce.
+Beyond the bed of the Y.D., beyond the foothills that looked down upon
+it, hung the mountains themselves, their giant crests pitched like
+mighty tents drowsing placidly between earth and heaven. Now their four
+o'clock veil of blue-purple mist lay filmed about their shoulders, but
+later they would stand out in bold silhouette cutting into the twilight
+sky. Everywhere was the soft smell of new-mown hay; everywhere the
+silences of the eternal, broken only by the muffled noises of Transley's
+outfit trailing down to the Y.D.
+
+Linder, foreman and head teamster, cushioned his shoulders against his
+half load of hay and contemplated the scene with amiable satisfaction.
+The hay fields of the foothills had been a pleasant change from the
+railway grades of the plains below. Men and horses had fattened and
+grown content, and the foreman had reason to know that Transley's bank
+account had profited by the sudden shift in his operations. Linder felt
+in his pocket for pipe and matches; then, with a frown, withdrew his
+fingers. He himself had laid down the law that there must be no smoking
+in the hay fields. A carelessly dropped match might in an hour nullify
+all their labor.
+
+Linder's frown had scarce vanished when hoof-beats pounded by the side
+of his wagon, and a rider, throwing himself lightly from his horse,
+dropped beside him in the hay.
+
+"Thought I'd ride with you a spell, Lin. That Pete-horse acts like he
+was goin' sore on the off front foot. Chuck at the Y.D. to-night?"
+
+"That's what Transley says, George, and he knows."
+
+"Ever et at the Y.D?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Know old Y.D?"
+
+"Only to know his name is good on a cheque, and they say he still throws
+a good rope."
+
+George wriggled to a more comfortable position in the hay. He had a
+feeling that he was approaching a delicate subject with consummate
+skill. After a considerable silence he continued--
+
+"They say that's quite a girl old Y.D.'s got."
+
+"Oh," said Linder, slowly. The occasion of the soreness in that
+Pete-horse's off front foot was becoming apparent.
+
+"You better stick to Pete," Linder continued. "Women is most uncertain
+critters."
+
+"Don't I know it?" chuckled George, poking the foreman's ribs
+companionably with his elbow. "Don't I know it?" he repeated, as his
+mind apparently ran back over some reminiscence that verified Linder's
+remark. It was evident from the pleasant grimaces of George's face that
+whatever he had suffered from the uncertain sex was forgiven.
+
+"Say, Lin," he resumed after another pause, and this time in a more
+confidential tone, "do you s'pose Transley's got a notion that way?"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder. Transley always knows what he's doing, and why. Y.D.
+must be worth a million or so, and the girl is all he's got to leave
+it to. Besides all that, no doubt she's well worth having on her own
+account."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry for the boss," George replied, with great soberness. "I
+alus hate to disappoint the boss."
+
+"Huh!" said Linder. He knew George Drazk too well for further comment.
+After his unlimited pride in and devotion to his horse, George gave his
+heart unreservedly to womankind. He suffered from no cramping niceness
+in his devotions; that would have limited the play of his passion; to
+him all women were alike--or nearly so. And no number of rebuffs could
+convince George that he was unpopular with the objects of his democratic
+affections. Such a conclusion was, to him, too absurd to be entertained,
+no matter how many experiences might support it. If opportunity offered
+he doubtless would propose to Y.D.'s daughter that very night--and get a
+boxed ear for his pains.
+
+The Y.D. creek had crossed its valley, shouldering close against the
+base of the foothills to the right. Here the current had created a
+precipitous cutbank, and to avoid it and the stream the trail wound over
+the side of the hill. As they crested a corner the silver ribbon of the
+Y.D. was unravelled before them, and half a dozen miles down its
+course the ranch buildings lay clustered in a grove of cottonwoods and
+evergreens. All the great valley lay warm and pulsating in a flood
+of yellow sunshine; the very earth seemed amorous and content in the
+embrace of sun and sky. The majesty of the view seized even the unpoetic
+souls of Linder and Drazk, and because they had no other means of
+expression they swore vaguely and relapsed into silence.
+
+Hoof-beats again sounded by the wagon side. It was Transley.
+
+"Oh, here you are, Drazk. How long do you reckon it would take you to
+ride down to the Y.D. on that Pete-horse?" Transley was a leader of men.
+
+Drazk's eyes sparkled at the subtle compliment to his horse.
+
+"I tell you, Boss," he said, "if there's any jackrabbits in the road
+they'll get tramped on."
+
+"I bet they will," said Transley, genially. "Well, you just slide down
+and tell Y.D. we're coming in. She's going to be later than I figured,
+but I can't hurry the work horses. You know that, Drazk."
+
+"Sure I do, Boss," said Drazk, springing into his saddle. "Just watch
+me lose myself in the dust." Then, to himself, "Here's where I beat the
+boss to it."
+
+The sun had fallen behind the mountains, the valley was filled with
+shadow, the afterglow, mauve and purple and copper, was playing far up
+the sky when Transley's outfit reached the Y.D. corrals. George Drazk
+had opened the gate and waited beside it.
+
+"Y.D. wants you an' Linder to eat with him at the house," he said as
+Transley halted beside him. "The rest of us eat in the bunk-house."
+There was something strangely modest in Drazk's manner.
+
+"Had yours handed to you already?" Linder managed to banter in a low
+voice as they swung through the gate.
+
+"Hell!" protested Mr. Drazk. "A fellow that ain't a boss or a foreman
+don't get a look-in. Never even seen her.... Come, you Pete-horse!" It
+was evident George had gone back to his first love.
+
+The wagons drew up in the yard, and there was a fine jingle of harness
+as the teamsters quickly unhitched. Y.D. himself approached through the
+dusk; his large frame and confident bearing were unmistakable even in
+that group of confident, vigorous men.
+
+"Glad to see you, Transley," he said cordially. "You done well out
+there. 'So, Linder! You made a good job of it. Come up to the house--I
+reckon the Missus has supper waitin'. We'll find a room for you up
+there, too; it's different from bein' under canvas."
+
+So saying, and turning the welfare of the men and the horses over to
+his foreman, the rancher led Transley and Linder along a path through a
+grove of cottonwoods, across a footbridge where from underneath came the
+babble of water, to "the house," marked by a yellow light which poured
+through the windows and lost itself in the shadow of the trees.
+
+The nucleus of the house was the log cabin where Y.D. and his wife had
+lived in their first married years. With the passage of time additions
+had been built to every side which offered a point of contact, but the
+log cabin still remained the family centre, and into it Transley and
+Linder were immediately admitted. The poplar floor had long since worn
+thin, save at the knots, and had been covered with edge-grained fir, but
+otherwise the cabin stood as it had for twenty years, the white-washed
+logs glowing in the light of two bracket lamps and the reflections from
+a wood fire which burned merrily in the stove. The skins of a grizzly
+bear and a timber wolf lay on the floor, and two moose heads looked down
+from opposite ends of the room. On the walls hung other trophies won by
+Y.D.'s rifle, along with hand-made bits of harness, lariats, and other
+insignia of the ranchman's trade.
+
+The rancher took his guests' hats, and motioned each to a seat.
+"Mother," he said, directing his voice into an adjoining room, "here's
+the boys."
+
+In a moment "Mother" appeared drying her hands. In her appearance were
+courage, resourcefulness, energy,--fit mate for the man who had made the
+Y.D. known in every big cattle market of the country. As Linder's eye
+caught her and her husband in the same glance his mind involuntarily
+leapt to the suggestion of what the offspring of such a pair must be.
+The men of the cattle country have a proper appreciation of heredity....
+
+"My wife--Mr. Transley, Mr. Linder," said the rancher, with a
+courtliness which sat strangely on his otherwise rough-and-ready speech.
+"I been tellin' her the fine job you boys has made in the hay fields,
+an' I reckon she's got a bite of supper waitin' you."
+
+"Y.D. has been full of your praises," said the woman. There was a touch
+of culture in her manner as she received them, which Y.D.'s hospitality
+did not disclose.
+
+She led them into another room, where a table was set for five. Linder
+experienced a tang of happy excitement as he noted the number. Linder
+allowed himself no foolishness about women, but, as he sometimes sagely
+remarked to George Drazk, you never can tell what might happen. He shot
+a quick glance at Transley, but the contractor's face gave no sign. Even
+as he looked Linder thought what an able face it was. Transley was not
+more than twenty-six, but forcefulness, assertion, ability, stood in
+every line of his clean-cut features. He was such a man as to capture at
+a blow the heart of old Y.D., perhaps of Y.D.'s daughter.
+
+"Where's Zen?" demanded the rancher.
+
+"She'll be here presently," his wife replied. "We don't have Mr.
+Transley and Mr. Linder every night, you know," she added, with a smile.
+
+"Dolling up," thought Linder. "Trust a woman never to miss a bet."
+
+But at that moment a door opened, and the girl appeared. She did not
+burst upon them, as Linder had half expected; she slipped quietly and
+gracefully into their presence. She was dressed in black, in a costume
+which did not too much conceal the charm of her figure, and the
+nut-brown lustre of her face and hair played against the sober
+background of her dress with an effect that was almost dazzling.
+
+"My daughter, Zen," said Y.D. "Mr. Transley, Mr. Linder."
+
+She shook hands frankly, first with Transley, then with Linder, as
+had been the order of the introduction. In her manner was neither the
+shyness which sometimes marks the women of remote settlements, nor the
+boldness so readily bred of outdoor life. She gave the impression of one
+who has herself, and the situation, in hand.
+
+"We're always glad to have guests at the Y.D." she was saying. "We live
+so far from everywhere."
+
+Linder thought that a strange peg on which to hang their welcome. But
+she was continuing--
+
+"And you have been so successful, haven't you? You have made quite a hit
+with Dad."
+
+"How about Dad's daughter?" asked Transley. Transley had a manner of
+direct and forceful action. These were his first words to her. Linder
+would not have dared be so precipitate.
+
+"Perhaps," thought Linder to himself, as he turned the incident over in
+his mind, "perhaps that is why Transley is boss, and I'm just foreman."
+The young woman's behavior seemed to support that conclusion. She did
+not answer Transley's question, but she gave no evidence of displeasure.
+
+"You boys must be hungry," Y.D. was saying. "Pile in."
+
+The rancher and his wife sat at the ends of the table; Transley on the
+side at Y.D.'s right; Linder at Transley's right. In the better light
+Linder noted Y.D.'s face. It was the face of a man of fifty, possibly
+sixty. Life in the open plays strange tricks with the appearance. Some
+men it ages before their time; others seem to tap a spring of perpetual
+youth. Save for the grey moustache and the puckerings about the eyes
+Y.D.'s was still a young man's face. Then, as the rancher turned his
+head, Linder noted a long scar, as of a burn, almost grown over in the
+right cheek.... Across the table from them sat the girl, impartially
+dividing her position between the two.
+
+A Chinese boy served soup, and the rancher set the example by "piling
+in" without formality. Eight hours in the open air between meals is a
+powerful deterrent of table small-talk. Then followed a huge joint
+of beef, from which Y.D. cut generous slices with swift and dexterous
+strokes of a great knife, and the Chinese boy added the vegetables from
+a side table. As the meat disappeared the call of appetite became less
+insistent.
+
+"She's been a great summer, ain't she?" said the rancher, laying down
+his knife and fork and lifting the carver. "Transley, some more meat?
+Pshaw, you ain't et enough for a chicken. Linder? That's right, pass
+up your plate. Powerful dry, though. That's only a small bit; here's
+a better slice here. Dry summers gen'rally mean open winters, but you
+can't never tell. Zen, how 'bout you? Old Y.D.'s been too long on the
+job to take chances. Mother? How much did you say, Transley? About two
+thousand tons? Not enough. Don't care if I do,"--helping himself to
+another piece of beef.
+
+"I think you'll find two thousand tons, good hay and good measurement,"
+said Transley.
+
+"I'm sure of it," rejoined his host, generously. "I'm carryin' more
+steers than usual, and'll maybe run in a bunch of doggies from Manitoba
+to boot. I got to have more hay."
+
+So the meal progressed, the rancher furnishing both the hospitality and
+the conversation. Transley occasionally broke in to give assent to
+some remark, but his interruption was quite unnecessary. It was Y.D.'s
+practice to take assent for granted. Once or twice the women interjected
+a lead to a different subject of conversation in which their words would
+have carried greater authority, but Y.D. instantly swung it back to the
+all-absorbing topic of hay.
+
+The Chinese boy served a pudding of some sort, and presently the meal
+was ended.
+
+"She's been a dry summer--powerful dry," said the rancher, with a wink
+at his guests. "Zen, I think there's a bit of gopher poison in there
+yet, ain't there?"
+
+The girl left the room without remark, returning shortly with a jug and
+glasses, which she placed before her father.
+
+"I suppose you wear a man's size, Transley," he said, pouring out a big
+drink of brown liquor, despite Transley's deprecating hand. "Linder, how
+many fingers? Two? Well, we'll throw in the thumb. Y.D? If you please,
+just a little snifter. All set?"
+
+The rancher rose to his feet, and the company followed his example.
+
+"Here's ho!--and more hay," he said, genially.
+
+"Ho!" said Linder.
+
+"The daughter of the Y.D!" said Transley, looking across the table at
+the girl. She met his eyes full; then, with a gleam of white teeth, she
+raised an empty glass and clinked it against his.
+
+The men drained their glasses and re-seated themselves, but the women
+remained standing.
+
+"Perhaps you will excuse us now," said the rancher's wife. "You will
+wish to talk over business. Y.D. will show you upstairs, and we will
+expect you to be with us for breakfast."
+
+With a bow she left the room, followed by her daughter. Linder had a
+sense of being unsatisfied; it was as though a ravishing meal has been
+placed before a hungry man, and only its aroma had reached his senses
+when it had been taken away. Well, it provoked the appetite--
+
+The rancher re-filled the glasses, but Transley left his untouched, and
+Linder did the same. There were business matters to discuss, and it was
+no fair contest to discuss business in the course of a drinking bout
+with an old stager like Y.D.
+
+"I got to have another thousand tons," the rancher was saying. "Can't
+take chances on any less, and I want you boys to put it up for me."
+
+"Suits me," said Transley, "if you'll show me where to get the hay."
+
+"You know the South Y.D?"
+
+"Never been on it."
+
+"Well, it's a branch of the Y.D. which runs south-east from The Forks.
+Guess it got its name from me, because I built my first cabin at The
+Forks. That was about the time you was on a milk diet, Transley, and
+us old-timers had all outdoors to play with. You see, the Y.D. is a
+cantank'rous stream, like its godfather. At The Forks you'd nat'rally
+suppose is where two branches joined, an' jogged on henceforth in double
+harness. Well, that ain't it at all. This crick has modern ideas, an'
+at The Forks it divides itself into two, an' she hikes for the Gulf o'
+Mexico an' him for Hudson's Bay. As I was sayin', I built my first cabin
+at The Forks--a sort o' peek-a-boo cabin it was, where the wolves usta
+come an' look in at nights. Well, I usta look out through the same
+holes. I had the advantage o' usin' language, an' I reckon we was about
+equal scared. There was no wife or kid in those days."
+
+The rancher paused, took a long draw on his pipe, and his eyes glowed
+with the light of old recollections.
+
+"Well, as I was sayin'," he continued presently, "folks got to callin'
+the stream the Y.D., after me. That's what you get for bein' first on
+the ground--a monument for ever an ever. This bein' the main stream got
+the name proper, an' the other branch bein' smallest an' running kind
+o' south nat'rally got called the South Y.D. I run stock in both valleys
+when I was at The Forks, but not much since I came down here. Well,
+there's maybe a thousand tons o' hay over in the South Y.D., an' you
+boys better trail over there to-morrow an' pitch into it--that is, if
+you're satisfied with the price I'm payin' you."
+
+"The price is all right," said Transley, "and we'll hit the trail at
+sun-up. There'll be no trouble--no confliction of interests, I mean?"
+
+"Whose interests?" demanded the rancher, beligerently. "Ain't I the
+father of the Y.D? Ain't the whole valley named for me? When it comes to
+interests--"
+
+"Of course," Transley agreed, "but I just wanted to know how things
+stood in case we ran up against something. It's not like the old days,
+when a rancher would rather lose twenty-five per cent. of his stock
+over winter than bother putting up hay. Hay land is getting to be worth
+money, and I just want to know where we stand."
+
+"Quite proper," said Y.D., "quite proper. An' now the matter's under
+discussion, I'll jus' show you my hand. There's a fellow named Landson
+down the valley of the South Y.D. that's been flirtin' with that hay
+meadow for years, but he ain't got no claim to it. I was first on the
+ground an' I cut it whenever I feel like it an' I'm goin' to go on
+cuttin' it. If anybody comes out raisin' trouble, you just shoo 'em off,
+an' go on cuttin' that hay, spite o' hell an' high water. Y.D.'ll stand
+behind you."
+
+"Thanks," said Transley. "That's what I wanted to know."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The rancher had ridden into the Canadian plains country from below "the
+line" long before barbed wire had become a menace in cattle-land. From
+Pincher Creek to Maple Creek, and far beyond, the plains lay unbroken
+save by the deep canyons where, through the process of ages, mountain
+streams had worn their beds down to gravel bottoms, and by the
+occasional trail which wandered through the wilderness like some
+thousand-mile lariat carelessly dropped from the hand of the Master
+Plainsman. Here and there, where the cutbanks of the river Canyons
+widened out into sloping valleys, affording possible access to the
+deep-lying streams, some ranchman had established his headquarters, and
+his red-roofed, whitewashed buildings flashed back the hot rays which
+fell from an opalescent heaven. At some of the more important fords
+trading posts had come into being, whither the ranchmen journeyed twice
+a year for groceries, clothing, kerosene, and other liquids handled as
+surreptitiously as the vigilance of the Mounted Police might suggest.
+The virgin prairie, with her strange, subtle facility for entangling the
+hearts of men, lay undefiled by the mercenary plowshare; unprostituted
+by the commercialism of the days that were to be.
+
+Into such a country Y.D. had ridden from the South, trailing his little
+bunch of scrub heifers, in search of grass and water and, it may be, of
+a new environment. Up through the Milk River country; across the Belly
+and the Old Man; up and down the valley of the Little Bow, and across
+the plains as far as the Big Bow he rode in search of the essentials of
+a ranch headquarters. The first of these is water, the second grass,
+the third fuel, the fourth shelter. Grass there was everywhere; a fine,
+short, hairy crop which has the peculiar quality of self-curing in the
+autumn sunshine and so furnishing a natural, uncut hay for the herds
+in the winter months. Water there was only where the mountain streams
+plowed their canyons through the deep subsoil, or at little lakes of
+surface drainage, or, at rare intervals, at points where pure springs
+broke forth from the hillsides. Along the river banks dark, crumbling
+seams exposed coal resources which solved all questions of fuel,
+and fringes of cottonwood and poplar afforded rough but satisfactory
+building material. As the rancher sat on his horse on a little knoll
+which overlooked a landscape leading down on one side to a sheltering
+bluff by the river, and on the other losing itself on the rim of the
+heavens, no fairer prospect surely could have met his eye.
+
+And yet he was not entirely satisfied. He was looking for no temporary
+location, but for a spot where he might drive his claim-stakes deep.
+That prairie, which stretched under the hot sunshine unbroken to the rim
+of heaven; that brown grass glowing with an almost phosphorescent light
+as it curled close to the mother sod;--a careless match, a cigar stub, a
+bit of gun-wadding, and in an afternoon a million acres of pasture land
+would carry not enough foliage to feed a gopher.
+
+Y.D. turned in his saddle. Along the far western sky hung the purple
+draperies of the Rockies. For fifty miles eastward from the mighty range
+lay the country of the foothills, its great valleys lost to the vision
+which leapt only from summit to summit. In the clear air the peaks
+themselves seemed not a dozen miles away, but Y.D. had not ridden
+cactus, sagebrush and prairie from the Rio Grande to the St. Mary's for
+twenty years to be deceived by a so transparent illusion. Far over
+the plains his eye could trace the dark outline of a trail leading
+mountainward.
+
+The heifers drowsed lazily in the brown grass. Y.D., shading his eyes
+the better with his hand, gazed long and thoughtfully at the purple
+range. Then he spat decisively over his horse's shoulder and made a
+strange "cluck" in his throat. The knowing animal at once set out on
+a trot to stir the lazy heifers into movement, and presently they were
+trailing slowly up into the foothill country.
+
+Far up, where the trail ahead apparently dropped over the end of the
+world, a horse and rider hove in view. They came on leisurely, and half
+an hour elapsed before they met the rancher trailing west.
+
+The stranger was a rancher of fifty, wind-whipped and weather-beaten of
+countenance. The iron grey of his hair and moustache suggested the iron
+of the man himself; iron of figure, of muscle, of will.
+
+"'Day," he said, affably, coming to a halt a few feet from Y.D.
+"Trailing into the foothills?"
+
+Y.D. lolled in his saddle. His attitude did not invite conversation,
+and, on the other hand, intimated no desire to avoid it.
+
+"Maybe," he said, noncommittally. Then, relaxing somewhat,--"Any water
+farther up?"
+
+"About eight miles. Sundown should see you there, and there's a decent
+spot to camp. You're a stranger here?" The older man was evidently
+puzzling over the big "Y.D." branded on the ribs of the little herd.
+
+"It's a big country," Y.D. answered. "It's a plumb big country, for
+sure, an' I guess a man can be a stranger in some corners of it, can't
+he?"
+
+Y.D. began to resent the other man's close scrutiny of his brand.
+
+"Well, what's wrong with it?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh, nothing. No offense. I just wondered what 'Y.D.' might stand for."
+
+"Might stand for Yankee devil," said Y.D., with a none-of-your-business
+curl of his lip. But he had carried his curtness too far, and was not
+prepared for the quick retort.
+
+"Might also stand for yellow dog, and be damned to you!" The stranger's
+strong figure sat up stern and knit in his saddle.
+
+Y.D.'s hand went to his hip, but the other man was unarmed. You can't
+draw on a man who isn't armed.
+
+"Listen!" the older man continued, in sharp, clear-cut notes. "You are
+a stranger not only to our trails, but our customs. You are a young man.
+Let me give you some advice. First--get rid of that artillery. It will
+do you more harm than good. And second, when a stranger speaks to you
+civilly, answer him the same. My name is Wilson--Frank Wilson, and if
+you settle in the foothills you'll find me a decent neighbor, as soon as
+you are able to appreciate decency."
+
+To his own great surprise, Y.D. took his dressing down in silence. There
+was a poise in Wilson's manner that enforced respect. He recognized in
+him the English rancher of good family; usually a man of fine courtesy
+within reasonable bounds; always a hard hitter when those bounds are
+exceeded. Y.D. knew that he had made at least a tactical blunder;
+his sensitiveness about his brand would arouse, rather than allay,
+suspicion. His cheeks burned with a heat not of the afternoon sun as
+he submitted to this unaccustomed discipline, but he could not bring
+himself to express regret for his rudeness.
+
+"Well, now that the shower is over, we'll move on," he said, turning his
+back on Wilson and "clucking" to his horse.
+
+Y.D. followed the stream which afterwards bore his name as far as the
+Upper Forks. As he entered the foothills he found all the advantages
+of the plains below, with others peculiar to the foothill country. The
+richer herbage, induced by a heavier precipitation; the occasional belts
+of woodland; the rugged ravines and limestone ridges affording
+good natural protection against fire; abundant fuel and water
+everywhere--these seemed to constitute the ideal ranch conditions. At
+the Upper Forks, through some freak of formation, the stream divided
+into two. From this point was easy access into the valleys of the Y.D.
+and the South Y.D., as they were subsequently called. The stream rippled
+over beds of grey gravel, and mountain trout darted from the rancher's
+shadow as it fell across the water. Up the valley, now ruddy gold with
+the changing colors of autumn, white-capped mountains looked down from
+amid the infinite silences; and below, broad vistas of brown prairie
+and silver ribbons of running water. Y.D. turned his swarthy face to
+the sunlight and took in the scene slowly, deliberately, but with a
+commercialized eye; blue and white and ruddy gold were nothing to him;
+his heart was set on grass and water and shelter. He had roved enough,
+and he had a reason for seeking some secluded spot like this, where he
+could settle down while his herds grew up, and, perhaps, forget some
+things that were better forgotten.
+
+With sudden decision the cattle man threw himself from his horse,
+unstrapped the little kit of supplies which he carried by the saddle;
+drew off saddle and bridle and turned the animal free. The die was cast;
+this was the spot. Within ten minutes his ax was ringing in the grove of
+spruce trees close by, and the following night he fried mountain trout
+under the shelter of his own temporary roof.
+
+It was the next summer when Y.D. had another encounter with Wilson. The
+Upper Forks turned out to be less secluded than he had supposed; it was
+on the trail of trappers and prospectors working into the mountains.
+Traders, too, in mysterious commodities, moved mysteriously back and
+forth, and the log cabin at The Forks became something of a centre of
+interest. Strange companies forgathered within its rude walls.
+
+It was at such a gathering, in which Y.D. and three companions sat about
+the little square table, that one of the visitors facetiously inquired
+of the rancher how his herd was progressing.
+
+"Not so bad, not so bad," said Y.D., casually. "Some winter losses, of
+course; snow's too deep this far up. Why?"
+
+"Oh, some of your neighbors down the valley say your cows are uncommon
+prolific."
+
+"They do?" said Y.D., laying down his cards. "Who says that?"
+
+"Well, Wilson, for instance--"
+
+Y.D. sprang to his feet. "I've had one run-in with that ----," he
+shouted, "an' I let him talk to me like a Sunday School super'ntendent.
+Here's where I talk to him!"
+
+"Well, finish the game first," the others protested. "The night's
+young."
+
+Y.D. was sufficiently drunk to be supersensitive about his honor, and
+the inference from Wilson's remark was that he was too handy with his
+branding-iron.
+
+"No, boys, no!" he protested. "I'll make that Englishman eat his words
+or choke on them."
+
+"That's right," the company agreed. "The only thing to do. We'll all go
+down with you."
+
+"An' you won't do that, neither," Y.D. answered. "Think I need a
+body-guard for a little chore like that? Huh!" There was immeasurable
+contempt in that monosyllable.
+
+But a fresh bottle was produced, and Y.D. was persuaded that his honor
+would suffer no serious damage until the morning. Before that time his
+company, with many demonstrations of affection and admonitions to "make
+a good job of it," left for the mountains.
+
+Y.D. saddled his horse early, buckled his gun on his hip, hung a lariat
+from his saddle, and took the trail for the Wilson ranch. During the
+drinking and gambling of the night he had been able to keep the insult
+in the background, but, alone under the morning sun, it swept over him
+and stung him to fury. There was just enough truth in the report to
+demand its instant suppression.
+
+Wilson was branding calves in his corral as Y.D. came up. He was alone
+save for a girl of eighteen who tended the fire.
+
+Wilson looked up with a hot iron in his hand, nodded, then turned to
+apply the iron before it cooled. As he leaned over the calf Y.D. swung
+his lariat. It fell true over the Englishman, catching him about the
+arms and the middle of the body. Y.D. took a half-hitch of the lariat
+about his saddle horn, and the well-trained horse dragged his victim in
+the most matter-of-fact manner out of the gate of the corral and into
+the open.
+
+Y.D. shortened the line. After the first moment of confused surprise
+Wilson tried to climb to his feet, but a quick jerk of the lariat sent
+him prostrate again. In a moment Y.D. had taken up all the line, and sat
+in his saddle looking down contemptuously upon him.
+
+"Well," he said, "who's too handy with his branding-iron now?"
+
+"You are!" cried Wilson. "Give me a man's chance and I'll thrash you
+here and now to prove it."
+
+For answer Y.D. clucked to his horse and dragged his enemy a few yards
+farther. "How's the goin', Frank?" he said, in mock cordiality. "Think
+you can stand it as far as the crick?"
+
+But at that instant an unexpected scene flashed before Y.D. He caught
+just a glimpse of it--just enough to indicate what might happen. The
+girl who had been tending the fire was rushing upon him with a red-hot
+iron extended before her. Quicker than he could throw himself from the
+saddle she had struck him in the face with it.
+
+"You brand our calves!" she cried in a fury of recklessness. "I'll brand
+YOU--damn you!"
+
+Y.D. threw himself from the saddle, but in the suddenness of her
+onslaught he failed to clear it properly, and stumbled to the ground. In
+a moment she was on him and had whipped his gun from his belt.
+
+"Get up!" she said. And he got up.
+
+"Walk to that post, put your arms around it with your back to me, and
+stand there." He did so.
+
+The girl kept him covered with the revolver while she released the
+lariat that bound her father.
+
+"Are you hurt, Dad?" she inquired solicitously.
+
+"No, just shaken up," he answered, scrambling to his feet.
+
+"All right. Now we'll fix him!"
+
+The girl walked to the next post from Y.D.'s, climbed it leisurely and
+seated herself on the top.
+
+"Now, Mr. Y.D.," she said, "you are going to fight like a white man,
+with your fists. I'll sit up here and see that there's no dirty work.
+First, advance and shake hands."
+
+"I'm damned if I will," said Y.D.
+
+The revolver spoke, and the bullet cut dangerously close to him.
+
+"Don't talk back to me again," she cried, "or you won't be able to
+fight. Now shake hands."
+
+He extended his hand and Wilson took it for a moment.
+
+"Now when I count three," said the girl, "pile in. There's no time
+limit. Fight 'til somebody's satisfied. One--two--three--"
+
+At the sound of the last word Wilson caught his opponent a punch on the
+chin which stretched him. He got up slowly, gathering his wits about
+him. He was twenty years younger than Wilson, but a rancher of fifty
+is occasionally a better man than he was at thirty. Any disadvantages
+Wilson suffered from being shaken up in the lariat were counterbalanced
+by Y.D.'s branding. His face was burning painfully, and his vision was
+not the best. But he had not followed the herds since childhood without
+learning to use his fists. He steadied himself on his knee to bring his
+mind into tune with this unusual warfare. Then he rushed upon Wilson.
+
+He received another straight knock-out on the chin. It jarred the joints
+of his neck and left him dazed. It was half a minute before he could
+steady himself. He realized now that he had a fight on his hands. He was
+too cool a head to get into a panic, but he found he must take his time
+and do some brain work. Another chin smash would put him out for good.
+
+He advanced carefully. Wilson stood awaiting him, a picture of poise and
+self-confidence. Y.D. led a quick left to Wilson's ribs, but failed
+to land. Wilson parried skilfully and immediately answered with a left
+swing to the chin. But Y.D. was learning, and this time he was on guard.
+He dodged the blow, broke in and seized Wilson about the body. The two
+men stood for a moment like bulls with locked horns. Y.D. brought his
+weight to bear on his antagonist to force him to the ground, but in some
+way the Englishman got elbow room and began raining short jabs on his
+face, already raw from the branding-iron. Y.D. jerked back from this
+assault. Then came the third smash on the chin.
+
+Y.D. gathered himself up very slowly. The world was swimming around in
+circles. On a post sat a girl, covering him with a revolver and laughing
+at him. Somewhere on the horizon Wilson's figure whipped forward and
+back. Then his horse came into the circle. Y.D. rose to his feet, strode
+with quick, uncertain steps to his horse, threw himself into the saddle
+and without a word started up the trail to The Forks.
+
+"Seems to have gone with as little ceremony as he came," Wilson remarked
+to his daughter. "Now, let us get along with the calves."...
+
+Y.D. rode the trail to The Forks in bitterness of spirit. He had sallied
+forth that morning strong and daring to administer summary punishment;
+he was retracing his steps thrashed, humiliated, branded for life by a
+red iron thrust in his face by a slip of a girl. He exhausted his by
+no means limited vocabulary of epithets, but even his torrents of abuse
+brought no solace to him. The hot sun beat down on his wounded face
+and hurt terribly, but he almost forgot that pain in the agony of his
+humiliation. He had been thrashed by an old man, with a wisp of a girl
+sitting on a post and acting as referee. He turned in his saddle and
+through the empty valley shouted an insulting name at her.
+
+Then Y.D. slowly began to feel his face burn with a fire not of the
+branding-iron nor of the afternoon sun. He knew that his word was a lie.
+He knew that he would not have dared use it in her father's hearing. He
+knew that he was a coward. No man had ever called Y.D. a coward; no
+man had ever known him for a coward; he had never known himself as
+such--until to-day. With all his roughness Y.D. had a sense of honor
+as keen as any razor blade. If he allowed himself wide latitude in some
+matters it was because he had lived his life in an atmosphere where the
+wide latitude was the thing. The prairie had been his bed, the sky his
+roof, himself his own policeman, judge, and executioner since boyhood.
+When responsibility is so centralized wide latitudes must be allowed.
+But the uttermost borders of that latitude were fixed with iron
+rigidity, and when he had thrown a vile epithet at a decent woman he
+knew he had broken the law of honor. He was a cur--a cur who should be
+shot in his tracks for the cur he was.
+
+Y.D. did hard thinking all the way to The Forks. Again and again the
+figure of the girl flashed before him; he would close his eyes and jerk
+his head back to avoid the burning iron. Then he saw her on the post,
+sitting, with apparent impartiality, on guard over the fight. Yes,
+she had been impartial, in a way. Y.D. was willing to admit that much,
+although he surmised that she knew more about her father's prowess with
+his fists than he had known. She had had no doubt about the outcome.
+
+"Well, she's good backing for her old man, anyway," he admitted, with
+returning generosity. He had reached his cabin, and was dressing his
+face with salve and soda. "She sure played the game into the old man's
+hand."
+
+Y.D. could not sleep that night. He was busy sorting up his ideas of
+life and revising them in the light of the day's experience. The more he
+thought of his behavior the less defensible it appeared. By midnight he
+was admitting that he had got just what was coming to him.
+
+Presently he began to feel lonely. It was a strange sensation to Y.D.,
+whose life had been loneliness from the first, so that he had never
+known it. Of course, there was the hunger for companionship; he had
+often known that. A drinking bout, a night at cards, a whirl into
+excess, and that would pass away. But this loneliness was different. The
+moan of the wind in the spruce trees communicated itself to him with an
+eerie oppressiveness. He sat up and lit a lamp. The light fell on the
+bare logs of his hut; he had never known before how bare they were. He
+got up and shuffled about; took a lid off the stove and put it back on
+again; moved aimlessly about the room, and at last sat down on the bed.
+
+"Y.D.," he said with a laugh, "I believe you've got nerves. You're
+behavin' like a woman."
+
+But he could not laugh it off. The mention of a woman brought Wilson's
+daughter back vividly before him. "She's a man's girl," he found
+himself, saying.
+
+He sat up with a shock at his own words. Then he rested his chin on his
+hands and gazed long at the blank wall before him. That was life--his
+life. That blank wall was his life.... If only it had a window in it; a
+bright space through which the vision could catch a glimpse of something
+broader and better.... Well, he could put a window in it. He could put a
+window in his life.
+
+The next noon Frank Wilson looked up with surprise to see Y.D. riding
+into his yard. Wilson stiffened instantly, as though setting himself
+against the shock of an attack, but there was nothing belligerent in
+Y.D.'s greeting.
+
+"Wilson," he said, "I pulled a dirty trick on you yesterday, an' I got
+more than I reckoned on. The old Y.D. would have come back with a gun
+for vengeance. Well, I ain't after vengeance. I reckon you an' me has
+got to live in this valley, an' we might as well live peaceful. Does
+that go with you?"
+
+"Full weight and no shrinkage," said Wilson, heartily, extending his
+hand. "Come up to the house for dinner."
+
+Y.D. was nothing loth to accept the invitation, even though he had his
+misgivings as to how he should meet the women folks. It turned out that
+Mrs. Wilson had been at a neighboring ranch for some days, and the girl
+was in charge of the home. The flash in her eyes did not conceal a glint
+of triumph--or was it humor?
+
+"Jessie," her father said, with conspicuous matter-of-factness, "Y.D.
+has just dropped in for dinner."
+
+Y.D. stood with his hat in his hand. This was harder than meeting
+Wilson. He felt that he could manage better if Wilson would get out.
+
+"Miss Wilson," he managed to say at length, "I just thought I'd run in
+an' thank you for what you did yesterday."
+
+"You're very welcome," she answered, and he could not tell whether
+the note in her voice was of fun or sarcasm. "Any time I can be of
+service--"
+
+"That's what I wanted to talk about," he broke in. There was something
+bewitching about the girl. She more than realized his fantastic visions
+of the night. She had mastered him. Perhaps it was a subtle masculine
+desire to turn her mastery into ultimate surrender that led him on.
+
+"That's just what I want to talk about. You started breakin' in an
+outlaw yesterday, so to speak. How'd you like to finish the job?"
+
+Y.D. was very red when this speech was finished. He had not known that a
+wisp of a girl could so discomfit a man.
+
+"Is that a proposal?" she asked, and this time he was sure the note in
+her voice was one of banter. "I never had one, so I don't know."
+
+"Well, yes, we'll call it that," he said, with returning courage.
+
+"Well we won't, either," she flared back. "Just because I sat on a post
+and superintended the--the ceremonies, is no reason that you should want
+to marry me,--or I, you. You'll find water and a basin on the bench at
+the end of the house, and dinner will be ready in twenty minutes."
+
+Y.D. had a feeling of a little boy being sent to wash himself.
+
+But the next spring he built a larger cabin down the valley from The
+Forks, and to that cabin one day in June came Jessie Wilson to "finish
+the job."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+Transley and Linder were so early about on the morning after their
+conversation with Y.D. that there was no opportunity of another meeting
+with the rancher's wife or daughter. They were slipping quietly out of
+the house to take breakfast with the men when Y.D. intercepted them.
+
+"Breakfast is waitin', boys," he said, and led them back into the room
+where they had had supper the previous evening. Y.D. ate with them, but
+the meal was served by the Chinese boy.
+
+In the yard all was jingling excitement. The men of the Y.D. were
+fraternally assisting Transley's gang in hitching up and getting away,
+and there was much bustling activity to an accompaniment of friendly
+profanity. It was not yet six o'clock, but the sun was well up over the
+eastern ridges that fringed the valley, and to the west the snow-capped
+summits of the mountains shone like polished ivory. The exhilaration in
+the air was almost intoxicating.
+
+Linder quickly converted the apparent chaos of horses, wagons and
+implements into order; Transley had a last word with Y.D., and the
+rancher, shouting "Good luck, boys! Make it a thousand tons or more,"
+waved them away.
+
+Linder glanced back at the house. The bright sunshine had not awakened
+it; it lay dreaming in its grove of cool, green trees.
+
+The trail lay, not up the valley, but across the wedge of foothills
+which divided the South Y.D. from the parent stream. The assent was
+therefore much more rapid than the trails which followed the general
+course of the stream. Huge hills, shouldering together, left at times
+only wagon-track room between; at other places they skirted dangerous
+cutbanks worn by spring freshets, and again trekked for long distances
+over gently curving uplands. In an hour the horses were showing the
+strain of it, and Linder halted them for a momentary rest.
+
+It was at that moment that Drazk rode up, his face a study in obvious
+annoyance.
+
+"Danged if I ain't left that Pete-horse's blanket down at the Y.D.," he
+exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, well, you can easily ride back for it and catch up on us this
+afternoon," said Linder, who was not in the least deceived.
+
+"Thanks, Lin," said Drazk. "I'll beat it down an' catch up on you
+this afternoon, sure," and he was off down the trail as fast as "that
+Pete-horse" could carry him.
+
+At the Y.D. George conducted the search for his horse blanket in the
+strangest places. It took him mainly about the yard of the house, and
+even to the kitchen door, where he interviewed the Chinese boy.
+
+"You catchee horse blanket around here?" he inquired, with appropriate
+gesticulations.
+
+"You losee hoss blanket?"
+
+"Yep."
+
+"What kind hoss blanket?"
+
+"Jus' a brown blanket for that Pete-horse."
+
+"Whose hoss?"
+
+"Mine," proudly.
+
+"Where you catchee?"
+
+"Raised him."
+
+"Good hoss?"
+
+"You betcha."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+Pause.
+
+"You no catchee horse blanket, hey?"
+
+"No!" said the Chinaman, whose manner instantly changed. In this brief
+conversation he had classified Drazk, and classified him correctly. "You
+catchee him, though--some hell, too--you stickee lound here. Beat it,"
+and Drazk found the kitchen door closed in his face.
+
+Drazk wandered slowly around the side of the house, and was not above
+a surreptitious glance through the windows. They revealed nothing. He
+followed a path out by a little gate. His ruse had proven a blind trail,
+and there was nothing to do but go down to the stables, take the horse
+blanket from the peg where he had hung it, and set out again for the
+South Y.D.
+
+As he turned a corner of the fence the sight of a young woman burst upon
+him. She was hatless and facing the sun. Drazk, for all his admiration
+of the sex, had little eye for detail. "A sort of chestnut, about
+sixteen hands high, and with the look of a thoroughbred," he afterwards
+described her to Linder.
+
+She turned at the sound of his footsteps, and Drazk instantly summoned a
+smirk which set his homely face beaming with good humor.
+
+"Pardon me, ma'am," he said, with an elaborate bow. "I am Mr. Drazk--Mr.
+George Drazk--Mr. Transley's assistant. No doubt he spoke of me."
+
+She was inside the enclosure formed by the fence, and he outside. She
+turned on him eyes which set Drazk's pulses strangely a-tingle, and
+subjected him to a deliberate but not unfriendly inspection.
+
+"No, I don't believe he did," she said at length. Drazk cautiously
+approached, as though wondering how near he could come without
+frightening her away. He reached the fence and leaned his elbows on it.
+She showed no disposition to move. He cautiously raised one foot and
+rested it on the lower rail.
+
+"It's a fine morning, ma'am," he ventured.
+
+"Rather," she replied. "Why aren't you with Mr. Transley's gang?"
+
+The question gave George an opening. "Well, you see," he said, "it's all
+on account of that Pete-horse. That's him down there. I rode away this
+morning and plumb forgot his blanket. So when Mr. Transley seen it he
+says, 'Drazk, take the day off an' go back for your blanket,' he says.
+'There's no hurry,' he says. 'Linder an' me'll manage,' he says."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"So here I am." He glanced at her again. She was showing no disposition
+to run away. She was about two yards from him, along the fence. Drazk
+wondered how long it would take him to bridge that distance. Even as he
+looked she leaned her elbows on the fence and rested one of her feet on
+the lower rail. Drazk fancied he saw the muscles about her mouth pulling
+her face into little, laughing curves, but she was gazing soberly into
+the distance.
+
+"He's some horse, that Pete-horse," he said, taking up the subject which
+lay most ready to his tongue. "He's sure some horse."
+
+"I have no doubt."
+
+"Yep," Drazk continued. "Him an' me has seen some times. Whew! Things I
+couldn't tell you about, at all."
+
+"Well, aren't you going to?"
+
+Drazk glanced at her curiously. This girl showed signs of leading him
+out of his depth. But it was a very delightful sensation to feel one's
+self being led out of his depth by such a girl. Her face was motionless;
+her eyes fixed dreamily upon the brown prairies that swept up the flanks
+of the foothills to the south. Far and away on their curving crests the
+dark snake-line of Transley's outfit could be seen apparently motionless
+on the rim of the horizon.
+
+Drazk changed his foot on the rail and the motion brought him six inches
+nearer her.
+
+"Well, f'r instance," he said, spurring his imagination into action,
+"there was the fellow I run down an' shot in the Cypress Hills."
+
+"Shot!" she exclaimed, and the note of admiration in her voice stirred
+him to further flights.
+
+"Yep," he continued, proudly. "Shot an' buried him there, right by the
+road where he fell. Only me an' that Pete-horse knows the spot."
+
+George sighed sentimentally. "It's awful sad, havin' to kill a man,"
+he went on, "an' it makes you feel strange an' creepy, 'specially at
+nights. That is, the first one affects you that way, but you soon get
+used to it. You see, he insulted--"
+
+"The first one? Have you killed more than one?"
+
+"Oh yes, lots of them. A man like me, what knocks around all over with
+all sorts of people, has to do it.
+
+"Then there's the police. After you kill a few men nat'rally the police
+begins to worry you. I always hate to kill a policeman."
+
+"It must be an interesting life."
+
+"It is, but it's a hard one," he said, after a pause during which he had
+changed feet again and taken up another six inches of the distance which
+separated them. He was almost afraid to continue the conversation. He
+was finding progress so much easier than he had expected. It was evident
+that he had made a tremendous hit with Y.D.'s daughter. What a story to
+tell Linder! What would Transley say? He was shaking with excitement.
+
+"It's an awful hard life," he went on, "an' there comes a time, Miss,
+when a man wants to quit it. There comes a time when every decent man
+wants to settle down. I been thinkin' about that a lot lately.... What
+do YOU think about it?" Drazk had gone white. He felt that he actually
+had proposed to her.
+
+"Might be a good idea," she replied, demurely. He changed feet again.
+He had gone too far to stop. He must strike the iron when it was hot. Of
+course he had no desire to stop, but it was all so wonderful. He could
+speak to her now in a whisper.
+
+"How about you, Miss? How about you an' me jus' settlin' down?"
+
+She did not answer for a moment. Then, in a low voice,
+
+"It wouldn't be fair to accept you like this, Mr. Drazk. You don't know
+anything about me."
+
+"An' I don't want to--I mean, I don't care what about you."
+
+"But it wouldn't be fair until you know," she continued. "There are
+things I'd have to tell you, and I don't like to."
+
+She was looking downwards now, and he fancied he could see the color
+rising about her cheeks and her frame trembling. He turned toward her
+and extended his arms. "Tell me--tell your own George," he cooed.
+
+"No," she said, with sudden rigidity. "I can't confess."
+
+"Come on," he pleaded. "Tell me. I've been a bad man, too."
+
+She seemed to be weighing the matter. "If I tell you, you will never,
+never mention it to anyone?"
+
+"Never. I swear it to you," dramatically raising his hand.
+
+"Well," she said, looking down bashfully and making little marks with
+her finger-nail in the pole on which they were leaning, "I never told
+anyone before, and nobody in the world knows it except he and I, and he
+doesn't know it now either, because I killed him.... I had to do it."
+
+"Of course you did, dear," he murmured. It was wonderful to receive a
+woman's confidence like this.
+
+"Yes, I had to kill him," she repeated. "You see, he--he proposed to me
+without being introduced!"
+
+It was some seconds before Drazk felt the blow. It came to him
+gradually, like returning consciousness to a man who has been stunned.
+Then anger swept him.
+
+"You're playin' with me," he cried. "You're makin' a fool of me!"
+
+"Oh, George dear, how could I?" she protested. "Now perhaps you better
+run along to that Pete-horse. He looks lonely."
+
+"All right," he said, striding away angrily. As he walked his rage
+deepened, and he turned and shook his fist at her, shouting, "All right,
+but I'll get you yet, see? You think you're smart, and Transley thinks
+he's smart, but George Drazk is smarter than both of you, and he'll get
+you yet."
+
+She waved her hand complacently, but her composure had already maddened
+him. He jerked his horse up roughly, threw himself into the saddle, and
+set out at a hard gallop along the trail to the South Y.D.
+
+It was mid-afternoon when he overtook Transley's outfit, now winding
+down the southern slope of the tongue of foothills which divided the
+two valleys of the Y.D. Pete, wet over the flanks, pulled up of his own
+accord beside Linder's wagon.
+
+"'Lo, George," said Linder. "What's your hurry?" Then, glancing at his
+saddle, "Where's your blanket?"
+
+Drazk's jaw dropped, but he had a quick wit, although an unbalanced one.
+
+"Well, Lin, I clean forgot all about it," he admitted, with a laugh,
+"but when a fellow spends the morning chatting with old Y.D.'s daughter
+I guess he's allowed to forget a few things."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Reckon you don't believe it, eh, Lin? Reckon you don't believe I stood
+an' talked with her over the fence for so long I just had to pull myself
+away?"
+
+"You reckon right."
+
+George was thinking fast. Here was an opportunity to present the
+incident in a light which had not before occurred to him.
+
+"Guess you wouldn't believe she told me her secret--told me somethin'
+she had never told anybody else, an' made me swear not to mention. Guess
+you don't believe that, neither?"
+
+"You guess right again." Linder was quite unperturbed. He knew something
+of Drazk's gift for romancing.
+
+Drazk leaned over in the saddle until he could reach Linder's ear with a
+loud whisper. "And she called me 'dear'; 'George dear,' she said, when I
+came away."
+
+"The hell she did!" said Linder, at last prodded into interest. He
+considered the "George dear" idea a daring flight, even for Drazk.
+"Better not let old Y.D. hear you spinning anything like that, George,
+or he'll be likely to spoil your youthful beauty."
+
+"Oh, Y.D.'s all right," said George, knowingly. "Y.D.'s all right. Well,
+I guess I'll let Pete feed a bit here, and then we'll go back for his
+blanket. You'll have to excuse me a bit these days, Lin; you know how it
+is when a fellow's in love."
+
+"Huh!" said Linder.
+
+George dropped behind, and an amused smile played on the foreman's face.
+He had known Drazk too long to be much surprised at anything he might
+do. It was Drazk's idea of gallantry to make love to every girl on
+sight. Possibly Drazk had managed to exchange a word with Zen, and his
+imagination would readily expand that into a love scene. Zen! Even the
+placid, balanced Linder felt a slight leap in the blood at the unusual
+name, which to him suggested the bright girl who had come into his life
+the night before. Not exactly into his life; it would be fairer to say
+she had touched the rim of his life. Perhaps she would never penetrate
+it further; Linder rather expected that would be the case. As
+for Drazk--she was in no danger from him. Drazk's methods were so
+precipitous that they could be counted upon to defeat themselves.
+
+Below stretched the valley of the South Y.D., almost a duplicate of its
+northern neighbor. The stream hugged the feet of the hills on the north
+side of the valley; its ribbon of green and gold was like a fringe
+gathered about the hem of their skirts. Beyond the stream lay the level
+plains of the valley, and miles to the south rose the next ridge of
+foothills. It was from these interlying plains that Y.D. expected his
+thousand tons of hay. There is no sleugh hay in the foothill country;
+the hay is cut on the uplands, a short, fine grass of great nutritive
+value. This grass, if uncut, cures in its natural state, and affords
+sustenance to the herds which graze over it all winter long. But it
+occasionally happens that after a snow-fall the Chinook wind will
+partially melt the snow, and then a sudden drop in the temperature
+leaves the prairies and foothills covered with a thin coating of ice.
+It is this ice covering, rather than heavy snow-fall or severe weather,
+which is the principal menace to winter grazing, and the foresighted
+rancher aims to protect himself and his stock from such a contingency by
+having a good reserve of hay in stack.
+
+Here, then, was the valley in which Y.D. hoped to supplement the crop of
+his own hay lands. Linder's appreciative eye took in the scene: a scene
+of stupendous sizes and magnificent distances. As he slowly turned his
+vision down the valley a speck in the distance caught his sight and
+brought him to his feet. Shading his eyes from the bright afternoon sun
+he surveyed it long and carefully. There was no doubt about it: a haying
+outfit was already at work down the valley.
+
+Leaving his team to manage themselves Linder dropped from his wagon and
+joined Transley. "Some one has beat us to it," he remarked.
+
+"So I observed," said Transley. "Well, it's a big valley, and if they're
+satisfied to stay where they are there should be enough for both. If
+they're not--"
+
+"If they're not, what?" demanded Linder.
+
+"You heard what Y.D. said. He said, 'Cut it, spite o' hell an' high
+water,' and I always obey orders."
+
+They wound down the hillside until they came to the stream, the horses
+quickening their pace with the smell of water in their eager nostrils.
+It was a good ford, broad and shallow, with the typical boulder bottom
+of the mountain stream. The horses crowded into it, drinking greedily
+with a sort of droning noise caused by the bits in their mouths. When
+they had satisfied their thirst they raised their heads, stretched their
+noses far out and champed wide-mouthed upon their bits.
+
+After a pause in the stream they drew out on the farther bank, where
+were open spaces among cottonwood trees, and Transley indicated that
+this would be their camping ground. Already smoke was issuing from the
+chuck wagon, and in a few minutes the men's sleeping tent and the two
+stable tents were flashing back the afternoon sun. They carried no
+eating tent; instead of that an eating wagon was backed up against the
+chuck wagon, and the men were served in it. They had not paused for a
+midday meal; the cook had provided sandwiches of bread and roast beef
+to dull the edge of their appetite, and now all were keen to fall to as
+soon as the welcome clanging of the plow-colter which hung from the end
+of the chuck wagon should give the signal.
+
+Presently this clanging filled the evening air with sweet music, and the
+men filed with long, slouchy tread into the eating wagon. The table ran
+down the centre, with bench seats at either side. The cook, properly
+gauging the men's appetites, had not taken time to prepare meat and
+potatoes, but on the table were ample basins of graniteware filled with
+beans and bread and stewed prunes and canned tomatoes, pitchers of syrup
+and condensed milk, tins with marmalade and jam, and plates with butter
+sadly suffering from the summer heat. The cook filled their granite cups
+with hot tea from a granite pitcher, and when the cups were empty filled
+them again and again. And when the tables were partly cleared he brought
+out deep pies filled with raisins and with evaporated apples and a
+thick cake from which the men cut hunks as generous as their appetite
+suggested. Transley had learned, what women are said to have learned
+long ago, that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and the
+cook had carte blanche. Not a man who ate at Transley's table but would
+have spilt his blood for the boss or for the honor of the gang.
+
+The meal was nearing its end when through a window Linder's eye caught
+sight of a man on horseback rapidly approaching. "Visitors, Transley,"
+he was able to say before the rider pulled up at the open door of the
+covered wagon.
+
+He was such a rider as may still be seen in those last depths of the
+ranching country where wheels have not entirely crowded Romance off
+of horseback. Spare and well-knit, his figure had a suggestion of
+slightness which the scales would have belied. His face, keen and
+clean-shaven, was brown as the August hills, and above it his broad hat
+sat in the careless dignity affected by the gentlemen of the plains. His
+leather coat afforded protection from the heat of day and from the cold
+of night.
+
+"Good evening, men," he said, courteously. "Don't let me disturb your
+meal. Afterwards perhaps I can have a word with the boss."
+
+"That's me," said Transley, rising.
+
+"No, don't get up," the stranger protested, but Transley insisted that
+he had finished, and, getting down from the wagon, led the way a little
+distance from the eager ears of its occupants.
+
+"My name is Grant," said the stranger; "Dennison Grant. I am employed by
+Mr. Landson, who has a ranch down the valley. If I am not mistaken you
+are Mr. Transley."
+
+"You are not mistaken," Transley replied.
+
+"And I am perhaps further correct," continued Grant, "in surmising that
+you are here on behalf of the Y.D., and propose cutting hay in this
+valley?"
+
+"Your grasp of the situation does you credit." Transley's manner was
+that of a man prepared to meet trouble somewhat more than half way.
+
+"And I may further surmise," continued Grant, quite unruffled, "that
+Y.D. neglected to give you one or two points of information bearing upon
+the ownership of this land, which would doubtless have been of interest
+to you?"
+
+"Suppose you dismount," said Transley. "I like to look a man in the face
+when I talk business to him."
+
+"That's fair," returned Grant, swinging lightly from his horse. "I have
+a preference that way myself." He advanced to within arm's length of
+Transley and for a few moments the two men stood measuring each other.
+It was steel boring steel; there was not a flicker of an eyelid.
+
+"We may as well get to business, Grant," said Transley at length. "I
+also can do some surmising. I surmise that you were sent here by Landson
+to forbid me to cut hay in this valley. On what authority he acts I
+neither know nor care. I take my orders from Y.D. Y.D. said cut the hay.
+I am going to cut it."
+
+"YOU ARE NOT!"
+
+Transley's muscles could be seen to go tense beneath his shirt.
+
+"Who will stop me?" he demanded.
+
+"You will be stopped."
+
+"The Mounted Police?" There was contempt in his voice, but the contempt
+was not for the Force. It was for the rancher who would appeal to the
+police to settle a "friendly" dispute.
+
+"No, I don't think it will be necessary to call in the police," returned
+Grant, dropping back to his pleasant, casual manner. "You know Y.D.,
+and doubtless you feel quite safe under his wing. But you don't know
+Landson. Neither do you know the facts of the case--the right and wrong
+of it. Under these handicaps you cannot reach a decision which is fair
+to yourself and to your men."
+
+"Further argument is simply waste of time," Transley interrupted. "I
+have told you my instructions, and I have told you that I am going to
+carry them out. Have you had your supper?"
+
+"Yes, thanks. All right, we won't argue any more. I'm not arguing
+now--I'm telling you, Y.D. has cut hay in this valley so long he thinks
+he owns it, and the other ranchers began to think he owned it. But
+Landson has been making a few inquiries. He finds that these are not
+Crown lands, but are privately owned by speculators in New York. He has
+contracted with the owners for the hay rights of these lands for five
+years, beginning with the present season. He is already cutting farther
+down the valley, and will be cutting here within a day or two."
+
+"The trout ought to bite on a fine evening like this," said Transley. "I
+have an extra rod and some flies. Will you try a throw or two with me?"
+
+"I would be glad to, but I must get back to camp. I hope you land a good
+string," and so saying Grant remounted, nodded to Transley and again to
+the men now scattered about the camp, and started his horse on an easy
+lope down the valley.
+
+"Well, what is it to be?" said Linder, coming up with the rest of the
+boys. "War?"
+
+"War if they fight," Transley replied, unconcernedly. "Y.D. said cut the
+hay; 'spite o' hell an' high water,' he said. That goes."
+
+Slowly the great orb of the sun sank until the crest of the mountains
+pierced its molten glory and sent it burnishing their rugged heights. In
+the east the plains were already wrapped in shadow. Up the valley crept
+the veil of night, hushing even the limitless quiet of the day. The
+stream babbled louder in the lowering gloom; the stamp and champing of
+horses grew less insistent; the cloudlets overhead faded from crimson to
+mauve to blue to grey.
+
+Transley tapped the ashes from his pipe and went to bed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+"How about a ride over to the South Fork this afternoon, Zen?" said Y.D.
+to his daughter the following morning. "I just want to make sure them
+boys is hittin' the high spots. The grass is gettin' powerful dry an'
+you can never tell what may happen."
+
+"You're on," the girl replied across the breakfast table. Her mother
+looked up sharply. She wondered if the prospect of another meeting with
+Transley had anything to do with Zen's alacrity.
+
+"I had hoped you would outgrow your slang, Zen," she remonstrated
+gently. "Men like Mr. Transley are likely to judge your training by your
+speech."
+
+"I should worry. Slang is to language what feathers are to a hat--they
+give it distinction, class. They lift it out of the drab commonplace."
+
+"Still, I would not care to be dressed entirely in feathers," her mother
+thrust quietly.
+
+"Good for you, Mother!" the girl exclaimed, throwing an arm about her
+neck and planking a firm kiss on her forehead. "That was a solar plexus.
+Now I'll try to be good and wear a feather only here and there. But Mr.
+Transley has nothing to do with it."
+
+"Of course not," said Y.D. "Still, Transley is a man with snap in him.
+That's why he's boss. So many of these ornery good-for-nothin's is
+always wishin' they was boss, but they ain't willin' to pay the price.
+It costs somethin' to get to the head of the herd--an' stay there."
+
+"He seems firm on all fours," the girl agreed. "How do we travel, and
+when?"
+
+"Better take a democrat, I guess," her father said. "We can throw in
+a tent and some bedding for you, as we'll maybe stay over a couple of
+nights."
+
+"The blue sky is tent enough for me," Zen protested, "and I can surely
+rustle a blanket or two around the camp. Besides, I'll want a riding
+horse to get around with there."
+
+"You can run him beside the democrat," said her father. "You're gettin'
+too big to go campin' promisc'us like when you was a kid."
+
+"That's the penalty for growing up," Zen sighed. "All right, Dad. Say
+two o'clock?"
+
+The girl spent the morning helping her mother about the house, and
+casting over in her mind the probable developments of the near future.
+She would not have confessed outwardly to even a casual interest in
+Transley, but inwardly she admitted that the promise of another meeting
+with him gave zest to the prospect. Transley was interesting. At least
+he was out of the commonplace. His bold directness had rather fascinated
+her. He had a will. Her father had always admired men with a will, and
+Zen shared his admiration. Then there was Linder. The fierce light of
+Transley's charms did not blind her to the glow of quiet capability
+which she saw in Linder. If one were looking for a husband, Linder had
+much to recommend him. He was probably less capable than Transley, but
+he would be easier to manage.... But who was looking for a husband? Not
+Zen. No, no, certainly not Zen.
+
+Then there was George Drazk, whose devotions fluctuated between "that
+Pete-horse" and the latest female to cross his orbit. At the thought of
+George Drazk Zen laughed outright. She had played with him. She had made
+a monkey of him, and he deserved all he had got. It was not the first
+occasion upon which Zen had let herself drift with the tide, always
+sure of justifying herself and discomfiting someone by the swift, strong
+strokes with which, at the right moment, she reached the shore. Zen
+liked to think of herself as careering through life in the same way as
+she rode the half-broken horses of her father's range. How many such a
+horse had thought that the lithe body on his back was something to race
+with, toy with, and, when tired of that, fling precipitately to earth!
+And not one of those horses but had found that while he might race and
+toy with his rider within limitations, at the last that light body was
+master, and not he.... Yet Zen loved best the horse that raced wildest
+and was hardest to bring into subjection.
+
+That was her philosophy of life so far as a girl of twenty may have a
+philosophy of life. It was to go on and see what would happen, supported
+always by a quiet confidence that in any pinch she could take care of
+herself. She had learned to ride and shoot, to sleep out and cook in the
+open, to ride the ranges after dark by instinct and the stars--she had
+learned these things while other girls of her age learned the rudiments
+of fancy-work and the scales of the piano.
+
+Her father and mother knew her disposition, loved it, and feared for it.
+They knew that there was never a rider so brave, so skilful, so strong,
+but some outlaw would throw him at last. So at fourteen they sent her
+east to a boarding-school. In two months she was back with a letter of
+expulsion, and the boast of having blacked the eyes of the principal's
+daughter.
+
+"They couldn't teach me any more, Mother," she said. "They admitted it.
+So here I am."
+
+Y.D. was plainly perplexed. "It's about time you was halter-broke," he
+commented, "but who's goin' to do it?"
+
+"If a girl has learned to read and think, what more can the schools do
+for her?" she demanded.
+
+And Y.D., never having been to school, could not answer.
+
+The sun was capping the Rockies with molten gold when the rancher and
+his daughter swung down the foothill slopes to the camp on the South
+Y.D. Strings of men and horses returning from the upland meadows could
+be seen from the hillside as they descended.
+
+Y.D.'s sharp eyes measured the scale of operations.
+
+"They're hittin' the high spots," he said, approvingly. "That boy
+Transley is a hum-dinger."
+
+Zen made no reply.
+
+"I say he's a hum-dinger," her father repeated.
+
+The girl looked up with a quick flush of surprise. Y.D. was no puzzle to
+her, and if he went out of his way to commend Transley he had a purpose.
+
+"Mr. Transley seems to have made a hit with you, Dad," she remarked,
+evasively.
+
+"Well, I do like to see a man who's got the goods in him. I like a man
+that can get there, just as I like a horse that can get there. I've
+often wondered, Zen, what kind you'd take up with, when it came to that,
+an' hoped he'd be a live crittur. After I'm dead an' buried I don't want
+no other dead one spendin' my simoleons."
+
+"How about Mr. Linder?" said Zen, naively.
+
+Her father looked up sharply. "Zen," he said, "you're not serious?"
+
+Zen laughed. "I don't figure you're exactly serious, Dad, in your
+talk about Transley. You're just feeling out. Well--let me do a little
+feeling out. How about Linder?"
+
+"Linder's all right," Y.D. replied. "Better than the average, I admit.
+But he's not the man Transley is. If he was, he wouldn't be workin' for
+Transley. You can't keep a man down, Zen, if he's got the goods in him.
+Linder comes up over the average, so's you can notice it, but not like
+Transley does."
+
+Zen did not pursue the subject. She understood her father's philosophy
+very well indeed, and, to a large degree, she accepted it as her own. It
+was natural that a man of Y.D.'s experience, who had begun life with
+no favors and had asked none since, and had made of himself a big
+success--it was natural that such a man should judge all others by their
+material achievements. The only quality Y.D. took off his hat to was the
+ability to do things. And Y.D.'s idea of things was very concrete; it
+had to do with steers and land, with hay and money and men. It was by
+such things he measured success. And Zen was disposed to agree with him.
+Why not? It was the only success she knew.
+
+Transley was greeting them as they drew into camp.
+
+"Glad to see you, Y.D.; honored to have a visit from you, Ma'am," he
+said, as he helped them from the democrat, and gave instructions for the
+care of their horses. "Supper is waiting, and the men won't be ready for
+some time."
+
+Y.D. shook hands with Transley cordially. "Zen an' me just thought we'd
+run over and see how the wind blew," he said. "You got a good spot here
+for a camp, Transley. But we won't go in to supper just now. Let the
+men eat first; I always say the work horses should be first at the barn.
+Well, how's she goin'?"
+
+"Fine," said Transley, "fine," but it was evident his mind was divided.
+He was glancing at Zen, who stood by during the conversation.
+
+"I must try and make your daughter at home," he continued. "I allow
+myself the luxury of a private tent, and as you will be staying over
+night I will ask you to accept it for her."
+
+"But I have my own tent with me, in the democrat," said Zen. "If you
+will let the men pitch it under the trees where I can hear the water
+murmuring in the night--"
+
+"Who'd have thought it, from the daughter of the practical Y.D!"
+Transley bantered. "All right, Ma'am, but in the meantime take my tent.
+I'll get water, and there's a basin." He already was leading the way.
+"Make yourself at home--Zen. May I call you Zen?" he added, in a lower
+voice, as they left Y.D. at a distance.
+
+"Everybody calls me Zen."
+
+They were standing at the door of the tent, he holding back the flap
+that she might enter. The valley was already in shadow, and there was no
+sunlight to play on her hair, but her face and figure in the mellow
+dusk seemed entirely winsome and adorable. There was no taint of Y.D.'s
+millions in the admiration that Transley bent upon her.... Of course, as
+an adjunct, the millions were not to be despised.
+
+When the men had finished supper Transley summoned her. On the way to
+the chuck-wagon she passed close to George Drazk. It was evident that
+he had chosen a station with that result in view. She had passed by when
+she turned, whimsically.
+
+"Well, George, how's that Pete-horse?" she said.
+
+"Up an comin' all the time, Zen," he answered.
+
+She bit her lip over his familiarity, but she had no come-back. She had
+given him the opening, by calling him "George."
+
+"You see, I got quite well acquainted with Mr. Drazk when he came back
+to hunt for a horse blanket which had mysteriously disappeared," she
+explained to Transley.
+
+They ascended the steps which led from the ground into the wagon. The
+table had been reset for four, and as the shadows were now heavy in the
+valley, candles had been lighted. Y.D. and his daughter sat on one side,
+Transley on the other. In a moment Linder entered. He had already had a
+talk with Y.D., but had not met Zen since their supper together in the
+rancher's house.
+
+"Glad to see you again, Mr. Linder," said the girl, rising and extending
+her hand across the table. "You see we lost no time in returning your
+call."
+
+Linder took her hand in a frank grasp, but could think of nothing in
+particular to say. "We're glad to have you," was all he could manage.
+
+Zen was rather sorry that Linder had not made more of the situation.
+She wondered what quick repartee, shot, no doubt, with double meaning,
+Transley would have returned. It was evident that, as her father had
+said, Linder was second best. And yet there was something about his
+shyness that appealed to her even more than did Transley's superb
+self-confidence.
+
+The meal was spent in small talk about horses and steers and the merits
+of the different makes of mowing machines. When it was finished Transley
+apologized for not offering his guests any liquor. "I never keep it
+about the camp," he said.
+
+"Quite right," Y.D. agreed, "quite right. Booze is like fire; a valuable
+thing in careful hands, but mighty dangerous when everybody gets playin'
+with it. I reckon the grass is gettin' pretty dry, Transley?"
+
+"Mighty dry, all right, but we're taking every precaution."
+
+"I'm sure you are, but you can't take precautions for other people. Has
+anybody been puttin' you up to any trouble here?"
+
+"Well, no, I can't exactly say trouble," said Transley, "but we've got
+notice it's coming. A chap named Grant, foreman, I think, for Landson,
+down the valley, rode over last night, and invited us not to cut any hay
+hereabouts. He was very courteous, and all that, but he had the manner
+of a man who'd go quite a distance in a pinch."
+
+"What did you tell him?"
+
+"Told him I was working for Y.D., and then asked him to stay for
+supper."
+
+"Did he stay?" Zen asked.
+
+"He did not. He cantered off back, courteous as he came. And this
+morning we went out on the job, and have cut all day, and nothing has
+happened."
+
+"I guess he found you were not to be bluffed," said Zen, and Transley
+could not prevent a flush of pleasure at her compliment. "Of course
+Landson has no real claim to the hay, has he, Dad?"
+
+"Of course not. I reckon them'll be his stacks we saw down the valley.
+Well, I'm not wantin' to rob him of the fruit of his labor, an' if
+he keeps calm perhaps we'll let him have what he has cut, but if he
+don't--" Y.D.'s face hardened with the set of a man accustomed to fight,
+and win, his own battles. "I think we'll just stick around a day or two
+in case he tries to start anythin'," he continued.
+
+"Well, five o'clock comes early," said Transley, "and you folks must
+be tired with your long drive. We've had your tent pitched down by the
+water, Zen, so that its murmurs may sing you to sleep. You see, I have
+some of the poetic in me, too. Mr. Linder will show you down, and I will
+see that your father is made comfortable. And remember--five o'clock
+does not apply to visitors."
+
+The camp now lay in complete darkness, save where a lantern threw its
+light from a tent by the river. Zen walked by Linder's side. Presently
+she reached out and took his arm.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Linder. "I should have offered--"
+
+"Of course you should. Mr. Transley would not have waited to be told.
+Dad thinks that anything that's worth having in this world is worth
+going after, and going after hard. I guess I'm Dad's daughter in more
+ways than one."
+
+"I suppose he's right," Linder confessed, "but I've always been shy. I
+get along all right with men."
+
+"The truth is, Mr Linder, you're not shy--you're frightened. Now I can
+well believe that no man could frighten you. Consequently you get along
+all right with men. Do I need to tell you the rest?"
+
+"I never thought of myself as being afraid of women," he replied. "It
+has always seemed that they were, well, just out of my line."
+
+They had reached the tent but the girl made no sign of going in. In the
+silence the sibilant lisp of the stream rose loud about them.
+
+"Mr. Linder," she said at length, "do you know why Mr. Transley sent you
+down here with me?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't, except to show you to your tent."
+
+"That was the least of his purposes. He wanted to show you that he
+wasn't afraid of you; and he wanted to show me that he wasn't afraid of
+you. Mr. Transley is a very self-confident individual. There is such a
+thing as being too self-confident, Mr. Linder, just as there is such a
+thing as being too shy. Do you get me? Good night!" And with a little
+rush she was in her tent.
+
+Linder walked slowly down to the water's edge, and stood there,
+thinking, until her light went out. His brain was in a whirl with a
+sensation entirely strange to it. A light wind, laden with snow-smell
+from the mountains, pressed gently against his features, and presently
+Linder took deeper breaths than he had ever known before.
+
+"By Jove!" he said. "Who'd have thought it possible?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+When Zen awoke next morning the mowing machines of Transley's outfit
+were already singing their symphony in the meadows; she could hear the
+metallic rhythm as it came borne on the early breeze. She lay awake on
+her camp cot for a few minutes, stretching her fingers to the canvas
+ceiling and feeling that it was good to be alive. And it was. The ripple
+of water came from almost underneath the walls of her tent; the smell
+of spruce trees and balm-o'-Gilead and new-mown hay was in the air. She
+could feel the warmth of the sunshine already pouring upon her white
+roof; she could trace the gentle sway of the trees by the leafy patterns
+gliding forward and back. A cheeky gopher, exploring about the door
+of her tent, ventured in, and, sitting bolt upright, sent his shrill
+whistle boldly forth. She watched his fine bravery for a minute, then
+clapped her hands together, and laughed as he fled.
+
+"Therein we have the figures of both Transley and Linder," she mused
+to herself. "Upright, Transley; horizontal, Linder. I doubt if the poor
+fellow slept last night after the fright I gave him." Slowly and calmly
+she turned the incident over in her mind. She wondered a little if she
+had been quite fair with Linder. Her words and conduct were capable of
+very broad interpretations. She was not at all in love with Linder; of
+that Zen was very sure. She was equally sure that she was not at all in
+love with Transley. She admitted that she admired Transley for his calm
+assumptions, but they nettled her a little nevertheless. If this should
+develop into a love affair--IF it should--she had no intention that it
+was to be a pleasant afternoon's canter. It was to be a race--a race,
+mind you--and may the best man win! She had a feeling, amounting almost
+to a conviction, that Transley underrated his foreman's possibilities
+in such a contest. She had seen many a dark horse, less promising than
+Linder, gallop home with the stakes.
+
+Then Zen smiled her own quiet, self-confident smile, the smile which had
+come down to her from Y.D. and from the Wilsons--the only family that
+had ever mastered him. The idea of either Transley or Linder thinking he
+could gallop home with HER! For the moment she forgot to do Linder the
+justice of remembering that nothing was further from his thoughts. She
+would show them. She would make a race of it--ALMOST to the wire. In the
+home stretch she would make the leap, out and over the fence. She was in
+it for the race, not for the finish.
+
+Zen contemplated for some minutes the possibilities of that race; then,
+as the imagination threatened to become involved, she sprang from her
+cot and thrust a cautious head through the door of her tent. The gang
+had long since gone to the fields, and friendly bushes sheltered her
+from view from the cook-car. She drew on her boots, shook out her hair,
+threw a towel across her shoulders, and, soap in hand, walked boldly the
+few steps to the stream rippling over its shiny gravel bed. She stopped
+and tested the water with her fingers; then brought it in fresh, cool
+handfuls about her face and neck.
+
+"Mornin', Zen!" said a familiar voice. "'Scuse me for happenin' to be
+here. I was jus' waterin' that Pete-horse after a hard ride."
+
+"Now look here, Mr. Drazk!" said the girl, whipping her scanty clothing
+about her, "if I had a gun that Pete-horse would be scheduled for his
+fastest travel in the next twenty seconds, and he'd end it without a
+rider, too. I won't have you spying about!"
+
+"Aw, don' be cross," Drazk protested. He was sitting on his horse in
+the ford a dozen yards away. "I jus' happened along. I guess the outside
+belongs to all of us. Say, Zen, if I was to get properly interduced,
+what's the chances?"
+
+"Not one in a million, and if that isn't odds enough I'll double it."
+
+"You're not goin' to hitch up with Linder, are you?"
+
+"Linder? Who said anything about Linder?"
+
+"Gee, but ain't she innercent?" Drazk stepped his horse up a few feet to
+facilitate conversation. "I alus take an interest in innercent gals away
+from home, so I kinda kep' my angel eye on you las' night. An' I see
+Linder stalkin' aroun' here an' sighin' out over the water when he
+should 'ave been in bed. But, of course, he's been interduced."
+
+"George Drazk, if you speak to me again I'll horse-whip you out of the
+camp at noon before all the men. Now, beat it!"
+
+"Jus' as you say, Ma'am," he returned, with mock courtesy. "But I could
+tell a strange story if I would. But you don't need to be scared. That's
+one thing I never do--I never squeal on a friend."
+
+She was burning with his insults, and if she had had a gun at hand she
+undoubtedly would have made good her threat. But she had none. Drazk
+very deliberately turned his horse and rode away toward the meadows.
+
+"Oh, won't I fix him!" she said, as she continued her toilet in a fury.
+She had not the faintest idea what revenge she would take, but she
+promised herself that it would leave nothing to be desired. Then,
+because she was young and healthy and an optimist, and did not know
+what it meant to be afraid, she dismissed the incident from her mind to
+consider the more urgent matter of breakfast.
+
+Tompkins, the cook, had not needed Transley's suggestion to put his
+best foot forward when catering to Y.D. and his daughter. Tompkins' soul
+yearned for a cooking berth that could be occupied the year round.
+Work in the railway camps had always left him high and dry at the
+freeze-up--dry, particularly, and a few nights in Calgary or Edmonton
+saw the end of his season's earnings. Then came a precarious existence
+for Tompkins until the scrapers were back on the dump the following
+spring. A steady job, cooking on a ranch like the Y.D.; if Tompkins had
+written the Apocalypse that would have been his picture of heaven. So he
+had left nothing undone, even to despatching a courier over night to a
+railway station thirty miles away for fresh fruit and other delicacies.
+Another of the gang had been impressed into a trip up the river to a
+squatter who was suspected of keeping one or two milch cows and sundry
+hens.
+
+"This way, Ma'am," Tompkins was waving as Zen emerged from the grove.
+"Another of our usual mornings. Hope you slep' well, Ma'am." He stood
+deferentially aside while she ascended the three steps that led into the
+covered wagon.
+
+Zen gave a little shriek of delight, and Tompkins felt that all his
+efforts had been well repaid. One end of the table--it was with a
+sore heart Tompkins had realized that he could not cut down the big
+table--one end of the table was set with a clean linen cloth and granite
+dishware scoured until it shone. Beside Zen's plate were grape fruit and
+sliced oranges and real cream.
+
+"However did you manage it?" she gasped.
+
+"Nothing's too good for Y.D.'s daughter," was the only explanation
+Tompkins would offer, but, as Zen afterwards said, the smile on his face
+was as good as another breakfast. After the fruit came porridge,
+and more cream; then fresh boiled eggs with toast; then fresh ripe
+strawberries with more cream.
+
+"Mr.--Mr.--"
+
+"Tompkins, Ma'am; Cyrus Tompkins," he supplied.
+
+"Well, Mr. Tompkins, you're a wonder, and when there's a new cook to be
+engaged for the Y.D. I shall think of you."
+
+"Indeed I wish you would, Ma'am," he said, earnestly. "This road
+work's all right, and nobody ever cooked for a better boss than Mr.
+Transley--savin' it would be your father, Ma'am--but I'm a man of
+family, an' it's pretty hard--"
+
+"Family, did you say, Mr. Tompkins? How many of a family have you?"
+
+"Well, it's seven years since I heard from them--I haven't corresponded
+very reg'lar of late, but they WAS six--"
+
+The story of Tompkins' family was cut short by the arrival of a team and
+mowing machine.
+
+"What's up, Fred?" called Tompkins through a window of his dining car to
+the driver. "Breakfust is just over, an' dinner ain't begun."
+
+For answer the man addressed as Fred slowly produced an iron stake about
+eighteen inches long and somewhat less than an inch in diameter.
+
+"What kind of shrubbery do you call that, Tompkins?" he demanded.
+
+"Well, it ain't buffalo grass, an' it ain't brome grass, an' I don't
+figger it's alfalfa," said Tompkins, meditatively.
+
+"No, and it ain't a grub-stake," Fred replied, with some sarcasm. "It's
+a iron stake, growin' right in a nice little clump of grass, and I run
+on to it and bust my cuttin'-bar all to--that is, all to pieces," he
+completed rather lamely, taking Zen into his glance.
+
+"I think I follow you," she said, with a smile. "Can you fix it here?"
+
+"Nope. Have to go to town for a new one. Two days' lost time, when every
+hour counts. Hello! Here comes someone else."
+
+Another of the teamsters was drawing into camp. "Hello, Fred!" he said,
+upon coming up with his fellow workman, "you in too? I had a bit of
+bad luck. I run smash on to an iron stake right there in the ground and
+crumpled my knife like so much soap."
+
+"I did worse," said Fred, with a grin. "I bust my cuttin'-bar."
+
+The two men exchanged a steady glance for half a minute. Then the
+new-comer gave vent to a long, low whistle.
+
+"So that's the way of it," he said. "That's the kind of war Mr. Landson
+makes. Well, we can fight back with the same weapons, but that won't cut
+the hay, will it?"
+
+By this time Y.D. and Transley, with four other teamsters, were observed
+coming in. Each driver had had the same experience. An iron stake,
+carefully hidden in a clump of grass, had been driven down into the
+ground until it was just high enough to intercept the cutting-bar. The
+fine, sharp knives were crumpled against it; in some cases the heavy
+cutting-bar, in which the knives operate, was damaged.
+
+Y.D.'s face was black with fury.
+
+"That's the lowest, mangyest, cowardliest trick I ever had pulled on
+me," he was saying. "I'm plumb equal to ridin' down to Landson's an'
+drivin' one of them stakes through under his short ribs."
+
+"But can you prove that Landson did it?" said Zen, who had an element
+of caution in her when her father was concerned. She had a vision of
+a fight, with Landson pleading entire ignorance of the whole cause of
+offence, and her father probably summoned by the police for unprovoked
+assault.
+
+"No, I can't prove that Landson did it, an' I can't prove that the grass
+my steers eat turns to hair on their backs," he retorted, "but I reach
+my own conclusions. Is there any shootin' irons in the place?"
+
+"Now, Dad, that's enough," said the girl, firmly. "There'll be no
+shooting between you and Landson. If there is to be anything of that
+kind I'll ride down ahead and warn him of what's coming."
+
+"Darter," said Y.D.--it was only on momentous occasions that he
+addressed her as daughter--"I brought you over here as a guest, not
+as manager o' my affairs. I've taken care of those affairs for some
+considerable years, an' I reckon I still have the qualifications. If
+you're a-goin' to act up obstrep'rous I'll get Mr. Transley to lend me a
+man to escort you home."
+
+"At your service, Y.D.," said George Drazk, who was in the crowd which
+had gathered about the rancher, his daughter, and Transley. "That
+Pete-horse an' me would jus' see her over the hills a-whoopin'."
+
+"I don't think it would be wise to take any extreme measures, at least,
+not just yet," said Transley. "It's out of the question to suppose that
+Landson has picketed the whole valley with those stakes. It is now quite
+clear why we were left in peace yesterday. He wanted us to get started,
+and get a few swaths cut, so that he would know where to drive the
+stakes to catch us the next morning. Some of these machines can be
+repaired at once, and the others within a day or two. We will just move
+over a little and start on new fields. There's pretty good moonlight
+these nights and we'll leave a few men out on guard, and perhaps we can
+catch the enemy at his little game. Let us get one of Landson's men with
+the goods on him."
+
+Y.D. was somewhat pacified by this suggestion. "You're a practical
+devil, Transley," he said, with considerable admiration. "Now, in a case
+of this kind I jus' get plumb fightin' mad. I want to bore somebody.
+I guess it's the only kind o' procedure that comes easy to my hand. I
+guess you're right, but I hate to let anybody have the laugh on me."
+Y.D. looked down the valley, shading his eyes with his hand. "That
+son-of-a-gun has got a dozen or more stacks down there. I don't wish
+nobody any hard luck, but if some tenderfoot was to drop a cigar--"
+
+"In that case I suppose you'd pray for a west wind, Dad," Zen suggested,
+"but the winds in these valleys, even with your prayers to direct them,
+are none too reliable."
+
+"Everybody to work on fixing up these machines," Transley ordered.
+"Linder, make a list of what repairs are needed and Drazk will ride to
+town with it at once. Some of them may have to come out from the city by
+express. Drazk can get the orders in and a team will follow to bring out
+the repairs."
+
+In a moment Transley's men were busy with wrenches and hammers,
+replacing knives and appraising damages. Even in his anger Y.D. took
+approving note of the promptness of Transley's decisions and the zest
+with which his men carried them into effect.
+
+"A he-man, that fellow, Zen," he confided to his daughter, "If he'd
+blowed into this country thirty years ago, like I did, he'd own it by
+this time plumb to the sky-line."
+
+When the list of repairs was completed Linder handed it to Drazk.
+
+"Beat it to town on that Pete-horse of yours, George," he said. "Burn
+the grass on the road."
+
+"I bet I'll be ten miles on the road back when I meet my shadow goin',"
+said Drazk, making a spectacular leap into his saddle. "Bye, Y.D!; bye,
+Zen!" he shouted while he whirled his horse's head eastward and waved
+his hand to where they stood. In spite of her annoyance at him she had
+to smile and return his salute.
+
+"Mr. Drazk is irrepressible," she remarked to Transley.
+
+"And irresponsible," the contractor returned. "I sometimes wonder why I
+keep him. In fact, I don't really keep him; he just stays. Every spring
+he hunts me up and fastens on. Still, I get a lot of good service out
+of him. Praise 'that Pete-horse,' and George would ride his head off for
+you. He has a weakness for wanting to marry every woman he sees, but his
+infatuations seem harmless enough."
+
+"I know something of his weakness," Zen replied. "I have already been
+honored with a proposal."
+
+Transley looked in her face. It was slightly flushed, whether with the
+summer sun or with her confession, but it was a wonderfully good face to
+look in.
+
+"Zen," he said, in a low voice that Y.D. and the others might not hear,
+"how would you take a serious proposal, made seriously by one who loves
+you, and who knows that you are, and always will be, a queen among
+women?"
+
+"If you had been a cow puncher instead of a contractor," she told him,
+"I'm sure you would long ago have ended your life in some dash over a
+cutbank."
+
+Meanwhile Drazk pursued his way to town. The trail, after crossing the
+ford, turned abruptly to the right from that which led across country to
+the North Y.D. For a mile or more it skirted the stream in a park-like
+drive through groves of spruce and cottonwood. Sunshine and the babble
+of water everywhere filled the air. Sunshine, too, filled George Drazk's
+heart. The importance of his mission was pleasantly heavy upon him. He
+pictured the impression he would make in town, galloping in with his
+horse wet over the back, and rushing to the implement agency with all
+the importance of a courier from Y.D. He would let two of the boys take
+Pete to the stable, and then, seated on a mower seat in the shade, he
+would tell the story. It would lose nothing in the telling. He would
+even add how Zen had thrown a kiss at him in parting. Perhaps he would
+have Zen kiss him on the cheek before the whole camp. He turned that
+possibility over in his mind, weighing nicely the credulity of his
+imaginary audience.... At any rate, whether he decided to put that in
+the story or not, it was very pleasant to think about.
+
+Presently the trail turned abruptly up a gully leading into the hills.
+A huge cutbank, jutting into the river, barred the way in front, and
+its precipitous side, a hundred feet or more in height, kept continually
+crumbling and falling into the stream. These cutbanks are a terror to
+inexperienced riders. The valleys are swallowed up in the tawny sameness
+of the ranges; the vision catches only the higher levels, and one
+may gallop to the verge of a precipice before becoming aware of
+its existence. It was to this that Zen had referred in speaking of
+Transley's precipitateness.
+
+Drazk followed the gully up into the hills, letting his horse drop back
+to a walk in the hard going along the dry bed of a stream which flowed
+only in the spring freshets. Pete had to pick his way over boulders and
+across stretches of sand and boggy patches of black mud formed by little
+springs leaking out under clumps of willows. Here and there the white
+ribs of a steer's skeleton peered through the brush; once or twice an
+overpowering stench gave notice of a carcass not wholly decomposed.
+
+It was not a pleasant environment, but in an hour Drazk was out again
+on the brow of the brown hills, where the sunshine flooded about and a
+fresh breeze beat up against his face. After all his winding about in
+the gully he was not more than a mile from the cutbank.
+
+"I reckon I could get a great view from that cutbank of what Landson
+is doin'," he suddenly remarked to himself. He took off his hat and
+scratched his tousled head in reflection. "Linder said to beat it," he
+ruminated, "but I can't get back to-night anyway, an' it might be worth
+while to do a little scoutin'. Here goes!"
+
+He struck a smart gallop to the southward, and brought his horse up,
+spectacularly, a yard from the edge of the precipice. The view which
+his position commanded was superb. Up the valley lay the white tents of
+Transley's outfit, almost hidden in green foliage; the ford across the
+river was distinctly visible, and stretching south from it lay, like a
+great curving snake, the trail which wound across the valley and lost
+itself in the foothills far to the south; across the western horizon
+hung the purple curtain of the mountains, soft and vague in their
+noonday mists, but touched with settings of ivory where the snow fields
+beat back the blazing sunshine; far down the valley was the gleam of
+Landson's whitewashed buildings, and nearer at hand the greenish-brown
+of the upland meadows which his haymakers had already cleared of their
+crop of prairie wool. This was now arising in enormous stacks; it must
+have been three miles to where they lay, but Drazk's keen eyes could
+distinguish ten completed stacks and two others in course of building.
+He could even see the sweeps hauling the new hay, after only a few hours
+of sun-drying, and sliding it up the inclined platforms which dumped it
+into the form of stacks. The foothill rancher makes hay by horse power,
+and almost without the aid of a pitch-fork. Even as Drazk watched he
+saw a load skidded up; saw its apparent momentary poise in air; saw
+the well-trained horses stop and turn and start back to the meadow with
+their sweep. And up the valley Transley's outfit was at a standstill.
+
+Drazk employed his limited but expressive vocabulary. It was against
+all human nature to look on such a scene unmoved. He recalled Y.D.'s
+half-spoken wish about a random cigar. Then suddenly George Drazk's
+mouth dropped open and his eyes rounded with a great idea.
+
+Of course, it was against all the rules of the range--it was outlaw
+business--but what about driving iron stakes in a hay meadow? Drazk's
+philosophy was that the end justifies the means. And if the end would
+win the approval of Y.D.--and of Y.D.'s daughter--then any means was
+justified. Had not Linder said, "Burn the grass on the road?" Drazk
+knew well enough that Linder's remark was a figure of speech, but
+his eccentric mind found no trouble in converting it into literal
+instructions.
+
+Drazk sniffed the air and looked at the sun. A soft breeze was moving
+slowly up the valley; the sun was just past noon. There was every reason
+to expect that as the lowland prairies grew hot with the afternoon
+sunshine a breeze would come down out of the mountains to occupy the
+area of great atmospheric expansion. Drazk knew nothing about the theory
+of the thing; all that concerned him was the fact that by mid-afternoon
+the wind would probably change to the west.
+
+Two miles down the valley he found a gully which gave access to the
+water's edge. He descended, located a ford, and crossed. There were
+cattle-trails through the cottonwoods; he might have followed them, but
+he feared the telltale shoe-prints. He elected the more difficult route
+down the stream itself. The South Y.D. ran mostly on a wide gravel
+bottom; it was possible to pick out a course which kept Pete in water
+seldom higher than his knees. An hour of this, and Drazk, peering
+through the trees, could see the nearest of Landson's stacks not half
+a mile away. The Landson gang were working farther down the valley, and
+the stack itself covered approach from the river.
+
+Drazk slipped from the saddle, and stole quietly into the open. The
+breeze was now coming down the valley.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Transley's men had repaired such machines as they could and returned to
+work. The clatter of mowing machines filled the valley; the horses were
+speeded up to recover lost time. Transley and Y.D. rode about, carefully
+scrutinizing the short grass for iron stakes, and keeping a general eye
+on operations.
+
+Suddenly Transley sat bolt-still on his horse. Then, in a low voice,
+
+"Y.D!" he said.
+
+The rancher turned and followed the line of Transley's vision. The
+nearest of Landson's stacks was ablaze, and a great pillar of smoke was
+rolling skyward. Even as they watched, the base of the fire seemed to
+spread; then, in a moment, tongues of flame were seen leaping from a
+stack farther on.
+
+"Looks like your prayers were answered, Y.D.," said Transley. "I bet
+they haven't a plow nearer than the ranch."
+
+Y.D. seemed fascinated by the sight. He could not take his eyes off
+it. He drew a cigar from his pocket and thrust it far into his mouth,
+chewing it savagely and rolling it in his lips, but, according to the
+law of the hayfield, refraining from lighting it. At first there was a
+gleam of vengeance in his eyes, but presently that gave way to a sort of
+horror. Every honorable tradition of the range demanded that he enlist
+his force against the common enemy.
+
+"Hell, Transley!" he ejaculated, "we can't sit and look at that! Order
+the men out! What have we got to fight with?"
+
+For answer Transley swung round in his saddle and struck his palm into
+Y.D.'s.
+
+"Good boy, Y.D!" he said. "I did you an injustice--I mean, about your
+prayers being answered. We haven't as much as a plow, either, but we can
+gallop down with some barrels in a wagon and put a sack brigade to
+work. I'm afraid it won't save Landson's hay, but it will show where our
+hearts are."
+
+Transley and Y.D. galloped off to round up the men, some of whom had
+already noticed the fire. Transley despatched four men and two teams
+to take barrels, sacks, and horse blankets to the Landson meadows. The
+others he sent off at once on horseback to give what help they could.
+
+Zen rode up just as they left, and already her fine horse seemed to
+realize the tension in the air. His keen, hard-strung muscles quivered
+as she brought his gallop to a stop.
+
+"How did it start, Dad?" she demanded.
+
+"How do I know?" he returned, shortly. "D'ye think I fired it?"
+
+"No, but I just asked the question that Landson will ask, so you better
+have your answer handy. I'm going to gallop down to their ranch; perhaps
+I can help Mrs. Landson."
+
+"The ranch buildings are safe enough, I think," said Transley. "The
+grass there is close cropped, and there is some plowing."
+
+For a moment the three sat, watching the spread of the flames. By this
+time the whole lower valley was blanketed in smoke. Clouds of blue and
+mauve and creamy yellow rolled from the meadows and stacks. The fire was
+whipping the light breeze of the afternoon to a gale, and was already
+running wildly over the flanks of the foothills.
+
+"Well, I'm off," said Zen. "Good-bye!"
+
+"Be careful, Zen!" her father shouted. "Fire is fire." But already her
+horse was stretching low and straight in a hard gallop down the valley.
+
+"I'll ride in to camp and tell Tompkins to make up a double supply of
+sandwiches and coffee," said Transley. "I guess there'll be no cooking
+in Landson's outfit this afternoon. After that we can both run down and
+lend a hand, if that suits you."
+
+As they rode to camp together Y.D. drew up close to the contractor.
+"Transley," he said, "how do you reckon that fire started?"
+
+"I don't know," said Transley, "any more than you do."
+
+"I didn't ask you what you KNEW. I asked you what you reckoned."
+
+Transley rode for some minutes in silence. Then at last he spoke:
+
+"A man isn't supposed to reckon in things of this kind. He should know,
+or keep his mouth shut. But I allow myself just one guess. Drazk."
+
+"Why Drazk?" Y.D. demanded. "He has nothin' to gain, and this prank may
+put him in the cooler."
+
+"Drazk would do anything to be spectacular," Transley explained. "He
+probably will boast openly about it. You know, he's trying to make an
+impression on Zen."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"Of course it's nonsense, but Drazk doesn't see it that way."
+
+"I'd string him to the nearest cottonwood if I thought he--"
+
+"Now don't do him an injustice, Y.D. Drazk doesn't realize that he is
+no mate for Zen. He doesn't know of any reason why Zen shouldn't look on
+him with favor; indeed, with pride. It's ridiculous, I know, but Drazk
+is built that way."
+
+"Then I'll change his style of architecture the first time I run into
+him," said Y.D. savagely. "Zen is too young to think of such a thing,
+anyway."
+
+"She will always be too young to think of such a thing, so far as Drazk
+or his type is concerned," Transley returned. "But suppose--Y.D., to be
+quite frank, suppose _I_ suggested--"
+
+"Transley, you work quick," said Y.D. "I admit I like a quick worker.
+But just now we have a fire on our hands."
+
+By this time they had reached the camp. Transley gave his instructions
+in a few words, and then turned to ride down to Landson's. They had gone
+only a few hundred yards when Y.D. pulled his horse to a stop.
+
+"Transley!" he exclaimed, and his voice was shaking. "What do you
+smell?"
+
+The contractor drew up and sniffed the air. When he turned to Y.D. his
+face was white.
+
+"Smoke, Y.D!" he gasped. "The wind has changed!"
+
+It was true. Already low clouds of smoke were drifting overhead like a
+broken veil. The erratic foothill wind, which a few minutes before had
+been coming down the valley, was now blowing back up again. Even while
+they took in the situation they could feel the hot breath of the distant
+fire borne against their faces.
+
+"Well, it's up to us," said Transley tersely. "We'll make a fight of it.
+Got any speed in that nag of yours?" Without waiting for an answer he
+put spurs to his horse and set forward on a wild gallop into the smoke.
+
+A mile down the line he found that Linder had already gathered his
+forces and laid out a plan of defence. The valley, from the South Y.D.
+to the hills, was about four miles wide, and up the full breadth of
+it was now coming the fire from Landson's fields. There was no natural
+fighting line; Linder had not so much as a buffalo path to work against.
+But he was already starting back-fires at intervals of fifty yards,
+allotting three men to each fire. A back-fire is a fire started for the
+purpose of stopping another. Usually a road, or a plowed strip, or even
+a cattle path, is used for a base. On the windward side of this base the
+back-fire is started and allowed to eat its way back against the wind
+until it meets the main fire which is rushing forward with the wind, and
+chokes it out for lack of fuel. A few men, stationed along a furrow or a
+trail, can keep the small back-fire from jumping it, although they would
+be powerless to check the momentum of the main fire.
+
+This was Linder's position, except that he had no furrow to work
+against. All he could do was tell off men with sacks and horse blankets
+soaked in the barrels of water to hold the back-fire in check as best
+they could. So far they were succeeding. As soon as the fire had burned
+a few feet the forward side of it was pounded out with wet sacks. It
+didn't matter about the other side. It could be allowed to eat back as
+far as it liked; the farther the better.
+
+"Good boy, Lin!" Transley shouted, as he drew up and surveyed
+operations. "She played us a dirty trick, didn't she?"
+
+Linder looked up, red-eyed and coughing. "We can hold it here," he said,
+"but we can never cross the valley. The fire will be on us before we
+have burned a mile. It will beat around our south flank and lick up
+everything!"
+
+Transley jumped from his horse. He seized Linder in his arms and
+literally threw him into the saddle. "You're played, boy!" he shouted in
+his foreman's ear. "Ride down to the river and get into the water, and
+stay there until you know we can win!"
+
+Then Transley threw himself into the fight. As the men said afterwards,
+Linder fought like a wildcat, but Transley fought like a den of lions.
+When the wagon galloped up from the river with barrels of water Transley
+seized a barrel at the end and set it bodily on the ground. He sprang
+into the wagon, shouting commands to horses and men. A hundred yards
+they galloped along the fighting front; then Transley sprang out and set
+another barrel on the ground. In this way, instead of having the men all
+coming to the wagon to wet their sacks, he distributed water along the
+line. Then they turned back, picked up the empty barrels, and galloped
+to the river for a fresh supply.
+
+Soon they had the first mile secure. The backfires had all met; the
+forward line of flames had all been pounded out; the rear line had
+burned back until there was no danger of it jumping the burned space.
+Then Transley picked up his kit and rushed it on to a new front farther
+south. At intervals of a hundred yards he started fires, holding them in
+check and beating out the western edge as before.
+
+But his difficulties were increasing. He was farther from the river.
+It took longer to get water. One of the barrels fell off and collapsed.
+Some of the men were playing out. The horses were wild with excitement
+and terror. The smoke was growing denser and hotter. Men were coughing
+and gasping through dry, seared lips.
+
+"You can't hold it, Transley; you can't hold it!" said one of the men.
+
+Transley hit him from the shoulder. He crumpled up and collapsed.
+
+A mile and a half had been made safe, but the smoke was suffocatingly
+thick and the roar of the oncoming fire rose above the shouts of the
+fighters. Up galloped the water wagon; made a sharp lurch and turn,
+and a front wheel collapsed with the shock. The wagon went down at one
+corner and the barrels were dumped on the ground.
+
+The men looked at Transley. For one moment he surveyed the situation.
+
+"Is there a chain?" he demanded. There was.
+
+"Hitch on to the tire of this broken wheel. Some of you men yank the hub
+out of it. Others pull grass. Pull, like hell was after you!"
+
+They pulled. In a minute or two Transley had the rim of the wheel flat
+on the ground, with a team hitched to it and a little pile of dry grass
+inside. Then he set fire to the little pile of grass and started the
+team slowly along the battle front. As they moved the burning grass in
+the rim set fire to the grass on the prairie underneath; the rim partly
+rubbed it out again as it came over, and the men were able to keep what
+remained in check, but as he lengthened his line Transley had to leave
+more and more men to beat out the fire, and had fewer to pull grass.
+The sacks were too wet to burn; he had to have grass to feed his moving
+fire-spreader.
+
+At length he had only a teamster and himself, and his fire was going
+out. Transley whipped off his shirt, rolled it into a little heap,
+set fire to it, and ran along beside the rim, firing the little moving
+circle of grass inside.
+
+It was the teamster, looking back, who saw Transley fall. He had to drop
+the lines to run to his assistance, and the horses, terrified by smoke
+and fire and the excitement of the fight, immediately bolted. The
+teamster took Transley in his arms and half carried, half dragged him
+into the safe area behind the backfires. And a few minutes later the
+main fire, checked on its front, swept by on the flank and raced on up
+through the valley.
+
+In riding down to the assistance of Mrs. Landson Zen found herself
+suddenly caught in an eddy of smoke. She did not realize at the moment
+that the wind had turned; she thought she must have ridden into the fire
+area. To avoid the possibility of being cut off by the fire, and also
+for better air, she turned her horse to the river. All through the
+valley were billows of smoke, with here and there a reddish-yellow
+glare marking the more vicious sections of flame. Vaguely, at times, she
+thought she caught the shouting of men, but all the heavens seemed full
+of roaring.
+
+When Zen reached the water the smoke was hanging low on it, and she
+drove her horse well in. Then she swung down the stream, believing that
+by making a detour in this way she could pass the wedge of fire that had
+interrupted her and get back on to the trail leading to Landson's.
+She was coughing with the smoke, but rode on in the confidence that
+presently it would lift.
+
+It did. A whip of wind raised it like a strong arm throwing off a
+blanket. She sat up and breathed freely. The hot sun shone through rifts
+in the canopy of smoke; the blue sky looked down serene and unmoved by
+this outburst of the elements. Then as Zen brought her eyes back to
+the water she saw a man on horseback not forty yards ahead. Her first
+thought was that it must be one of the fire fighters, driven like
+herself to safety, but a second glance revealed George Drazk. For
+a moment she had an impulse to wheel and ride out, but even as she
+smothered that impulse a tinge of color rose in her cheeks that she
+should for a moment have entertained it. To let George Drazk think she
+was afraid of him would be utmost humiliation.
+
+She continued straight down the stream, but he had already seen her and
+was headed her way. In the excitement of what he had just done Drazk was
+less responsible than usual.
+
+"Hello, Zen!" he said. "Mighty decent of you to ride down an' meet me
+like this. Mighty decent, Zen!"
+
+"I didn't ride down to meet you, Drazk, and you know it. Keep out of the
+way or I'll use a whip on you!"
+
+"Oh, how haughty! Y.D. all over! Never mind, dear, I like you all the
+better for that. Who wants a tame horse? An' as for comin' down to meet
+me, what's the odds, so long as we've met?"
+
+He had turned his horse and blocked the way in front of her. When Zen's
+horse came within reach Drazk caught him by the bridle.
+
+"Will you let go?" the girl said, speaking as calmly as she could, but
+in a white passion. "Will you let go of that bridle, or shall I make
+you?"
+
+He looked her full in the face. "Gad, but you're a stunner!" he
+exclaimed. "I'm glad we met--here."
+
+She brought her whip with a biting cut around the wrist that held her
+bridle. Drazk winced, but did not let go.
+
+"Jus' for that, young Y.D.," he hissed, "jus' for that we drop all
+formalities, so to speak."
+
+With a dexterous spurring he brought his horse alongside and threw an
+arm about Zen before she could beat him off. She used her whip at short
+range on his face, but had not arm-room in which to land a blow. They
+were stirrup-deep in water, and as they struggled the horses edged in
+deeper still. Finding that she could not beat Drazk off Zen clutched
+her saddle and drove the spurs into her horse. At this unaccustomed
+treatment he plunged wildly forward, but Drazk's grip on her was too
+strong to be broken. The manoeuvre had, however, the effect of unhorsing
+Drazk. He fell in the water, but kept his grip on Zen. With his free
+hand he still had the reins of his own horse, and he managed also to
+get hold of hers. Although her horse was plunging and jumping, Drazk's
+strong grip on his rein kept him from breaking away.
+
+"You fight well, Zen, damn you--you fight well," he cried. "So you
+might. You played with me--you made a fool of me. We'll see who's the
+fool in the end." With a mighty wrench he tore her from her saddle and
+she found herself struggling with him in the water.
+
+"If I put you under for a minute I guess you'll be good," he threatened.
+"I'll half drown you, Zen, if I have to."
+
+"Go ahead," she challenged. "I'll drown myself, if I have to."
+
+"Not just yet, Zen; not just yet. Afterwards you can do as you like."
+
+In their struggles they had been getting gradually into deeper water. At
+this moment they found their feet carried free, and the horses began
+to swim for the shore. Drazk held to both reins with one hand, still
+clutching his victim with the other. More than once they went under
+water together and came up half choking.
+
+Zen was not a good swimmer, but she would gladly have broken away and
+taken chances with the current. Once on land she would be at his mercy.
+She was using her head frantically, but could think of no device to foil
+him. It was not her practice to carry weapons; her whip had already gone
+down the stream. Presently she saw a long leather thong floating out
+from the saddle of Drazk's horse. It was no larger than a whiplash;
+apparently it was a spare lace which Drazk carried, and which had worked
+loose in the struggle. It was floating close to Drazk.
+
+"Don't let me sink, George!" she cried frantically, in sudden fright.
+"Save me! I won't fight any more."
+
+"That's better," he said, drawing her up to him. "I knew you'd come to
+your senses."
+
+Her hand reached the lash. With a quick motion of the arm, such as is
+given in throwing a rope, she had looped it once around his neck. Then,
+pulling the lash violently, she fought herself out of his grip. He
+clutched at her wildly, but could reach only some stray locks of her
+brown hair which had broken loose and were floating on the water.
+
+She saw his eyes grow round and big and horrified; saw his mouth open
+and refuse to close; heard strange little gurgles and chokings. But she
+did not let go.
+
+"When you insulted me this morning I promised to settle with you; I did
+not expect to have the chance so soon."
+
+His head had gone under water.... Suddenly she realized that he was
+drowning. She let go of the thong, clutched her horse's tail, and was
+pulled quickly ashore.
+
+Sitting on the gravel, she tried to think. Drazk had disappeared; his
+horse had landed somewhat farther down.... Doubtless Drazk had drowned.
+Yes, that would be the explanation. Why change it?
+
+Zen turned it over in her mind. Why make any explanations? It would be
+a good thing to forget. She could not have done otherwise under the
+circumstances; no jury would expect her to do otherwise. But why trouble
+a jury about it?
+
+"He got what was coming to him," she said to herself presently. She
+admitted no regret. On the contrary, her inborn self-confidence, her
+assurance that she could take care of herself under any circumstances,
+seemed to be strengthened by the experience.
+
+She got up, drew her hair into some kind of shape, and scrambled a
+little way up the steep bank. Clouds of smoke were rolling up the
+valley. She did not grasp the significance of the fact at the first
+glance, but in a moment it impacted home to her. The wind had changed!
+Her help now would be needed, not by Mrs. Landson, but probably at their
+own camp. She sprang on her horse, re-crossed the stream, and set out on
+a gallop for the camp. On the way she had to ride through one thin line
+of fire, which she accomplished successfully. Through the smoke she
+could dimly see Transley's gang fighting the back-fires. She knew that
+was in good hands, and hastened on to the camp. Zen had had prairie
+experience enough to know that in hours like this there is almost sure
+to be something or somebody, in vital need, overlooked.
+
+She galloped into the camp and found only Tompkins there. He had already
+run a little back-fire to protect the tents and the chuck-wagon.
+
+"How goes it, Tompkins?" she cried, bursting upon him like a courier
+from battle.
+
+"All set here, Ma'am," he answered. "All set an' safe. But they'll never
+hold the main fire; it'll go up the valley hell-scootin',--beggin' your
+pardon, Ma'am."
+
+"Anyone live up the valley?"
+
+"There is. There's the Lints--squatters about six miles up--it was
+from them I got the cream an' fresh eggs you was good enough to notice,
+Ma'am. An' there's no men folks about; jus' Mrs. Lint an' a young herd
+of little Lints; least, that's all was there las' night."
+
+"I must go up," said Zen, with instant decision. "I can get there before
+the fire, and as the Lints are evidently farmers there will be some
+plowed land, or at least a plow with which to run a furrow so that we
+can start a back-fire. Direct me."
+
+Tompkins directed her as to the way, and, leaving a word of explanation
+to be passed on to her father, she was off. A half hour's hard riding
+brought her to Lint's, but she found that this careful settler had made
+full provision against such a contingency as was now come about. The
+farm buildings, implements, stables, everything was surrounded, not by a
+fire-guard, but by a broad plowed field. Mrs. Lint, however, was little
+less thankful for Zen's interest than she would have been had their
+little steading been in danger. She pressed Zen to wait and have at
+least a cup of tea, and the girl, knowing that she could be of little
+or no service down the valley, allowed herself to be persuaded. In this
+little harbor of quiet her mind began to arrange the day's events. The
+tragic happening at the river was as yet too recent to appear real; had
+it not been for the touch of her wet clothing Zen could have thought
+that all an unhappy dream of days ago. She reflected that neither
+Tompkins nor Mrs. Lint had commented upon her appearance. The hot sun
+had soon dried her outer apparel, and her general dishevelled condition
+was not remarkable on such a day as this.
+
+The wind had gone down as the afternoon waned, and the fire was working
+up the valley leisurely when Zen set out on her return trip. A couple of
+miles from the Lint homestead she met its advance guard. It was evening
+now; the sun shone dull red through the banked clouds of smoke resting
+against the mountains to the west; the flames danced and flickered,
+advanced and receded, sprang up and died down again, along mile after
+mile of front. It was a beautiful thing to behold, and Zen drew her
+horse to a stop on a hill-top to take in the grandeur of the scene. Near
+at hand frolicking flames were working about the base of the hill,
+and far down the valley and over the foothills the flanks of the fire
+stretched like lines of impish infantry in single file.
+
+Suddenly she heard the sound of hoofs, and a rider drew up at her side.
+She supposed him one of Transley's men, but could not recall having seen
+him in the camp. He sat his horse with an ease and grace that her eye
+was quick to appraise; he removed his broad felt hat before he spoke;
+and he did not call her "ma'am."
+
+"Pardon me--I believe I am speaking to Y.D.'s daughter?" he asked, and
+before waiting for a reply hastened to introduce himself. "My name is
+Dennison Grant, foreman on the Landson ranch."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I thought--I thought you were one of Mr.
+Transley's men." Then, with a quick sense of the barrier between them,
+she added, "I hope you don't think that I--that we--had anything to do
+with this?" She indicated the ruined valley with her hand.
+
+"No more than I had to do with those coward's stakes," he answered.
+"Neither of us understand just now, but can we take that much for
+granted?"
+
+There was something about him that rather appealed to her. "I think we
+can," she said, simply.
+
+For a moment they watched the kaleidoscopic scene below them. "It may
+help you to understand," she continued, "if I say that I was riding down
+to see if I could be of some use to Mrs. Landson when the wind changed,
+and I saw I would be more likely to be needed here."
+
+"And it may help you to understand," he said, "if I say that as soon as
+immediate danger to the Landson ranch was over I rode up to Transley's
+camp. Only the cook was there, and he told me of your having set out
+to help Mrs. Lint, so I followed up. Fortunately the fire has lost its
+punch; it will probably go out through the night."
+
+There was a short silence, in which she began to realize her peculiar
+position. This man was the rival of Transley and Linder in the business
+of hay-cutting in the valley. He was the foreman of the Landson
+crowd--Landson, against whom her father had been voicing something very
+near to murder threats not many hours ago. Had she met him before the
+fire she would have spurned and despised him, but nothing unites the
+factions of man like a fight against a common elemental enemy. Besides,
+there was the question, How DID the fire start? That was a question
+which every Landson man would be asking. Grant had been generous about
+it; he had asked her to be equally generous about the episode of the
+stakes.... And there was something about the man that appealed to her.
+She had never felt that way about Transley or Linder. She had been
+interested in them; amused, perhaps; out for an adventure, perhaps; but
+this man--Nonsense! It was the environment--the romantic setting. As for
+Drazk--A quick sense of horror caught her as the memory of his choking
+face protruded into her consciousness....
+
+"Well, suppose we ride home," he suggested. "By Jove! The fire has
+worked around us."
+
+It was true. The hill on which they stood was now entirely surrounded
+by a ring of fire, eating slowly up the side. The warmth of its breath
+already pressed against their faces; the funnel effect created by the
+circle of fire was whipping up a stronger draught. The smoke seemed to
+be gathering to a centre above them.
+
+He swung up close to her. "Will your horse face it?" he asked. "If not,
+we'd better blindfold him."
+
+"I'll try him," she said. "He was all right this afternoon, but he was
+reckless then with a hard gallop."
+
+Zen's horse trotted forward at her urging to within a dozen yards of the
+circle of fire. Then he stopped, snorting and shivering. She rode back
+up the hill.
+
+"Better blindfold him," Grant advised, pulling off his leather coat. "A
+sleeve of my shirt should be about right. Will you cut it off?"
+
+She protested.
+
+"There's no time to lose," he reminded her, as he placed his knife in
+her hand. "My horse will go through it all right."
+
+So urged she deftly cut off his sleeve above the elbow and drew it
+through the bridle of her horse across his eyes.
+
+"Now keep your head down close to his neck. You'll go through all right.
+Give him the spurs, and good luck!" he shouted.
+
+She was already careering down the hillside. A few paces from the fire
+the horse plunged into a badger hole and fell headlong. She went over
+his head, down, with a terrific shock, almost in the very teeth of the
+fire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+When Zen came to herself it was with a sense of a strange swimming in
+her head. Gradually it resolved itself into a sound of water about her
+head; a splashing, fighting water; two heads in the water; two heads in
+the water; a lash floating in the water--
+
+"Oh!" She was sure she felt water on her face....
+
+"Where am I?"
+
+"You're all right--you'll be all right in a little while."
+
+"But where am I? What has happened?" She tried to sit up. All was dark.
+"Where am I?" she demanded.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, Zen--I think your name is Zen," she heard a man's
+voice saying. "You've been hurt, but you'll be all right presently."
+
+Then the curtain lifted. "You are Dennison Grant," she said. "I remember
+you now. But what has happened? Why am I here--with you?"
+
+"Well, so far, you've been enjoying about three hours' unconsciousness,"
+he told her. "At a distance which seems about a mile from here--although
+it may be less--is a little pond. I've carried water in the sleeve of my
+coat--fortunately it is leather--and poured it somewhat generously upon
+your brow. And at last I've been rewarded by a conscious word."
+
+She tried to sit up, but desisted when a sudden twitch of pain held her
+fast.
+
+"Let me help you," he said, gently. "We have camped, as you may notice,
+on a big, flat rock. I found it not far from the scene of the accident,
+so I carried you over to it. It is drier than the earth, and, for the
+forepart of the night at least, will be warmer." With a strong arm about
+her shoulders he drew her into a sitting posture.
+
+Her eyes were becoming accustomed to the darkness. "What's wrong with my
+foot?" she demanded. "My boot's off."
+
+"I'm afraid you turned your ankle getting free from your stirrup," he
+explained. "I had to do a little surgery. I could find nothing broken.
+It will be painful, but I fear there is nothing to do but bear it."
+
+She reached down and felt her foot. It was neatly bandaged with cloth
+very much like that which she had used to blindfold Quiver. It was easy
+to surmise where it came from. Evidently her protector had stopped at
+nothing.
+
+"Well, are we to stay here permanently?" she asked, presently.
+
+"Only for the night," he told her. "If we're lucky, not that long.
+Search parties will be hunting for you, and they will doubtless ride
+this way. Both of our horses bolted in the fire--"
+
+"Oh yes, the fire! Tell me what happened."
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"I remember riding into the fire," she continued, "and then next thing I
+was on this rock. How did it all happen?"
+
+"Your horse fell," he explained, "just as you reached the fire, and
+threw you, pretty heavily, to the ground. I was behind, so I dismounted
+and dragged you through."
+
+"Oh!" She felt her face. "But I am not even singed!" she exclaimed.
+
+It was plain that he was holding something back. She turned and laid her
+fingers on his arm. "Tell me how you did it," she pressed.
+
+The darkness hid his modest confusion. "It was really nothing," he
+stammered. "You see, I had a leather coat, and I just threw it over your
+head--and mine--and dragged you out."
+
+She was silent for a moment while the meaning of his words came home to
+her. Then she placed her hand frankly in his.
+
+"Thank you," she said, and even in the darkness she knew that their eyes
+had met.
+
+"You are very resourceful," she continued presently. "Must we sit here
+all night?"
+
+"I can think of no alternative," he confessed. "If we had fire-arms
+we could shoot a signal, or if there were grass about we could start a
+fire, although it probably would not be noticed with so many glows on
+the horizon to-night." He stopped to look about. Dull splashes of red
+in the sky pointed out remnants of the day's conflagration still eating
+their way through the foothills. The air was full of the pungent but not
+unpleasant smell of burnt grass.
+
+"A pretty hard night to send a signal," he said, "but they're almost
+sure to ride this way."
+
+She wondered why he did not offer to walk to the camp for help; it
+could not be more than four or five miles. Suddenly she thought she
+understood.
+
+"I am not afraid to stay here alone," she said, with a little laugh.
+It was the first time Grant had heard her laugh, and he thought it very
+musical indeed. "I've slept out many a night, and you would be back
+within a couple of hours."
+
+"I'm quite sure you're not afraid," he agreed, "but, you see, I am. You
+got quite a tap on the head, and for some time before you came to you
+were talking--rather foolishly. Now if I should leave you it is not
+only possible, but quite probable, that you would lapse again into
+unconsciousness.... I really think you'll have to put up with me here."
+
+"Oh, I wasn't thinking of that!... Did I--did I talk--foolishly?"
+
+"Rather. Seemed to think you were swimming--or fighting--I couldn't be
+sure which. Sometimes you seemed to be doing both."
+
+"Oh!" With a cold chill the events of the day came back upon her. That
+struggle in the water; it came to her now like a bad dream out of the
+long, long past. How much had she said? How much would she have given to
+know what she said? She felt herself recounting events....
+
+Presently she pulled herself up with a start. She must not let him think
+her moody.
+
+"Well, if we MUST enjoy each other's company, we may as well do so
+companionably," she said, with an effort at gaiety. "Let us talk. Tell
+me about yourself."
+
+"First things first," he parried.
+
+"Oh, I've nothing to tell. My life has been very unromantic. A few years
+at school, and the rest of it on the range. A very every-day kind of
+existence."
+
+"I think it's the 'every-day kind of existence' that IS romantic," he
+returned. "It is a great mistake to think of romance as belonging to
+other times and other places. Even the most commonplace person has
+experienced romance enough for a dozen books. Quite possibly he has not
+recognized the romance, but it was there. The trouble is that with our
+limited sense of humor, what we think of as romance in other people's
+lives becomes tragedy in our own."
+
+How much DID he know?... "Yes," she said, "I suppose that is so."
+
+"I know it is so," he went on. "If we could read the thoughts--know the
+experiences--of those nearest to us, we would never need to look out of
+our own circles for either romance or tragedy. But it is as well that
+we can't. Take the experience of to-day, for example. I admit it has
+not been a commonplace day, and yet it has not been altogether
+extraordinary. Think of the experiences we have been through just this
+day, and how, if they were presented in fiction they would be romantic,
+almost unbelievable. And here we are at the close, sitting on a rock,
+matter-of-fact people in a matter-of-fact world, accepting everything as
+commonplace and unexceptional."
+
+"Not quite that," she said daringly. "I see that you are neither
+commonplace nor unexceptional." She spoke with sudden impulse out of the
+depth of her sincerity. She had not met a man like this before. In her
+mind she fixed him in contrast with Transley, the self-confident
+and aggressive, and Linder, the shy and unassertive. None of those
+adjectives seemed to fit this new acquaintance. Nevertheless, he
+suffered nothing by the contrast.
+
+"If I had been bright enough I would have said that first," he
+apologized, "but I got rather carried away in one of my pet theories
+about romance. Now my life, I suppose, to many people would seem quite
+tame and unromantic, but to me it has been a delightful succession of
+somewhat placid adventures. It began in a very orthodox way, in a very
+orthodox family. My father, under the guidance, no doubt, of whatever
+star governs such lucky affairs, became possessed of a piece of land. In
+doing so he contributed to society no service whatever, so far as I
+have been able to ascertain. But it so fell about that society, in
+considerable numbers, wanted his land to live on, so society made of
+my father a wealthy man, and gave him power over many people. Could
+anything be more romantic than that? Could the fairy tales of your
+childhood surpass it for benevolent irresponsibility?"
+
+"My father has also become wealthy," she said, "although I never thought
+of it in that way."
+
+"Yes, but in exchange for his wealth your father has given service to
+society; supplied many thousands of steers for hungry people to eat.
+That's a different story, but not less romantic.
+
+"Well, to proceed. I was brought up to fit my station in life, whatever
+that means. There were just two boys of us, and I was the elder. My
+father had become a broker. I believe he had become quite a successful
+broker, using the word in its ordinary sense, which denotes the making
+of money. You see, he already had too much money, so it was very easy
+for him to make more. He wanted me to go into the office with him, but
+some way I didn't fit in. I've no doubt there was lots of romance there,
+too, but I was of the wrong nature; I simply couldn't get enthusiastic
+over it. As we already had more money than we could possibly spend on
+things that were good for us, I failed to see the point in sitting up
+nights to increase it. Being of a frank disposition I confided in my
+father that I felt I was wasting my time in a broker's office. He, being
+of an equally frank disposition, confided in me that he entertained the
+same opinion.
+
+"Then I delivered myself of some of my pet theories about wealth. I told
+him that I didn't believe that any man had a right to money unless he
+earned it in return for service given to society, and I said that as
+society had to supply the money, society should determine the amount. I
+confessed that I was a little hazy about how that was to be carried out,
+but I insisted that the principle was right, and, that being so, the
+working of it out was only a matter of detail. I realize now that this
+was all fanatical heresy to my father; I remember the pained look that
+came into his eyes. I thought at the time that it was anger, but I know
+now that it was grief--grief and humiliation that a son of his should
+entertain such wild and unbalanced ideas.
+
+"Well, there was more talk, and the upshot of it was that I got out,
+accompanied by an assurance from my father that I would never
+be burdened with any of the family ducats. Roy--my younger
+brother--succeeded to the worries of wealth, and I came to the ranges
+where, no doubt to the deep chagrin of my father, I have been able to
+make a living, and have, incidentally, been profoundly happy. I'll take
+a wager that to-day I look ten years younger than Roy, that I can lick
+him with one hand, that I have more real friends than he has, and that
+I'm getting more out of life than he is. I'm a man of whims. When they
+beckon I follow."
+
+Grant had been talking intensely. He paused now, feeling that his
+enthusiasm had carried him into rather fuller confidences than he had
+intended.
+
+"I'm sorry I bored you with that harangue," he said contritely. "You
+couldn't possibly be interested in it."
+
+"On the contrary, I am very much interested in it," she protested. "It
+seems so much finer for a man to make his own way, rather than be lifted
+up by someone else. I am sure you are already doing well in the West.
+Some day you will go back to your father with more money than he has."
+
+Grant uttered an amused little laugh.
+
+"I was afraid you would say that," he answered. "You see, you don't
+understand me, either. I don't want to make money. Can you understand
+that?"
+
+"Don't want to make money? Why not?"
+
+"Why should I?"
+
+"Well, everybody does. Money is power--it is a mark of success. It would
+open up a wider life for you. It would bring you into new circles. Some
+day you will want to marry and settle down, and money would enable you
+to meet the kind of women--"
+
+She stopped, confused. She had plunged farther than she had intended.
+
+"You're all wrong," he said amusedly. It did not even occur to Zen
+that he was contradicting her. She had not been accustomed to being
+contradicted, but then, neither had she been accustomed to men like
+Dennison Grant, nor to conversations such as had developed. She was too
+interested to be annoyed.
+
+"You're all wrong, Miss--?"
+
+"I don't wonder that you can't fill in my name," she said. "Nobody knows
+Dad except as Y.D. But I heard you call me Zen--"
+
+"That was when you were coming out of your unconsciousness. I apologize
+for the liberty taken. I thought it might recall you--"
+
+"Well, I'm still coming out," she interrupted. "I am beginning to feel
+that I have been unconscious for a very long time indeed. Let me hear
+why you don't want money."
+
+Grant was aware of a pleasant glow excited by her frank interest. She
+was altogether a desirable girl.
+
+"I have observed," he said, "that poor people worry over what they
+haven't got, and rich people worry over what they have. It is my
+disposition not to worry over anything. You said that money is power.
+That is one of its deceits. It offers a man power, but in reality it
+makes him its slave. It enchains him for life; I have seen it in too
+many cases--I am not mistaken. As for opening up a wider life, what
+wider life could there be than this which I--which you and I--are
+living?"
+
+She wondered why he had said "you and I." Evidently he was wondering
+too, for he fell into reflection. She changed her position to ease the
+dull pain in her ankle, which his talk had almost driven from her
+mind. The rock had a perpendicular edge, so she let her feet hang over,
+resting the injured one upon the other. He was sitting in a similar
+position. The silence of the night had gathered about them, broken
+occasionally by the yapping of coyotes far down the valley. Segments of
+dull light fringed the horizon; the breeze was again blowing from the
+west, mild and balmy. Presently one of the segments of light grew and
+grew. It was as though it were rushing up the valley. They watched
+it, fascinated; then burst into laughter as the orb of the moon became
+recognizable.... There was something very companionable about watching
+the moon rise, as they did.
+
+"The greatest wealth in the world," he said at length, as though his
+thoughts had been far afield, searching, perchance, the mazy corridors
+of Truth for this atom of wisdom; "the greatest wealth in the world is
+to be able to do something useful. That is the only wealth which will
+not be disturbed in the coming reorganization of society."
+
+Zen did not reply. For the first time in her life she stood convicted,
+before her own mind, of a very profound ignorance. Dennison Grant had
+been drawing back the curtain of a world of the existence of which she
+had never known. He had talked to her about "the coming reorganization
+of society"? What did it mean? She was at home in discussions of herds
+or horses; she was at home with the duties of kitchen or reception-room;
+she was at home with her father or Transley or Linder or Drazk or
+Tompkins the cook, but Dennison Grant in an hour had carried her into a
+far country, where she would be hopelessly lost but for his guidance....
+Yet it seemed a good and interesting country. She wanted to enter in--to
+know it better.
+
+"Tell me about the coming reorganization of society," she said.
+
+"That is an all-night order," he returned. "Besides, I can't tell you
+all, because I don't know all. I know only very, very little. I see my
+little gleam of light and keep my eye close upon it. But you must know
+that society is always in a state of reorganization. Nothing continues
+as it was. Those who dismiss a problem glibly by saying it has always
+been so and always will be so don't read history and don't understand
+human nature."
+
+He turned toward her as interest in his theme developed. The moonlight
+was now pouring upon them; her face was beautiful and fine as marble
+in its soft rays. For a moment he hesitated, overwhelmed by a sudden
+realization of her attractiveness. He had just been saying that the law
+of nature was the law of change, and nature itself stood up to refute
+him.
+
+He brought himself back to earth. "I was saying that everything
+changes," he continued. "Look at our economic system, for instance. Not
+so many centuries ago the man who got the most wealth was the man with
+the biggest muscle and the toughest skin. He wielded a stout club, and
+what he wanted, he took. His system of operation was simple and direct.
+You have money, you have cattle, you have a wife--I'm speaking of
+the times that were. I am stronger than you. I take them. Simplicity
+itself!"
+
+"But very unjust," she protested.
+
+"Our sense of justice is due to our education," he continued. "If we are
+taught to believe that a certain thing is just, we believe it is just.
+I am convinced that there is no sense of justice inherent in humanity;
+whatever sense we have is the result of education, and the kind of
+justice we believe in is the kind of justice to which we are educated.
+For example, the justice of the plains is not the justice of the cities;
+the justice of the vigilance committee is not the justice of judge and
+jury. Now to get back to our subject. When Baron Battle Ax, back in
+the fifth or sixth century, knocked all his rivals on the head and
+took their wealth away from them, I suppose there was here and there an
+advanced thinker who said the thing was unjust, but I am quite sure the
+great majority of people said things had always been that way and always
+would be that way. But the little minority of thinkers gradually grew
+in strength. The Truth was with them. It is worthy of notice that the
+advance guard of Truth always travels with minorities. And the day came
+that society organized itself to say that the man who uses physical
+force to take wealth from another is an enemy of society and must not be
+allowed at large.
+
+"But we have passed largely out of the era of physical force. To-day, an
+engineer presses a button and releases more physical force than could be
+commanded by all the armies of Rome. Brain power is to-day the dominant
+power. And just as physical force was once used to take wealth without
+earning it, so is brain force now used to take wealth without earning
+it. And just as the masses in the days of Battle Ax said things had
+always been that way and always would be that way, just so do the masses
+in these days of brain supremacy say things have always been that way
+and always will be that way. But just as there was a minority with an
+advanced vision of Truth in those days, so is there a minority with an
+advanced vision of Truth in these days. You may be absolutely sure that,
+just as society found a way to deal with muscle brigands, so also it
+will find a way to deal with brain brigands. I confess I don't see how
+the details are to be worked out, but there must be a plan under which
+the value of the services rendered to society by every man and every
+woman will be determined, and they will be rewarded according to the
+services rendered."
+
+"Is that Socialism?" she ventured.
+
+"I don't know. I don't think so. Certainly it does not contemplate
+an equal distribution of the world's wealth. Some men are a menace to
+themselves and society when they have a hundred dollars. Others can be
+trusted with a hundred million. All men have not been equally gifted
+by nature--we know that. We can't make them equal. But surely we can
+prevent the gifted ones from preying upon those who are not gifted. That
+is what the coming reorganization of society will aim to do."
+
+"It is very interesting," she said. "And very deep. I have never heard
+it discussed before. Why don't people think about these things more?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered, "but I suppose it is because they are too
+busy in the fight. When a self was dodging Battle Ax he hadn't much time
+to think about evolving a Magna Charta. But most of all I suppose it is
+just natural laziness. People refuse to think. It calls for effort. Most
+people would find it easier to pitch a load of hay than to think of a
+new thought."
+
+The moon was now well up; the smoke clouds had been scattered by the
+breeze; the sky was studded with diamonds. Zen had a feeling of being
+very happy. True, a certain haunting spectre at times would break into
+her consciousness, but in the companionship of such a man as Grant she
+could easily beat it off. She studied the face in the moon, and invited
+her soul. She was living through a new experience--an experience she
+could not understand. In spite of the discomfort of her injuries, in
+spite of the events of the day, she was very, very happy....
+
+If only that horrid memory of Drazk would not keep tormenting her! She
+began to have some glimpse of what remorse must mean. She did not blame
+herself; she could not have done otherwise; and yet--it was horrible to
+think about, and it would not stay away. She felt a tremendous desire to
+tell Grant all about it.... She wondered how much he knew. He must have
+discovered that her clothing had been wet.
+
+She shivered slightly.
+
+"You're cold," he said, as he placed his arm about her, and there was
+something very far removed from political economy in the timbre of his
+voice.
+
+"I'm a little chilly," she admitted. "I had to swim my horse across the
+river to-day--he got into a deep spot--and I got wet." She congratulated
+herself that she had made a very clever explanation.
+
+He put his coat about her shoulders and drew it tight. Then he sat
+beside her in silence. There were many things he could have said,
+but this seemed to be neither the time nor the place. Grant was not
+Transley. He had for this girl a delicate consideration which Transley's
+nature could never know. Grant was a thinker--Transley a doer. Grant
+knew that the charm which enveloped him in this girl's presence was the
+perfectly natural product of a set of conditions. He was worldly-wise
+enough to suspect that Zen also felt that charm. It was as natural as
+the bursting of a seed in moist soil; as natural as the unfolding of a
+rose in warm air....
+
+Presently he felt her head rest against his shoulder. He looked down
+upon her in awed delight. Her eyes had closed; her lips were smiling
+faintly; her figure had relaxed. He could feel her warm breath upon his
+face. He could have touched her lips with his.
+
+Slowly the moon traced its long arc in the heavens.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Just as the first flush of dawn mellowed the East Grant heard the
+pounding of horses' feet and the sound of voices borne across the
+valley. They rapidly approached; he could tell by the hard pounding of
+the hoofs that they were on a trail which he took to be the one he had
+followed before he met Zen. It passed possibly a hundred yards to the
+left. He must in some way make his presence known.
+
+The girl had slept soundly, almost without stirring. Now he must wake
+her. He shook her gently, and called her name; her eyes opened; he could
+see them, strange and wondering, in the thin grey light. Then, with a
+sudden start, she was quite awake.
+
+"I have been sleeping!" she exclaimed, reproachfully. "You let me
+sleep!"
+
+"No use of two watching the moon," he returned, lightly.
+
+"But you shouldn't have let me sleep," she reprimanded. "Besides, you
+had to stay awake. You have had no sleep at all!"
+
+There was a sympathy in her voice very pleasant to the ear. But Grant
+could not continue so delightful an indulgence.
+
+"I had to wake you," he explained. "There are several people riding up
+the valley; undoubtedly a search party. I must attract their attention."
+
+They listened, and could now hear the hoof-beats close at hand. Grant
+called; not a loud shout; it seemed little more than his speaking voice,
+but instantly there was silence, save for the echo of the sound rolling
+down the valley. Then a voice answered, and Grant gave a word or two of
+directions. In a minute or two several horsemen loomed up through the
+vague light.
+
+"Here we are," said Zen, as she distinguished her father. "Gone lame on
+the off foot and held up for repairs."
+
+Y.D. swung down from his saddle. "Are you all right, Zen?" he cried, as
+he advanced with outstretched arms. There was an eagerness and a relief
+in his voice which would have surprised many who knew Y.D. only as a
+shrewd cattleman.
+
+Zen accepted and returned his embrace, with a word of assurance that she
+was really nothing the worse. Then she introduced her companion.
+
+"This is Mr. Dennison Grant, foreman of the Landson ranch, Dad."
+
+Grant extended his hand, but Y.D. hesitated. The truce occasioned by the
+fire did not by any means imply permanent peace. Far from it, with the
+valley in ruins--
+
+Y.D. was stiffening, but his daughter averted what would in another
+moment have been an embarrassing situation with a quick remark.
+
+"This is no time, even for explanations," she said, "except that Mr.
+Grant saved my life last evening at the risk of his own, and has lost a
+night's sleep for his pains."
+
+"That was a man's work," said Y.D. It would not have been possible
+for his lips to have framed a greater compliment. "I'm obliged to you,
+Grant. You know how it is with us cattlemen; we run mostly to horns and
+hoofs, but I suppose we have some heart, too, if you can find it."
+
+They shook hands with as much cordiality as the situation permitted, and
+then Zen introduced Transley and Linder, who were in the party. There
+were two or three others whom she did not know, but they all shook
+hands.
+
+"What happened, Zen?" said Transley, with his usual directness. "Give us
+the whole story."
+
+Then she told them what she knew, from the point where she had met Grant
+on the fire-encircled hill.
+
+"Two lucky people--two lucky people," was all Transley's comment. Words
+could not have expressed the jealousy he felt. But Linder was not too
+shy to place his hand with a friendly pressure upon Grant's shoulder.
+
+"Good work," he said, and with two words sealed a friendship.
+
+Two of the unnamed members of the party volunteered their horses to
+Zen and Grant, and all hands started back to camp. Y.D. talked almost
+garrulously; not even himself had known how heavily the hand of Fate had
+lain on him through the night.
+
+"The haymakin' is all off, Darter," he said. "We will trek back to the
+Y.D. as soon as you feel fit. The steers will have to take chances next
+winter."
+
+The girl professed her fitness to make the trip at once, and indeed they
+did make it that very day. Y.D. pressed Grant to remain for breakfast,
+and Tompkins, notwithstanding the demoralization of equipment and
+supplies effected by the fire, again excelled himself. After breakfast
+the old rancher found occasion for a word with Grant.
+
+"You know how it is, Grant," he said. "There's a couple of things that
+ain't explained, an' perhaps it's as well all round not to press for
+opinions. I don't know how the iron stakes got in my meadow, an' you
+don't know how the fire got in yours. But I give you Y.D.'s word--which
+goes at par except in a cattle trade--" and Y.D. laughed cordially at
+his own limitations--"I give you my word that I don't know any more
+about the fire than you do."
+
+"And I don't know anything more about the stakes than you do," returned
+Grant.
+
+"Well, then, let it stand at that. But mind," he added, with returning
+heat, "I'm not committin' myself to anythin' in advance. This grass'll
+grow again next year, an' by heavens if I want it I'll cut it! No son of
+a sheep herder can bluff Y.D!"
+
+Grant did not reply. He had heard enough of Y.D.'s boisterous nature to
+make some allowances.
+
+"An' mind I mean it," continued Y.D., whose chagrin over being baffled
+out of a thousand tons of hay overrode, temporarily at least, his
+appreciation of Grant's services. "Mind, I mean it. No monkey-doodles
+next season, young man."
+
+Obviously Y.D. was becoming worked up, and it seemed to Grant that the
+time had come to speak.
+
+"There will be none," he said, quietly. "If you come over the hills to
+cut the South Y.D. next summer I will personally escort you home again."
+
+Y.D. stood open-mouthed. It was preposterous that this young upstart
+foreman on a second-rate ranch like Landson's should deliberately defy
+him.
+
+"You see, Y.D.," continued Grant, with provoking calmness, "I've seen
+the papers. You've run a big bluff in this country. You've occupied
+rather more territory than was coming to you. In a word, you've been a
+good bit of a bully. Now--let me break it to you gently--those good old
+days are over. In future you're going to stay on your own side of the
+line. If you crowd over you'll be pushed back. You have no more right
+to the hay in this valley than you have to the hide on Landson's steers,
+and you're not going to cut it any more, at all."
+
+Y.D. exploded in somewhat ineffective profanity. He had a wide
+vocabulary of invective, but most of it was of the stand-and-fight
+variety. There is some language which is not to be used, unless you are
+willing to have it out on the ground, there and then. Y.D. had no such
+desire. Possibly a curious sense of honor entered into the case. It was
+not fair to call a young man names, and although there was considerable
+truth in Grant's remark that Y.D. was a bully, his bullying did not take
+that form. Possibly, also, he recalled at that moment the obligation
+under which Zen's accident had placed him. At any rate he wound up
+rather lamely.
+
+"Grant," he said, "if I want that hay next year I'll cut it, spite o'
+hell an' high water."
+
+"All right, Y.D.," said Grant, cheerfully. "We'll see. Now, if you can
+spare me a horse to ride home, I'll have him sent back immediately."
+
+Y.D. went to find Transley and arrange for a horse, and in a moment Zen
+appeared from somewhere.
+
+"You've been quarreling with Dad," she said, half reproachfully, and yet
+in a tone which suggested that she could understand.
+
+"Not exactly that," he parried. "We were just having a frank talk with
+each other."
+
+"I know something of Dad's frank talks... I'm sorry... I would have
+liked to ask you to come and see me--to see us--my mother would be glad
+to see you. I can hardly ask you to come if you are going to be bad
+friends with Dad."
+
+"No, I suppose not," he admitted.
+
+"You were very good to me; very--decent," she continued.
+
+At that moment Transley, Linder, and Y.D. appeared, with two horses.
+
+"Linder will ride over with you and bring back the spare beast," said
+Y.D.
+
+Grant shook hands, rather formally, with Y.D. and Transley, and then
+with Zen. She murmured some words of thanks, and just as he would have
+withdrawn his hand he felt her fingers tighten very firmly about his. He
+answered the pressure, and turned quickly away.
+
+Transley immediately struck camp, and Y.D. and his daughter drove
+homeward, somewhat painfully, over the blackened hills.
+
+Transley lost no time in finding other employment. It was late in the
+season to look for railway contracts, and continued dry weather had made
+grading, at best, a somewhat difficult business. Influx of ready money
+and of those who follow it had created considerable activity in a
+neighboring centre which for twenty years had been the principal
+cow-town of the foothill country. In defiance of all tradition, and,
+most of all, in defiance of the predictions of the ranchers who had
+known it so long for a cow-town and nothing more, the place began to
+grow. No one troubled to inquire exactly why it should grow, or how. As
+for Transley, it was enough for him that team labor was in demand. He
+took a contract, and three days after the fire in the foothills he was
+excavating for business blocks about to be built in the new metropolis.
+
+It was no part of Transley's plan, however, to quite lose touch with
+the people on the Y.D. They were, in fact, the centre about which he had
+been doing some very serious thinking. His outspokenness with Zen and
+her father had had in it a good deal of bravado--the bravado of a man
+who could afford to lose the stake, and smile over it. In short, he
+had not cared whether he offended them or not. Transley was a very
+self-reliant contractor; he gave, even to the millionaire rancher,
+no more homage than he demanded in return.... Still, Zen was a very
+desirable girl. As he turned the matter over in his mind Transley became
+convinced that he wanted Zen. With Transley, to want a thing meant to
+get it. He always found a way. And he was now quite sure that he wanted
+Zen. He had not known that positively until the morning when he
+found her in the grey light of dawn with Dennison Grant. There was a
+suggestion of companionship there between the two which had cut him to
+the quick. Like most ambitious men, Transley was intensely jealous.
+
+Up to this time Transley had not thought seriously of matrimony. A
+wife and children he regarded as desirable appendages for declining
+years--for the quiet and shade of that evening toward which every active
+man looks with such irrational confidence. But for the heat of the
+day--for the climb up the hill--they would be unnecessary encumbrances.
+Transley always took a practical view of these matters. It need hardly
+be stated that he had never been in love; in fact Transley would have
+scouted the idea of any passion which would throw the practical to the
+winds. That was a thing for weaklings, and, possibly, for women.
+
+But his attachment for Zen was a very practical matter. Zen was the
+only heir to the Y.D. wealth. She would bring to her husband capital and
+credit which Transley could use to good advantage in his business. She
+would also bring personality--a delightful individuality--of which any
+man might be proud. She had that fine combination of attractions which
+is expressed in the word charm. She had health, constitution, beauty.
+She had courage and sympathy. She had qualities of leadership. She
+would bring to him not only the material means to build a house, but the
+spiritual qualities which make a home. She would make him the envy of
+all his acquaintances. And a jealous man loves to be envied.
+
+So after the work on the excavations had been properly started Transley
+turned over the detail to the always dependable Linder, and, remarking
+that he had not had a final settlement with Y.D., set out for the ranch
+in the foothills. While spending the long autumn day alone in the buggy
+he was able to turn over and develop plans on an even more ambitious
+scale than had occurred to him amid the hustle of his men and horses.
+
+The valley was lying very warm and beautiful in yellow light, and the
+setting sun was just capping the mountains with gold and painting great
+splashes of copper and bronze on the few clouds becalmed in the heavens,
+when Transley's tired team jogged in among the cluster of buildings
+known as the Y.D. The rancher met him at the bunk-house. He greeted
+Transley with a firm grip of his great palm, and with jaws open in
+suggestion of a sort of carnivorous hospitality.
+
+"Come up to the house, Transley," he said, turning the horses over to
+the attention of a ranch hand. "Supper is just ready, an' the women will
+be glad to see you."
+
+Zen, walking with a limp, met them at the gate. Transley's eyes
+reassured him that he had not been led astray by any process of
+idealization; Zen was all his mind had been picturing her. She was worth
+the effort. Indeed, a strange sensation of tenderness suffused him as he
+walked by her side to the door, supporting her a little with his hand.
+There they were ushered in by the rancher's wife, and Zen herself showed
+Transley to a cool room where were white towels and soft water from the
+river and quiet and restful furnishings. Transley congratulated himself
+that he could hardly hope to be better received.
+
+After supper he had a social drink with Y.D., and then the two sat on
+the veranda and smoked and discussed business. Transley found Y.D. more
+liberal in the adjustment than he had expected. He had not yet realized
+to what an extent he had won the old rancher's confidence, and Y.D. was
+a man who, when his confidence had been won, never haggled over details.
+He was willing to compromise the loss on the operations on the South
+Y.D. on a scale that was not merely just, but generous.
+
+This settled, Transley proceeded to interest Y.D. in the work in which
+he was now engaged. He drew a picture of activities in the little
+metropolis such as stirred the rancher's incredulity.
+
+"Well, well," Y.D. would say. "Transley, I've known that little hole for
+about thirty years, an' never seen it was any good excep' to get drunk
+in.... I've seen more things there than is down in the books."
+
+"You wouldn't know the change that has come about in a few months," said
+Transley, with enthusiasm. "Double shifts working by electric light,
+Y.D! What do you think of that? Men with rolls of money that would choke
+a cow sleeping out in tents because they can't get a roof over them.
+Why, man, I didn't have to hunt a job there; the job hunted me. I could
+have had a dozen jobs at my own price if I could have handled them. It's
+just as if prosperity was a river which had been trickling through that
+town for thirty years, and all of a sudden the dam up in the foothills
+gives away and down she comes with a rush. Lots which sold a year ago
+for a hundred dollars are selling now for five hundred--sometimes more.
+Old ranchers living on the bald-headed a few years ago find themselves
+today the owners of city property worth millions, and are dressing
+uncomfortably, in keeping with their wealth, or vainly trying to drink
+up the surplus. So far sense and brains has had nothing to do with it,
+Y.D., absolutely nothing. It has been fool luck. But the brains are
+coming in now, and the brains will get the money, in the long run."
+
+Transley paused and lit another cigar. Y.D. rolled his in his lips,
+reflectively.
+
+"I mind some doin's in that burg," he said, as though the memory of them
+was of greater importance than all that might be happening now.
+
+Transley switched back to business. "We ought to be in on it, Y.D.,"
+he said. "Not on the fly-by-night stuff; I don't mean that. But I could
+take twice the contracts if I had twice the outfit."
+
+Y.D. brought his chair down on to all four legs and removed his cigar.
+
+"You mean we should hit her together?" he demanded.
+
+"It would be a great compliment to me, if you had that confidence in me,
+and I'm sure it would make some good money for you."
+
+"How'd you work it?"
+
+"You have a bunch of horses running here on the ranch, eating their
+heads off. Many of them are broke, and the others would soon tame down
+with a scraper behind them. Give them to me and let me put them to work.
+I'd have to have equipment, too. Your name on the back of my note would
+get it, and you wouldn't actually have to put up a dollar. Then we'd
+make an inventory of what you put into the firm and what I put into it,
+and we'd divide the earnings in proportion."
+
+"After payin' you a salary as manager, of course," suggested Y.D.
+
+"That's immaterial. With a bigger outfit and more capital I can make so
+much more money out of the earnings that I don't care whether I get a
+salary or not. But I wouldn't figure on going on contracting all the
+time for other people. We might as well have the cream as the skimmed
+milk. This is the way it's done. We go to the owner of a block of lots
+somewhere where there's no building going on. He's anxious to start
+something, because as soon as building starts in that district the lots
+will sell for two or three times what they do now. We say to him, 'Give
+us every second lot in your block and we'll put a house on it.' In this
+way we get the lots for a trifle; perhaps for nothing. Then we build a
+lot of houses, more or less to the same plan. We put 'em up quick and
+cheap. We build 'em to sell, not to live in. Then we mortgage 'em for
+the last cent we can get. Then we put the price up to twice what the
+mortgage is and sell them as fast as we can build them, getting our
+equity out and leaving the purchasers to settle with the mortgage
+company. It's good for from thirty to forty per cent, profit, not per
+annum, but per transaction."
+
+"It sounds interesting," said Y.D., "an' I suppose I might as well put
+my spare horses an' credit to work. I don't mind drivin' down with you
+to-morrow an' looking her over first hand."
+
+This was all Transley had hoped for, and the talk turned to less
+material matters. After a while Zen joined them, and a little later Y.D.
+left to attend to some business at the bunk-house.
+
+"Your father and I may go into partnership, Zen," Transley said to her,
+when they were alone together. He explained in a general way the venture
+that was afoot.
+
+"That will be very interesting," she agreed.
+
+"Will you be interested?"
+
+"Of course. I am interested in everything that Dad undertakes."
+
+"And are you not--will you not be--just a little interested in the
+things that I undertake?"
+
+She paused a moment before replying. The dusk had settled about them,
+and he could not see the contour of her face, but he knew that she had
+realized the significance of his question.
+
+"Why yes," she said at length, "I will be interested in what you
+undertake. You will be Dad's partner."
+
+Her evasion nettled him.
+
+"Zen," he said, "why shouldn't we understand each other?"
+
+"Don't we?" She had turned slightly toward him, and he could feel the
+laughing mockery in her eyes.
+
+"I rather think we do," he answered, "only we--at least, you--won't
+admit it."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Seriously, Zen, do you imagine I came over here to-day simply to make a
+deal with your father?"
+
+"Wasn't that worth while?"
+
+"Of course it was. But it wasn't the whole purpose--it wasn't half the
+purpose. I wanted to see Y.D., it is true, but more, very much more, I
+wanted to see you."
+
+She did not answer, and he could only guess what was the trend of her
+thoughts. After a silence he continued.
+
+"You may think I am precipitate. You intimated as much to me once. I am.
+I know of no reason why an honest man should go beating about the bush.
+When I want something I want it, and I make a bee-line for it. If it is
+a contract--if it is a business matter--I go right after it, with all
+the energy that's in me. When I'm looking for a contract I don't start
+by talking about the weather. Well--this is my first experience in love,
+and perhaps my methods are all wrong, but it seems to me they should
+apply. At any rate a girl of your intelligence will understand."
+
+"Applying your business principles," she interrupted, "I suppose if you
+wanted a wife and there was none in sight you would advertise for her?"
+
+He defended his position. "I don't see why not," he declared. "I
+can't understand the general attitude of levity toward matrimonial
+advertisements. Apparently they are too open and above-board. Matrimony
+should not be committed in a round-about, indirect, hit-or-miss manner.
+A young man sees a girl whom he thinks he would like to marry. Does he
+go to her house and say, 'Miss So-and-So, I think I would like to
+marry you. Will you allow me to call on you so that we may get better
+acquainted, with that object in view?' He does not. Such honesty would
+be considered almost brutal. He calls on her and pretends he would like
+to take her to the theatre, if it is in town, or for a ride, if it is in
+the country. She pretends she would like to go. Both of them know what
+the real purpose is, and both of them pretend they don't. They start the
+farce by pretending a deceit which deceives nobody. They wait for nature
+to set up an attraction which shall overrule their judgment, rather than
+act by judgment first and leave it to nature to take care of herself.
+How much better it would be to be perfectly frank--to boldly announce
+the purpose--to come as I now come to you and say, 'Zen, I want to marry
+you. My reason, my judgment, tells me that you would be an ideal mate.
+I shall be proud of you, and I will try to make you proud of me. I will
+gratify your desires in every way that my means will permit. I pledge
+you my fidelity in return for yours. I--I--' Zen, will you say yes? Can
+you believe that there is in my simple words more sincerity than there
+could be in any mad ravings about love? You are young, Zen, younger than
+I, but you must have observed some things. One of them is that marriage,
+founded on mutual respect, which increases with the years, is a much
+safer and wiser business than marriage founded on a passion which
+quickly burns itself out and leaves the victims cold, unresponsive, with
+nothing in common. You may not feel that you know me well enough for a
+decision. I will give you every opportunity to know me better--I will do
+nothing to deceive you--I will put on no veneer--I will let you know me
+as I really am. Will you say yes?"
+
+He had left his seat and approached her; he was leaning close over her
+chair. While his words had suggested marriage on a purely intellectual
+basis he did not hesitate to bring his physical presence into the scale.
+He was accustomed to having his way--he had always had it--never did he
+want it more than he did now.... And although he had made his plea from
+the intellectual angle he was sure, he was very, very sure there
+was more than that. This girl; whose very presence delighted
+him--intoxicated him--would have made him mad--
+
+"Will you say yes?" he repeated, and his hands found hers and drew her
+with his great strength up from her chair. She did not resist, but when
+she was on her feet she avoided his embrace.
+
+"You must not hurry me," she whispered. "I must have time to think. I
+did not realize what you were saying until--"
+
+"Say yes now," he urged. Transley was a man very hard to resist. She
+felt as though she were in the grip of a powerful machine; it was as
+though she were being swept along by a stream against which her feeble
+strength was as nothing. Zen was as nearly frightened as she had ever
+been in her vigorous young life. And yet there was something delightful.
+It would have been so easy to surrender--it was so hard to resist.
+
+"Say yes now," he repeated, drawing her close at last and breathing the
+question into her ear. "You shall have time to think--you shall ask your
+own heart, and if it does not confirm your words you will be released
+from your promise."
+
+They heard the footsteps of her father approaching, and Transley waited
+no longer for an answer. He turned her face to his; he pressed his lips
+against hers.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Zen thought over the events of that evening until they became a blur in
+her memory. Her principal recollection was that she had been quite swept
+off her feet. Transley had interpreted her submission as assent, and
+she had not corrected him in the vital moment when they stood before her
+father that night in the deep shadow of the veranda.
+
+"Y.D.," Transley had said, "your consent and your blessing! Zen and I
+are to be married as soon as she can be ready."
+
+That was the moment at which she should have spoken, but she did not.
+She, who had prided herself that she would make a race of it--she,
+who had always been able to slip out of a predicament in the nick of
+time--stood mutely by and let Transley and her father interpret her
+silence as consent. She was not sure that she was sorry; she was not
+sure but she would have consented anyway; but Transley had taken the
+matter quite out of her hands. And yet she could not bring herself to
+feel resentment toward him; that was the strangest part of it. It seemed
+that she had come under his domination; that she even had to think as he
+would have her think.
+
+In the darkness she could not see her father's face, for which she was
+sorry; and he could not see hers, for which she was glad. There was a
+long moment of tense silence before she heard him say,
+
+"Well, well! I had a hunch it might come to that, but I didn't reckon
+you youngsters would work so fast."
+
+"This was a stake worth working fast for," Transley was saying, as he
+shook Y.D.'s hand. "I wouldn't trade places with any man alive." And Zen
+was sure he meant exactly what he said.
+
+"She's a good girl, Transley," her father commented; "a good girl, even
+if a bit obstrep'rous at times. She's got spirit, Transley, an' you'll
+have to handle her with sense. She's a--a thoroughbred!"
+
+Y.D. had reached his arms toward his daughter, and at these words he
+closed them about her. Zen had never known her father to be emotional;
+she had known him to face matters of life and death without the quiver
+of an eyelid, but as he held her there in his arms that night she felt
+his big frame tremble. Suddenly she had a powerful desire to cry. She
+broke from his embrace and ran upstairs to her room.
+
+When she came down her father and mother and Transley were sitting about
+the table in the living-room; the room hung with trophies of the chase
+and of competition; the room which had been the nucleus of the Y.D.
+estate. There was a colored cover on the table, and the shaded oil lamp
+in the centre sent a comfortable glow of light downward and about.
+The mammoth shadows of the three people fell on the log walls, darting
+silently from position to position with their every movement.
+
+Her mother arose as Zen entered the room and took her hands in a warm,
+tender grip.
+
+"You're early leaving us," she said. "I'm not saying I object. I think
+Mr. Transley will make you a good husband. He is a man of energy, like
+your father. He will do well. You will not know the hardships that
+we knew in our early married life." Their eyes met, and there was a
+moment's pause.
+
+"You will not understand for many years what this means to me, Zenith,"
+her mother said, and turned quickly to her place at the table.
+
+She could not remember what they had talked about after that. She
+had been conscious of Transley's eyes often on her, and of a certain
+spiritual exaltation within her. She could not remember what she had
+said, but she knew she had talked with unusual vivacity and charm. It
+was as though certain storehouses of brilliance in her being, of which
+she had been unaware, had been suddenly opened to her. It was as though
+she had been intoxicated by a very subtle wine which did not deaden, but
+rather quickened, all her faculties.
+
+Afterwards, she had spent long hours among the foothills, thinking and
+thinking. There were times when the flame of that strange exaltation
+burned low indeed; times when it seemed almost to expire. There were
+moments--hours--of misgivings. She could not understand the strange
+docility which had come over her; the unprecedented willingness to have
+her course shaped by another. That strange willingness came as near to
+frightening Zen as anything had ever done. She felt that she was being
+carried along in a stream; that she was making no resistance; that she
+had no desire to resist. She had a strange fear that some day she
+would need to resist; some day she would mightily need qualities
+of self-direction, and those qualities would refuse to arise at her
+command.
+
+She did not fear Transley. She believed in him. She believed in his
+ability to grapple with anything that stood in his way; to thrust it
+aside, and press on. She respected the judgment of her father and her
+mother, and both of them believed in Transley. He would succeed; he
+would seize the opportunities this young country afforded and rise to
+power and influence upon them. He would be kind, he would be generous.
+He would make her proud of him. What more could she want?
+
+That was just it. There were dark moments when she felt that surely
+there must be something more than all this. She did not know what it
+was--she could not analyze her thoughts or give them definite form--but
+in these dark moments she feared that she was being tricked, that the
+whole thing was a sham which she would discover when it was too late.
+She did not suspect her mother, or her father, or Transley, one or all,
+of being parties to this trick; she believed that they did not know it
+existed. She herself did not know it existed. But the fear was there.
+
+After a week she admitted, much against her will, that possibly Dennison
+Grant had something to do with it. She had not seen him since she had
+pressed his fingers and he had ridden away through the smoke-haze of the
+South Y.D. She had dutifully tried to force him from her mind. But he
+would not stay out of it. It was about that fact that her misgivings
+seemed most to centre. When she would be thinking of Transley, and
+wondering about the future, suddenly she would discover that she was not
+thinking of Transley, but of Dennison Grant. These discoveries shocked
+and humiliated her. It was an impossible position. She would throw Grant
+forcibly out of her mind and turn to Transley. And then, in an unguarded
+moment, Transley would fade from her consciousness, and she would know
+again that she was thinking of Grant.
+
+At length she allowed herself the luxury of thinking frankly about
+Dennison Grant. It WAS a luxury. It brought her a secret happiness which
+she was wholly at a loss to understand, but which was very delightful,
+nevertheless. She amused herself with comparing Grant with Transley.
+They had two points in common: their physical perfection and their
+fearless, self-confident manner. With these exceptions they seemed to be
+complete contradictions. The ambitious Transley worshipped success; the
+philosophical Grant despised it. That difference in attitude toward the
+world and its affairs was a ridge which separated the whole current of
+their lives. It even, in a way, shut one from the view of the other;
+at least it shut Grant from the view of Transley. Transley would
+never understand Grant, but Grant might, and probably did, understand
+Transley. That was why Grant was the greater of the two....
+
+She reproached herself for such a thought; it was disloyal to admit
+that this stranger on the Landson ranch was a greater man than her
+husband-to-be. And yet honesty--or, perhaps, something deeper than
+honesty--compelled her to make that admission.... She ran back over the
+remembered incidents of the night they had spent together, marooned like
+shipwrecked sailors on a rock in the foothills. His attentiveness, his
+courtesy, his freedom from any conventional restraint, his manly respect
+which was so much greater than conventional restraint--all these came
+back to her with a poignant tenderness. She pictured Transley in his
+place. Transley would probably have proposed even before he bandaged her
+ankle. Grant had not said a word of love, or even of affection. He had
+talked freely of himself--at her request--but there had been nothing
+that might not have been said before the world. She had been safe with
+Grant....
+
+After she had thought on this theme for a while Zen would acknowledge to
+herself that the situation was absurd and impossible. Grant had given
+no evidence of thinking more of her than of any other girl whom he might
+have met. He had been chivalrous only. She had sat up with a start at
+the thought that there might be another girl.... Or there might be no
+girl. Grant was an unusual character....
+
+At any rate, the thing for her to do was to forget about him. She should
+have no place in her mind for any man but Transley. It was true he had
+stampeded her, but she had accepted the situation in which she found
+herself. Transley was worthy of her--she had nothing to take back--she
+would go through with it.
+
+On the principle that the way to drive an unwelcome thought out of the
+mind is to think vigorously about something else, Zen occupied herself
+with plans and day-dreams centering about the new home that was to be
+built in town. Neither her father nor Transley had as yet returned from
+the trip on which they had gone with a view to forming a partnership, so
+there had been no opportunity to discuss the plans for the future, but
+Zen took it for granted that Transley would build in town. He was so
+enthusiastic over the possibilities of that young and bustling centre
+of population that there was no doubt he would want to throw in his lot
+with it. This prospect was quite pleasing to the girl; it would leave
+her within easy distance of her old home; it would introduce her to a
+type of society with which she was well acquainted, and where she could
+do herself justice, and it would not break up the associations of her
+young life. She would still be able, now and again, to take long rides
+through the tawny foothills; to mingle with her old friends; possibly to
+maintain a somewhat sisterly acquaintance with Dennison Grant....
+
+After ten days Y.D. returned--alone. He had scarcely been able to
+believe the developments which he had seen. It was as though the sleepy,
+lazy cow-town had become electrified. Y.D. had looked on for three days,
+wondering if he were not in some kind of a dream from which he would
+awaken presently among his herds in the foothills. After three days he
+bought a property. Before he left he sold it at a profit greater than
+the earnings of his first five years on the ranch. It would be indeed
+a stubborn confidence which could not be won by such an experience, and
+before leaving for the ranch Y.D. had arranged for Transley practically
+an open credit with his bankers, and had undertaken to send down all the
+horses and equipment that could be spared.
+
+Transley had planned to return to the foothills with Y.D., but at the
+last moment business matters developed which required his attention. He
+placed a tiny package in Y.D.'s capacious palm.
+
+"For the girl," he said. "I should deliver it myself, but you'll
+explain?"
+
+Y.D. fumbled the tiny package into a vest pocket. "Sure, I'll attend to
+that," he promised. "Wasn't much of these fancy trimmin's when I settled
+into double harness, but lots of things has changed since then. You'll
+be out soon?"
+
+"Just as soon as business will stand for it. Not a minute longer."
+
+On his return home Y.D., after maintaining an exasperating silence until
+supper was finished, casually handed the package to his daughter.
+
+"Some trinket Transley sent out," he explained. "He'll be here himself
+as soon as business permits."
+
+She took the package with a glow of expectancy, started to open it, then
+folded the paper again and ran up to her room. Here she tempted herself
+for minutes before she would finally open it, whetting the appetite of
+anticipation to the full.... The gem justified her little play. It was
+magnificent; more beautiful and more expensive than anything her father
+ever bought her.
+
+She hesitated strangely about putting it on. To Zen it seemed that the
+putting on of Transley's ring would be a voluntary act symbolizing her
+acceptance of him. If she had been carried off her feet--swept into the
+position in which she found herself--that explanation would not apply
+to the deliberate placing of his ring upon her finger. There would be
+no excuse; she could never again plead that she had been the victim of
+Transley's precipitateness. This would be deliberate, and she must do it
+herself.
+
+She rather blamed Transley for not having left his old business and come
+to perform this rite himself, as he should have done. What was one day
+of business, more or less? Yet Zen gathered no hint from that
+incident that always, with Transley, business would come first. It was
+symbolic--prophetic--but she did not see the sign nor understand the
+prophecy.
+
+She held the ring between her fingers; slipped it off and on her little
+fingers; held it so the rays of the sun fell through the window upon it
+and danced before her eyes in all their primal colors.
+
+"I have to put this on," she said, pursing her lips firmly, "and--and
+forget about Dennison Grant!"
+
+For a long time she thought of that and all it meant. Then she raised
+the jewel to her lips.
+
+"Help me--help me--" she murmured. With a quick little impetuous motion
+she drew it on to the finger where it belonged. There she gazed upon it
+for a moment, as though fascinated by it. Then she fell upon her bed and
+lay motionless until long after the valley was wrapped in shadow.
+
+The events of these days had almost driven from Zen's mind the tragedy
+of George Drazk. When she thought of it at all it presented such a
+grotesque unreality--it was such an unreasonable thing--that it assumed
+the vague qualities of a dream. It was something unreal and very much
+better forgotten, and it was only by an unwilling effort at such times
+that she could bring herself to know that it was not unreal. It was
+a matter that concerned her tremendously. Sooner or later Drazk's
+disappearance must be noted,--perhaps his body would be found--and while
+she had little fear that anyone would associate her with the tragedy it
+was a most unpleasant thing to think about. Sometimes she wondered if
+she should not tell her father or Transley just what had happened, but
+she shrank from doing so as from the confession of a crime. Mostly she
+was able to think of other matters.
+
+Her father brought it up in a startling way at breakfast. Absolutely out
+of a blue sky he said, "Did you know, Zen, that Drazk has disappeared?
+Transley tells me you were int'rested a bit in him, or perhaps I should
+say he was int'rested in you."
+
+Zen was so overcome by this startling change in the conversation that
+she was unable to answer. The color went from her face and she leaned
+low over her plate to conceal her agitation.
+
+"Yep," continued Y.D., with no more concern than if a steer had been
+lost from the herd. "Transley said to tell you Drazk had disappeared an'
+he reckoned you wouldn't be bothered any more with him."
+
+"Drazk was nothing to me," she managed to say. "How can you think he
+was?"
+
+"Now who said he was?" her father retorted. "For a young woman with the
+price of a herd of steers on her third finger you're sort o' short this
+mornin'. Now I'm jus' wonderin' how far you can see through a board
+fence, Zen. Are you surprised that Drazk has disappeared?"
+
+She was entirely at a loss to understand the drift of her father's talk.
+He could not connect her with Drazk's disappearance, or he would not
+approach the matter with such unconcern. That was unthinkable. Neither
+could Transley, or he would not have sent so brutal a message. And yet
+it was clear that they thought she should be interested.
+
+Her father's question demanded an answer.
+
+"What should I care?" she ventured at length.
+
+"I didn't ask you whether you cared. I asked you whether you was
+surprised."
+
+"Drazk's movements were--are nothing to me. I don't know that I have any
+occasion to be surprised about anything he may do."
+
+"Well, I'm rather glad you're not, because if you don't jump to
+conclusions, perhaps other people won't. Not that it makes any
+partic'lar diff'rence."
+
+"Dad," she cried in desperation, "whatever do you mean?"
+
+"It was all plain enough to me, an' plain enough to Transley," her
+father continued with remarkable calmness. "We seen it right from the
+first."
+
+"You're talking in riddles, Y.D.," his wife remonstrated. "You're
+getting Zen all worked up."
+
+"Jewelry seems to be mighty upsettin'," Y.D. commented. "There was
+nothin' like that in our engagement, eh, Jessie? Well, to come to the
+point. There was a fire which burned up the valley of the South Y.D.
+Fires don't start themselves--usually. This one started among the
+Landson stacks, so it was natural enough to suspec' Y.D. or some of his
+sympathizers. Well it wasn't Y.D., an' I reckon it wasn't Zen, an' it
+wasn't Transley nor Linder an' every one of the gang's accounted for
+excep' Drazk. Drazk thought he was doin' a great piece of business when
+he fired the Landson hay, but when the wind turned an' burned up the
+whole valley Drazk sees where he can't play no hero part around here so
+he loses himself for good. I gathered from Transley that Drazk had been
+botherin' you a little, Zen, which is why I told you."
+
+The girl's heart was pounding violently at this explanation. It was
+logical, and would be accepted readily by those who knew Drazk. She
+would not trust herself in further conversation, so she slipped away as
+soon as she could and spent the day riding down by the river.
+
+The afternoon wore on, and as the day was warm she dismounted by a ford
+and sat down upon a flat rock close to the water. The rock reminded her
+of the one on which she and Grant had sat that night while the thin red
+lines of fire played far up and down the valley. Her ankle was paining
+a little so she removed her boot and stocking and soothed it in the cool
+water.
+
+As she sat watching her reflection in the clear stream and toying with
+the ripple about her foot a horseman rode quickly down through the
+cottonwoods on the other side and plunged into the ford. It happened
+so quickly that neither saw the other until he was well into the river.
+Although she had had no dream of seeing him here, in some way she felt
+no surprise. Her heart was behaving boisterously, but she sat outwardly
+demure, and when he was close enough she sent a frank smile up to him.
+The look on his sunburned face as he returned her greeting convinced her
+that the meeting, on his part, was no less unexpected and welcome than
+it was to her.
+
+When his horse was out of the water he dismounted and walked to her with
+extended hand.
+
+"This is an unexpected pleasure," he said. "How is the ankle
+progressing?"
+
+"Well enough," she returned, "but it gets tired as the day wears on. I
+am just resting a bit."
+
+There was a moment of somewhat embarrassed silence.
+
+"That is a good-sized rock," he suggested, at length.
+
+"Yes, isn't it? And here in the shade, at that."
+
+She did not invite him with words, but she gave her body a slight hitch,
+as though to make room, although there was enough already. He sat down
+without comment.
+
+"Not unlike a rock I remember up in the foothills," he remarked, after a
+silence.
+
+"Oh, you remember that? It WAS like this, wasn't it?"
+
+"Same two people sitting on it."
+
+".... Yes."
+
+"Not like this, though."
+
+"No.... You're mean. You know I didn't intend to fall asleep."
+
+"Of course not. Still...."
+
+His voice lingered on it as though it were a delightful remembrance.
+
+She found herself holding one of her hands in the other. She could feel
+the pressure of Transley's ring on her palm, and she held it tighter
+still.
+
+"Riding anywhere in particular?" he inquired.
+
+"No. Just mooning." She looked up at him again, this time at close
+quarters. It was a quick, bright flash on his face--a moment only.
+
+"Why mooning?"
+
+She did not answer. Looking down in the water he met her gaze there.
+
+"You're troubled!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, no! My--my ankle hurts a little."
+
+He looked at her sympathetically. "But not that much," he said.
+
+She gave a forced little laugh. "What a mind reader you are! Can you
+tell my fortune?"
+
+"I should have to read it in your hand."
+
+She would have extended her hand, but for Transley's ring.
+
+"No.... No. You'll have to read it in--in the stars."
+
+"Then look at me." She did so, innocently.
+
+"I cannot read it there," he said, after his long gaze had begun to whip
+the color to her cheeks. "There is no answer."
+
+She turned again to the water, and after a long while she heard his
+voice, very low and earnest.
+
+"Zen, I could read a fortune for you, if you would not be offended. We
+are only chance acquaintances--not very well acquainted, yet--"
+
+She knew what he meant, but she pretended she did not. Even in that
+moment something came to her of Transley's speech about love being a
+game of pretence. Very well, she would play the game--this once.
+
+"I don't see how I could be offended at your reading my fortune," she
+murmured.
+
+"Then this is the fortune I would read for you," he said boldly. "I see
+a young man, a rather foolish young man, perhaps, by ordinary standards,
+and yet one who has found a great deal of happiness in his simple,
+unconventional life. Until a short time ago he felt that life could give
+him all the happiness that was worth having. He had health, strength,
+hours of work and hours of pleasure, the fields, the hills, the
+mountains, the sky--all God's open places to live in and enjoy. He
+thought there was nothing more.
+
+"Well, then he found, all of a sudden, that there was something
+more--everything more. He made that discovery on a calm autumn night,
+when fire had blackened all the foothills and still ran in dancing red
+ribbons over their distant crests. That night a great thing--two great
+things--came into his life. First was something he gave. Not very much,
+indeed, but typical of all it might be. It was service. And next was
+something he received, something so wonderful he did not understand it
+then, and does not understand it yet. It was trust. These were things he
+had been leaving largely out of his life, and suddenly he discovered how
+empty it was. I think there is one word for both these things, and, it
+may be, for even more. You know?"
+
+"I know," she said, and her voice was scarcely audible.
+
+"But it is YOUR fortune I am to read," he corrected himself. "It has
+been your fortune to open that new world to me. That can never be
+undone--those gates can never be closed--no matter where the paths may
+lead. Those two paths go down to the future--as all paths must--even
+as this road leads away through the valley to the sunset. Zen--if only,
+like this road, they could run side by side to the sunset--Oh! Zen, if
+they could?"
+
+"I know," she said, and as she raised her face he saw that her eyes were
+wet. "I know--if only they could!"
+
+There was a little sob in her voice, and in her beauty and distress
+she was altogether irresistible. He reached out his arms and would have
+taken her in them, but she thrust her hands in his and held herself
+back. She turned the diamond deliberately to his eyes. She could feel
+his grip relax and apparently grow suddenly cold. He stood speechless,
+like one dazed--benumbed.
+
+"You see, I should not have let you talk--it is my fault," she said,
+speaking hurriedly. "I should not have let you talk. Please do not think
+I am shallow; that I let you suffer to gratify my vanity." Her eyes
+found his again. "If I had not believed every word you said--if I had
+not liked every word you said--if I had not--HOPED--every word you said,
+I would not have listened.... But you see how it is."
+
+He was silent for so long that she thought he was not going to answer
+her at all. When he spoke it was in a dry, parched voice.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said. "I should not have presumed--"
+
+"I know, I know. If only--"
+
+Then he looked straight at her and talked out.
+
+"You liked me enough to let me speak as I did. I opened my heart to
+you. I ask no such concession in return. I hope you will not think me
+presumptuous, but I do not plead now for my happiness, but for yours. Is
+this irrevocable? Are--you--sure?"
+
+He said the last words so slowly and deliberately that she felt that
+each of them was cutting the very rock from underneath her. She knew
+she was at a junction point in her life, and her mind strove to quickly
+appraise the situation. On one side was this man who had for her so
+strange and so powerful an appeal. It was only by sheer force of will
+that she could hold herself aloof from him. But he was a man who had
+broken with his family and quarrelled with her father--a man whom her
+father would certainly not for a moment consider as a son-in-law. He
+was a foreman; practically a ranch hand. Neither Zen nor her father were
+snobs, and if Grant worked for a living, so did Transley. That was not
+to be counted against him. The point was, what kind of living did he
+earn? What Transley had to offer was perhaps on a lower plane, but
+it was more substantial. It had been approved by her father, and her
+mother, and herself. It wasn't as though one man were good and the other
+bad; it wasn't as though one thing were right and the other wrong. It
+would have been easy then....
+
+"I have promised," she said at last.
+
+She released her hands from his, and, sitting down, silently put on her
+stocking and boot. She was aware that he was still standing near, as
+though waiting to be formally dismissed. She walked by him to her horse
+and put her foot in the stirrup. Then she looked at him and gave her
+hand a little farewell wave.
+
+Then a great pang, irresistible in its yearning, swept over her. She
+drew her foot from the stirrup, and, rushing down, threw her arms about
+his neck....
+
+"I must go," she said. "I must go. We must both go and forget."
+
+And Dennison Grant continued his way down the valley while Zen rode back
+to the Y.D., wondering if she could ever forget.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Linder scratched his tousled brown hair reflectively as he gazed after
+the retreating form of Transley. His hat was off, and the perspiration
+stood on his sunburned face--a face which, in point of handsomeness,
+needed make no apology to Transley.
+
+"Well, by thunder!" said Linder; "by thunder, think of that!"
+
+Linder stood for some time, thinking "of that" as deeply as his somewhat
+disorganized mental state would permit. For Transley had announced, with
+his usual directness, that he wanted so many men and teams for a house
+excavation in the most exclusive part of the city. So far they had been
+building in the cheaper districts a cheap type of house for those who,
+having little capital, are the easier deprived of what they have. The
+shift in operations caused Linder to lift his eyebrows.
+
+Transley laughed boyishly and clapped a palm on his shoulder.
+
+"I may as well make you wise, Linder," he said. "We're going to build a
+house for Mr. and Mrs. Transley."
+
+"MISSUS?" Linder echoed, incredulously.
+
+"That's the good word," Transley confirmed. "Never expected it to happen
+to me, but it did, all of a sudden. You want to look out; maybe it's
+catching."
+
+Transley was evidently in prime humor. Linder had, indeed, noted this
+good humor for some time, but had attributed it to the very successful
+operations in which his employer had been engaged. He pulled himself
+together enough to offer a somewhat confused congratulation.
+
+"And may I ask who is to be the fortunate young lady?" he ventured.
+
+"You may," said Transley, "but if you could see the length of your nose
+it wouldn't be necessary. Linder, you're the best foreman I ever had,
+just because you don't ever think of anything else. When you pass on
+there'll be no heaven for you unless they give you charge of a bunch of
+men and teams where you can raise a sweat and make money for the boss.
+If you weren't like that you would have anticipated what I've told
+you--or perhaps made a play for Zen yourself."
+
+"Zen? You don't mean Y.D.'s daughter?"
+
+"If I don't mean Y.D.'s daughter I don't mean anybody, and you can take
+that from me. You bet it's Zen. Say, Linder, I didn't think I could
+go silly over a girl, but I'm plumb locoed. I bought the biggest old
+sparkler in this town and sent it out with Y.D., if he didn't lose it
+through the lining of his vest--he handled it like it might have been a
+box of pills--bad pills, Linder--and I've got an architect figuring how
+much expense he can put on a house--he gets a commission on the cost,
+you see--and one of these nights I'm going to buy you a dinner that'll
+keep you fed till Christmas. I never knew before that silliness and
+happiness go together, but they do. I'm glad I've got a sober old
+foreman--that's all that keeps the business going."
+
+And after Transley had turned away Linder had scratched his head and
+said "By thunder.... Linder, when you wake up you'll be dead.... After
+her practically saying 'The water's fine.'... Well, that's why I'm a
+foreman, and always will be."
+
+But after a little reflection Linder came to the conclusion that perhaps
+it was all for the best. He could not have bought Y.D.'s daughter a big
+sparkler or have built her a fine home--because he was a foreman. It
+was a round circle.... He threw himself into the building of Transley's
+house with as much fidelity as if it had been his own. He gave his
+undivided attention to Transley's interests, making dollars for him
+while earning cents for himself. This attention was more needed than it
+ever had been, as Transley found it necessary to make weekly trips to
+the ranch in the foothills to consult with Y.D. upon business matters.
+
+Zen found her interest in Transley growing as his attentions continued.
+He spent money upon her lavishly, to the point at which she protested,
+for although Y.D. was rated as a millionaire the family life was one of
+almost stark simplicity. Transley assured her that he was making money
+faster than he possibly could spend it, and even if not, money had no
+nobler mission than to bring her happiness. He explained the blue-prints
+of the house, and discussed with her details of the appointments. As the
+building progressed he brought her weekly photographs of it. He urged
+her to set the date about Christmas; during the winter contracting would
+be at a standstill, so they would spend three months in California and
+return in time for the spring business.
+
+Day by day the girl turned the situation over in her mind. Her life
+had been swept into strange and unexpected channels, and the experience
+puzzled her. Since the episode with Drazk she had lost some of her
+native recklessness; she was more disposed to weigh the result of her
+actions, and she approached the future not without some misgivings. She
+assured herself that she looked forward to her marriage with Transley
+with the proper delight of a bride-to-be, and indeed it was a prospect
+that could well be contemplated with pleasure.... Transley had won the
+complete confidence of her father and when doubts assailed her Zen found
+in that fact a very considerable comfort. Y.D. was a shrewd man; a man
+who seldom guessed wrong. Zen did not admit that she was allowing
+her father to choose a husband for her, but the fact that her father
+concurred in the choice strengthened her in it. Transley had in him
+qualities which would win not only wealth, but distinction, and she
+would share in the laurels. She told herself that it was a delightful
+outlook; that she was a very happy girl indeed--and wondered why she was
+not happier!
+
+Particularly she laid it upon herself that she must now, finally,
+dismiss Dennison Grant from her mind. It was absurd to suppose that
+she cared more for Grant than she did for Transley. The two men were so
+different; it was impossible to make comparisons. They occupied quite
+different spheres in her regard. To be sure, Grant was a very likeable
+man, but he was not eligible as a husband, and she could not marry two,
+in any case. Zen entertained no girlish delusions about there being only
+one man in the world. On the contrary, she was convinced that there
+were very many men in the world, and, among the better types, there was,
+perhaps, not so much to choose between them. Grant would undoubtedly be
+a good husband within his means; so would Transley, and his means were
+greater. The blue-prints of the new house in town had not been without
+their effect. It was a different prospect from being a foreman's wife on
+a ranch. Her father would never hear of it....
+
+So she busied herself with preparations for the great event, and what
+preparations they were! "Zen," her father had said, "for once the lid is
+off. Go the limit!" She took him at his word. There were many trips
+to town, and activities about the old ranch buildings such as they had
+never known since Jessie Wilson came to finish Y.D.'s up-bringing, nor
+even then. The good word spread throughout the foothill country and down
+over the prairies, and many a lazy cloud of dust lay along the November
+hillsides as the women folk of neighboring ranches came to pay their
+respects and gratify their curiosity. Zen had treasures to show which
+sent them home with new standards of extravagance.
+
+Y.D. had not thought he could become so worked up over a simple matter
+like a wedding. Time had dulled the edge of memory, but even after
+making allowances he could not recall that his marriage to Jessie Wilson
+had been such an event in his life as this. It did not at least reflect
+so much glory upon him personally. He basked in the reflected glow of
+his daughter's beauty and popularity, as happily as the big cat lying
+on the sunny side of the bunk-house. He found all sorts of excuses for
+invading where his presence was little wanted while Zen's finery
+was being displayed for admiration. Y.D. always pretended that such
+invasions were quite accidental, and affected a fine indifference to all
+this "women's fuss an' feathers," but his affectations deceived at least
+none of the older visitors.
+
+As the great day approached Y.D.'s wife shot a bomb-shell at him. "What
+do you propose to wear for Zen's wedding?" she demanded.
+
+"What's the matter with the suit I go to town in?"
+
+"Y.D.," said his wife, kindly, "there are certain little touches which
+you overlook. Your town suit is all right for selling steers, although
+I won't say that it hasn't outlived its prime even for that. To attend
+Zen's wedding it is--hardly the thing."
+
+"It's been a good suit," he protested. "It is--"
+
+"It HAS. It is also a venerable suit. But really, Y.D., it will not
+do for this occasion. You must get yourself a new suit, and a white
+shirt--"
+
+"What do I want with a white shirt--"
+
+"It has to be," his wife insisted. "You'll have to deck yourself out in
+a new suit and a while shirt and collar."
+
+Y.D. stamped around the room, and in a moment slipped out. "All fool
+nonsense," he confided to himself, on his way to the bunk-house. "It's
+all right for Zen to have good clothes--didn't I tell her to go the
+limit?--but as for me, 'tain't me that's gettin' married, is it?
+Standin' up before all them cow punchers in a white shirt!" The
+bitterness of such disgrace cut the old rancher no less keenly than the
+physical discomfort which he forecast for himself, yet he put his own
+desires sufficiently to one side to buy a suit of clothes, and a white
+shirt and collar, when he was next in town.
+
+It must not be supposed that Y.D. admitted to the salesman that he
+personally was descending to any such garb.
+
+"A suit for a fellow about my size," he explained. "He's visitin' out
+at the ranch, an' he hefts about the same as me. Put in one of them
+Hereford shirts an' a collar."
+
+Y.D. tucked the package surreptitiously in his room and awaited the day
+of Zen's marriage with mingled emotions.
+
+Zen, yielding to Transley's importunities, had at last said that it
+should be Christmas Day. The wedding would be in the house, with the
+leading ranchers and farmers of the district as invited guests, and
+the general understanding was to be given out that the countryside as a
+whole would be welcome. All could not be taken care of in the house, so
+Y.D. gave orders that the hay was to be cleared out of one of the barns
+and the floor put in shape for dancing. Open house would be held in
+the barn and in the bunk-house, where substantial refreshments would be
+served to all and sundry.
+
+Christmas Day dawned with a seasonable nip to the air, but the sun rose
+warm and bright. There was no snow, and by early afternoon clouds of
+dust were rising on every trail leading to the Y.D. The old ranchers
+and their wives drove in buckboards, and one or two in automobiles;
+the younger generation, of both sexes, came on horseback, with many an
+exciting impromptu race by the way. Y.D. received them all in the
+yard, commenting on the horses and the weather, and how the steers
+were wintering, and revealing, at the proper moments, the location of
+a well-filled stone jug. The faithful Linder was on hand to assist in
+caring for the horses and maintaining organization about the yard. The
+women were ushered into the house, but the men sat about the bunk-house
+or leaned against the sunny side of the barn, sharpening their wits
+in conversational sallies which occasionally brought loud guffaws of
+merriment.
+
+In the house every arrangement had been completed. Zen was to come down
+the stairs leaning on her father's arm, and the ceremony would take
+place in the big central room, lavishly decorated with flowers which
+Transley had sent from town in a heated automobile. After the ceremony
+the principals and the older people would eat the wedding dinner in
+the house, and all others would be served in the bunk-house. One of the
+downstairs rooms was already filled with presents.
+
+As the hour approached Zen found herself possessed of a calmness which
+she deemed worthy of Y.D.'s daughter. She had elected to be unattended
+as she had no very special girl friend, and that seemed the simplest
+way out of the problem of selecting someone for this honor. She was,
+however, amply assisted with her dressing, and the color of her fine
+cheeks burned deeper with the compliments to which she listened with
+modest appreciation.
+
+At a quarter to the hour it was discovered that Y.D. had not yet dressed
+for the occasion. He was, in fact, engaged with Landson in making a
+tentative arrangement for the distribution of next year's hay. Zen had
+been so insistent upon an invitation being sent to Mr. and Mrs. Landson,
+that Y.D., although fearing a snub for his pains, at last conceded the
+point. He had done his neighbor rather less than justice, and now he
+and Landson, with the assistance of the jug already referred to, were
+burying the hatchet in a corner of the bunk-house.
+
+"Dang this dressin'," Y.D. remonstrated when a message demanding instant
+action reached him. "Landson, hear me now! I wouldn't take a million
+dollars for that girl, y' understand--and I wouldn't trade a mangy
+cayuse for another!"
+
+So, grumbling, he found his way to his room and began a wrestle with his
+"store" clothes. Before the fight was over he was being reminded through
+the door that he wasn't roping a steer, and everybody was waiting. At
+the last moment he discovered that he had neglected to buy shoes. There
+was nothing for it but his long ranch boots, so on they went.
+
+He sought Zen in her room. "Will I do in this?" he asked, feeling very
+sheepish.
+
+Zen could have laughed, or she could have cried, but she did neither.
+She sensed in some way the fact that to her father this experience was a
+positive ordeal. So she just slipped her arm through his and whispered,
+"Of course you'll do, you silly old duffer," and tripped down the stairs
+by the side of his ponderous steps.
+
+After the ceremony the elder people sat down to dinner in the house,
+and the others in the bunk-house. Zen was radiant and calm; Transley
+handsome, delighted, self-possessed. His good luck was the subject of
+many a comment, both inside and out of the old house. He accepted it at
+its full value, and yet as one who has a right to expect that luck will
+play him some favors.
+
+Suddenly there was a rush from outside, and Zen found herself being
+carried bodily away. The young people had decided that the dancing could
+wait no longer, so a half dozen hustlers had been deputed to kidnap
+the bride and carry her to the barn, where the fiddles were already
+strumming. Zen insisted that the first dance must belong to Transley,
+but after that she danced with the young ranchers and cowboys with
+strict impartiality. And even as she danced she found herself wondering
+if, among all this representation of the countryside, that one upon whom
+her thoughts had turned so much should be missing. She found herself
+watching the door. Surely it would have been only a decent respect to
+her--surely he might have helped to whirl her joyously away into the new
+life in which the past had to be forgotten.... How much better that they
+should part that way, than with the memories they had!
+
+But Dennison Grant did not appear. Evidently he preferred to keep his
+memories....
+
+When at last the night had worn thin and it was time for the bridal
+couple to leave if they were to catch the morning train in town,
+and they had ridden down the foothill trails to the thunder of many
+accompanying hoof-beats, the old ranch became suddenly a place very
+quiet and still and alone. Y.D. sat down in the corner of the big room
+by the fire, and saw strange pictures in its dying embers. Zen....
+Zen!... Transley was a good fellow, but how much a man will take with
+scarce a thank-you!... Presently Y.D. became aware of a hand resting
+upon his shoulder, and tingling from its fingertips came something akin
+to the almost forgotten rapture of a day long gone. He raised his great
+palm and took that slowly ageing hand, once round and fresh like Zen's,
+in his. Together they watched the fire die out in the silence of their
+empty house....
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Grant read the account of her wedding in the city papers a day or two
+later. It was given the place of prominence among the Christmas Day
+nuptials. He read it through twice and then tossed the paper to the end
+of his little office. Grant was housed in a building by himself; a shack
+twelve by sixteen feet, double boarded and tar-papered. A single square
+window in the eastern wall commanded a view of the Landson corrals.
+On the opposite side of the room was his bed; in the centre a huge
+wood-burning stove; near the window stood a table littered with daily
+papers and agricultural journals. The floor was of bare boards; a
+leather trunk, with D. G. in aggressive letters, sat by the head of
+his bed, and in the corner near the foot was a washstand with basin
+and pitcher of graniteware. In another corner was a short shelf
+of well-selected books; clothing hung from nails driven into the
+two-by-fours which formed the framework of the little building; a rifle
+was suspended over the door, and lariat and saddle hung from spikes in
+the wall. Grant sat in an arm chair by the stove, where the bracket lamp
+on the wall could shed its yellow glare upon his paper.
+
+After throwing the sheet across the room he half turned in his chair,
+so that the yellow light fell across his face. Fidget, the pup, always
+alert for action, was on her feet in a moment, eager to lead the way
+to the door and whatever adventure might lie outside. But Grant did
+not leave his chair, and, finding all her tail-waving of no avail, she
+presently settled down again by the stove, her chin on her outstretched
+paws, her drooping eyes half closed, but a wakeful ear flopping
+occasionally forward and back. Grant snuggled his foot against her
+friendly side and fell into reverie....
+
+There was nothing else for it; he must absolutely dismiss Zen--Zen
+Transley--from his mind. That was not only the course of honor; it was
+the course of common sense. After all, he had not sought her for his
+bride. He had not pressed his suit. He had given her to Transley. The
+thought was rather a pleasant one. It implied some sort of voluntary
+action upon Grant's part. He had been magnanimous. Nevertheless, he was
+cave man enough to know pangs of jealousy which his magnanimity could
+not suppress.
+
+"If things had been different," he remarked to himself; "if I had been
+in a position to offer her decent conditions, I would have followed up
+the lead. And I would have won." He turned the incident on the river
+bank over in his mind, and a faint smile played along his lips. "I would
+have won. But I couldn't bring her here.... It's the first time I ever
+felt that money could really contribute to happiness. Well--I was happy
+before I met her; I can be happy still. This little episode...."
+
+He crossed the room and picked up the newspaper he had thrown away; he
+crumpled it in his hand as he approached the stove. It said the
+bride was beautiful--the happy couple--the groom, prosperous young
+contractor--California--three months.... He turned to the table,
+smoothed out the paper, and studied it again. Of course he had heard
+the whole thing from the Landsons; they had done Y.D. and his daughter
+justice. He clipped the article carefully from the sheet and folded it
+away in a little book on the shelf.
+
+Then he told himself that Zen had been swept from his mind; that if ever
+they should meet--and he dallied a moment with that possibility--they
+would shake hands and say some decent, insipid things and part as people
+who had never met before. Only they would know....
+
+Grant occupied himself with the work of the ranch that winter, spring,
+and summer. Occasional news of Mrs. Transley filtered through; she was
+too prominent a character in that countryside to be lost track of in
+a season. But anything which reached Grant came through accidental
+channels; he sought no information of her, and turned a deaf ear,
+almost, to what he heard. Then in the fall came an incident which
+immediately changed the course of his career.
+
+It came in the form of an important-looking letter with an eastern
+postmark. It had been delivered with other mail at the house, and
+Landson himself brought it down. Grant read it and at first stared at it
+somewhat blankly, as one not taking in its full portent.
+
+"Not bad news, I hope?" said his employer, cloaking his curiosity in
+commiseration.
+
+"Rather," Grant admitted, and handed him the letter. Landson read:
+
+
+"It is our duty to place before you information which must be of a very
+distressing nature, and which at the same time will have the effect of
+greatly increasing your responsibilities and opportunities. Unless you
+have happened to see the brief despatches which have appeared in the
+Press this letter will doubtless be the first intimation to you
+that your father and younger brother Roy were the victims of a most
+regrettable accident while motoring on a brief holiday in the South. The
+automobile in which they were travelling was struck by a fast train,
+and both of them received injuries from which they succumbed almost
+immediately.
+
+"Your father, by his will, left all his property, aside from certain
+behests to charity, to his son Roy, but Roy had no will, and as he was
+unmarried, and as there are no other surviving members of the family
+except yourself, the entire estate, less the behests already referred
+to, descends to you. We have not yet attempted an appraisal, but you
+will know that the amount is very considerable indeed. In recent years
+your father's business undertakings were remarkably successful, and we
+think we may conservatively suggest that the amount of the estate will
+be very much greater than even you may anticipate.
+
+"The brokerage firm which your father founded is, temporarily, without
+a head. You have had some experience in your father's office, and as his
+solicitors for many years, we take the liberty of suggesting that you
+should immediately assume control of the business. A faithful staff
+are at present continuing it to the best of their ability, but you will
+understand that a permanent organization must be effected at as early a
+date as may be possible.
+
+"Inability to locate you until after somewhat exhaustive inquiries had
+been made explains the failure to notify you by wire in time to permit
+of your attending the funeral of your father and brother, which took
+place in this city on the eighth instant, and was marked by many
+evidences of respect.
+
+"We beg to tender our very sincere sympathy, and to urge upon you
+that you so arrange your affairs as to enable you to assume the
+responsibilities which have, in a sense, been forced upon you, at a very
+early date. In the meantime we assure you of our earnest attention to
+your interests.
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"BARRETT, JONES, BARRETT, DEACON & BARRETT."
+
+
+"Well, I guess it means you've struck oil, and I've lost a good
+foreman," said Landson, as he returned the letter. "I'm sorry about your
+loss, Grant, and glad to hear of your good luck, if I may put it that
+way."
+
+"No particular good luck that I can see," Grant protested. "I came west
+to get away from all that bothering nuisance, and now I've got to go
+back and take it all up again. I feel badly about Dad and the kid;
+they were decent, only they didn't understand me.... I suppose I didn't
+understand them, either. At any rate they didn't wish this on me. They
+had quite other plans."
+
+"What do you reckon she's worth?" Landson asked, after waiting as long
+as his patience would permit.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. Possibly six or eight millions by this time."
+
+"Six or eight millions! Jehoshaphat! What will you do with it?"
+
+"Look after it. Mr. Landson, you know that I have never worried about
+money; if I had I wouldn't be here. I figure that the more money a man
+has the greater are his responsibilities and his troubles; worse than
+that, his wealth excites the jealousy of the public and even the envy
+of his friends. It builds a barrier around him, shutting out all those
+things which are really most worth while. It makes him the legitimate
+prey of the unprincipled. I know all these things, and it is because I
+know them that I sought happiness out here on the ranges, where perhaps
+some people are rich and some are poor, but they all think alike
+and live alike and are part of one community and stand together in a
+pinch--and out here I have found happiness. Now I'm going back to the
+other job. I don't care for the money, but any son-of-a-gun who takes it
+from me is a better man than I am, and I'll sit up nights at both ends
+of the day to beat him at his own game. Now, just as soon as you can
+line up someone to take charge I'll have to beat it."
+
+The news of Grant's fortune spread rapidly, and many were the
+congratulations from his old cow puncher friends; congratulations,
+for the most part, without a suggestion of envy in them. Grant put his
+affairs in order as quickly as possible, and started for the East with a
+trunkful of clothes. But even before he started one thought had risen up
+to haunt him. He crushed it down, but it would insist. If only this had
+happened a year ago....
+
+Dennison Grant's mother had died in his infancy, and as soon as Roy
+was old enough to go to boarding-school his father had given up
+housekeeping. The club had been his home ever since. Grant reflected on
+this situation with some satisfaction. He would at least be spared the
+unpleasantness of discharging a houseful of servants and disposing of
+the family furniture. As for the club--he had no notion for that. A
+couple of rooms in some quiet apartment house, where he could cook a
+meal to his own liking as the fancy took him; that was his picture of
+something as near domestic happiness as was possible for a single man
+rather sadly out of his proper environment.
+
+Grant reached his old home city late at night, and after a quiet cigar
+and a stroll through some of the half-forgotten streets he put up at one
+of the best hotels. He was deferentially shown to a room about as large
+as the whole Landson house; soft lights were burning under pink shades;
+his feet fell noiselessly on the thick carpets. He placed a chair by a
+window, where he could watch the myriad lights of the city, and tried
+to appraise the new sphere in which he found himself. It would be a very
+different game from riding the ranges or roping steers, but it would be
+a game, nevertheless; a game in which he would have to stand on his
+own resources even more than in those brave days in the foothills. He
+relished the notion of the game even while he was indifferent to the
+prize. He had no clear idea what he eventually should do with his
+wealth; that was something to think about very carefully in the days and
+years to come. In the meantime his job was to handle a big business in
+the way it should be handled. He must first prove his ability to make
+money before he showed the world how little he valued it.
+
+He turned the water into his bath; there was a smell about the towels,
+the linen, the soap, that was very grateful to his nostrils....
+
+In the morning he passed by the office of Grant & Son. He did not turn
+in, but pursued his way to a door where a great brass plate announced
+the law firm of Barrett, Jones, Barrett, Deacon & Barrett. He smiled
+at this elaboration of names; it represented three generations of the
+Barrett family and two sons-in-law. Grant found himself speculating
+over a name for the Landson ranch; it might have been Landson, Grant,
+Landson, Murphy, Skinny & Pete....
+
+He entered and inquired for Mr. Barrett, senior.
+
+"Mr. David Barrett, senior, sir; he's out of the city, sir; he has not
+yet come in from his summer home in the mountains."
+
+"Then the next Mr. Barrett?"
+
+"Mr. David Barrett, junior, sir; he also is out of the city."
+
+"Have you any more Barretts?"
+
+"There's young Mr. Barrett, but he seldom comes down in the forenoon,
+sir."
+
+Grant suppressed a grin. "The Barretts are a somewhat leisurely family,
+I take it," he remarked.
+
+"They have been very successful," said the clerk, with a touch of
+reserve.
+
+"Apparently; but who does the work?"
+
+"Mr. Jones is in his office. Would you care to send in your card?"
+
+"No, I think I'll just take it in." He pressed through a counter-gate
+and opened a door upon which was emblazoned the name of Mr. Jones.
+
+Mr. Jones proved to be a man with thin, iron-grey hair and a stubby,
+pugnacious moustache. He sat at a desk at the end of a long, narrow
+room, down both sides of which were rows of cases filled with
+impressive-looking books. He did not raise his eyes when Grant entered,
+but continued poring over a file of correspondence.
+
+"What an existence!" Grant commented to himself. "And yet I suppose this
+man thinks he's alive."
+
+Grant remained standing for a moment, but as the lawyer showed no
+disposition to divide his attention he presently advanced to the desk.
+Mr. Jones looked up.
+
+"You are Mr. Jones, I believe?"
+
+"I am, but you have the better of me--"
+
+"Only for the moment. You are a lawyer. You will take care of that. I
+understand the firm of Barrett, Jones, Barrett, Deacon & Barrett have
+somewhat leisurely methods?"
+
+"Is the firm on trial?" inquired Mr. Jones, sharply.
+
+"In a sense, yes. I also understand that although all the Barretts, and
+also Mr. Deacon, share in the name plate, Mr. Jones does the work?"
+
+The lawyer laid down his papers. "Who the dickens are you, anyway, and
+what do you want?"
+
+"That's better. With undivided attention we shall get there much
+quicker. I have a certain amount of legal business which requires
+attention, and in connection with which I am willing to pay what the
+service is worth. But I'm not going to pay two generations of Barretts
+which are out of the city, and a third which doesn't come down in the
+forenoon. If I have to buy name plates, I'll buy name plates of my own,
+and that is what I've decided to do. Do you mind saying how much this
+job here is worth?"
+
+"Of course I do, sir. I don't understand you at all--"
+
+"Then I'll make myself understood. I am Dennison Grant. By force of
+circumstances I find myself--"
+
+The lawyer had risen from his chair. "Oh, Mr. Dennison Grant! I'm so
+glad--"
+
+Grant ignored the outstretched hand. "I'm exactly the same man who came
+into your office five minutes ago, and you were too busy to raise
+your eyes from your papers. It is not me to whom you are now offering
+courtesy; it's to my money."
+
+"I am sure I beg your pardon. I didn't know--"
+
+"Then you will know in future. If you've got a hand on you, stick it
+out, whether your visitor has any money or not."
+
+Grant was glaring at the lawyer across the desk, and the
+pugnacious-looking moustache was beginning to bristle back.
+
+"Did you come in here to read me a lecture, or to get legal advice?" the
+lawyer returned with some spirit.
+
+"I came in here on business. In the course of that business I find it
+necessary to tell you where you get off at, and to ask you what you're
+going to do about it."
+
+The lawyer came around from behind his desk. "And I'll show you," he
+said, very curtly. "You've been drinking, or you're out of your head.
+In either case I'm going to put you out of this room until you are in a
+different frame of mind."
+
+"Hop to it!" said Grant, bracing himself. Jones was an oldish man,
+and he had no intention of hurting him. In a moment they clenched, and
+before Grant could realize what was happening he was on his back.
+
+He arose quickly, laughing, and sat down in a chair. "Mr. Jones, will
+you sit down? I want to talk to you."
+
+"If you will talk business. You were rude to me."
+
+"Perhaps. For my rudeness I apologize. But I was not untruthful. And I
+wanted to find something out. I found it."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Whether you had any sand in you. You have, and considerable muscle, or
+knack, as well. I'm not saying you could do it again--"
+
+"Well, what is this all about?"
+
+"Simply this. If I am to manage the business of Grant & Son I shall need
+legal advice of the highest order, and I want it from a man with red
+blood in him--I should be afraid of any other advice. What is your
+price? You understand, you leave this firm and think of nothing,
+professionally, but what I pay you for."
+
+Mr. Jones had seated himself, and the pugnacious moustache was settling
+back into a less hostile attitude.
+
+"You are quite serious?"
+
+"Quite. You see, I know nothing about business. It is true I spent some
+time in my father's office, but I never had much heart for it. I
+went west to get away from it. Fate has forced it back upon my hands.
+Well--I'm not a piker, and I mean to show Fate that I can handle the
+job. To do so I must have the advice of a man who knows the game. I want
+a man who can look over a bond issue, or whatever it is, and tell me
+at a glance whether it's spavined or wind-broken. I want a man who can
+sense out the legal badger-holes, and who won't let me gallop over a
+cutbank. I want a man who has not only brains to back up his muscle, but
+who also has muscle to back up his brains. To be quite frank, I didn't
+think you were the man. I had no doubt you had the legal ability, or you
+wouldn't be guiding the affairs of this five-cylinder firm, but I was
+afraid you didn't have the fight in you. I picked a quarrel with you to
+find out, and you showed me, for which I am much obliged. By the way,
+how do you do it?"
+
+Before answering Mr. Jones got up, walked around behind his desk,
+unlocked a drawer and produced a box of cigars.
+
+"That's a mistake you Westerners make," he remarked, when they had
+lighted up. "You think the muscle is all out there, just as some
+Easterners will admit that the brains are all down here. Both are wrong.
+Life at a desk calls for an antidote, and two nights a week keep me in
+form. I wrestled a bit when I was a boy, but I haven't had a chance to
+try out my skill in a long while. I rather welcomed the opportunity."
+
+"I noticed that. Well--what's she worth?"
+
+Mr. Jones ruminated. "I wouldn't care to break with the firm," he said
+at length. "There are family ties as well as those of business. A year's
+leave of absence might be arranged. By that time you would be safe in
+your saddle. By the way, do you propose to hire all your staff by the
+same test?"
+
+Grant smiled. "I don't expect to hire any more staff. I presume there is
+already a complete organization, doubtless making money for me at this
+very moment. I will not interfere except when necessary, but I want a
+man like you to tell me when it is necessary."
+
+Terms were agreed upon, and Mr. Jones asked only the remainder of the
+week to clean up important matters on hand. Telegrams were despatched to
+Mr. David Barrett, senior, and Mr. David Barrett, junior, and Jones in
+some way managed to convey the delicate information to young Mr. Barrett
+that a morning appearance on his part would henceforth be essential.
+Grant decided to fill in the interval with a little fishing expedition.
+He was determined that he would not so much as call at the office of
+Grant & Son until Jones could accompany him. "A tenderfoot like me would
+stampede that bunch in no time," he warned himself.
+
+When he finally did appear at the office he was received with a
+deference amounting almost to obeisance. Murdoch, the chief clerk, and
+manager of the business in all but title, who had known him in the old
+days when he had been "Mr. Denny," bore him into the private office
+which had for so many years been the sacred recess of the senior Grant.
+Only big men or trusted employees were in the habit of passing those
+silent green doors.
+
+"Well Murdy, old boy, how goes it?" Grant had said when they met, taking
+his hand in a husky grip.
+
+"Not so bad, sir; not so bad, considering the shock of the accident,
+sir. And we are all so glad to see you--we who knew you before, sir."
+
+"Listen, Murdy," said Grant. "What's the idea of all the sirs?"
+
+"Why," said the somewhat abashed official, "you know you are now the
+head of the firm, sir."
+
+"Quite so. Because a chauffeur neglected to look over his shoulder I am
+converted from a cow puncher to a sir. Well, go easy on it. If a man has
+native dignity in him he doesn't need it piled on from outside."
+
+"Very true, sir. I hope you will be comfortable here. Some memorable
+matters have been transacted within these walls, sir. Let me take your
+hat and cane."
+
+"Cane? What cane?"
+
+"Your stick, sir; didn't you have a stick?"
+
+"What for? Have you rattlers here? Oh, I see--more dignity. No, I don't
+carry a stick. Perhaps when I'm old--"
+
+"You'll have to try and accommodate yourself to our manners," said
+Jones, when Murdoch had left the room. "They may seem unnecessary,
+or even absurd, but they are sanctioned by custom, and, you know,
+civilization is built on custom. The poet speaks of a freedom which
+'slowly broadens down from precedent to precedent.' Precedent is custom.
+Never defy custom, or you will find her your master. Humor her, and she
+will be your slave. Now I think I shall leave, while you try and tune
+yourself to the atmosphere of these surroundings. I need hardly warn you
+that the furniture is--quite valuable."
+
+Grant saw him out with a friendly grip on his arm. "You will need
+another course of wrestling lessons presently," he warned him.
+
+So this was the room which had been the inner shrine of the firm of
+Grant & Son. The quarters were new since he had left the East; the
+furnishings revealed that large simplicity which is elegance and wealth.
+A painting of the elder Grant hung from the wall; Dennison stood before
+it, looking into the sad, capable, grey eyes. What had life brought to
+his father that was worth the price those eyes reflected? Dennison found
+his own eyes moistening with memories now strangely poignant....
+
+"Environment," the young man murmured, as he turned from the portrait,
+"environment, master of everything! And yet--"
+
+A photograph of Roy stood on the mantelpiece, and beside it, in a little
+silver frame, was one of his mother.... Grant pulled himself together
+and fell to an examination of the papers in his father's desk.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+Grant's first concern was to get a grasp of the business affairs which
+had so unexpectedly come under his direction. To accomplish this he
+continued the practice of the Landson ranch; he was up every morning at
+five, and had done a day's work before the members of his staff began to
+assemble. For advice he turned to Jones and Murdoch, and the management
+of routine affairs he left entirely in the hands of the latter. He had
+soon convinced himself that the camaraderie of the ranch would not work
+in a staff of this kind, so while he was formulating plans of his own
+he left the administration to Murdoch. He found this absence of
+companionship the most unpleasant feature of his position; it seemed
+that his wealth had elevated him out of the human family. He wavered
+between amusement and annoyance over the deference that was paid him.
+Some of the staff were openly terrified at his approach.
+
+Not so Miss Bruce. Miss Bruce had tapped on the door and entered with
+the words, "I was your father's stenographer. He left practically all
+his personal correspondence to me. I worked at this desk in the corner,
+and had a private office through the door there into which I slipped
+when my absence was preferred."
+
+She had crossed the room, and, instead of standing respectfully before
+Grant's desk, had come around the end of it. Grant looked up with
+some surprise, and noted that her features were not without commending
+qualities. The mouth, a little large, perhaps--
+
+"How do you think you're going to like your job?" she asked.
+
+Grant swung around quickly in his chair. No one in the staff had spoken
+to him like that; Murdoch himself would not have dared address him in so
+familiar a manner. He decided to take a firm position.
+
+"Were you in the habit of speaking to my father like that?"
+
+"Your father was a man well on in years, Mr. Grant. Every man according
+to his age."
+
+"I am the head of the firm."
+
+"That is so," she assented. "But if it were not for me and the others on
+your pay roll there would be no firm to require a head, and you'd be out
+of a job. You see, we are quite as essential to you as you are to us."
+
+Grant looked at her keenly. Whatever her words, he had to admit that
+her tone was not impertinent. She had a manner of stating a fact, rather
+than engaging in an argument. There was nothing hostile about her. She
+had voiced these sentiments in as matter-of-fact a way as if she were
+saying, "It's raining out; you had better take your umbrella."
+
+"You appear to be a very advanced young woman," he remarked. "I am a
+little surprised--I had hardly thought my father would select young
+women of your type as his confidential secretaries."
+
+"Private stenographer," she corrected. "A little extra side on a title
+is neither here nor there. Well, I will admit that I rather took your
+father's breath at times; he discharged me so often it became a habit,
+but we grew to have a sort of tacit understanding that that was just his
+way of blowing off steam. You see, I did his work, and I did it right.
+I never lost my head when he got into a temper; I could always read my
+notes even after he had spent most of the day in death grips with some
+business rival. You see, I wasn't afraid of him, not the least bit. And
+I'm not afraid of you."
+
+"I don't believe you are," Grant admitted. "You are a remarkable woman.
+I think we shall get along all right if you are able to distinguish
+between independence and bravado." He turned to his desk, then suddenly
+looked up again. He was homesick for someone he could talk to frankly.
+
+"I don't mind telling you," he said abruptly, "that the deference which
+is being showered upon me around this institution gives me a good deal
+of a pain. I've been accustomed to working with men on the same level.
+They took their orders from me, and they carried them out, but the older
+hands called me by my first name, and any of them swore back when he
+thought he had occasion. I can't fit in to this 'Yes sir,' 'No sir,'
+'Very good, sir,' way of doing business. It doesn't ring true."
+
+"I know what you mean," she said. "There's too much servility in it. And
+yet one may pay these courtesies and not be servile. I always 'sir'd'
+your father, and he knew I did it because I wanted to, not because I had
+to. And I shall do the same with you once we understand each other. The
+position I want to make clear is this: I don't admit that because I work
+for you I belong to a lower order of the human family than you do, and I
+don't admit that, aside from the giving of faithful service, I am under
+any obligation to you. I give you my labor, worth so much; you pay me;
+we're square. If we can accept that as an understanding I'm ready to
+begin work now; if not, I'm going out to look for another job."
+
+"I think we can accept that as a working basis," he agreed.
+
+She produced notebook and pencil. "Very well, SIR. Do you wish to
+dictate?"
+
+The selection of a place to call home was a matter demanding Grant's
+early attention. He discussed it with Mr. Jones.
+
+"Of course you will take memberships in some of the better clubs," the
+lawyer had suggested. "It's the best home life there is. That is why it
+is not to be recommended to married men; it has a tendency to break up
+the domestic circle."
+
+"But it will cost more than I can afford."
+
+"Nonsense! You could buy out one of their clubs, holus-bolus, if you
+wanted to."
+
+"You don't quite get me," said Grant. "If I used the money which was
+left by my father, or the income from the business, no doubt I could
+do as you say. But I feel that that money isn't really mine. You see, I
+never earned it, and I don't see how a person can, morally, spend money
+that he did not earn."
+
+"Then there are a great many immoral people in the world," the lawyer
+observed, dryly.
+
+"I am disposed to agree with you," said Grant, somewhat pointedly. "But
+I don't intend that they shall set my standards."
+
+"You have your salary. That comes under the head of earnings, if you are
+finnicky about the profits. What do you propose to pay yourself?"
+
+"I have been thinking about that. On the ranch I got a hundred dollars a
+month, and board."
+
+"Well, your father got twenty thousand a year, and Roy half that, and if
+they wanted more they charged it up as expenses."
+
+"Considering the cost of board here, I think I would be justified in
+taking two hundred dollars a month," Grant continued.
+
+Jones got up and took the young man by the shoulders. "Look here, Grant,
+you're not taking yourself seriously. I don't want to assail your pet
+theories--you'll grow out of them in time--but you hired me to give you
+advice, and right here I advise you not to make a fool of yourself. You
+are now in a big position; you're a big man, and you've got to live in
+a big way. If for nothing else than to hold the confidence of the public
+you must do it. Do you think they're going to intrust their investments
+to a firm headed by a two-hundred-dollar-a-month man?"
+
+"But I AM a two-hundred-dollar-a-month man. In fact, I'm not sure I'm
+worth quite that much. I've got no more muscle, and no more sense, and
+very little more experience than I had a month ago, when in the open
+market my services commanded a hundred and board."
+
+"When a man is big enough--or his job is big enough--" Jones argued, "he
+arises above the ordinary law of supply and demand. In fact, in a sense,
+he controls supply and demand. He puts himself in the job and dictates
+the salary. You have a perfect right to pay yourself what other men in
+similar positions are getting. Besides, as I said, you'll have to do
+so for the credit of the firm. Do you call a doctor who lives in a
+tumble-down tenement? You do not. You call one from a fine home; you
+select him for his appearance of prosperity, regardless of the fact that
+he may have mortgaged his future to create that appearance, and of the
+further fact that he will charge you a fee calculated to help pay
+off the mortgage. When you want a lawyer, do you seek some garret
+practitioner? You do not. You go to a big building, with a big name
+plate"--the pugnacious moustache gave hint of a smile gathering
+beneath--"and you pay a big price for a man with an office full of
+imposing-looking books, not a tenth part of which he has ever read, or
+intends ever to read. I admit there's a good deal of bunco in the game,
+but if you sit in you've got to play it that way, or the dear public
+will throw you into the discard. Many a man who votes himself a salary
+in five figures--or gets a friendly board of directors to do it for
+him--if thrown unfriended between the millstones of supply and demand
+probably couldn't qualify for your modest hundred dollars a month
+and board. But he has risen into a different world; instead of being
+dictated to, he dictates. That is your position, Grant. Look at it
+sensibly."
+
+"Nevertheless, I shall get along on two hundred a month. If I find it
+necessary in order to protect the interests of the business to take a
+membership in an expensive club, or commit any other extravagance, I
+shall do so, and charge it up as a business expense. Besides, I think I
+can be happier that way."
+
+"And in the meantime your business is piling up profits. What are you
+going to do with them? Give them away?"
+
+"No. That, too, is immoral--whether it be a quarter to a beggar or a
+library to a city. It feeds the desire to get money without earning it,
+which is the most immoral of all our desires. I have not yet decided
+what I shall do with it. I have hired an expert, in you, to show me how
+to make money. I shall probably find it necessary to hire another to
+show me how to dispose of it. But not a dollar will be given away."
+
+"And so you would let the beggar starve? That's a new kind of altruism."
+
+"No. I would correct the conditions that made him a beggar. That's
+the only kind of altruism that will make him something better than a
+beggar."
+
+"Some people would beg in any case, Grant. They are incapable of
+anything better."
+
+"Then they are defectives, and should be cared for by the State."
+
+"Then the State may practise charity--"
+
+"It is not charity; it is the discharge of an obligation. A father may
+support his children, but he must not let anyone else do it."
+
+"Well, I give up," said Jones. "You're beyond me."
+
+Grant laughed and extended a cigar box. "Don't hesitate," he said, "this
+doesn't come out of the two hundred. This is entertainment expense. And
+you must come and see me when I get settled."
+
+"When you get settled--yes. You won't be settled until you're married,
+and you might as well do some thinking about that. A man in your
+position gets a pretty good range of choice; you'd be surprised if you
+knew the wire-pulling I have already encountered; ambitious old dames
+fishing for introductions for their daughters. You may be an expert with
+rope or branding-iron, but you're outclassed in this matrimonial game,
+and some one of them will land you one of these times before you know
+it. You should be very proud," and Mr. Jones struck something of an
+attitude. "The youth and beauty of the city are raving about you."
+
+"About my money," Grant retorted. "If my father had had time to change
+his will they would every one of them have passed me by with their noses
+in the air. As for marrying--that's all off."
+
+The lawyer was about to aim a humorous sally, but something in Grant's
+appearance closed his lips. "Very well, I'll come and see you if you say
+when," he agreed.
+
+Grant found what he wanted in a little apartment house on a side street,
+overlooking the lake. Here was a place where the vision could leap out
+without being beaten back by barricades of stone and brick. He rested
+his eyes on the distance, and assured the inveigling landlady that the
+rooms would do, and he would arrange for decorating at his own expense.
+There was a living-room, about the size of his shack on the Landson
+ranch; a bathroom, and a kitchenette, and the rent was twenty-two
+dollars a month. A decorator was called in to repaper the bathroom
+and kitchenette, but for the living-room Grant engaged a carpenter.
+He ordered that the inside of the room should be boarded up with rough
+boards, with exposed scantlings on the walls and ceiling. No doubt the
+tradesman thought his patron mad, or nearly so, but his business was to
+obey orders, and when the job was completed it presented a very passable
+duplicate of Grant's old quarters on the ranch. He had spared the
+fireplace, as a concession to comfort. When he had gotten his personal
+effects out of storage, when he had hung rifle, saddle and lariat
+from spikes in the wall; had built a little book-shelf and set his old
+favorites upon it; had installed his bed and the trunk with the big
+D. G.; sitting in his arm chair before the fire, with Fidget's nose
+snuggled companionably against his foot, he would not have traded his
+quarters for the finest suite in the most expensive club in the city.
+Here was something at least akin to home.
+
+As he was arranging the books on his shelf the clipping with the account
+of Zen's wedding fell to the floor. He sat down in his chair and read it
+slowly through. Later he went out for a walk.
+
+It was in his long walks that Grant found the only real comfort of his
+new life. To be sure, it was not like roaming the foothills; there was
+not the soft breath of the Chinook, nor the deep silence of the mighty
+valleys. But there was movement and freedom and a chance to think.
+The city offered artificial attractions in which the foothills had not
+competed; faultlessly kept parks and lawns; splashes of perfume and
+color; spraying fountains and vagrant strains of music. He reflected
+that some merciful principle of compensation has made no place quite
+perfect and no place entirely undesirable. He remembered also the toll
+of his life in the saddle; the physical hardship, the strain of long
+hours and broken weather. And here, too, in a different way, he was in
+the saddle, and he did not know which strain was the greater. He was
+beginning to have a higher regard for the men in the saddle of business.
+The world saw only their success, or, it may be, their pretence of
+success. But there was a different story from all that, which each one
+of them could have told for himself.
+
+On this evening when his mind had been suddenly turned into old channels
+by the finding of the newspaper clipping dealing with the wedding of
+Y.D.'s daughter, Grant walked far into the outskirts of the city, paying
+little attention to his course. It was late October; the leaves lay
+thick on the sidewalks and through the parks; there was in all the air
+that strange, sad, sweet dreariness of the dying summer.... Grant had
+tried heroically to keep his thoughts away from Transley's wife. The
+past had come back on him, had rather engulfed him, in that little
+newspaper clipping. He let himself wonder where she was, and whether
+nearly a year of married life had shown her the folly of her decision.
+He took it for granted that her decision had been folly, and he arrived
+at that position without any reflection upon Transley. Only--Zen had
+been in love with him, with him, Dennison Grant! Sooner or later she
+must discover the tragedy of that fact, and yet he told himself he was
+big enough to hope she might never discover it. It would be best that
+she should forget him, as he had--almost--forgotten her. There was no
+doubt that would be best. And yet there was a delightful sadness in
+thinking of her still, and hoping that some day--He was never able to
+complete the thought.
+
+He had been walking down a street of modest homes; the bare trees groped
+into a sky clear and blue with the first chill presage of winter. A
+quick step fell unheeded by his side; the girl passed, hesitated, then
+turned and spoke.
+
+"You are preoccupied, Mr. Grant."
+
+"Oh, Miss Bruce, I beg your pardon. I am glad to see you." Even at that
+moment he had been thinking of Zen, and perhaps he put more cordiality
+into his words than he intended. But he had grown to have considerable
+regard, on her own account, for this unusual girl who was not afraid of
+him. He had found that she was what he called "a good head." She could
+take a detached view; she was absolutely fair; she was not easily
+flustered.
+
+Her step had fallen into swing with his.
+
+"You do not often visit our part of the city," she essayed.
+
+"You live here?"
+
+"Near by. Will you come and see?"
+
+He turned with her at a corner, and they went up a narrow street lying
+deep in dead leaves. Friendly domestic glimpses could be caught through
+unblinded windows.
+
+"This is our home," she said, stopping before a little gate. Grant's eye
+followed the pathway to a cottage set back among the trees. "I live
+here with my sister and brother and mother. Father is dead," she went on
+hurriedly, as though wishing to place before him a quick digest of the
+family affairs, "and we keep up the home by living on with mother as
+boarders; that is, Grace and I do. Hubert is still in high school. Won't
+you come in?"
+
+He followed her up the path and into a little hall, lighted only by
+chance rays falling through a half-opened door. She did not switch on
+the current, and Grant was aware of a comfortable sense of her nearness,
+quite distinct from any office experience, as she took his hat. In the
+living-room her mother received him with visible surprise. She was not
+old, but widowhood and the cares of a young family had whitened her hair
+before its time.
+
+"We are glad to see you, Mr. Grant," she said. "It is an unexpected
+pleasure. Big business men do not often--"
+
+"Mr. Grant is different," her daughter interrupted, lightly. "I found
+him wandering the streets and I just--retrieved him."
+
+"I think I AM different," he admitted, as his eye took in the
+surroundings, which he appraised quickly as modest comfort, attained
+through many little economies and makeshifts. "You are very happy here,"
+he went on, frankly. "Much more so, I should say, than in many of the
+more pretentious homes. I have always contended that, beyond the margin
+necessary for decent living, the possession of money is a burden and a
+handicap, and I see no reason to change my opinion."
+
+"Phyllis is a great help to me--and Grace," the mother observed. "I hope
+she is a good girl in the office."
+
+Grant was hurrying an assent but the girl interrupted, perhaps wishing
+to relieve him of the necessity of an answer.
+
+"'Decent living' is a very elastic term," she remarked. "There are
+so many standards. Some women think they must have maids and social
+status--whatever that is--and so on. It can't be done on mother's
+income."
+
+"That quality is not confined to women," Grant said. "I know I am
+regarded as something of a freak because I prefer to live simply. They
+can't understand my preference for a plain room to read and sleep in,
+for quiet walks by myself when I might be buzzing around in big motor
+cars or revelling with a bunch at the club. I suppose it's a puzzle to
+them."
+
+Miss Bruce had seated herself near him. "They are beginning to offer
+explanations," she said. "I hear them--such things always filter down.
+They say you are mean and niggardly--that you're afraid to spend a
+dollar. The fact that you have raised the wages of your staff doesn't
+seem to answer them; they rather hold that against you, because it has
+a tendency to make them do the same. Other office staffs are going to
+their heads and saying, 'Grant is paying his help so much.' That doesn't
+popularize you. To be a good fellow you should hold your staff down to
+the lowest wages at which you can get service, and the money you save in
+this way should be spent with gusto and abandon at expensive hotels and
+other places designed to keep rich people from getting too rich."
+
+"I am afraid you are satirizing them a little, but there is a good deal
+in what you say. They think I'm mean because they don't understand me,
+and they can't understand my point of view. I believe that money was
+created as a medium for the exchange of value. I think they will all
+agree with me there. If that is so, then I have no right to money unless
+I have given value for it, and that is where they part company with me;
+but surely we can't accept the one fact without the other."
+
+Grant found himself thumbing his pockets. "You may smoke, if you have
+tobacco," said Mrs. Bruce. "My husband smoked, and although I did not
+approve of it then, I think I must have grown to like it."
+
+He lighted a cigarette, and continued. "Not all the moral law was given
+on Mount Sinai. It seems to me that the supernaturalism which has been
+introduced into the story of the Ten Commandments is most unfortunate.
+It seems to remove them out of the field of natural law, whereas they
+are, really, natural law itself. No social state can exist where they
+are habitually ignored. But of course these natural laws existed long
+before Moses. He did not make the law; he discovered it, just as Newton
+discovered the law of gravitation. Well--there must be many other
+natural laws, still undiscovered, or at least unaccepted. The thing is
+to discover them, to obey them, and, eventually, to compel others to
+obey them. I am no Moses, but I think I have the germ of the law which
+would cure our economic ills--that no person should be allowed to
+receive value without earning it. Because I believed in that I gave up
+a fortune and went to work as a laborer on a ranch, but Fate has forced
+wealth upon me, doubtless in order that I may prove out my own theories.
+Well, that is what I am doing."
+
+"It shouldn't be hard to get rid of money if you don't want it," Mrs.
+Bruce ventured.
+
+"But it is. It is the hardest kind of thing. You see, I am limited by
+my principles. I believe it is morally wrong to receive money without
+earning it; consequently I cannot give it away, as by doing so I would
+place the recipient in that position. I believe it is morally wrong to
+spend on myself money which I have not earned; consequently I can
+spend only what I conceive to be a reasonable return for my services.
+Meanwhile, my wealth keeps rolling up."
+
+"It's a knotty problem," said Phyllis. "I think there is only one
+solution."
+
+"And that is?--"
+
+"Marry a woman who is a good spender."
+
+At this moment Grace and Hubert came in from the picture-show together,
+and the conversation turned to lighter topics. Mrs. Bruce insisted
+on serving tea and cake, and when Grant found that he must go Phyllis
+accompanied him to the gate.
+
+"This all seems so funny," she was saying. "You are a very remarkable
+man."
+
+"I think I once passed a similar opinion about you."
+
+She extended her hand, and he held it for a moment. "I have not changed
+my first opinion," he said, as he released her fingers and turned
+quickly down the pavement.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Grant's first visit to the home of his private stenographer was not his
+last, and the news leaked out, as it is sure to do in such cases. The
+social set confessed to being on the point of being shocked. Two schools
+of criticism developed over the five o'clock tea tables; one held that
+Grant was a gay dog who would settle down and marry in his class when he
+had had his fling, and the other that Phyllis Bruce was an artful hussy
+who was quite ready to sell herself for the Grant millions. And there
+were so many eligible young women on the market, although none of them
+were described as artful hussies!
+
+Grant's behavior, however, placed him under no cloud in so far as social
+opportunities were concerned; on the contrary, he found himself being
+showered with invitations, most of which he managed to decline on the
+grounds of pressure of business. When such an excuse would have been too
+transparent he accepted and made the best of it, and he found no lack
+of encouragement in the one or two incipient amorous flurries which
+resulted. From such positions he always succeeded in extricating
+himself, with a quiet smile at the vagaries of life. He had to admit
+that some of the young women whom he had met had charms of more
+than passing moment; he might easily enough find himself chasing the
+rainbow....
+
+Mrs. LeCord carried the warfare into his own office. The late Mr. LeCord
+had left her to face the world with a comfortable fortune and three
+daughters, of whom the youngest was now married and the oldest was a
+forlorn hope. To place the second was now her purpose, and the best
+bargain on the market was young Grant. Caroline, she was sure, would
+make a very acceptable wife, and the young lady herself confessed a
+belief that she could love even a bold Westerner whose bank balance was
+expressed in seven figures.
+
+The fact that Grant avoided social functions only added zest to the
+determination with which Mrs. LeCord carried the war into his own
+office. She chose to consult him for advice on financial matters and she
+came accompanied by Caroline, a young woman rather prepossessing in her
+own right. The two were readily admitted into Grant's private office,
+where they had opportunity not only to meet the young man in person, but
+to satisfy their curiosity concerning the Bruce girl.
+
+"I am Mrs. LeCord, Mr. Grant," the lady introduced herself. "This is my
+daughter Caroline. We wish to consult you on certain financial matters,
+privately, if you please."
+
+Grant received them cordially. "I shall be glad to advise you, if I
+can," he said.
+
+Mrs. LeCord cast a significant glance at Phyllis Bruce.
+
+"Miss Bruce is my private stenographer. You may speak with perfect
+freedom."
+
+Mrs. LeCord took up her subject after a moment's silence. "Mr. LeCord
+left me not entirely unprovided for," she explained. "Almost a million
+dollars in bonds and real estate made a comfortable protection for me
+and my three daughters against the buffetings of a world which, as you
+may have found, Mr. Grant, is not over-considerate."
+
+"The buffetings of the world are an excellent training for the world's
+affairs."
+
+"Maybe so, maybe so," his visitor conceded. "However, there are other
+trainings--trainings of finer quality, Mr. Grant--than those which have
+to do with subsistence. I have been able to give my daughters the best
+education that money could command, and, if I do say it, I permit myself
+some gratification over the result. Gretta is comfortably and happily
+married,--a young man of some distinction in the financial world--a Mr.
+Powers, Mr. Newton Powers--you may happen to know him; Madge, I think,
+is always going to be her mother's girl; Caroline is still heart-free,
+although one can never tell--"
+
+"Oh, mother!" the girl protested, blushing daintily.
+
+"I said you could never tell, Mr. Grant,--while handsome young men like
+yourself are at large." Mrs. LeCord laughed heartily, as much as to say
+that her remark must be regarded only as a little pleasantry. "But you
+will think I am a gossipy old body," she continued briskly. "I really
+came to discuss certain financial matters. Since Mr. LeCord's death
+I have taken charge of all the family business affairs with, if I
+may confess it, some success. We have lived, and my girls have been
+educated, and our little reserve against a rainy day has been almost
+doubled, in addition to giving Gretta a hundred thousand in her own
+right on the occasion of her marriage. Caroline is to have the same, and
+when I am done with it there will be a third of the estate for each. In
+the meantime I am directing my investments as wisely as I can. I want my
+daughters to be provided for, quite apart from any income marriage may
+bring them. I should be greatly humiliated to think that any daughter of
+mine would be dependent upon her husband for support. On the contrary,
+I mean that they shall bring to their husbands a sum which will be an
+appreciable contribution toward the family fortune."
+
+"If I can help you in any way in your financial matters--" Grant
+suggested.
+
+"Oh, yes, we must get back to that. How I wander! I'm afraid, Mr. Grant,
+I must be growing old."
+
+Grant protested gallantly against such conclusion, and Mrs. LeCord,
+after asking his opinion on certain issues shortly to be floated, arose
+to leave.
+
+"You must find life in this city somewhat lonely, Mr. Grant," she
+murmured as she drew on her gloves. "If ever you find a longing for a
+quiet hour away from business stress--a little domesticity, if I may say
+it--our house--"
+
+"You are very kind. Business allows me very few intermissions. Still--"
+
+She extended her hand with her sweetest smile. Caroline shook hands,
+too, and Grant bowed them out.
+
+On other occasions Mrs. LeCord and her daughter were fortunate enough
+to find Grant alone, and at such times the mother's conversation became
+even more pointed than in their first interview. Grant hesitated to
+offend her, mainly on account of Caroline, for whom he admitted to
+himself it would not be at all difficult to muster up an attachment.
+There were, however, three barriers to such a development. One was the
+obvious purpose of Mrs. LeCord to arrange a match; a purpose which, as
+a mere matter of the game, he could not allow her to accomplish. One was
+Zen Transley. There was no doubt about it. Zen Transley stood between
+him and marriage to any girl. Not that he ever expected to take her
+into his life, or be admitted into hers, but in some way she hedged him
+about. He felt that everything was not yet settled; he found
+himself entertaining a foolish sense that everything was not quite
+irrevocable.... And then there was--perhaps--Phyllis Bruce.
+
+When at length, for some reason, Mrs. LeCord visited him alone he
+decided to be frank with her.
+
+"You have thought me clever enough to advise you on financial matters?"
+he queried, when his visitor had discussed at some length the new loan
+in which she was investing.
+
+"Why, yes," she returned, detecting the personal note in his voice. "I
+sometimes think, Mr. Grant, you hardly do yourself justice. Even the
+hardest old heads on the Exchange are taking notice of you. I have heard
+your name mentioned--"
+
+"Then it may be presumed," he interrupted, "that I am clever enough to
+know the real purpose of your visits to this office?"
+
+She turned a little in her chair, facing him squarely. "I hardly
+understand you, Mr. Grant."
+
+"Then I possess an advantage, because I quite clearly understand you.
+I have hesitated, out of consideration for your daughter, to show any
+resentment of your behavior. But I must now tell you that when I marry,
+if ever I do, I shall choose my wife without the assistance of her
+mother, and without regard to her dowry or the size of the family bank
+account."
+
+"Oh, I protest!" exclaimed Mrs. LeCord, who had grown very red. "I
+protest against any such conclusion. I have seen fit to intrust
+my financial affairs to your firm; I have visited you on
+business--accompanied at times by my daughter, it is true--but only on
+business; recognizing in you a social equal I have invited you to my
+house, a courtesy which, so far, you have not found yourself able to
+accept; but in all this I have shown toward you surely nothing but
+friendliness and a respect amounting, if I may say it, to esteem. But
+now that you are frank, Mr. Grant, I too will be frank. You cannot be
+unaware of the rumors which have been associated with your name?"
+
+"You mean about Miss Bruce?"
+
+"Ah, then you know of them. You are a young man, and we older people are
+disposed to make allowance for the--for that. But you must realize the
+great mistake you would be making should you allow this matter to become
+more than--a rumor."
+
+"I do not admit your right to question me on such a subject, Mrs.
+LeCord, but I shall not avoid a discussion of it. Suppose, for the sake
+of argument, that I were to contemplate marriage with Miss Bruce; if
+she and her relatives were agreeable, what right would anyone have to
+object?"
+
+"It would be a great mistake," Mrs. LeCord insisted, avoiding his
+question. "She is not in your class--"
+
+"What do you mean by 'class'?"
+
+"Why, I mean socially, of course. She lives in a different world. She
+has no standing, in a social way. She works in an office for a living--"
+
+"So do I," he interrupted, "and your daughters do not. It would
+therefore appear that I am more in Miss Bruce's 'class' than in theirs."
+
+"Ah, but you are an employer. You direct things. You work because you
+want to, not because you have to. That makes a difference."
+
+"Apparently it does. Well, if I had my way, everybody would work,
+whether he wanted to or not. I would not allow any healthy man to
+spend money which he had not earned by the sweat of his own brow. I am
+convinced that that is the only economic system which is sound at
+the bottom, but it would destroy 'class,' as at present organized, so
+'class' must fight it."
+
+"I am afraid you are rather radical, Mr. Grant. You may be sure that a
+system which has served so long and so well is a good system."
+
+"That introduces the clash between East and West. The East says because
+things are so, and have always been so, they must be right. The West
+says because things are so, and have always been so, they are in all
+probability wrong. I guess I am a Westerner."
+
+"You should not allow your theories of economics to stand in the way of
+your success," Mrs. LeCord pursued. "Suppose I admit that Caroline would
+not be altogether deaf to your advances. Suppose I admit that much.
+Allowing for a mother's prejudice, will you not agree with me that
+Caroline has her attractions? She is well bred, well educated, and not
+without appearance. She belongs to the smartest set in town. Her circle
+would bring you not only social distinction, but valuable business
+connections. She would introduce that touch of refinement--"
+
+But Grant, now thoroughly angry, had risen from his chair. "You speak
+of refinement," he exclaimed, in the quick, sharp tones which alone
+revealed the fighting Grant;--"you, who have been guilty of--I could use
+a very ugly word which I will give you the credit of not understanding.
+When I decide to buy myself a wife I will send to you for a catalogue of
+your daughter's charms."
+
+Grant dismissed Mrs. LeCord from his office with the confident
+expectation that he soon would have occasion to know something of the
+meaning of the proverb about hell's furies and a woman scorned. She
+would strike at him, of course, through Phyllis Bruce. Well--
+
+But his attention was at once to be turned to very different matters.
+A stock market, erratic for some days, went suddenly into a paroxysm.
+Grant escaped with as little loss as possible for himself and his
+clients, and after three sleepless nights called his staff together.
+They crowded into the board-room, curious, apprehensive, almost
+frightened, and he looked over them with an emotion that was quite new
+to his experience. Even in the aloofness which their standards had made
+it necessary for him to adopt there had grown up in his heart, quite
+unnoticed, a tender, sweet foliage of love for these men and women who
+were a part of his machine. Now, as he looked in their faces he
+realized how, like little children, they leaned on him--how, like little
+children, they feared his power and his displeasure--how, perhaps, like
+little children, they had learned to love him, too. He realized, as he
+had never done before, that they WERE children; that here and there in
+the mass of humanity is one who was born to lead, but the great mass
+itself must be children always, doing as they are bid.
+
+"My friends," he managed to say, "we suddenly find ourselves in
+tremendous times. Some of you know my attitude toward this business
+in which we are engaged. I did not seek it; I did not approve of it;
+I tried to avoid it; yet, when the responsibility was forced upon me
+I accepted that responsibility. I gave up the life I enjoyed, the
+environment in which I found delight, the friends I loved. Well--our
+nation is now in a somewhat similar position. It has to go into a
+business which it did not seek, of which it does not approve, but which
+fate has thrust upon it. It has to break off the current of its life and
+turn it into undreamed-of channels, and we, as individuals who make up
+the nation, must do the same. I have already enlisted, and expect that
+within a few hours I shall be in uniform. Some of you are single men of
+military age; you will, I am sure, take similar steps. For the rest--the
+business will be wound up as soon as possible, so that you may be
+released for some form of national service. You will all receive three
+months' salary in lieu of notice. Mr. Murdoch will look after the
+details. When that has been done my wealth, or such part of it as
+remains, will be placed at the disposal of the Government. If we win it
+will be well invested in a good cause; if we lose, it would have been
+lost anyway."
+
+"We are not going to lose!" It was one of the younger clerks who
+interrupted; he stood up and for a moment looked straight at his chief.
+In that instant's play of vision there was surely something more than
+can be told in words, for the next moment he rushed forward and seized
+one of Grant's hands in both his own. There was a moment's handclasp,
+and the boy had become a man.
+
+"I'm going, Grant," he said. "I'm going--NOW!"
+
+He turned and made his way out of the room, leaving his chief breathless
+in a rapture of joy and pride. Others crowded up. They too were
+going--NOW. Even old Murdoch tried to protest that he was as good a man
+as ever. It seemed to Grant that the drab everyday costumings of his
+staff had fallen away, and now they were heroes, they were gods!
+
+No one knew just how the meeting broke up, but Grant had a confused
+remembrance of many handclasps and some tears. He was not sure that he
+had not, perhaps, added one or two to the flow, but they were all
+tears of friendship and of an emotion born of high resolve.... The most
+wonderful thing was that the youngster had called him Grant!
+
+As he stood in his own office again, trying to get the events of these
+last few days into some sort of perspective, Phyllis Bruce entered. He
+motioned dumbly to a chair, but she came and stood by his desk. Her face
+was very white and her lips trembled with the words she tried to utter.
+
+"I can't go," she managed to say at length.
+
+"Can't go? I don't understand?"
+
+"Hubert has joined," she said.
+
+"Hubert, the boy! Why, he is only in school--"
+
+"He is sixteen, and large for his age. He came home confessing, and
+saying it was his first lie, and the first important thing he ever did
+without consulting mother. He said he knew he wouldn't be able to stand
+it if he told her first."
+
+"Foolish, but heroic," Grant commented. "Be proud of him. It takes more
+than wisdom to be heroic."
+
+"And Grace is going to England. She was taking nursing, you know, and so
+gets a preference. We can't ALL leave mother."
+
+He found it difficult to speak. "You wanted to go to the Front?" he
+managed.
+
+"Of course; where else?"
+
+Her hand was on the desk; his own slipped over until it closed on it.
+
+"You are a little heroine," he murmured.
+
+"No, I'm not. I'm a little fool to tell you this, but how can I
+stay--why should I stay--when you are gone?"
+
+She was looking down, but after her confession she raised her eyes to
+his, and he wondered that he had never known how beautiful she was.
+He could have taken her in his arms, but something, with the power of
+invisible chains, held him back. In that supreme moment a vision swam
+before him; a vision of a mountain stream backed by tawny foothills,
+and a girl as beautiful as even this Phyllis who had wrapped him in her
+arms... and said, "We must go and forget." And he had not forgotten....
+
+When he did not respond she drew herself slowly away. "You will hate
+me," she said.
+
+"That is impossible," he corrected, quickly. "I am very sorry if I
+have let you think more than I intended. I care for you very, very much
+indeed. I care for you so much that I will not let you think I care for
+you more. Can you understand that?"
+
+"Yes. You like me, but you love someone else."
+
+He was disconcerted by her intuition and the terse frankness with which
+she stated the case.
+
+"I will take you into my confidence, Phyllis, if I may," he said at
+length. "I DO like you; I DID love someone else. And that old attachment
+is still so strong that it would be hardly fair--it would be hardly
+fair--"
+
+"Why didn't you marry her?" she demanded.
+
+"Because some one else did."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Her hands found his this time. "I'm sorry," she said. "Sorry I
+brought this up--sorry I raised these memories. But now you--who have
+known--will know--"
+
+"I know--I know," he murmured, raising her fingers to his lips....
+
+"Time, they say, is a healer of all wounds. Perhaps--"
+
+"No. It is better that you should forget. Only, I shall see you off; I
+shall wave my handkerchief to YOU; I shall smile on YOU in the crowd.
+Then--you will forget."...
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Four years of war add only four years to the life of a man according
+to the record in the family Bible, if he happen to spring from stock
+in which that sacred document is preserved. But four years of war add
+twenty years to the grey matter behind the eyes--eyes which learn to
+dream and ponder strangely, and sometimes to shine with a hardness that
+has no part with youth. When Captain Grant and Sergeant Linder stepped
+off the train at Grant's old city there was, however, little to suggest
+the ageing process that commonly went on among the soldiers in the Great
+War. Grant had twice stopped an enemy bullet, but his fine figure and
+sunburned health now gave no evidence of those experiences. Linder
+counted himself lucky to carry only an empty sleeve.
+
+They had fallen in with each other in France, and the friendship planted
+in the foothills of the range country had grown, through the strange
+prunings and graftings of war, into a tree of very solid timber. Linder
+might have told you of the time his captain found him with his arm
+crushed under a wrecked piece of artillery, and Grant could have
+recounted a story of being dragged unconscious out of No Man's Land, but
+for either to dwell upon these matters only aroused the resentment of
+the other, and frequently led to exchanges between captain and sergeant
+totally incompatible with military discipline. They were content to pay
+tribute to each other, but each to leave his own honors unheralded.
+
+"First thing is a place to eat," Grant remarked, when they had been
+dismissed. Words to similar effect had, indeed, been his first remark
+upon every suitable opportunity for three months. An appetite which
+has been four years in the making is not to be satisfied overnight, and
+Grant, being better fortified financially against the stress of a good
+meal, sought to be always first to suggest it. Linder accepted the
+situation with the complacence of a man who has been four years on army
+pay.
+
+When they had eaten they took a walk through the old town--Grant's old
+town. It looked as though he had stepped out of it yesterday; it was
+hard to realize that ages lay between. There are experiences which soak
+in slowly, like water into a log. The new element surrounds the body,
+but it may be months before it penetrates to the heart. Grant had some
+sense of that fact as he walked the old familiar streets, apparently
+unchanged by all these cataclysmic days.... In time he would come to
+understand. There was the name plate of Barrett, Jones, Barrett, Deacon
+& Barrett. There had not even been an addition to the firm. Here was
+the old Grant office, now used for some administration purpose. That, at
+least, was a move in the right direction.
+
+They wandered along aimlessly while the sunset of an early summer
+evening marshalled its glories overhead. On a side street children
+played in the roadway; on a vacant spot a game of ball was in progress.
+Women sat on their verandas and shot casual glances after them as they
+passed. Handsome pleasure cars glided about; there was a smell of new
+flowers in all the air.
+
+"What do you make of it, mate?" said Grant at last.
+
+Linder pulled slowly on his cigarette. Even his training as a sergeant
+had not made him ready of speech, but when he spoke it was, as ever, to
+the point.
+
+"It's all so unnecessary," he commented at length.
+
+"That's the way it gets me, too. So unnecessary. You see, when you
+get down to fundamentals there are only two things necessary--food
+and shelter. Everything else may be described as trimmings. We've
+been dealing with fundamentals so long---mighty bare fundamentals at
+that--that all these trimmings seem just a little irritating, don't you
+think?"
+
+"I follow you. I simply can't imagine myself worrying over a stray
+calf."
+
+"And I can't imagine myself sitting in an office and dealing with such
+unessential things as stocks and bonds.... And I'm not going to."
+
+"Got any notion what you will do?" said Linder, when he had reached the
+middle of another cigarette.
+
+"Not the slightest. I don't even know whether I'm rich or broke. I
+suppose if Jones and Murdoch are still alive they will be looking
+after those details. Doing their best, doubtless, to embarrass me with
+additional wealth. What are YOU going to do?"
+
+"Don't know. Maybe go back and work for Transley."
+
+The mention of Transley threw Grant's mind back into old channels. He
+had almost forgotten Transley. He told himself he had quite forgotten
+Zen Transley, but once he knew he lied. That was when they potted him
+in No Man's Land. As he lay there, waiting.... he knew he had not
+forgotten. And he had thought many times of Phyllis Bruce. At first he
+had written to her, but she had not answered his letters. Evidently
+she meant him to forget. Nor had she come to the station to welcome him
+home. Perhaps she did not know. Perhaps--Many things can happen in four
+years.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to Grant that it might be a good idea to call on
+Phyllis. He would take Linder along. That would make it less personal.
+He knew his man well enough to keep his own counsel, and eventually they
+reached the gate of the Bruce cottage, as though by accident.
+
+"Let's turn in here. I used to know these people. Mother and daughter;
+very fine folk."
+
+Linder looked for an avenue of retreat, but Grant barred his way, and
+together they went up the path. A strange woman, with a baby on her arm,
+met them at the door. Grant inquired for Mrs. Bruce and her daughter.
+
+"Oh, you haven't heard?" said the woman. "I suppose you are just back.
+Well, it was a sad thing, but these have been sad times. It was when
+Hubert was killed I came here first. Poor dear, she took that to heart
+awful, and couldn't be left alone, and Phyllis was working in an office,
+so I came here part time to help out. Then she was just beginning to
+brace up again when we got the word about Grace. Grace, you know, was
+lost on a hospital ship. That was too much for her."
+
+Grant received this information with a strange catching about the heart.
+There had been changes, after all.
+
+"What became of Phyllis?" He tried to ask the question in an even voice.
+
+"I moved into the house after Mrs. Bruce died," the woman continued, "as
+my man came back discharged about that time. Phyllis tried to get on as
+a nurse, but couldn't manage it. Then her office was moved to another
+part of the city and she took rooms somewhere. At first she came to see
+us often, but not lately. I suppose she's trying to forget."
+
+"Trying to forget," Grant muttered to himself. "How much of life is made
+up of trying to forget!"
+
+Further questions brought no further information. The woman didn't
+know the firm for which Phyllis worked; she thought it had to do with
+munitions. Suddenly Grant found himself impelled by a tremendous desire
+to locate this girl. He would set about it at once; possibly Jones or
+Murdoch could give him information. Strangely enough, he now felt that
+he would prefer to be rid of Linder's company. This was a matter for
+himself alone. He took Linder to an hotel, where they arranged for
+lodgings, and then started on his search.
+
+He located Murdoch without difficulty. It was now late, and the old
+clerk came down the stairs with inoffensive imprecations upon the head
+of his untimely caller, but his mutterings soon gave way to a cry of
+delight.
+
+"My dear boy!" he exclaimed, embracing him. "My dear boy--excuse me,
+sir, I'm a blithering old man, but oh! sir--my boy, you're home again!"
+There was no doubting the depth of old Murdoch's welcome. He ran before
+Grant into the living-room and switched on the lights. In a moment
+he was back with his arm about the young man's shoulder; he was with
+difficulty restraining caresses.
+
+"Sit you down, Mr. Grant; here--this chair--it's easier. I must get the
+women up. This is no night for sleeping. Why didn't you send us word?"
+
+"There is a tradition that official word is sent in advance," Grant
+tried to explain.
+
+"Aye, a tradition. There's a tradition that a Scotsman is a dour body
+without any sentiment. Well--I must call the women."
+
+He hurried up the stairs and Grant settled back into his chair. So this
+was the home of Murdoch, the man who really had earned a considerable
+part of the Grant fortune. He had never visited Murdoch before; he had
+never thought of him in a domestic sense; Murdoch had always been to him
+a man of figures, of competent office routine, of almost too respectful
+deference. The light over the centre table fell subdued through a
+pinkish shade; the corners of the room lay in restful shadows; the
+comfortable furniture showed the marks of years. The walls suggested the
+need of new paper; the well-worn carpet had been shifted more than once
+for economy's sake. Grant made a hasty appraisal of these conditions;
+possibly his old clerk was feeling the pinch of circumstances--
+
+Murdoch, returning, led in his wife, a motherly woman who almost kissed
+the young soldier. In the welcome of her greeting it was a moment before
+Grant became aware of the presence of a fourth person in the room.
+
+"I am very glad to see you safely back," said Phyllis Bruce. "We have
+all been thinking about you a great deal."
+
+"Why, Miss--Phyllis! It was you I was looking for!" The frank confession
+came before he had time to suppress it, and, having said so much, it
+seemed better to finish the job.
+
+"Yes, Phyllis is making her home with us now," Mrs. Murdoch explained.
+"It is more convenient to her work."
+
+Grant wondered how much of this arrangement was due to Mrs. Murdoch's
+sympathy for the bereaved girl, and how much to the addition which it
+made to the family income. No doubt both considerations had contributed
+to it.
+
+"I called at your old home," he continued. "I needn't say how distressed
+I was to hear--The woman could tell me nothing of you, so I came to
+Murdoch, hoping--"
+
+"Yes," she said, simply, as though there were nothing more to explain.
+Grant noticed that her eyes were larger and her cheeks paler than they
+had been, but the delight of her presence leapt about him. Her hurried
+costume seemed to accentuate her beauty despite of all that war had done
+to destroy it. There was a silence which lengthened out. They were all
+groping for a footing.
+
+Mrs. Murdoch met the situation by insisting that she would put on
+the kettle, and Mr. Murdoch, in a burst of almost divine inspiration,
+insisted that his wife was quite incompetent to light the gas alone at
+that hour of the night. When the old folks had shuffled into the kitchen
+Grant found himself standing close to Phyllis Bruce.
+
+"Why didn't you answer my letters?" he demanded, plunging to the issue
+with the directness of his nature.
+
+"Because I had promised to let you forget," she replied. There was a
+softness in her voice which he had not noted in those bygone days;
+she seemed more resigned and yet more poised; the strange wizardry of
+suffering had worked new wonders in her soul. Suddenly, as he looked
+upon her, he became aware of a new quality in Phyllis Bruce--the quality
+of gentleness. She had added this to her unique self-confidence, and
+it had toned down the angularities of her character. To Grant, straight
+from his long exile from fine womanly domesticity, she suddenly seemed
+altogether captivating.
+
+"But I didn't want to forget!" he insisted. "I wanted not to
+forget--YOU."
+
+She could not misunderstand the emphasis he placed on that last word,
+but she continued as though he had not interrupted.
+
+"I knew you would write once or twice out of courtesy. I knew you would
+do that. I made up my mind that if you wrote three times, then I would
+know you really wanted to remember me.... I did not get any third
+letter."
+
+"But how could I know that you had placed such a test--such an arbitrary
+measurement--upon my friendship?"
+
+"It wasn't necessary for you to know. If you had cared--enough--you
+would have kept on writing."
+
+He had to admit to himself that there was just enough truth in what she
+said to make her logic unanswerable. His delight in her presence now did
+not alter the fact that he had found it quite possible to live for four
+years without her, and it was true that upon one or two great vital
+moments his mind had leapt, not to Phyllis Bruce, but to Zen Transley!
+He blushed at the recollection; it was an impossible situation, but it
+was true!
+
+He was framing some plausible argument about honorable men not
+persisting in a correspondence when Murdoch bustled in again.
+
+"Mother is going to set the dining-room table," he announced, "and the
+coffee will be ready presently. Well, sir, you do look well in uniform.
+You will be wondering how the business has gone?"
+
+"Not half as much as I am wondering some other things," he said, with
+a significance intended for the ear of Phyllis. "You see--I was just
+talking it over with a pal to-day, a very good comrade whom I used to
+know in the West, and who pulled me out of No Man's Land where I would
+have been lying yet if he hadn't thought more of me than he did of
+himself--I was talking it over with him to-day, and we agreed that
+business isn't worth the effort. Fancy sitting behind a desk, wondering
+about the stock market, when you've been accustomed to leaning up
+against a parapet wondering where the next shell is going to burst! If
+that is not from the sublime to the ridiculous, it is at least from the
+vital to the inconsequential. You can't expect men to take a jump like
+that."
+
+"No, not as a jump," Murdoch agreed. "They'll have to move down
+gradually. But they must remember that life depends quite as much on
+wheat-fields as it does on trenches, and that all the machinery of
+commerce and industry is as vital in its way as is the machinery of war.
+They must remember that, or instead of being at the end of our troubles
+we will find ourselves at the beginning."
+
+"I suppose," Grant conceded, "but it all seems so unnecessary. No doubt
+you have been piling up more money to be a problem to my conscience."
+
+"Your peculiar conscience, I might almost correct, sir. Your
+responsibilities do seem to insist upon increasing. Following your
+instructions I put the liquid assets into Government bonds. Interest,
+even on Government bonds, has a way of working while you sleep. Then,
+you may remember, we were carrying a large load of certain steel stocks.
+These I did not dispose of at once, with the result that they, in
+themselves, have made you a comfortable fortune."
+
+"I suppose I should thank you for your foresight, Murdoch. I was rather
+hoping you would lose my money and so relieve me of an embarrassing
+situation. What am I to do with it?"
+
+"I don't know, sir, but I feel sure you will use it for some good
+purpose. I was glad to get as much of it together for you as I did,
+because otherwise it might have fallen to people who would have wasted
+it."
+
+"Upon my word, Murdoch, that smacks of my own philosophy. Is it possible
+even you are becoming converted?"
+
+"Come, Mr. Grant; come, everybody!" a cheerful voice called from behind
+the sliding doors which shut off the dining-room. The fragrant smell of
+coffee was already in the air, and as Grant took his seat Mrs.
+Murdoch declared that for once she had decided to defy all the laws of
+digestion.
+
+At the table their talk dribbled out into thin channels. It was as
+though there were at hand a great reservoir of thought, of experience,
+of deep gropings into the very well-springs of life, which none of them
+dared to tap lest it should rush out and overwhelm them. They seemed in
+some strange awe of its presence, and spoke, when they spoke at all, of
+trivial things. Grant proved uncommunicative, and perhaps, in a sense,
+disappointing. He preferred to forget both the glories and the horrors
+of war; when he drew on his experience at all it was to relate some
+humorous incident. That, it seemed, was all he cared to remember. He
+was conscious of a restraint which hedged him about and hampered every
+mental deployment.
+
+Phyllis, too, must have been conscious of that restraint, for before
+they parted she said something about human minds being like pianos,
+which get out of tune for lack of the master-touch....
+
+When Grant found himself in the street air again he was almost swallowed
+up in the rush of things which he might have said. His mental machinery,
+which seemed to have been out of mesh,--came back into adjustment with
+a jerk. He suddenly discovered that he could think; he could drive his
+mind from his own batteries. In soldiering the mind is driven from the
+batteries of the rank higher up. The business of discipline is to make
+man an automatic machine rather than a thinking individual. It seemed
+to Grant that in that moment the machine part of him gave way and the
+individual was restored. In his case the change came in a moment; he had
+been re-tuned; he was able to think logically in terms of civil life.
+He pieced together Murdoch's conversation. "Not as a jump," Murdoch had
+said, when he had argued that a man cannot emerge in a moment from the
+psychology of the trenches to that of the counting-house. Undoubtedly
+that would be true of the mass; they would experience no instantaneous
+readjustment....
+
+There are moments when the mind, highly vitalized, reaches out into the
+universe of thought and grasps ideas far beyond its conscious intention.
+All great thoughts come from uncharted sources of inspiration, and it
+may be that the function of the mind is not to create thought, but
+only to record it. To do so it must be tuned to the proper key of
+receptivity. Grant had a consciousness, as he walked along the deserted
+streets toward his hotel, that he was in that key; the quietness, the
+domesticity of Murdoch's home, the loveliness of Phyllis Bruce, had,
+for the moment at least, shut out a background of horror and lifted his
+thought into an exalted plane. He paused at a bridge to lean against the
+railing and watch the trembling reflection of city lights in the river.
+
+"I have it!" he suddenly exclaimed to the steel railing. "I have it!"
+
+He paused for a moment to turn over his thought, as though to make sure
+it should not escape. Then, at a pace which aroused the wondering glance
+of one or two placid policemen, he hurried to the hotel.
+
+Linder and Grant had been assigned to the same room, and the sergeant's
+dreams, if he dreamt at all, were of the sweet hay meadows of the West.
+Grant turned on the light and looked down into the face of his friend.
+A smile, born of fields afar from war's alarms, was playing about his
+lips. Even in his excitement Grant could not help reflecting what a
+wonderful thing it is to sleep in peace. Then--
+
+"I have it!" he shouted. "Linder, I have it!"
+
+The sergeant sat up with a start, blinking.
+
+"I have it!" Grant repeated.
+
+"THEM, you mean," said Linder, suddenly awake. "Why, man, what's wrong
+with you? You're more excited than if we were just going over the top."
+
+"I've got my great idea. I know what I'm going to do with my money."
+
+"Well, don't do it to-night," Linder protested. "Someone has to settle
+for this dug-out in the morning."
+
+"We're leaving for the West to-morrow, Linder, old scout. Everybody
+will say we're crazy, but that's a good sign. They've said that of every
+reformer since--"
+
+But Linder was again sleeping the sleep of a man four years in France.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+The window was grey with the light of dawn before Grant's mind had
+calmed down enough for sleep. When Linder awoke him it was noon.
+
+"You sleep well on your Big Idea," was his comment.
+
+"No better than you did last night," retorted Grant, springing out of
+bed. "Let me see.... yes, I still have it clearly. I'll tell you about
+it sometime, if you can stay awake. When do we eat?"
+
+"Now, or as soon as you are presentable. I've a notion to give you three
+days' C.B. for appearing on parade in your pyjamas."
+
+"Make it a cash fine, Sergeant, old dear, and pay it out of what you owe
+me. Now that that is settled order up a decent meal. I'll be shaved and
+dressed long before it arrives. You know this is a first-class hotel,
+where prompt service would not be tolerated."
+
+As they ate together Grant showed no disposition to discuss what Linder
+called his Big Idea, nor yet to give any satisfaction in response to his
+companion's somewhat pointed references as to his doings of the night
+before.
+
+"There are times, Linder," he said, "when my soul craves solitude. You,
+being a sergeant, and therefore having no soul, will not be able to
+understand that longing for contemplation--"
+
+"It's all right," said Linder. "I don't want her."
+
+"Furthermore," Grant continued, "to-night I mean to resume my
+soliloquies, and your absence will be much in demand."
+
+"The supply will be equal to the demand."
+
+"Good! Here are some morsels of money. If you will buy our railway
+tickets and settle with the chief extortionist downstairs I will join
+you at the night train going west."
+
+Linder sprang to attention, gave a salute in which mock deference
+could not entirely obscure the respect beneath, and set about on his
+commissions, while Grant devoted the afternoon to a session with Murdoch
+and Jones, to neither of whom would he reveal his plans further than to
+say he was going west "to engage in some development work." During the
+afternoon it was noted that Grant's interest centred more in a certain
+telephone call than in the very gratifying financial statement which
+Murdoch was able to place before him. And it was probably as a result
+of that telephone call that a taxi drew up in front of Murdoch's home
+at exactly six-thirty that evening and bore Miss Phyllis Bruce and an
+officer wearing a captain's uniform in the direction of the best hotel
+in the city.
+
+The dining-room was sweet with the perfume of flowers, and soft strains
+of music stole vagrantly about its high arching pillars, mingling
+with the chatter of lovely women and of men to whom expense was no
+consideration. Grant was conscious of a delicious sense of intimacy
+as he helped Phyllis remove her wraps and seated himself by her at a
+secluded corner table.
+
+"By Jove!" he exclaimed. "I don't make compliments for exercise, but you
+do look stunning to-night!"
+
+A warmth of color lit up her cheek--he had noticed at Murdoch's how pale
+she was--and her eyes laughed back at him with some of their old-time
+vivacity.
+
+"I am so glad," she said. "It seems almost like old times--"
+
+They gave their orders, and sat in silence through an overture. Grant
+was delighting himself simply in her presence, and guessed that for her
+part she could not retract the confession her love had wrung from her so
+long ago.
+
+"There are some things which don't change, Phyllis," he said, when the
+orchestra had ceased.
+
+She looked back at him with eyes moist and dreamy. "I know," she
+murmured.
+
+There seemed no reason why Grant should not there and then have laid
+himself, figuratively, at her feet. And there was not any reason--only
+one. He wanted first to go west. He almost hoped that out there
+some light of disillusionment would fall about him; that some sudden
+experience such as he had known the night before would readjust his
+personality in accordance with the inevitable...
+
+"I asked you to dine with me to-night," he heard himself saying, "for
+two reasons: first, for the delight of your exquisite companionship; and
+second, because I want to place before you certain business plans which,
+to me at least, are of the greatest importance.
+
+"You know the position which I have taken with regard to the spending of
+money, that one should not spend on himself or his friends anything
+but his own honest earnings for which he has given honest service to
+society. I have seen no reason to change my position. On the contrary
+the war has strengthened me in my convictions. It has brought home to
+me and to the world the fact that heroism is a flower which grows in no
+peculiar soil, and that it blossoms as richly among the unwashed and the
+underfed as among the children of fortune. This fact only aggravates
+the extremes of wealth and poverty, and makes them seem more unjust than
+ever.
+
+"For myself I have accepted this view, but our financial system is
+founded upon very different ethics. I wonder if you have ever thought
+of the fact that when the barons at Runnymede laid the foundations of
+democratic government for the world they overlooked the almost equally
+important matter of creating a democratic system of finance. Well--let's
+not delve into that now. The point is that under our present system we
+do acquire wealth which we do not earn, and the only thing to be done
+for the time being is to treat that wealth as a trust to be managed for
+the benefit of humanity. That is what I call the new morality as applied
+to money, although it is not so new either. It can be traced back at
+least nineteen hundred years, and all our philanthropists, great and
+little, have surely caught some glimpse of that truth, unless, perhaps,
+they gave their alms that they might have honor of men. But giving one's
+money away does not solve the problem; it pauperizes the recipient and
+delays the evolution of new conditions in which present injustices would
+be corrected. I hope you are able to follow me?"
+
+"Perfectly. It is easy for me, who have nothing to lose, to follow your
+logic. You will have more trouble convincing those whose pockets it
+would affect."
+
+"I am not so sure of that. Humanity is pretty sound at heart, but we
+can't abandon the boat we're on until we have another that is proven
+seaworthy. However, it seems to me that I have found a solution which
+I can apply in my individual case. Have you thought what are the three
+greatest needs, commercially speaking, of the present day?"
+
+"Production, I suppose, is the first."
+
+"Yes--most particularly production of food. And the others are corollary
+to it. They are instruction and opportunity. I am thinking especially of
+returned men."
+
+"Production--instruction--opportunity," she repeated. "How are you going
+to bring them about?"
+
+"That is my Big Idea, as Linder calls it, although I have not yet
+confided in him what it is. Well--the world is crying for food, and in
+our western provinces are millions of acres which have never felt the
+plow--"
+
+"In the East, too, for that matter."
+
+"I know, but I naturally think of the West. I propose to form a company
+and buy a large block of land, cut it up into farms, build houses and
+community centres, and put returned men and their families on these
+farms, under the direction of specialists in agriculture. I shall break
+up the rectangular survey of the West for something with humanizing
+possibilities; I mean to supplant it with a system of survey which will
+permit of settlement in groups--villages, if you like--where I shall
+instal all the modern conveniences of the city, including movie shows.
+Our statesmen are never done lamenting that population continues to flow
+from the country to the city, but the only way to stop that flow is to
+make the country the more attractive of the two."
+
+"But your company--who are to be the shareholders?"
+
+"That is the keystone of the Big Idea. There never before was a company
+like this will be. In the first place, I shall put up all the money
+myself. Then, when I have prepared a farm ready to receive a man and his
+family, I will sell him shares equivalent to the value of his farm,
+and give him a perpetual lease, subject to certain restrictions. Let
+me illustrate. Suppose you are the prospective shareholder. I say, Miss
+Bruce, I can place you on a farm worth, with buildings and equipment,
+ten thousand dollars. I do not ask any cash from you; not a cent, but I
+want you to subscribe for ten thousand dollars stock in my company. That
+will make you a shareholder. When the farm begins to produce you are
+to have all you and your family--this is an illustration, you know--can
+consume for your own use. The balance is to be sold, and one-third of
+the proceeds is to be paid into the treasury of the company and credited
+on your purchase of shares. When you have paid for all your shares in
+this way you will have no further payments to make, except such levy as
+may be made by the company for running expenses. You, as a shareholder
+of the company, will have a voice with the other shareholders in
+determining what that levy shall be. You and your descendents will be
+allowed possession of that farm forever, subject only to your obeying
+the rules of the company. You--"
+
+"But why the company? It simply amounts to buying the land on payments
+to be made out of each year's crop, except that you want me to pay for
+shares in the company instead of for the land itself."
+
+"That, as I told you, is the keystone of my Big Idea. If I sold you the
+land you would be master of it; you could do as you liked with it. You
+could let it lie idle; you could allow your buildings and machinery
+to get out of repair; you could keep scrub stock; all your methods of
+husbandry might be slovenly or antiquated; you could even rent or sell
+the land to someone who might be morally or socially undesirable in the
+community. On the other hand you might be peculiarly successful, when
+you would proceed to buy out your less successful neighbors, or make
+loans on their land, and thus create yourself a land monopolist. But as
+a shareholder in the company you will be subject to the rules laid down
+by the company. If it says that houses must be painted every four years
+you will paint your house every fourth year. If it rules that hayracks
+are not to be left on the front lawn you will have to deposit yours
+somewhere else. If it orders that crops must be rotated to preserve the
+fertility of the soil you will obey those instructions. If you do
+not like the regulations you can use your influence with the board of
+directors to have them changed. If you fail there you can sell your
+shares to someone else--provided you can find a purchaser acceptable to
+the board--and get out. The Big Idea is that the community--the company
+in this case--shall control the individual, and the individual shall
+exert his proper measure of control over the community. The two are
+interlocked and interdependent, each exerting exactly the proper amount
+of power and accepting proportionate responsibility."
+
+"But have you provided against the possibility of one man or a group of
+men buying up a majority of the stock and so controlling the company?
+They could then freeze out the smaller owners."
+
+"Yes," said Grant, toying with his coffee, "I have made a provision for
+that which I think is rather ingenious. Don't imagine that this all came
+to me in a moment. The central thought struck me last night on my way
+home, and I knew then I had the embryo of the plan, but I lay awake
+until daylight working out details. I am going to allot votes on a very
+unique principle. It seems to me that a man's stake in a country should
+be measured, not by the amount of money he has, but by the number of
+mouths he has to feed. I will adopt that rule in my company, and the
+voting will be according to the number of children in the family. That
+should curb the ambitious."
+
+They laughed over this proviso, and Phyllis agreed that it was all a
+very wonderful plan. "And when they have paid for all their shares you
+get your money back," she commented.
+
+"Oh, no. I don't want my money back. I didn't explain that to you. I
+will advance the money on the bonds of the company, without interest.
+Suppose I am able to finance a hundred farms that way, then as the
+payments come in, still more farms. The thing will spread like a ripple
+in a pool, until it covers the whole country. When you turn a sum of
+money loose, WITH NO INTEREST CHARGE ATTACHED TO IT, there is no limit
+to what it can accomplish."
+
+"But what will you do with your bonds, eventually? They will be
+perfectly secured. I don't see that you are getting rid of your money at
+all, except the interest, which you are giving away."
+
+"That, Phyllis, is where autocracy and democracy meet. All progress is
+like the swinging of a pendulum, with autocracy at one end of the arc
+and democracy at the other, and progress is the mean of their opposing
+forces. But there are times when the most democratic countries have to
+use autocratic methods, as, for example, Great Britain and the United
+States in the late war. We must learn to make autocracy the servant of
+democracy, not its enemy. Well--I'm going to be the autocrat in this
+case. I am going to sit behind the scenes and as long as my company
+functions all right I will leave it alone, but if it shows signs of
+wrecking itself I will assume the role of the benevolent despot and set
+it to rights again. Oh, Phyllis, don't you see? It's not just MY company
+I'm thinking about. This is an experiment, in which my company will
+represent the State. If it succeeds I shall turn the whole machinery
+over to the State as my contribution to the betterment of humanity. If
+it fails--well, then I shall have demonstrated that the idea is unsound.
+Even that is worth something.
+
+"I like to think of the great inventors, experimenting with the
+mysterious forces of nature. Their business is to find the natural laws
+that govern material things. And I am quite sure that there are
+also natural laws designed to govern man in his social and economic
+relationships, and when those laws have been discovered the
+impossibilities of to-day will become the common practice of to-morrow,
+just as steam and electricity have made the impossibilities of yesterday
+the common practice of to-day. The first need is to find the law, and to
+what more worthy purpose could a man devote himself? When I landed here
+yesterday--when I walked again through these old streets--I was a being
+without purpose; I was like a battery that had dried up. All these petty
+affairs of life seemed so useless, so humdrum, so commonplace, I knew I
+could never settle down to them again. Then last night from some unknown
+source came a new idea--an inspiration--and presto! the battery is
+re-charged, life again has its purposes, and I am eager to be at work.
+
+"I said 'some unknown source,' but it was not altogether unknown. It
+had something to do with honest old Murdoch, and his good wife pouring
+coffee for the midnight supper in their cozy dining-room, and Phyllis
+Bruce across the table! We never know, Phyllis, how much we owe to our
+friends; to that charmed circle, be it ever so small, in which every
+note strikes in harmony. I know my Big Idea is only playing on the
+surface; only skimming about the edges. What the world needs is just
+friends."
+
+Grant had talked himself out, but he continued to sit at the little
+table, reveling in the happiness of a man who feels that he has been
+called to some purpose worth while. His companion hesitated to interrupt
+his thoughts; her somewhat drab business experience made her pessimistic
+toward all idealism, and yet she felt that here, surely, was a man who
+could carry almost any project through to success. The unique quality in
+him, which distinguished him from any other man she had ever known, was
+his complete unselfishness. In all his undertakings he coveted no reward
+for himself; he was seeking only the common good.
+
+"If all men were like you there would be no problems," she murmured,
+and while he could not accept the words quite at par they rang very
+pleasantly in his ears.
+
+A movement among the diners reminded him of the flight of time, and
+with a glance at his watch he sprang up in surprise. "I had no idea the
+evening had gone!" he exclaimed. "I have just time to see you home and
+get back to catch my train."
+
+He called a taxi and accompanied her into it. They seated themselves
+together, and the fragrance of her presence was very sweet about him.
+It would have been so easy to forget--all that he had been trying to
+forget--in the intoxication of such environment. Surely it was not
+necessary that he should go west--that he should see HER again--in order
+to be sure.
+
+"Phyllis," he breathed, "do you imagine I could undertake these things
+if I cared only for myself--if it were not that I longed for someone's
+approval--for someone to be proud of me? The strongest man is weak
+enough for that, and the strongest man is stronger when he knows that
+the woman he loves--"
+
+He would have taken her in his arms, but she resisted, gently, firmly.
+
+"You have made me think too much of you, Dennison," she whispered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+On the way west Grant gradually unfolded his plan to Linder, who
+accepted it with his customary stoicism.
+
+"I'm not very strong for a scheme that hasn't got any profits in it,"
+Linder confessed. "It doesn't sound human."
+
+"I don't notice that you have ever figured very high in profits on your
+own account," Grant retorted. "Your usefulness has been in making them
+for other people. I suppose if I would let you help to swell my bank
+account you would work for me for board and lodging, but as I refuse
+to do that I shall have to pay you three times Transley's rate. I don't
+know what he paid you, but I suspect that for every dollar you earned
+for yourself you earned two for him, so I am going to base your scale
+accordingly. You are to go on with the physical work at once; buy the
+horses, tractors, machinery; break up the land, fence it, build the
+houses and barns; in short, you are to superintend everything that is
+done with muscle or its substitute. I will bring Murdoch out shortly to
+take charge of the clerical details and the general organization. As for
+myself, after I have bought the land and placed the necessary funds to
+the credit of the company I propose to keep out of the limelight. I will
+be the heart of the undertaking; Murdoch will be the head, and you
+are to be the hands, and I hope you two conspirators won't give me
+palpitation. You think it a mistake to work without profits, but Murdoch
+thinks it a sin. When I lay my plans before him I am quite prepared to
+hear him insist upon calling in an alienist."
+
+"It's YOUR money," Linder assented, laconically. "What are YOU going to
+do?"
+
+"I'm going to buy a half section of my own, and I'm going to start
+myself on it on identically the same terms that I offer to the
+shareholders in my company. I want to prove by my own experience that
+it can be done, but I must keep away from the company. Human nature is
+a clinging vine at best, and I don't want it clinging about me. You
+will notice that my plan, unlike most communistic or socialist ventures,
+relieves the individual of no atom of responsibility. I give him the
+opportunity, but I put it up to him to make good with that opportunity.
+I have not overlooked the fact that a man is a man, and never can be
+made quite into a machine."
+
+The two friends discussed at great length the details of the Big
+Idea, and upon arrival in the West Linder lost no time in preparing
+blue-prints and charts descriptive of the improvements to be made on the
+land and the order in which the work was to be carried on. Grant bought
+a tract suitable to his purpose, and the wheels of the machine which
+was to blaze a path for the State were set in motion. When this had been
+done Grant turned to the working out of his own individual experiment.
+
+During the period in which these arrangements were being made it was
+inevitable that Grant should have heard more or less of Transley. He had
+not gone out of his way to seek information of the contractor, but it
+rather had been forced upon him. Transley's name was frequently heard in
+the offices of the business men with whom he had to do; it was
+mentioned in local papers with the regularity peculiar to celebrities in
+comparatively small centres. Transley, it appeared, had become something
+of a power in the land. Backed by old Y.D.'s capital he had carried some
+rather daring ventures through to success. He had seized the panicky
+moments following the outbreak of the war to buy heavily on the wheat
+and cattle markets, and increases in prices due to the world's demand
+for food had made him one of the wealthy men of the city. The desire of
+many young farmers to enlist had also afforded an opportunity to acquire
+their holdings for small considerations, and Transley had proved his
+patriotism by facilitating the ambitions of as many men in this position
+as came to his attention. The fact that even before the war ended the
+farms which he acquired in this way were worth several times the price
+he paid was only an incident in the transactions.
+
+But no word of Transley's domestic affairs reached Grant, who told
+himself that he had ceased to be interested in them, but kept an alert
+ear nevertheless. It would seem that Transley rather eclipsed his wife
+in the public eye.
+
+So Grant set about with the development of his own farm, and kept his
+mind occupied with it and with his larger experiment--except when it
+went flirting with thoughts of Phyllis Bruce. He was rather proud of
+the figure he had used to Linder, of the head, hands, and heart of
+his organization, but to himself he admitted that that figure was
+incomplete. There was a soul as well, and that soul was the girl whose
+inspiring presence had in some way jerked his mind out of the stagnant
+backwaters in which the war had left it. There was no doubt of that. He
+had written to Murdoch to come west and undertake new work for him. He
+had intimated that the change would be permanent, and that it might be
+well to bring the family....
+
+He selected a farm where a ridge of foothills overlooked a broad valley
+receding into the mountains. The dealer had no idea of selling him this
+particular piece of land; they were bound for a half section farther up
+the slope when Grant stopped on the brow of the hill to feast his
+eyes on the scene that lay before him. It burst upon him with the
+unexpectedness peculiar to the foothill valleys; miles of gently
+undulating plain, lying apparently far below, but in reality rising in
+a sharp ascent toward the snow-capped mountains looking down silently
+through their gauze of blue-purple afternoon mist. At distances which
+even his trained eye would not attempt to compute lay little round lakes
+like silver coins on the surface of the prairie; here and there were
+dark green bluffs of spruce; to the right a ribbon of river, blue-green
+save where the rapids churned it white, and along its edge a fringe of
+leafy cottonwoods; at vast intervals square black plots of plowed land
+like sections on a chess-board of the gods, and farm buildings cut so
+clear in the mountain atmosphere that the sense of space was lost and
+they seemed like child-houses just across the way.
+
+Grant turned to his companion with an animation in his face which almost
+startled the prosaic dealer in real estate.
+
+"Wonderful! Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "We don't need to go any farther
+if you can sell me this."
+
+"Sure I can sell you this," said the dealer, looking at him somewhat
+queerly. "That is, if you want it. I thought you were looking for a
+wheat farm."
+
+The man's total lack of appreciation irritated Grant unreasonably.
+"Wheat makes good hog fodder," he retorted, "but sunsets keep alive the
+soul. What is the price?"
+
+Again the dealer gave him a queer sidelong look, and made as though to
+argue with him, then suddenly seemed to change his purpose. Perhaps he
+reflected that strange things happened to the boys overseas.
+
+"I'll get you the price in town," he said. "You are sure it will suit?"
+
+"Suit? No king in Christendom has his palace on a site like this. I'd go
+round the world for it."
+
+"You're the doctor," said the dealer, turning his car.
+
+Grant completed the purchase, ordered lumber for a house and barn, and
+engaged a carpenter to superintend the construction. It was one of his
+whims that he would do most of the work himself.
+
+"I guess I'm rather a man of whims," he reflected, as he stood on
+the brow of the hill where the material for his buildings had been
+delivered. "It was a whim which first brought me west, and a whim which
+has brought me west again. I have a whim about my money, a whim about my
+farm, a whim about my buildings. I do not do as other people do, which
+is the unpardonable sin. To Linder I am a jester, to Murdoch a fanatic,
+to our friend the real estate dealer a fool; I even noticed my honest
+carpenter trying to ask me something about shell shock! Well--they're MY
+whims, and I get an immense amount of satisfaction out of them."
+
+The days that followed were the happiest Grant had known since
+childhood. The carpenter, a thin, twisted man, bowed with much labor at
+the bench, and answering to the name Peter, sold his services by the day
+and manifested a sympathy amounting to an indulgence toward the whims of
+his employer. So long as the wages were sure Peter cared not whether the
+house was finished this year or next--or not at all. He enjoyed Grant's
+cooking in the temporary work-shed they had built; he enjoyed Grant's
+stories of funny incidents of the war which would crop out at unexpected
+moments, and which were always good for a new pipe and a few minutes'
+rest; he even essayed certain flights of his own, which showed that
+Peter was a creature not entirely without humor. He developed an
+appreciation of scenery; he would stand for long intervals gazing across
+the valley. Grant was not deceived by these little devices, but he never
+took Peter to task for his loitering. He was prepared almost to suspend
+his rule that money must not be paid except for service rendered. "If
+the old dodger isn't quite paying his way now, no doubt he has more than
+paid it many times in the past," he mused. "This is an occasion upon
+which to temper justice with mercy."
+
+But it was in the planning and building of the house he found his real
+delight. He laid it out on very modest lines, as became the amount of
+money he was prepared to spend. It was to be a single-story bungalow,
+with veranda round the south and west. The living-room ran across the
+south side; into its east wall he built a capacious fireplace, with
+narrow slits of windows to right and left, and in the western wall were
+deep French windows commanding the magic of the view across the valley.
+The dining-room, too, faced to the west, with more French windows to let
+in sun and soul. The kitchen was to the east, and off the kitchen lay
+Grant's bedroom, facing also to the east, as becomes a man who rises
+early for his day's labors. And then facing the west, and opening off
+the dining-room, was what he was pleased to call his whim-room.
+
+The idea of the whim-room came upon him as he was working out plans on
+the smooth side of a board, and thinking about things in general, and
+a good deal about Phyllis Bruce, and wondering if he should ever run
+across Zen Transley. It struck him all of a sudden, as had the Big Idea
+that night when he was on his way home from Murdoch's house. He worked
+it out surreptitiously, not allowing even old Peter to see it until
+he had made it into his plan, and then he described it just as the
+whim-room. But it was to be by all means the best room in the house;
+special finishing and flooring lumber were to be bought for it; the
+fireplace had to be done in a peculiarly delicate tile; the French
+windows must be high and wide and of the most brilliant transparency....
+
+The ring of the saw, the trill of the plane, the thwack of the hammer,
+were very pleasant music in his ears. Day by day he watched his dwelling
+grow with the infinite joy of creating, and night after night he crept
+with Peter into the work-shed and slept the sleep of a man tired
+and contented. In the long summer evenings the sunlight hung like a
+champagne curtain over the mountains even after bedtime, and Grant had
+to cut a hole in the wall of the shed that he might watch the dying
+colors of the day fade from crimson to purple to blue on the tassels of
+cloud-wraith floating in the western sky. At times Linder and Murdoch
+would visit him to report progress on the Big Idea, and the three would
+sit on a bench in the half-built house, sweet with the fragrance of new
+sawdust, and smoke placidly while they determined matters of policy or
+administration. It had been something of a disappointment to Grant that
+Murdoch had not considered Phyllis Bruce one of "the family." He had
+left her, regretfully, in the East, but had made provision that she was
+still to have her room in the old Murdoch home.
+
+"Phyllis would have come west, and gladly, if I could have promised
+her a position," Murdoch explained, "but I could not do that, as I knew
+nothing of your plans, and a girl can't afford to trifle with her job
+these days, Mr. Grant."
+
+And Grant said nothing, but he thought of his whim-room, and smiled.
+
+Grant was almost sorry when the house was finished. "There's so much
+more enjoyment in doing things than in merely possessing them after
+they're done," he philosophized to Linder. "I think that must be the
+secret of the peculiar fascination of the West. The East, with all its
+culture and conveniences and beauty, can never win a heart which has
+once known the West. That is because in the East all the obvious things
+are done, but in the West they are still to do."
+
+"You should worry," said Linder. "You still have the plowing."
+
+"Yes, and as soon as the stable is finished I am going to buy four
+horses and get to work."
+
+"I supposed you would use a tractor."
+
+"Not this time. I can admire a piece of machinery, but I can't love it.
+I can love horses."
+
+"You'll be housing them in the whim-room," Linder remarked dryly, and
+had to jump to escape the hammer which his chief shied at him.
+
+But the plowing was really a great experience. Grant had an eye
+for horse-flesh, and the four dapple-greys which pressed their fine
+shoulders into the harness of his breaking plow might have delighted
+the heart of any teamster. As he sat on his steel seat and watched the
+colter cut the firm sod with brittle cracking sound as it snapped the
+tough roots of the wild roses, or looking back saw the regular terraces
+of shiny black mould which marked his progress, he felt that he was
+engaged in a rite of almost sacramental significance.
+
+"To take a substance straight from the hand of the Creator and be the
+first in all the world to impose a human will upon it is surely an
+occasion for solemnity and thanksgiving," he soliloquized. "How can
+anyone be so gross as to see only materialism in such work as this?
+Surely it has something of fundamental religion in it! Just as from the
+soil springs all physical life, may it not be that deep down in the soil
+are, some way, the roots of the spiritual? The soil feeds the city in
+two ways; it fills its belly with material food, and it is continually
+re-vitalizing its spirit with fresh streams of energy which can come
+only from the land. Up from the soil comes all life, all progress, all
+development--"
+
+At that moment Grant's plowshare struck a submerged boulder, and he was
+dumped precipitately into that element which he had been so generously
+apostrophizing. The well-trained horses came to a stop as he gathered
+himself up, none the worse, and regained his seat.
+
+"That WAS a spill," he commented. "Ditched not only myself, but my whole
+train of thought. Never mind; perhaps I was dangerously close to the
+development of a new whim, and I am well supplied in that particular
+already. Hello, whom have we here?"
+
+The horses had come to a stop a short distance before the end of the
+furrow, and Grant, glancing ahead, saw immediately in front of them a
+little chap of four or five obstructing the way. He stood astride of
+the furrow with widespread legs bridging the distance from the virgin
+prairie to the upturned sod. He was hatless, and curls of silky yellow
+hair fell about his round, bright face. His hands were stuck obtrusively
+in his trouser pockets.
+
+"Well, son, what's the news?" said Grant, when the two had measured each
+other for a moment.
+
+"I got braces," the boy replied proudly. "Don't you see?"
+
+"Why, so you have!" Grant exclaimed. "Come around here until I see them
+better."
+
+So encouraged, the little chap came skipping around the horses, and
+exhibited his braces for Grant's admiration. But he had already become
+interested in another subject.
+
+"Are these your horses?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will they bite?"
+
+"Why, no, I don't believe they would. They have been very well brought
+up."
+
+"What do you call them?"
+
+"This one is Prince, on the left, and the others are Queen, and King,
+and Knave. I call him Knave because he's always scheming, trying to get
+out of his share of the work, and I make him walk on the plowed land,
+too."
+
+"That serves him right," the boy declared. "What's your name?"
+
+"Why--what's yours?"
+
+"Wilson."
+
+"Wilson what?"
+
+"Just Wilson."
+
+"What does your mother call you?"
+
+"Just Wilson. Sometimes daddy calls me Bill."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Call me The Man on the Hill."
+
+"Do you live on the hill?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is that your house?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you make it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"All yourself?"
+
+"No. Peter helped me."
+
+"Who's Peter?"
+
+"He is the man who helped me."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+These credentials exchanged, the boy fell silent, while Grant looked
+down upon him with a whimsical admixture of humor and tenderness.
+Suddenly, without a word, the boy dashed as fast as his legs could carry
+him to the end of the field, and plunged into a clump of bushes. In a
+moment he emerged with something brown and chubby in his arms.
+
+"He's my teddy," he said to Grant. "He was watching in the bushes to see
+if you were a nice man."
+
+"And am I?" Grant was tempted to ask.
+
+"Yes." There was no evasion about Wilson. He approved of his new
+acquaintance, and said so.
+
+"Let us give teddy a ride on Prince?"
+
+"Let's!"
+
+Grant carefully arranged teddy on the horse's hames, and the boy clapped
+his hands with delight.
+
+"Now let us all go for a ride. You will sit on my knee, and teddy will
+drive Prince."
+
+He took the boy carefully on his knee, driving with one hand and holding
+him in place with the other. The little body resting confidently against
+his side was a new experience for Grant.
+
+"We must drive carefully," he remarked. "Here and there are big stones
+hidden in the grass. If we were to hit one it might dump us off."
+
+The little chap chuckled. "Nothing could dump you off," he said.
+
+Grant reflected that such implicit and unwarranted confidence implied a
+great responsibility, and he drove with corresponding care. A mishap now
+might nip this very delightful little bud of hero-worship.
+
+They turned the end of the furrow with a fine jingle of loose
+trace-chains, and Prince trotted a little on account of being on the
+outer edge of the semicircle. The boy clapped his hands again as teddy
+bounced up and down on the great shoulders.
+
+"Have you a little boy?" he asked, when they were started again.
+
+"Why, no," Grant confessed, laughing at the question.
+
+"Why?"
+
+There was no evading this childish inquisitor. He had a way of pursuing
+a subject to bedrock.
+
+"Well, you see, I've no wife."
+
+"No mother?"
+
+"No--no wife. You see--"
+
+"But I have a mother--"
+
+"Of course, and she is your daddy's wife. You see they have to have
+that--"
+
+Grant found himself getting into deep water, but the sharp little
+intellect had cut a corner and was now ahead of him.
+
+"Then I'll be your little boy," he said, and, clambering up to Grant's
+shoulder pressed a kiss on his cheek. In a sudden burst of emotion Grant
+brought his team to a stop and clasped the little fellow in both his
+arms. For a moment everything seemed misty.
+
+"And I have lived to be thirty-two years old and have never known what
+this meant," he said to himself.
+
+"Daddy's hardly ever home, anyway," the boy added, naively.
+
+"Where is your home?"
+
+"Down beside the river. We live there in summer."
+
+And so the conversation continued and the acquaintanceship grew as man
+and boy plied back and forth on their mile-long furrow. At length
+it occurred to Grant that he should send Wilson home; the boy's long
+absence might be occasioning some uneasiness. They stopped at the end
+of the field and carefully removed teddy from his place of prestige,
+but just at that moment a horsefly buzzing about caused Prince to stamp
+impatiently, and the big hoof came down on the boy's foot. Wilson sent
+up a cry proportionate to the possibilities of the occasion, and Grant
+in alarm tore off the boot and stocking. Fortunately the soil had been
+soft, and the only damage done was a slight bruise across the upper part
+of the foot.
+
+"There, there," said Grant, soothingly, caressing the injury with his
+fingers. "It will be all right in a minute. Prince didn't mean to do it,
+and besides, I've seen much worse than that at the war."
+
+At the mention of war the boy suspended a cry half uttered.
+
+"Were you at the war?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you kill a German?"
+
+"I've seen a German killed," said Grant, evading a question which no
+soldier cares to discuss.
+
+"Did you kill 'em in the tummy?" the boy persisted.
+
+"We'll talk about that to-morrow. Now you hop up on to my shoulders, and
+I'll tie the horses and then carry you home."
+
+He followed the boy's directions until they led him to a path running
+among pleasant trees down by the river. Presently he caught a glimpse
+of a cottage in a little open space, its brown shingled walls almost
+smothered in a riot of sweet peas.
+
+"That's our house. Don't you like it?" said the boy, who had already
+forgotten his injury.
+
+"I think it is splendid." And Grant, taking his young charge from his
+shoulder, stepped up on to the porch and knocked at the screen door.
+
+In a moment it was opened by Zen Transley.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Sitting on his veranda that evening while the sun dropped low over the
+mountains and the sound of horses munching contentedly came up from the
+stables, Grant for the twentieth time turned over in his mind the events
+of a day that was to stand out as an epochal one in his career. The
+meeting with the little boy and the quick friendship and confidence
+which had been formed between them; the mishap, and the trip to the
+house by the river--these were logical and easily followed. But why, of
+all the houses in the world, should it have been Zen Transley's house?
+Why, of all the little boys in the world, should this have been the son
+of his rival and the only girl he had ever--the girl he had loved most
+in all his life? Surely events are ordered to some purpose; surely
+everything is not mere haphazard chance! The fatalism of the trenches
+forbade any other conclusion; and if this was so, why had he been thrown
+into the orbit of Zen Transley? He had not sought her; he had not dreamt
+of her once in all that morning while her child was winding innocent
+tendrils of affection about his heart. And yet--how the boy had gripped
+him! Could it be that in some way he was a small incarnation of the Zen
+of the Y.D., with all her clamorous passion expressed now in childish
+love and hero-worship? Had some intelligence above his own guided him
+into this environment, deliberately inviting him to defy conventions
+and blaze a path of broader freedom for himself, and for her? These were
+questions he wrestled with as the shadows crept down the mountain slopes
+and along the valley at his feet.
+
+For neither Zen nor himself had connived at the situation which had
+made them, of all the people in the world, near neighbors in this silent
+valley. Her surprise on meeting him at the door had been as genuine as
+his. When she had made sure that the boy was not seriously hurt she had
+turned to him, and instinctively he had known that there are some things
+which all the weight of passing years can never crush entirely dead. He
+loved to rehearse her words, her gestures, the quick play of sympathetic
+emotions as one by one he reviewed them.
+
+"You! I am surprised--I had not known--" She had become confused in her
+greeting, and a color that she would have given worlds to suppress crept
+slowly through her cheeks.
+
+"I am surprised, too--and delighted," he had returned. "The little boy
+came to me in the field, boasting of his braces." Then they had both
+laughed, and she had asked him to come in and tell about himself.
+
+The living-room, as he recalled it, was marked by the simplicity
+appropriate to the summer home, with just a dash of elegance in the
+furnishings to suggest that simplicity was a matter of choice and not of
+necessity. After soothing Wilson's sobs, which had broken out afresh in
+his mother's arms, she had turned him over to a maid and drawn a chair
+convenient to Grant's.
+
+"You see, I am a farmer now," he had said, apologetically regarding his
+overalls.
+
+"What changes have come! But I don't understand; I thought you were
+rich--very rich--and that you were promoting some kind of settlement
+scheme. Frank has spoken of it."
+
+"All of which is true. You see, I am a man of whims. I choose to live
+joyously. I refuse to fit into a ready-made niche in society. I do what
+other people don't do--mainly for that reason. I have some peculiar
+notions--"
+
+"I know. You told me." And it was then that their eyes had met and they
+had fallen into a momentary silence.
+
+"But why are you farming?" she had exclaimed, brightly.
+
+"For several reasons. First, the world needs food. Food is the greatest
+safeguard--I would almost say the only safeguard--against anarchy
+and chaos. Then, I want to learn by experience; to prove by my own
+demonstrations that my theories are workable--or that they're not. And
+then, most of all, I love the prairies and the open life. It's my whim,
+and I follow it."
+
+"You are very wonderful," she had murmured. And then, with startling
+directness, "Are you happy?"
+
+"As happy as I have any right to be. Happier than I have been since
+childhood."
+
+She had risen and walked to the mantelpiece; then, with an apparent
+change of impulse, she had turned and faced him. He had noted that
+her figure was rounder than in girlhood, her complexion paler, but the
+sunlight still danced in her hair, and her reckless force had given way
+to a poise that suggested infinite resources of character.
+
+"Frank has done well, too," she had said.
+
+"So I have heard. I am told that he has done very well indeed."
+
+"He has made money, and he is busy and excited over his pursuit of
+success--what he calls success. He has given it his life. He thinks of
+nothing else--"
+
+She had stopped suddenly, as though her tongue had trapped her into
+saying more than she had intended.
+
+"What do you think of my summer home?" she had exclaimed, abruptly.
+"Come out and admire the sweet peas," and with a gay little flourish
+she had led him into the garden. "They tell me Western flowers have
+a brilliance and a fragrance which the East, with all its advantages,
+cannot duplicate. Is that true?"
+
+"I believe it is. The East has greater profusion--more varieties--but
+the individual qualities do not seem to be so well developed."
+
+"I see you know something of Eastern flowers," she had said, and he
+fancied he had caught a note of banter--or was it inquiry?--in her
+voice. Then, with another abrupt change of subject, she had made
+him describe his house on the hill. But he had said nothing of the
+whim-room.
+
+"I must go," he had exclaimed at length. "I left the horses tied in the
+field."
+
+"So you must. I shall let Wilson visit you frequently, if he is not a
+trouble."
+
+Then she had chosen a couple of blooms and pinned them on his coat,
+laughingly overriding his protest that they consorted poorly with his
+costume. And she had shaken hands and said good-bye in the manner of
+good friends parting.
+
+The more Grant thought of it the more was he convinced that in her case,
+as in his own, the years had failed to extinguish the spark kindled in
+the foothills that night so long ago. He reminded himself continually
+that she was Transley's wife, and even while granting the irrevocability
+of that fact he was demanding to know why Fate had created for them both
+an atmosphere charged with unspoken possibilities. He had turned her
+words over again and again, reflecting upon the abrupt angles her speech
+had taken. In their few minutes' conversation three times she had had
+to make a sudden tack to safer subjects. What had she meant by that
+reference to Eastern and Western flowers? His answer reminded him how
+well he knew. And the confession about her husband, the worshipper of
+success--"what he calls success"--how much tragedy lay under those light
+words?
+
+The valley was filled with shadow, and the level rays of the setting sun
+fell on the young man's face and splashed the hill-tops with gold and
+saffron as within his heart raged the age-old battle.... But as yet he
+felt none of its wounds. He was conscious only of a wholly irrational
+delight.
+
+As the next forenoon passed Grant found himself glancing with increasing
+frequency toward the end of the field where the little boy might be
+expected to appear. But the day wore on without sign of his young
+friend, and the furrows which he had turned so joyously at nine were
+dragging leadenly at eleven. He had not thought it possible that a child
+could so quickly have won a way to his affections. He fell to wondering
+as to the cause of the boy's absence. Had Zen, after a night's
+reflection, decided that it was wiser not to allow the acquaintance to
+develop? Had Transley, returning home, placed his veto upon it? Or--and
+his heart paused at this prospect--had the foot been more seriously hurt
+than they had supposed? Grant told himself that he must go over that
+night and make inquiry. That would be the neighborly thing to do....
+
+But early that afternoon his heart was delighted by the sight of a
+little figure skipping joyously over the furrows toward him. He had his
+hat crumpled in one hand, and his teddy-bear in the other, and his face
+was alive with excitement. He was puffing profusely when he pulled up
+beside the plow, and Grant stopped the team while he got his breath.
+
+"My! My! What is the hurry? I see the foot is all better."
+
+"We got a pig!" the lad gasped, when he could speak.
+
+"A pig!"
+
+"Yessir! A live one, too! He's awful big. A man brought him in a wagon.
+That is why I couldn't come this morning."
+
+Grant treated himself to a humble reflection upon the wisdom of childish
+preferments.
+
+"What are you going to do with him?"
+
+"Eat him up, I guess. Daddy said there was enough wasted about our house
+to keep a pig, so we got one. Aren't you going to take me up?"
+
+"Of course. But first we must put teddy in his place."
+
+"I'm to go home at five o'clock," the boy said, when he had got properly
+settled.
+
+The hours slipped by all too quickly, and if the lad's presence did not
+contribute to good plowing, it at least made a cheerful plowman. It was
+plain that Zen had sufficient confidence in her farmer neighbor to trust
+her boy in his care, and his frequent references to his mother had an
+interest for Grant which he could not have analyzed or explained. During
+the afternoon the merits of the pig were sung and re-sung, and at last
+Wilson, after kissing his friend on the cheek and whispering, "I like
+you, Uncle Man-on-the-Hill," took his teddy-bear under his arm and
+plodded homeward.
+
+The next morning he came again, but mournfully and slow. There were tear
+stains on the little round cheeks.
+
+"Why, son, what had happened?" said Grant, his abundant sympathies
+instantly responding.
+
+"Teddy's spoiled," the child sobbed. "I set him--on the side of--the pig
+pen, and he fell'd in, and the big pig et him--ate him--up. He didn't
+'zactly eat him up, either--just kind of chewed him, like."
+
+"Well that certainly is too bad. But then, you're going to eat the pig
+some day, so that will square it, won't it?"
+
+"I guess it will," said the boy, brightening. "I never thought of that."
+
+"But we must have a teddy for Prince. See, he is looking around, waiting
+for it." Grant folded his coat into the shape of a dummy and set it up
+on the hames, and all went merrily again.
+
+That afternoon, which was Saturday, the boy came thoughtfully and
+with an air of much importance. Delving into a pocket he produced an
+envelope, somewhat crumpled in transit. It was addressed, "The Man on
+the Hill."
+
+Grant tore it open eagerly and read this note:
+
+
+"DEAR MAN-ON-THE-HILL,--That is the name Wilson calls you, so perhaps
+you will let me use it, too. Frank is to be home to-morrow, and will you
+come and have dinner with us at six? My father and mother will be here,
+and possibly one or two others. You had a clash with my men-folk once,
+but you will find them ready enough to make allowance for, even if they
+fail to understand, your point of view. Do come.--ZEN.
+
+"P.S.--It just occurs to me that your associates in your colonization
+scheme may want to claim your time on Sunday. If any of them come out,
+bring them along. Our table is an extension one, and its capacity has
+never yet been exhausted."
+
+
+Although Grant's decision was made at once he took some time for
+reflection before writing an acceptance. He was to enter Zen's house
+on her invitation, but under the auspices, so to speak, of husband and
+parents. That was eminently proper. Zen was a sensible girl. Then there
+was a reference to that ancient squabble in the hay meadow. It was
+evidently her plan to see the hatchet buried and friendly relations
+established all around. Eminently proper and sensible.
+
+He turned the sheet over and wrote on the back:
+
+
+"DEAR ZEN,--Delighted to come. May have a couple of friends with me, one
+of whom you have seen before. Prepare for an appetite long denied the
+joys of home cooking.--D. G."
+
+
+It was not until after the child had gone home that Grant remembered he
+had addressed Transley's wife by her Christian name. That was the way he
+always thought of her, and it slipped on to paper quite naturally. Well,
+it couldn't be helped now.
+
+Grant unhitched early and hurried to his house and the telephone. In a
+few minutes he had Linder on the line.
+
+"Hello, Linder? I want you to go to a store for me and buy a
+teddy-bear."
+
+The chuckle at the other end of the line irritated Grant. Linder had a
+strange sense of humor.
+
+"I mean it. A big teddy, with electric eyes, and a deep bass growl, if
+they make 'em that way. The best you can get. Fetch it out to-morrow
+afternoon, and come decently dressed, for once. Bring Murdoch along if
+you can pry him loose."
+
+Grant hung up the receiver. "Stupid chap, Linder, some ways," he
+muttered. "Why shouldn't I buy a teddy-bear if I want to?"
+
+Sunday afternoon saw the arrival of Linder and Murdoch, with the largest
+teddy the town afforded. "What is the big idea now?" Linder demanded, as
+he delivered it into Grant's hands.
+
+"It is for a little boy I know who has been bereaved of his first
+teddy by the activities of the family pig. You will renew some pleasant
+acquaintanceships, Linder. You remember Transley and his wife--Zen, of
+the Y.D?"
+
+"You don't say! Thanks for that tip about dressing up. I may explain,"
+Linder continued, turning to Murdoch, "there was a time when I might
+have been an also-ran in the race for Y.D.'s daughter, only Transley
+beat me on the getaway."
+
+"You!" Grant exclaimed, incredulously.
+
+"You, too!" Linder returned, a great light dawning.
+
+"Well, Mr. Grant," said Murdoch, "I brought you a good cigar, bought at
+the company's expense. It comes out of the organization fund. You must
+be sick of those cheap cigars."
+
+"Since the war it is nothing but Player's," Grant returned, taking
+the proffered cigar. "They tell me it has revolutionized the tobacco
+business. However, this does smell a bit all right. How goes our
+venture, Murdoch? Have I any prospect of being impoverished in a worthy
+cause?"
+
+"None whatever. Your foreman here is spending every dollar in a way
+to make you two in spite of your daft notion--begging your pardon,
+sir--about not taking profits. The subscribers are coming along for
+stock, but fingering it gently, as though they can't well believe
+there's no catch in it. They say it doesn't look reasonable, and I tell
+them no more it is."
+
+"And then they buy it?"
+
+"Aye, they do. That's human nature. There's as many members booked now
+as can be accommodated in the first colony. I suppose they reason that
+they will be sure of their winter's housing, anyway."
+
+"You don't seem to have much faith in human nature, Murdoch."
+
+"Nor have I. Not in that kind of human nature which is always wanting
+something for nothing."
+
+Linder's report was more cheerful. The houses and barns were built and
+were now being painted, the plowing was done, and the fences were being
+run. By the use of a triangular system of survey twelve farm homes had
+been centralized in one little community where a community building
+would be erected which would be used as a school in daytime, a
+motion-picture house at night, and a church on Sunday. A community
+secretary would have his office here, and would have charge of a select
+little library of fiction, poetry, biography, and works of reference.
+The leading periodicals dealing with farm problems, sociology, and
+economics, as well as lighter subjects, would be on file. In connection
+with this building would be an assembly-room suitable for dances,
+social events, and theatricals, and equipped with a player piano and
+concert-size talking machine. Arrangements were being made for a weekly
+exchange of records, for a weekly musical evening by artists from
+the city, for a semi-monthly vaudeville show, and for Sunday meetings
+addressed by the best speakers on the more serious topics of the time.
+
+"What has surprised me in making these arrangements," Linder confessed,
+"is the comparatively small outlay they involve. The building will cost
+no more than many communities spend on school and church which they use
+thirty hours a week and three hours a week respectively. This one can be
+used one hundred and sixty-eight hours a week, if needed. Lecturers on
+many subjects can be had for paying their expenses; in some cases they
+are employed by the Government, and will come without cost. Amateur
+theatrical companies from the city will be glad to come in return for
+an appreciative audience and a dance afterward, with a good fill-up on
+solid farm cooking. Even some of the professionals can be had on these
+terms. Of course, before long we will produce our own theatricals.
+
+"Then there is to be a plunge bath big enough to swim in, open to men
+and women alternate nights, and to children every day. There will be a
+pool-room, card-room, and refreshment buffet; also a quiet little room
+for women's social events, and an emergency hospital ward. I think we
+should hire a trained nurse who would not be too dignified to cook and
+serve meals when there's no business doing in the hospital. You know
+how everyone gets hankering now and then for a meal from home,--not that
+it's any better, but it's different. I suppose there are farmer's wives
+who don't get a meal away from home once a year. I'm going to change all
+that, if I have to turn cook myself!"
+
+"Bully for you, Linder!" said Grant, clapping him on the shoulder. "I
+believe you actually are enthusiastic for once."
+
+"I understand my orders are to make the country give the city a run for
+its money, and I'm going to do it, or break you. If all I've mentioned
+won't do it I've another great scheme in storage."
+
+"Good! What is it?"
+
+"I am inventing a machine that will make a noise like a trolley-car and
+a smell like a sewer. That will add the last touch in city refinements."
+
+When the laugh over Linder's invention had subsided Murdoch broached
+another.
+
+"The office work is becoming pretty heavy, Mr. Grant, and I'm none too
+confident in the help I have. Now if I could send for Miss Bruce--"
+
+"What do you think you should pay her?"
+
+"I should say she is worth a hundred dollars a month."
+
+"Then she must be worth two hundred. Wire her to come and start her at
+that figure."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Promptly at six Linder drew his automobile up in front of the Transley
+summer home with Grant and Murdoch on board. Wilson had been watching,
+and rushed down upon them, but before he could clamber up on Grant
+a great teddy-bear was thrust into his arms and sent him, wild with
+delight, to his mother.
+
+"Look, mother! Look what The-Man-on-the-Hill brought! See! He has fire
+in his eyes!"
+
+Transley and Y.D. met the guests at the gate. "How do, Grant? Glad to
+see you, old man," said Transley, shaking his hand cordially. "The wife
+has had so many good words for you I am almost jealous. What ho, Linder!
+By all that's wonderful! You old prairie dog, why did you never look me
+up? I was beginning to think the Boche had got you."
+
+Grant introduced Murdoch, and Y.D. received them as cordially as had
+Transley. "Glad to see you fellows back," he exclaimed. "I al'us said
+the Western men 'ud put a crimp in the Kaiser, spite o' hell an' high
+water!"
+
+"One thing the war has taught us," said Grant, modestly, "is that men
+are pretty much alike, whether they come from west or east or north or
+south. No race has a monopoly of heroism."
+
+"Well, come on in," Transley beckoned, leading the way. "Dinner will be
+ready sharp on time twenty minutes late. Not being a married man, Grant,
+you will not understand that reckoning. You'll have to excuse Mrs.
+Transley a few minutes; she's holding down the accelerator in the
+kitchen. Come in; I want you to meet Squiggs."
+
+Squiggs proved to be a round man with huge round tortoise-shell glasses
+and round red face to match. He shook hands with a manner that suggested
+that in doing so he was making rather a good fellow of himself.
+
+"We must have a little lubrication, for Y.D.'s sake," said Transley,
+producing a bottle and glasses. "I suppose it was the dust on the plains
+that gave these old cow punchers a thirst which never can be slaked.
+These be evil days for the old-timers. Grant?"
+
+"Not any, thanks."
+
+"No? Well, there's no accounting for tastes. Squiggs?"
+
+"I'm a lawyer," said Squiggs, "and as booze is now ultra vires I do
+my best to keep it down," and Mr. Squiggs beamed genially upon his
+pleasantry and the full glass in his hand.
+
+"I take a snort when I want it and I don't care who knows it," said Y.D.
+"I al'us did, and I reckon I'll keep on to the finish. It didn't snuff
+me out in my youth and innocence, anyway. Just the same, I'm admittin'
+it's bad medicine in onskilful hands. Here's ho!"
+
+The glasses had just been drained when Mrs. Transley entered the room,
+flushed but radiant from a strenuous half hour in the kitchen.
+
+"Well, here you are!" she exclaimed. "So glad you could come, Mr. Grant.
+Why, Mr. Linder! Of all people--This IS a pleasure. And Mr.--?"
+
+"Mr. Murdoch," Transley supplied.
+
+"My chief of staff; the man who persists in keeping me rich," Grant
+elaborated.
+
+"I mustn't keep you waiting longer. Dinner is ready. Dad, you are to
+carve."
+
+"Hanged if I will! I'm a guest here, and I stand on my rights," Y.D.
+exploded.
+
+"Then you must do it, Frank."
+
+"I suppose so," said Transley, "although all I get out of a meal when
+I have to carve is splashing and profanity. You know, Squiggs, I've
+figured it out that this practice of requiring the nominal head of the
+house to carve has come down from the days when there wasn't usually
+enough to go 'round, and the carver had to make some fine decisions
+and, perhaps, maintain them by force. It has no place under modern
+civilization."
+
+"Except that someone must do it, and it's about the only household
+responsibility man has not been able to evade," said Mrs. Transley.
+
+As they entered the dining-room Zen's mother, whiter and it seemed
+even more distinguished by the years, joined them, accompanied by Mrs.
+Squiggs, a thin woman much concerned about social status, and the party
+was complete.
+
+Transley managed the carving more skilfully than his protest might have
+suggested, and there was a lull in the conversation while the first
+demands of appetite were being satisfied.
+
+"Tell us about your settlement scheme, Mr. Grant," Mrs. Transley
+urged when it seemed necessary to find a topic. "Mr. Grant has quite a
+wonderful plan."
+
+"Yes, wise us up, old man," said Transley. "I've heard something of it,
+but never could see through it."
+
+"It's all very simple," Grant explained. "I am providing the capital to
+start a few families on farms. Instead of lending the money directly to
+them I am financing a company in which each farmer must subscribe for
+stock to the value of the land he is to occupy. His stock he will pay
+for with a part of the proceeds of each year's crop, until it is paid in
+full, when he becomes a paid-up shareholder, subject to no further call
+except a levy which may be made for running expenses."
+
+"And then your advances are returned to you with interest," Squiggs
+suggested. "A very creditable plan of benefaction; very creditable,
+indeed."
+
+"No, that is not the idea. In the first place, I am accepting no
+interest on my advances, and in the second place the money, when repaid
+by the shareholders, will not be returned to me, but will be used to
+establish another colony on the same basis, and so on--the movement will
+be extended from group to group."
+
+Mr. Squiggs readjusted his large round tortoise-shell glasses.
+
+"Do I understand that you are charging no interest?"
+
+"Not a cent."
+
+"Then where do YOU come in?"
+
+"I had hoped to make it clear that I am not seeking to 'come in.' You
+see, the money I am doing this with is not really mine at all."
+
+"Not yours?" cried a chorus of voices.
+
+"No. Mr. Squiggs, you are a lawyer, and therefore a man of perspicuity
+and accurate definitions. What is money?"
+
+"You flatter me. I should say that money is a medium for the exchange of
+value."
+
+"Very well. Therefore, if a man accepts money without giving value for
+it in exchange he is violating the fundamental principle underlying the
+use of money. He is, in short, an economic outlaw."
+
+"I am afraid I don't follow you."
+
+"Let me illustrate by my own experience, and that of my family. My
+father was possessed of a piece of land which at one time had little or
+no value. Eventually it became of great value, not through anything he
+had done, but as a result of the natural law that births exceed deaths.
+Yet he, although he had done nothing to create this value, was able,
+through a faulty economic system, to pocket the proceeds. Then, as
+a result of the advantages which his wealth gave him, he was able to
+extract from society throughout all the remainder of his life value out
+of all proportion to any return he made for it. Finally it came down to
+me. Holding my peculiar belief, which my right and left bower consider
+sinful and silly respectively, I found money forced upon me, regardless
+of the fact that I had given absolutely no value in exchange. Now if
+money is a medium for the exchange of value and I receive money without
+giving value for it, it is plain that someone else must have parted
+with money without receiving value in return. The thing is basically
+immoral."
+
+"Your father couldn't take it with him."
+
+"But why should _I_ have it? I never contributed a finger-weight of
+service for it. From society the money came and to society it should
+return."
+
+"You should worry," said Transley. "Society isn't worrying over you.
+Some more of the roast beef?"
+
+"No, thank you. But to come down to date. It seems that I cannot get
+away from this wealth which dogs me at every turn. Before enlisting I
+had been margining certain steel stocks, purely in the ordinary course
+of affairs. With the demands made by the war on the steel industry my
+stocks went up in price and my good friend Murdoch was able to report
+that it had made a fortune for me while I was overseas.... And we call
+ourselves an intelligent people!"
+
+"And so we are," said Mr. Squiggs. "We stick to a system we know to
+be sound. It has weathered all the gales of the past, and promises to
+weather those of the future. I tell you, Grant, communism won't
+work. You can't get away from the principle of individual reward for
+individual effort."
+
+"My dear fellow, that's exactly what I'm pleading for. I have no
+patience with any claim that all men are equal, or capable of rendering
+equal service to society, and I want payment to be made according to
+service rendered, not according to the freaks of a haphazard system such
+as I have been trying to describe."
+
+"But how are you going to bring that golden age about?" Murdoch
+inquired.
+
+"By education. The first thing is to accept the principle that wealth
+cannot be accepted except in exchange for full-measure service. You,
+Mrs. Transley--you teach your little boy that he must not steal. As he
+grows older simply widen your definition of theft to include receiving
+value without giving value in exchange. When all the mothers begin
+teaching that principle the golden age which Mr. Murdoch inquires about
+will be in sight."
+
+"How would you drive it home?" said Y.D. "We have too many laws
+already."
+
+"Let us agree on that. The acceptance of this principle will make half
+the laws now cluttering our statute books unnecessary. I merely urge
+that we should treat the CAUSE of our economic malady rather than the
+symptoms."
+
+"Theoretically your idea has much to commend it, but it is quite
+impracticable," Mr. Squiggs announced with some finality. "It could
+never be brought into effect."
+
+"If a corporation can determine the value of the service rendered by
+each of its hundred thousand employees, why cannot a nation determine
+the value of the service rendered by each of its hundred million
+citizens?"
+
+"THERE'S something for you to chew on, Squiggs," said Transley. "You
+argue your case well, Grant; I believe you have our legal light rather
+feazed--that's the word, isn't it, Mr. Murdoch?--for once. I confess a
+good deal of sympathy with your point of view, but I'm afraid you can't
+change human nature."
+
+"I am not trying to do that. All that needs changing is the popular idea
+of what is right and what is wrong. And that idea is changing with a
+rapidity which is startling. Before the war the man who made money, by
+almost any means, was set up on a pedestal called Success. Moralists
+pointed to him as one to be emulated; Sunday school papers printed
+articles to show that any boy might follow in his footsteps and become
+great and respected. To-day, for following precisely the same practices,
+the nation demands that he be thrown into prison; the Press heaps
+contumely upon him; he has become an object of suspicion in the popular
+eye. This change, world wide and quite unforeseen, has come about in
+five years."
+
+"Is that due to a new sense of right and wrong, or to just old-fashioned
+envy of the rich which now feels strong enough to threaten where it used
+to fawn?" Y.D.'s wife asked, and Grant was spared a hard answer by the
+rancher's interruption, "Hit the profiteer as hard as you like. He's got
+no friends."
+
+"That depends upon who is the profiteer--a point which no one seems
+to have settled. In the cities you may even hear prosperous ranchers
+included in that class--absurd as that must seem to you," Grant added,
+with a smile to Y.D. "Require every man to give service according to
+his returns and you automatically eliminate all profiteers, large and
+small."
+
+"But you will admit," said Mrs. Squiggs, "that we must have some
+well-off people to foster culture and give tone to society generally?"
+
+"I agree that the boy who is brought up in a home with a bath tub, and
+all that that stands for, is likely to be a better citizen than the boy
+who doesn't have that advantage. That's why I want every home to have a
+bath tub."
+
+Mrs. Squiggs subsided rather heavily. In youth her Saturday night
+ablutions had been taken in the middle of the kitchen floor.
+
+"I have a good deal of sympathy," said Transley, "with any movement
+which has for its purpose the betterment of human conditions. Any
+successful man of to-day will admit, if he is frank about it, that he
+owes his success as much to good luck as to good judgment. If you could
+find a way, Grant, to take the element of luck out of life, perhaps
+you would be doing a service which would justify you in keeping
+those millions which worry you so. But I can't see that it makes any
+difference to the prosperity of a country who owns the wealth in it, so
+long as the wealth is there and is usefully employed. Money doesn't
+grow unless it works, and if it works it serves Society just the same as
+muscle does. You could put all your wealth in a strong-box and bury it
+under your house up there on the hill, and it wouldn't increase a nickel
+in a thousand years, but if you put it to work it makes money for
+you and money for other people as well. I'm a little nervous about
+new-fangled notions. It's easier to wreck the ship than to build a new
+one, which may not sail any better. What the world needs to-day is the
+gospel of hard work, and everybody, rich and poor, on the job for all
+that's in him. That's the only way out."
+
+"We seem to have much in common," Grant returned. "Hard work is the only
+way out, and the best way to encourage hard work is to find a system by
+which every man will be rewarded according to the service rendered."
+
+At this point Mrs. Transley arose, and the men moved out into the
+living-room to chat on less contentious subjects. After a time the women
+joined them, and Grant presently found himself absorbed in conversation
+with the old rancher's wife. Zen seemed to pay but little attention
+to him, and for the first time he began to realize what consummate
+actresses women are. Had Transley been the most suspicious of
+husbands--and in reality his domestic vision was as guileless as that of
+a boy--he could have caught no glint of any smoldering spark of the long
+ago. Grant found himself thinking of this dissembling quality as one of
+nature's provisions designed for the protection of women, much as the
+sombre plumage of the prairie chicken protects her from the eye of the
+sportsman. For after all the hunting instinct runs through all men, be
+the game what it may.
+
+Before they realized how the time had flown Linder was protesting
+that he must be on his way. At the gate Transley put a hand on Grant's
+shoulder.
+
+"I'm prepared to admit," he said, "that there's a whole lot in this old
+world that needs correcting, but I'm not sure that it can be corrected.
+You have a right to try out your experiments, but take a tip and keep
+a comfortable cache against the day when you'll want to settle down and
+take things as they are. It is true and always has been true that a man
+who is worth his salt, when he wants a thing, takes it--or goes down
+in the attempt. The loser may squeal, but that seems to be the path of
+progress. You can't beat it."
+
+"Well, we'll see," said Grant, laughing. "Sometimes two men, each worth
+his salt, collide."
+
+"As in the meadow of the South Y.D.," said Transley, with a smile. "You
+remember that, Y.D.--when our friend here upset the haying operations?"
+
+"Sure, I remember, but I'm not holdin' it agin him now. A dead horse is
+a dead horse, an' I don't go sniffin' it."
+
+"Perhaps I ought to say, though," Grant returned, "that I really do not
+know how the iron pegs got into that meadow."
+
+"And I don't know how your haystacks got afire, but I can guess.
+Remember Drazk? A little locoed, an' just the crittur to pull off a fool
+stunt like that. When the fire swept up the valley, instead of down, he
+made his get-away and has never been seen since. I reckon likely there
+was someone in Landson's gang capable o' drivin' pegs without consultin'
+the boss."
+
+The little group were standing in the shadow and Grant had no
+opportunity to notice the sudden blanching of Zen's face at the mention
+of Drazk.
+
+"You're wrong about his not having been seen again, Y.D.," said Grant.
+"He managed to locate me somewhere in France. That reminds me, he had a
+message for you, Mrs. Transley. I'm afraid Drazk is as irresponsible as
+ever, provided he hasn't passed out, which is more than likely."
+
+Grant shook hands cordially with Y.D. and his wife, with Squiggs and
+Mrs. Squiggs, with Transley and Mrs. Transley. Any inclination he may
+have felt to linger over Zen's hand was checked by her quick withdrawal
+of it, and there was something in her manner quite beyond his
+understanding. He could have sworn that the self-possessed Zen Transley
+was actually trembling.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+The next day Wilson paid his usual visit to the field where Grant was
+plowing, and again was he the bearer of a message. With much difficulty
+he managed to extricate the envelope from a pocket.
+
+"Dear Mr. Grant," it read, "I am so excited over a remark you dropped
+last night I must see you again as soon as possible. Can you drop in
+to-night, say at eight. Yours,--ZEN."
+
+Grant read the message a second time, wondering what remark of his could
+have occasioned it. As he recalled the evening's conversation it had
+been most about his experiment, and he had a sense that he had occupied
+a little more of the stage than strictly good form would have suggested.
+However, it was HIS scheme that had been under discussion, and he did
+not propose to let it suffer for lack of a champion. But what had he
+said that could be of more than general interest to Zen Transley? For a
+moment he wondered if she had created a pretext upon which to bring him
+to the house by the river, and then instantly dismissed that thought as
+unworthy of him. At any rate it was evident that his addressing her by
+her Christian name in the last message had given no offence. This
+time she had not called him "The Man-on-the-Hill," and there was no
+suggestion of playfulness in the note. Then the signature, "Yours, Zen";
+that might mean everything, or it might mean nothing. Either it was
+purely formal or it implied a very great deal indeed. Grant reflected
+that it could hardly be interpreted anywhere between those two extremes,
+and was it reasonable to suppose that Zen would use it in an ENTIRELY
+formal sense? If it had been "yours truly," or "yours sincerely," or
+any such stereotyped conclusion, it would not have called for a second
+thought, but the simple word "yours"--
+
+"If only she were," thought Grant, and felt the color creeping to his
+face at the thought. It was the first time he had dared that much.
+He had not bothered to wonder much where or how this affair must end.
+Through all the years that had passed since that night when she had
+fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he had watched the ribbons of fire
+rising and falling in the valley, and the smell of grass-smoke had been
+strong in his nostrils, through all those years Zen had been to him a
+sweet, evasive memory to be dreamed over and idealized, a wild, daring,
+irresponsible incarnation of the spirit of the hills. Even in these last
+few days he had followed the path simply because it lay before him. He
+had not sought her out in all that great West; he had been content with
+his dream of the Zen of years gone by; if Fate had brought him once
+more within the orbit of his star surely Fate had a purpose in all its
+doings. One who has learned to believe that no bullet will find him
+unless "his name and number are on it" has little difficulty in excusing
+his own indiscretions by fatalistic reasoning.
+
+He wrote on the back of the note, "Look for me at eight," and then,
+observing that the boy had not brought teddy along, he inquired
+solicitously for the health of the little pet.
+
+"He's all right, but mother wouldn't let me bring him. Said I might
+lose him." The tone in which the last words were spoken implied just how
+impossible such a thing was. Lose teddy! No one but a mother could think
+such an absurdity.
+
+"But I got a knife!" Wilson exclaimed, his mind darting to a happier
+subject. "Daddy gave it to me. Will you sharpen it? It is as dull as a
+pig."
+
+Grant was to learn during the day that all the boy's figures of speech
+were now hung on the family pig. The knife was as dull as a pig; the
+plow was as rough as a pig; the horses, when they capered at a corner,
+were as wild as a pig; even Grant himself, while he held the little chap
+firmly on his knee, received the doubtful compliment of being as strong
+as a pig. He went through the form of sharpening the knife on the
+leather lines of the harness, and was pleased to discover that Wilson,
+with childish dexterity of imagination, now pronounced it as sharp as a
+pig.
+
+The boy did not return to the field in the afternoon, and Grant
+spent the time in a strange admixture of happiness over the pleasant
+companionship he had found in this little son of the prairies and
+anticipation of his meeting with Zen that night. All his reflection had
+failed to suggest the subject so interesting to her as to bring forth
+her unconventional note, but it was enough for him that his presence was
+desired. As to the future--he would deal with that when he came to it.
+As evening approached the horses began their usual procedure of turning
+their heads homeward at the end of each furrow. Beginning about five
+o'clock, they had a habit of assuming that each furrow was obviously the
+last one for the day, and when the firm hand on the lines brought them
+sharply back to position they trudged on with an apologetic air which
+seemed to say that of course they were quite willing to work another
+hour or two but they supposed their master would want to be on his way
+home. Today, however, he surprised them, and the first time they turned
+their heads he unhitched, and, throwing himself lightly across Prince's
+ample back, drove them to their stables.
+
+Grant prepared his supper of bacon and eggs and fried potatoes, bread
+and jam and black tea, and ate it from the kitchen table as was his
+habit except on state occasions. Sometimes a touch of the absurdity of
+his behavior would tickle his imagination--he, who might dine in the
+midst of wealth and splendor, with soft lights beating down upon him,
+soft music swelling through arching corridors, soft-handed waiters
+moving about on deep, silent carpetings, perhaps round white shoulders
+across the table and the faint smell of delicate perfumes--that he
+should prefer to eat from the white oilcloth of his kitchen table was a
+riddle far beyond any ordinary intellect. And yet he was happy in this
+life; happy in his escape from the tragic routine of being decently
+civilized; happier, he knew, than he ever could be among all the
+artificial pleasures that wealth could buy him. Sometimes, as a
+concession to this absurdity, he would set his table in the dining-room
+with his best dishes, and eat his silent meal very grandly, until the
+ridiculousness of it all would overcome him and he would jump up with a
+boyish whoop and sweep everything into the kitchen.
+
+But to-night he had no time for make-belief. Supper ended, he put
+a basin of water on the stove and went out to give his horses their
+evening attention, after which he had a wash and a careful shave and
+dressed himself in a light grey suit appropriate to an autumn evening.
+And then he noticed that he had just time to walk to Transley's house
+before eight o'clock.
+
+Zen received him at the door; the maid had gone to a neighbor's, she
+said, and Wilson was in bed. It was still bright outside, but the
+sheltered living-room, to which she showed him, was wrapped in a soft
+twilight.
+
+"Shall we have a lamp, or the fireplace?" she asked, then inferentially
+answered by saying that a cool wind was blowing down from the mountains.
+"I had the maid build the fire," she continued, and he could see the
+outline of her form bending over the grate. She struck a match; its glow
+lit up her cheeks and hair; in a moment the dry wood was crackling and
+ribbons of blue smoke were curling into the chimney.
+
+"I have been so anxious to see you--again," she said, drawing a chair
+not far from his. "A chance remark of yours last night brought to memory
+many things--things I have been trying to forget." Then, abruptly, "Did
+you ever kill a man?"
+
+"You know I was in the war," he returned, evading her question.
+
+"Yes, and you do not care to dwell on that phase of it. I should not
+have asked you, but you will be the better able to understand. For years
+I have lived under the cloud of having killed a man."
+
+"You!"
+
+"Yes. The day of the fire--you remember?"
+
+Grant had started from his chair. "I can't believe it!" he exclaimed.
+"There must have been justification!"
+
+"YOU had justification at the Front, but it doesn't make the memory
+pleasant. I had justification, but it has haunted me night and day. And
+then, last night you said he was still alive, and my soul seemed to rise
+up again and say, 'I am free!'"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Drazk."
+
+"DRAZK!"
+
+"Yes. I thought I had killed him that day of the fire. It is rather an
+unpleasant story, and you will excuse me repeating the details, I know.
+He attacked me--we were both on horseback, in the river--I suppose
+he was crazed with his wild deed, and less responsible than usual. He
+dragged me from my horse and I fought with him in the water, but he was
+much too strong. I had concluded that to drown myself, and perhaps him,
+was the only way out, when I saw a leather thong floating in the water
+from the saddle. By a ruse I managed to flip it around his neck, and the
+next moment he was at my mercy. I had no mercy then. I understand how
+it might be possible to kill prisoners. I pulled it tight, tight--pulled
+till I saw his face blacken and his eyes stand out. He went down, but
+still I pulled. And then after a little I found myself on shore.
+
+"I suppose it was the excitement of the fire that carried me on through
+the day, but at night--you remember?--there came a reaction, and I
+couldn't keep awake. I suddenly seemed to feel that I was safe, and I
+could sleep."
+
+Grant had resumed his seat. He was deeply moved by this strange
+confidence; he bent his eyes intently upon her face, now shining in the
+ruddy light from the fire-place. Her frank reference to the event that
+night seemed to create a new bond between them; he knew now, if ever
+he had doubted it, that Zen Transley had treasured that incident in her
+heart even as he had treasured it.
+
+"I was so embarrassed after the--the accident, you know," she continued.
+"I knew you must know I had been in the water. For days and weeks I
+expected every hour to hear of the finding of the body. I expected to
+hear the remark dropped casually by every new visitor at the ranch,
+'Drazk's body was found to-day in the river. The Mounted Police are
+investigating.' But time went on and nothing was heard of it. It would
+almost have been a relief to me if it had been discovered. If I had
+reported the affair at once, as I should have done, all would have been
+different, but having kept my secret for a while I found it impossible
+to confess it later. It was the first time I ever felt my self-reliance
+severely shaken.... But what was his message, and why did you not tell
+me before?"
+
+"Because I attached no value to it; because I was, perhaps, a little
+ashamed of it. I learned something of his weaknesses at the Front.
+According to Drazk's statement of it he won the war, and could as easily
+win another, if occasion presented itself, so when he said, 'If ever you
+see Y.D.'s daughter tell her I'm well; she'll be glad to hear it,' I put
+it down to his usual boasting and thought no more about it. I thought he
+was trying to impress me with the idea that you were interested in him,
+which was a very absurd supposition, as I saw it."
+
+"Well, now you know," she said, with a little laugh. "I'm glad it's off
+my mind."
+
+"Of course your husband knows?"
+
+"No. That made it harder. I never told Frank."
+
+She arose and walked to the fire-place, pretending to stir the logs.
+When she had seated herself again she continued.
+
+"It has not been easy for me to tell all things to Frank. Don't
+misunderstand me; he has been a model husband, according to my
+standards."
+
+"According to your standards?"
+
+"According to my standards--when I married him. If standards were
+permanent I suppose happy matings would be less unusual. A young couple
+must have something in common in order to respond at all to each other's
+attractions, but as they grow older they set up different standards, and
+they drift apart."
+
+She paused, and Grant sat in silence, watching the glow of the firelight
+upon her cheek.
+
+"Why don't you smoke?" she exclaimed, suddenly springing up. "Let me
+find you some of Frank's cigars."
+
+Grant protested that he smoked too much. She produced a box of cigars
+and extended them to him. Then she held a match while he got his light.
+
+"Your standards have changed?" said Grant, taking up the thread when she
+had sat down again.
+
+"They have. They have changed more than Frank's, which makes me feel
+rather at fault in the matter. How could he know that I would change my
+ideal of what a husband should be?"
+
+"Why shouldn't he know? That is the course of development. Without
+changing ideals there would be stagnation."
+
+"Perhaps," she returned, and he thought he caught a note of weariness
+in her voice. "But I don't blame Frank--now. I rather blame him then.
+He swept me off my feet; stampeded me. My parents helped him, and I was
+only half disposed to resist. You see, I had this other matter on my
+mind, and for the first time in my life I felt the need of protection.
+Besides, I took a matter-of-fact view of marriage. I thought that
+sentiment--love, if you like--was a thing of books, an invention of
+poets and fiction writers. Practical people would be practical in their
+marriages, as in their other undertakings. To marry Frank seemed a very
+practical course. My father assured me that Frank had in him qualities
+of large success. He would make money; he would be a prominent man in
+circles of those who do things. These predictions he has fulfilled.
+Frank has been all I expected--then."
+
+"But you have changed your opinion of marriage--of the essentials of
+marriage?"
+
+"Do YOU need to ask that? I was beginning to see the light--beginning to
+know myself--even before I married him, but I didn't stop to analyze.
+I plunged ahead, as I have always done, trusting not to get into any
+position from which I could not find a way out. But there are some
+positions from which there is no way out."
+
+Grant reflected that possibly his experience had been somewhat like hers
+in that respect. He, too, had been following a path, unconcerned about
+its end.... Possibly for him, too, there would be no way out.
+
+"Frank has been all I expected of him," she repeated, as though anxious
+to do her husband justice. "He has made money. He spends it generously.
+If I live here modestly, with but one maid, it is because of a
+preference which I have developed for simplicity. I might have a dozen
+if I asked it, and I think Frank is somewhat surprised, and, it may
+be, disappointed, that I don't ask it. Although not a man for display
+himself, he likes to see me make display. It's a strange thing, isn't
+it, that a husband should wish his wife to be admired by other men?"
+
+"Some are successful in that," Grant remarked.
+
+"Some are more successful than they intend to be."
+
+"Frank, for instance?" he queried, pointedly.
+
+"I have not sought any man's admiration," she went on, with her
+astonishing frankness. "I am too independent for that. What do I care
+for their admiration? But every woman wants love."
+
+Grant had changed his position, and sat with his elbows upon his knees,
+his chin resting upon his hands. "You know, Zen," he said, using her
+Christian name deliberately, "the picture I drew that day by the river?
+That is the picture I have carried in my mind ever since--shall carry to
+the end. Perhaps it has led me to be imprudent--"
+
+"Imprudent?"
+
+"Has brought me here to-night, for example."
+
+"You had my invitation."
+
+"True. But why develop another situation which, as you say, has no way
+out?"
+
+"Do you want to go?"
+
+"No, Zen, no! I want to stay--with you--always! But organized society
+must respect its own conventions."
+
+She arose and stood by his chair, letting her hand fall beside his
+cheek.
+
+"You silly boy!" she said. "You didn't organize society, nor subscribe
+to its conventions. Still, I suppose there must be a code of some kind,
+and we shall respect it. You had your chance, Denny, and you passed it
+up."
+
+"Had my chance?"
+
+"Yes. I refused you in words, I know, but actions speak louder--"
+
+"But when you told me you were engaged what could I honorably do?"
+
+"More--very much more--than you can do now. You could have shown me my
+mistake. How much better to have learned it then, from you, than later,
+by my own experience! You could have swept me off my feet, just as Frank
+did. You did nothing. If I had sought evidence to prove how impractical
+you are, as compared with my super-practical husband, I would have found
+it in the way you handled, or rather failed to handle, that situation."
+
+"What would your super-practical husband do now if he were in my
+position?" he said, drawing her hands into his.
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You do! He says that any man worth his salt takes what he wants in this
+world. Am I worth my salt?"
+
+"There are different standards of value.... Goodness! how late it is!
+You must go now, and don't come back before, let us say, Wednesday."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Whatever may have been Grant's philosophy about the unwisdom of creating
+a situation which had no way out he found himself looking forward
+impatiently to Wednesday evening. An hour or two at Zen's fireside
+provided the social atmosphere which his bachelor life lacked, and as
+Transley seemed unappreciative of his domestic privileges, remaining in
+town unless his business brought him out to the summer home, it seemed
+only a just arrangement that they should be shared by one who valued
+them at their worth.
+
+The Wednesday evening conversation developed further the understanding
+that was gradually evolving between them, but it afforded no solution of
+the problem which confronted them. Zen made no secret of the error she
+had made in the selection of her husband, but had no suggestions to
+offer as to what should be done about it. She seemed quite satisfied
+to enjoy Grant's conversation and company, and let it go at that--an
+impossible situation, as the young man assured himself. She dismissed
+him again at a quite respectable hour with some reference to Saturday
+evening, which Grant interpreted as an invitation to call again at that
+time.
+
+When he entered Saturday night it was evident that she had been
+expecting him. A cool wind was again blowing down from the mountains,
+laden with the soft smell of melting snow, and the fire in the grate was
+built ready for the match.
+
+"I am my own maid to-night," she said, as she stooped to light it.
+"Sarah usually goes to town Saturday evening. Now we shall see if
+someone is in good humor."
+
+The fire curled up pleasantly about the wood. "There!" she exclaimed,
+clapping her hands. "All is well. You see how economical I am; if we
+must spend on fires we save on light. I love a wood fire; I suppose it
+is something which reaches back to the original savage in all of us."
+
+"To the days when our great ancestors roasted their victims while they
+danced about the coals," said Grant, completing the picture. "And yet
+they say that human nature doesn't change."
+
+"Does it? I think our methods change with our environments, but that is
+all. Wasn't it you who propounded a theory about an age when men took
+what they wanted by force giving way to an age in which they took what
+they wanted by subtlety? Now, I believe, you want society to restrain
+the man of clever wits just as it has learned to restrain the man of big
+biceps. And when that is done will not man discover some other means of
+taking what he wants?"
+
+She had seated herself beside him on a divanette and the joy of her
+nearness fired Grant with a very happy intoxication. It recalled that
+night on the hillside when, as she had since said, she felt safe in his
+protection.
+
+"I am really very interested," she continued. "I followed the argument
+at the table on Sunday with as much concern as if it had been my pet
+hobby, not yours, that was under discussion. If I said little it was
+because I did not wish to appear too interested."
+
+Her amazing frankness brought Grant, figuratively, to his feet at every
+turn. She seemed to have no desire to conceal her interest in him, her
+attachment for him. Hers was such candor as might well be born of
+the vast hillsides, the great valleys, the brooding silences of her
+girlhood. Yet it seemed obvious that she must be less candid with
+Transley....
+
+"I am glad you were interested," he answered. "I was afraid I was rather
+boring the company, but it was MY scheme and I had to stand up for it. I
+fear I made few converts."
+
+"You were dealing with practical men," she returned, "and practical
+men are never converted to a new idea. That is one of the things I have
+learned in my years of married life, Dennison. Practical men find many
+ways of turning an old idea to advantage, but they never evolve new
+ones. New ideas come from dreamers--theoretical fellows like you."
+
+"The dreamer is always a lap ahead of the rest of civilization, and the
+funny thing is that the rest always thinks itself much more sane than
+the dreamer, out there blazing the way."
+
+"That's not remarkable," she replied. "That's logical. The dreamer
+blazes the way--proves the possibilities of his dream--and the practical
+man follows it up and makes money out of it. To a practical man there is
+nothing more practical than making money."
+
+"Did I convert you?" he pursued.
+
+"I was not in need of conversion. I have been a follower of the new
+faith--an imperfect and limping follower, it is true--ever since you
+first announced it."
+
+"I believe you are laughing at me."
+
+"Certainly not! I have been brought up in an environment where there
+is no standard higher than the money standard. Not that my father or
+husband are dishonest; they are rigidly honest according to their ideas
+of honesty. But to say that a man must give actual service for every
+dollar he gets or it isn't his--that is a conception of honesty so far
+beyond them as to be an absurdity. But I have wanted to ask you how you
+are going to enforce this new idealism."
+
+"Idealism is not enforced. We aspire to it; we may not attain to it.
+Christianity itself is idealism--the idealism of unselfishness. That
+ideal has never been attained by any considerable number of people, and
+yet it has drawn all humanity on to somewhat higher levels as surely as
+the moon draws the tide. Superficial persons in these days are drawing
+pictures of the failure of Christianity, which has failed in part; but
+they could find a much more depressing subject by painting a world from
+which all Christian idealism had been removed."
+
+"But surely you have some plan for putting your theories to the
+test--some plan which will force those to whom idealism appeals in vain.
+We do not trust to a man's idealism to keep him from stealing; we put
+him in jail."
+
+"All that will come in time, but the question for the seeker after truth
+is not 'Will it work?' but 'Is it true?' I fancy I can see the practical
+men of Moses' time leaning over his shoulder as he inscribed the Ten
+Commandments and remarking 'No use of putting that down, Moses; you can
+never enforce it.' But Moses put it down and left the enforcement to
+natural law and the growing intelligence of the generations which have
+followed him. We are too much disposed to think it possible to evade
+a law; to violate it, and escape punishment; but if a law is true,
+punishment follows violation as implacably as the stars follow their
+courses. And if society has failed to recognize the law that service,
+and service only, should be able to command service in return, society
+must suffer the penalty. We have only to look about us to see that
+society is paying in full for its violations.
+
+"Yes, I have plans, and I think they would work, but the first thing is
+the ideal--the new moral sense--that value must not be accepted without
+giving equal value in return. Society, of course, will have to set up
+the standards of value. That is a matter of detail--a matter for the
+practical men who come in the wake of the idealist. But of this I am
+certain--and I hark back to my old theme--that just as society has found
+a means of preventing the man who is physically superior from taking
+wealth without giving service in return, so must society find a means to
+prevent men who are mentally superior from taking wealth without giving
+service in return. The superior person, mark you, will still have an
+advantage, in that his superiority will enable him to EARN more; we
+shall merely stop him taking what he does not earn. That must come. I
+think it will come soon. It is the next step in the social evolution of
+the race."
+
+She had drunk in his argument as one who hangs on every word, and her
+wrapt face turned toward his seemed to glow and thrill him in return
+with a sense of their spiritual oneness. She did not need to tell him
+that Transley never talked to her like this. Transley loved her, if he
+loved her at all, for the glory she reflected upon him; he was proud of
+her beauty, of her daring, of her physical charm and self-reliance. The
+deeper side of her mental life was to Transley a field unexplored; a
+field of the very existence of which he was probably unaware. Grant
+looked into her eyes, now close and responsive, and found within their
+depths something which sent him to his feet.
+
+"Zen!" he exclaimed. "The mystery of life is too much for me. Surely
+there must be an answer somewhere! Surely the puzzle has a system to
+it--a key which may some day be found! Or can it be just chaos--just
+blind, driveling, senseless chaos? In our own lives, why should we be
+stranded, helpless, wrecked, with the happiness which might have been
+ours hung just beyond our reach? Is there no answer to this?"
+
+"I suppose we disobeyed the law, back in those old days. We heard it
+clearly enough, and we disobeyed. I allowed myself to be guided by
+motives which were not the highest; you seemed to lack the enterprise
+which would have won you its own reward. And as you have said, those who
+violate the law must suffer for it. I have suffered."
+
+She drew up her chin; he could see the firm muscles set beneath the
+pink bloom of her flesh.... He had not thought of Zen suffering; all
+his thought of her had been very grateful to his vanity, but he had not
+thought of her suffering. He extended his hands and took hers within
+them.
+
+"I have sometimes wondered," he said, "why there is no second chance;
+why one cannot wipe the slate clear of everything that has been and
+start anew. What a world this might be!"
+
+"Would it be any better? Or would we go on making our mistakes over
+again? That seems to be the only way we learn."
+
+"But a second chance; the idea seems so fair, so plausible. Suppose you
+are shooting on the ranges, for instance; you are allowed a shot or
+two to find your nerve, to get your distance, to settle yourself to the
+business in hand. But in this business of life you fire, and if some
+distraction, some momentary influence or folly sends your aim wild, the
+shot is gone and you are left with all the years that follow to think
+about it. You can do nothing but think about it--the most profitless of
+all occupations."
+
+"For you there is a second chance," she reminded him. "You must have
+thought of that."
+
+"No--no second chance."
+
+She drew herself up slightly and away from him. "I have been very frank
+with you, Dennison," she said. "Suppose you try being frank with me?"
+
+In her eyes was still the fire of Zen of the Y.D., a woman unconquered
+and unconquerable. She gave the impression that she accepted the
+buffetings of life, but no one forced them upon her. She had erred; she
+would suffer. That was fair; she accepted that. But as Grant gazed
+on her face, tilted still in some of its old-time recklessness and
+defiance, he knew that the day would come when she would say that her
+cup was full, and, throwing it to the winds, would start life over, if
+there can be such a thing as starting life over. And something in her
+manner told him that day was very, very near.
+
+"All right," he said, "I will be frank. Fate HAS brought within my orbit
+a second chance, or what would have been a second chance had my heart
+not been so full of you. She was a girl well worth thinking about. When
+an employee introduces herself to you with a declaration of independence
+you may know that you have met with someone out of the ordinary. I am
+not speaking of these days of labor scarcity; it takes no great moral
+quality to be independent when you have the whip-hand. But in the days
+before the war, with two applicants for every position, a girl who
+valued her freedom of spirit more than her job--more than even a very
+good job--was a girl to think about."
+
+"And you thought about her?"
+
+"I did. I was sick of the cringing and fawning of which my wealth made
+me the object; I loathed the deference paid me, because I knew it was
+paid, not to me, but to my money--I was homesick to hear someone tell me
+to go to hell. I wanted to brush up against that spirit which says it is
+as good as anybody else--against the manliness which stands its ground
+and hits back. I found that spirit in Phyllis Bruce."
+
+"Phyllis Bruce--rather a nice name. But are the men and women of the
+East so--so servile as you suggest?"
+
+"No! That is where I was mistaken. Generations of environment had merely
+trained them into docility of habit. Underneath they are red-blooded
+through and through. The war showed us that. Zen--the proudest moment of
+my life--except one--was when a kid in the office who couldn't come into
+my room without trembling jumped up and said 'We WILL win!'--and called
+me Grant! Think of that! Poor chap.... What was I saying? Oh, yes;
+Phyllis. I grew to like her--very much--but I couldn't marry her. You
+know why."
+
+Zen was looking into the fire with unseeing eyes. "I am not sure that
+I know why," she said at length. "You couldn't marry me. It was your
+second chance. You should have taken it."
+
+"Would that be playing the game fairly--with her?"
+
+She rested her fingers lightly on the back of his hand, extending them
+gently down until they fell between his own.
+
+"Denny, you big, big boy!" she murmured. "Do you suppose every man
+marries his first choice?"
+
+"It has always seemed to me that a second choice is a makeshift. It
+doesn't seem quite square--"
+
+"No. I fancy some second choices are really first choices. Wisdom comes
+with experience, you know."
+
+"Not always. At any rate I couldn't marry her while my heart was yours."
+
+"I suppose not," she answered, and again he noted a touch of weariness
+in her voice. "I know something of what divided affection--if one can
+even say it is divided--means. Denny, I will make a confession. I knew
+you would come back; I always was sure you would come back. 'Then,' I
+said to myself, 'I will see this man Grant as he is, and the reality
+will clear my brain of all this idealism which I have woven about him.'
+Perhaps you know what I mean. We sometimes meet people who impress us
+greatly at the time, but a second meeting, perhaps years later, has a
+very different effect. It sweeps all the idealism away, and we wonder
+what it was that could have charmed us so. Well--I hoped--I really hoped
+for some experience like that with you. If only I could meet you again
+and find that, after all, you were just like other men; self-centred,
+arrogant, kind, perhaps, but quite superior--if I could only find THAT
+to be true then the mirage in which I have lived for all these years
+would be swept away and my old philosophy that after all it doesn't
+matter much whom one marries so long as he is respectable and gives her
+a good living would be vindicated. And so I have encouraged you to come
+here; I have been most unconventional, I know, but I was always that--I
+have cultivated your acquaintance, and, Denny, I am SO disappointed!"
+
+"Disappointed? Then the mirage HAS cleared away?"
+
+"On the contrary, it grows more distorted every day. I see you towering
+above all your fellow humans; reaching up into a heaven so far above
+them that they don't even know of its existence. I see you as really The
+Man-On-the-Hill, with a vision which lays all this selfish, commonplace
+world at your feet. The idealism which I thought must fade away is
+justified--heightened--by the reality."
+
+She had turned her face to him, and Grant, little as he understood the
+ways of women, knew that she had made her great confession. For a moment
+he held himself in check.... then from somewhere in his subconsciousness
+came ringing the phrase, "Every man worth his salt.... takes what he
+wants." That was Transley's morality; Transley, the Usurper, who had
+bullied himself into possession of this heart which he had never won
+and could never hold; Transley, the fool, frittering his days and
+nights with money! He seized her in his arms, crushing down her weak
+resistance; he drew her to him until, as in that day by a foothill river
+somewhere in the sunny past, her lips met his and returned their caress.
+He cared now for nothing--nothing in the whole world but this quivering
+womanhood within his arms....
+
+"You must go," she whispered at length. "It is late, and Frank's habits
+are somewhat erratic."
+
+He held her at arm's length, his hands upon her shoulders. "Do you
+suppose that fear--of anything--can make me surrender you now?"
+
+"Not fear, perhaps--I know it could not be fear--but good sense may do
+it. It was not fear that made me send you home early from your previous
+calls. It was discretion."
+
+"Oh!" he said, a new light dawning, and he marvelled again at her
+consummate artistry.
+
+"But I must tell you," she resumed, "Frank leaves on a business trip
+to-morrow night. He will be gone for some time, and I shall motor into
+town to see him off. I am wondering about Wilson," she hurried on, as
+though not daring to weigh her words; "Sarah will be away--I am letting
+her have a little holiday--and I can't take Wilson into town with me
+because it will be so late." Then, with a burst of confession she spoke
+more deliberately. "That isn't exactly the reason, Dennison; Frank
+doesn't know I have let Sarah go, and I--I can't explain."
+
+Her face shone pink and warm in the glow of the firelight, and as the
+significance of her words sank in upon him Grant marvelled at that
+wizardry of the gods which could bring such homage to the foot of man.
+A tenderness such as he had never known suffused him; her very presence
+was holy.
+
+"Bring the boy over and let him spend the night with me. We are great
+chums and we shall get along splendidly."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Grant spent his Sunday forenoon in an exhaustive house-cleaning
+campaign. Bachelor life on the farm is not conducive to domestic
+delicacy, and although Grant had never abandoned the fundamentals he had
+allowed his interpretation of essential cleanliness to become somewhat
+liberal. The result was that the day of rest usually confronted him
+with a considerable array of unwashed pots and pans and other culinary
+utensils. To-day, while the tawny autumn hills seemed to fairly heave
+and sigh with contentment under a splendor of opalescent sunshine, he
+scoured the contents of his kitchen until they shone; washed the floor;
+shook the rugs from the living-room and swept the corners, even behind
+the gramophone; cleared the ashes from the hearth and generally set his
+house in order, for was not she to call upon him that evening on her
+way to town, and was not little Wilson--he of the high adventures with
+teddy-bear and knife and pig--to spend the night with him?
+
+When he was able to view his handiwork with a feeling that even feminine
+eyes would find nothing to offend, Grant did an unwonted thing. He
+unlocked the whim-room and opened the windows that the fresh air might
+play through the silent chamber. To the west the mountains looked down
+in sombre placidity as they had looked down every bright autumn morning
+since the dawn of time, their shoulders bathed in purple mist and their
+snow-crowned summits shining in the sun. For a long time Grant stood
+drinking in the scene; the fertile valley lying with its square farms
+like a checker-board of the gods, with its round little lakes beating
+back the white sunshine like coins from the currency of the Creator; the
+ruddy copper-colored patches of ripe wheat, and drowsy herds motionless
+upon the receding hills; the blue-green ribbon of river with its yellow
+fringes of cottonwood and bluffs of forbidding spruce, and behind and
+over all the silent, majestic mountains. It was a sight to make the soul
+of man rise up and say, "I know I stand on the heights of the Eternal!"
+Then as his eyes followed the course of the river Grant picked out a
+column of thin blue smoke, and knew that Zen was cooking her Sunday
+dinner.
+
+The thought turned him to his dusting of the whim-room, and afterwards
+to his own kitchen. When he had lunched and dressed he took a stroll
+over the hills, thinking a great deal, but finding no answer. On his
+return he descried the familiar figure of Linder in a semi-recumbent
+position on the porch, and Linder's well-worn car in the yard.
+
+"How goes it, Linder?" he said, cheerily, as he came up. "Is the Big
+Idea going to fructify?"
+
+"The Big Idea seems to be all right. You planned it well."
+
+"Thanks. But is it going to be self-supporting--I mean in the matter of
+motive power. Would it run if you and I and Murdoch were wiped out?"
+
+"Everything must have a head."
+
+"Democracy must find its own head--must grow it out of the materials
+supplied. If it doesn't do that it's a failure, and the Big Idea will
+end in being the Big Fizzle. That's why I'm leaving it so severely
+alone--I want to see which way it's headed."
+
+"I could suggest another reason," said Linder, pointedly.
+
+"Another reason for what?"
+
+"For your leaving it so severely alone."
+
+"What are you driving at?" demanded Grant, somewhat petulantly. "You are
+in a taciturn mood to-day, Linder."
+
+"Perhaps I am, Grant, and if so it comes from wondering how a man with
+as much brains as you have can be such a damned fool upon occasion."
+
+"Drop the riddles, Linder. Let me have it in the face."
+
+"It's just like this, Grant, old boy," said Linder, getting up and
+putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, "I feel that I still have an
+interest in the chap who saved all of me except what this empty sleeve
+stands for, and it's that interest which makes me speak about something
+which you may say is none of my business. I was out here Monday night to
+see you, and you were not at home. I came out again Wednesday, and you
+were not at home. I came last night and you were not at home, and had
+not come back at midnight. Your horses were in the barn; you were not
+far away."
+
+"Why didn't you telephone me?"
+
+"If I hadn't cared more for you than I do for my job and the Big Idea
+thrown in I could have settled it that way. But, Grant, I do."
+
+"I believe you. But why this sudden worry over me? I was merely spending
+the evening at a neighbor's."
+
+"Yes--at Transley's. Transley was in town, and Mrs. Transley is--not
+responsible--where you are concerned."
+
+"Linder!"
+
+"I saw it all that night at dinner there. Some things are plain to
+everyone--except those most involved. Now it's not my job to say to you
+what's right and wrong, but the way it looks to me is this: what's the
+use of setting up a new code of morality about money which concerns,
+after all, only some of us, if you're going to knock down those things
+which concern all of us?"
+
+Grant regarded his foreman for some time without answering. "I
+appreciate your frankness, Linder," he said at length. "Your friendship,
+which I can never question, gives you that privilege. Man to man, I'm
+going to be equally frank with you. To begin with, I suppose you will
+admit that Y.D.'s daughter is a strong character, a woman quite capable
+of directing her own affairs?"
+
+"The stronger the engine the bigger the smash if there's a wreck."
+
+"It's not a case of wrecking; it's a case of trying to save something
+out of the wreck. Convention, Linder, is a torture-monger; it binds men
+and women to the stake of propriety and bids them smile while it snuffs
+out all the soul that's in them. We have pitted ourselves against
+convention in economic affairs; shall we not--"
+
+"No! It was pure unselfishness which led you into the Big Idea. That
+isn't what's leading you now."
+
+"Well, let me put it another way. Transley is a clever man of affairs.
+He knows how to accomplish his ends. He applied the methods--somewhat
+modified for the occasion--of a landshark in winning his wife. He makes
+a great appearance of unselfishness, but in reality he is selfish to the
+core. He lavishes money on her to satisfy his own vanity, but as for her
+finer nature, the real Zen, her soul if you like--he doesn't even know
+she has one. He obtained possession by false pretences. Which is the
+more moral thing--to leave him in possession, or to throw him out?
+Didn't you yourself hear him say that men who are worth their salt take
+what they want?"
+
+"Since when did you let him set YOUR standards?"
+
+"That's hardly fair."
+
+"I think it is. I think, too, that you are arguing against your own
+convictions. Well, I've had my say. I deliberately came out to-day
+without Murdoch so that I might have it. You would be quite justified
+in firing me for what I've done. But now I'm through, and no matter what
+may happen, remember, Linder will never have suspected anything."
+
+"That's like you, old chap. We'll drop it at that, but I must explain
+that Zen is going to town to-night to meet Transley, and is leaving the
+boy with me. It is an event in my young life, and I have house-cleaned
+for it appropriately. Come inside and admire my handiwork."
+
+Linder admired as he was directed, and then the two men fell into a
+discussion of business matters. Eventually Grant cooked supper, and just
+as they had finished Mrs. Transley drove up in her motor.
+
+"Here we are!" she cried, cheerily. "Glad to see you, Mr. Linder. Wilson
+has his teddy-bear and his knife and his pyjamas, and is a little put
+out, I think, that I wouldn't let him bring the pig."
+
+"I shall try and make up the deficiency," said Grant, smiling broadly,
+as the boy climbed to his shoulder. "Won't you come in? Linder, among
+his other accomplishments learned in France, is an excellent chaperon."
+
+"Thank you, no; I must get along. I shall call early in the morning, so
+that you will not be delayed on Wilson's account."
+
+"No need of that; he can ride to the field with me on Prince. He is a
+great help with the plowing."
+
+"I'm sure." She stepped up to Grant and drew the boy's face down to
+hers. "Good-bye, dear; be a good boy," she whispered, and Wilson waved
+kisses to her as the motor sped down the road.
+
+Linder took his departure soon after, and Grant was surprised to find
+himself almost embarrassed in the presence of his little guest.
+The embarrassment, however, was all on his side. Wilson was greatly
+interested in the strange things in the house, and investigated them
+with the romantic thoroughness of his years. Grant placed a collection
+of war trophies that had no more fight in them at the child's disposal,
+and he played about until it was time to go to bed.
+
+Where to start on the bedtime preparations was a puzzle, but Wilson
+himself came to Grant's aid with explicit instructions about buttons and
+pins. Grant fervently hoped the boy would be able to reverse the process
+in the morning, otherwise--
+
+Suddenly, with a little dexterous movement, the child divested himself
+of all his clothing, and rushed into a far corner.
+
+"You have to catch me now," he shouted in high glee. "One, two--"
+
+Evidently it was a game, and Grant entered into the spirit of it,
+finally running Wilson to earth on the farthest corner of the kitchen
+table. To adjust the pyjamas was, as Grant confessed, a bigger job than
+harnessing a four-horse team, but at length it was completed.
+
+"You must hear my prayer, Uncle Man-on-the-Hill," said the boy. "You
+have to sit down in a chair."
+
+Grant sat down and with a strange mixture of emotions drew the little
+chap between his knees as he listened to the long-forgotten prattle.
+He felt his fingers running through Wilson's hair as other fingers, now
+long, long turned to dust, had once run through his....
+
+At the third line the boy stopped. "You have to tell me now," he
+prompted.
+
+"But I can't, Willie; I have forgotten."
+
+"Huh, you don't know much," the child commented, and glibly quoted the
+remaining lines. "And God bless Daddy and Mamma and teddy-bear and Uncle
+Man-on-the-Hill and the pig. Amen," he concluded, accompanying the last
+word with a jump which landed him fairly in Grant's lap. His little
+arms went up about his friend's neck, and his little soft cheek rested
+against a tanned and weather-beaten one. Slowly Grant's arms closed
+about the warm, lithe body and pressed it to his in a new passion,
+strange and holy. Then he led him to the whim-room, turned down the
+white sheets in which no form had ever lain and placed the boy between
+them, snuggled his teddy down by his side and set his knife properly
+in view upon the dresser. And then he leaned down again and kissed the
+little face, and whispered, "Good night, little boy; God keep you safe
+to-night, and always." And suddenly Grant realized that he had been
+praying....
+
+He withdrew softly, and only partly closed the door; then he chose a
+seat where he could see the little figure lying peacefully on the white
+bed. The last shafts of the setting sun were falling in amber wedges
+across the room. He picked up a book, thinking to read, but he could not
+keep his attention on the page; he found his mind wandering back into
+the long-forgotten chambers of its beginning, conjuring up from the
+faint recollections of infancy visions of the mother he had hardly
+known.... After a while he tip-toed to the whim-room door and found that
+Wilson, with his arms firmly clasped about his teddy-bear, was deep in
+the sleep of childhood.
+
+"The dear little chap," he murmured. "I must watch by him to-night. It
+would be unspeakable if anything should happen him while he is under my
+care."
+
+He felt a sense of warmth, almost a smothering sensation, and raised his
+hand to his forehead. It came down covered with perspiration.
+
+"It's amazingly close," he said, and walked to one of the French windows
+opening to the west. The sun had gone down, and a brooding darkness lay
+over all the valley, but far up in the sky he could trace the outline of
+a cloud. Above, the stars shone with an unwonted brightness, but below
+all was a bank of blue-black darkness. The air was intensely still; in
+the silence he could hear the wash of the river. Grant reflected that
+never before had he heard the wash of the river at that distance.
+
+"Looks like a storm," he commented, casually, and suddenly felt
+something tighten about his heart. The storms of the foothill country,
+which occasionally sweep out of the mountains and down the valleys on
+the shortest notice, had no terror for him; he had sat on horseback
+under an oilskin slicker through the worst of them; but to-night!
+Even as he watched, the distant glare of lightning threw the heaving
+proportions of the thundercloud into sharp relief.
+
+He turned to his chair, but found himself pacing the living-room with
+an altogether inexplicable nervousness. He had held the line many a bad
+night at the Front while Death spat out of the darkness on every hand;
+he had smoked in the faces of his men to cover his own fear and to shame
+them out of theirs; he had run the whole gamut of the emotion of the
+trenches, but tonight something more awesome than any engine of man was
+gathering its forces in the deep valleys. He shook himself to throw off
+the morbidness that was settling upon him; he laughed, and the echo came
+back haunting from the silent corners of the house. Then he lit a lamp
+and set it, burning low, in the whim-room, and noted that the boy slept
+on, all unconcerned.
+
+"Damn Linder, anyway!" he exclaimed presently. "I believe he shook me
+up more than I realized. He charged me with insincerity; me, who have
+always made sincerity my special virtue.... Well, there may be something
+in it."
+
+A faint, indistinct growling, as of the grinding of mighty rocks, came
+down from the distances.
+
+"The storm will be nothing," he assured himself. "A gust of wind; a
+spatter of rain; perhaps a dash of hail; then, of a sudden, a sky
+so calm and peaceful one would wonder how it ever could have been
+disturbed." Even as he spoke the house shivered in every timber as the
+gale struck it and went whining by.
+
+He rushed to the whim-room, but found the boy still sleeping soundly. "I
+must stay up," he reasoned with himself; "I must be on hand in case he
+should be frightened."
+
+Suddenly it occurred to Grant that, quite apart from his love for
+Wilson, if anything should happen the child in his house a very
+difficult situation would be created. Transley would demand
+explanations--explanations which would be hard to make. Why was Wilson
+there at all? Why was he not at home with Sarah? Sarah away from home!
+Why had Zen kept that a secret?... How long had this thing been going
+on, anyway? Grant feared neither Transley nor any other man, and yet
+there was something akin to fear in his heart as he thought of these
+possibilities. He would be held accountable--doubly accountable--if
+anything happened the child. Even though it were something quite beyond
+his control; lightning, for example--
+
+The gale subsided as quickly as it had come, and the sudden silence
+which followed was even more awesome. It lasted only for a moment; a
+flash of lightning lit up every corner of the house, bursting like white
+fire from every wall and ceiling. Grant rushed to the whim-room and was
+standing over the child when the crash of thunder came upon them. The
+boy stirred gently, smiled, and settled back to his sleep.
+
+Grant drew the blinds in the whim-room, and went out to draw them in
+the living-room, but the sight across the valley was of a majesty so
+terrific that it held him fascinated. The play of the lightning was
+incessant, and with every flash the little lakes shot back their white
+reflection, and distant farm window-panes seemed heliographing to each
+other through the night. As yet there was no rain, but a dense wall of
+cloud pressed down from the west, and the farther hills were hidden even
+in the brightest flashes.
+
+Turning from the windows, Grant left the blinds open. "Only cowardice
+would close them," he muttered to himself, "and surely, in addition to
+the other qualities Linder has attributed to me, I am not a coward. If
+it were not for Willie I could stand and enjoy it."
+
+Presently rain began to fall; a few scattered drops at first, then
+thicker, harder, until the roof and windows rattled and shook with
+their force. The wind, which had gone down so suddenly, sprang up again,
+buffeting the house as it rushed by with the storm. Grant stood in the
+whim-room, in the dim light of the lamp turned low, and watched the
+steady breathing of his little guest with as much anxiety as if some
+dread disease threatened him. For the first time in his life there came
+into Grant's consciousness some sense of the price which parents pay in
+the rearing of little children. He thought of all the hours of sickness,
+of all the childish hurts and dangers, and suddenly he found himself
+thinking of his father with a tenderness which was strange and new to
+him. Doubtless under even that stern veneer of business interest had
+beat a heart which, many a time, had tightened in the grip of fear for
+young Dennison.
+
+As the night wore on the storm, instead of spending itself quickly
+as Grant had expected, continued unabated, but his nervous tension
+gradually relaxed, and when at length Wilson was awakened by an
+exceptionally loud clap of thunder he took the boy in his arms and
+soothed his little fears as a mother might have done. They sat for
+a long while in a big chair in the living-room, and exchanged such
+confidences as a man may with a child of five. After the lad had dropped
+back into sleep Grant still sat with him in his arms, thinking....
+
+And what he thought was this: He was a long while framing the exact
+thought; he tried to beat it back in a dozen ways, but it circled around
+him, gradually closed in upon him and forced its acceptance. "Linder
+called me a fool, and he was right. He might have called me a coward,
+and again he would have been right. Linder was right."
+
+Some way it seemed easy to reach that conclusion while this little
+sleeping form lay in his arms. Perhaps it had quickened into life that
+ennobling spirit of parenthood which is all sacrifice and love and
+self-renunciation. The ends which seemed so all-desirable a few hours
+ago now seemed sordid and mean and unimportant. Reaching out for some
+means of self-justification Grant turned to the Big Idea; that was his;
+that was big and generous and noble. But after all, was it his? The idea
+had come in upon him from some outside source--as perhaps all ideas
+do; struck him like a bullet; swept him along. He was merely the agency
+employed in putting it into effect. It had cost him nothing. He was
+doing that for society. Now was the time to do something that would
+cost; to lay his hand upon the prize and then relinquish it--for the
+sake of Wilson Transley!
+
+"And by God I'll do it!" he exclaimed, springing to his feet. He carried
+the child back to his bed, and then turned again to watch the storm
+through the windows. It seemed to be subsiding; the lightning, although
+still almost continuous, was not so near. The air was cooling off and
+the rain was falling more steadily, without the gusts and splatters
+which marked the storm in its early stages. And as he looked out over
+the black valley, lighted again and again by the glare of heaven's
+artillery, Grant became conscious of a deep, mysterious sense of peace.
+It was as though his soul, like the elements about him, caught in a
+paroxysm of elemental passion, had been swept clean and pure in the fire
+of its own upheaval.
+
+"What little incidents turn our lives!" he thought. "That boy; in some
+strange way he has been the means of bringing me to see things as they
+are--which not even Linder could do. The mind has to be fertilized for
+the thought, or it can't think it. He brought the necessary influence to
+bear. It was like the night at Murdoch's house, the night when the Big
+Idea was born. Surely I owe that to Murdoch, and his wife, and Phyllis
+Bruce."
+
+The name of Phyllis Bruce came to him with almost a shock. He had been
+so occupied with his farm and with Zen that he had thought but little of
+her of late. As he turned the matter over in his mind now he felt that
+he had used Phyllis rather shabbily. He recalled having told Murdoch to
+send for her, but that was purely a business transaction. Yet he felt
+that he had never entirely forgotten her, and he was surprised to find
+how tenderly the memory of her welled up within him. Zen's vision had
+been clearer than his; she had recognized in Phyllis Bruce a party to
+his life's drama. "The second choice may be really the first," she had
+said.
+
+Grant lit a cigar and sat down to smoke and think. The matter of Phyllis
+needed prompt settlement. It afforded a means to burn his bridges
+behind him, and Grant felt that it would be just as well to cut off all
+possibility of retreat. Fortunately the situation was one that could be
+explained--to Phyllis. He had come out West again to be sure of himself;
+he was sure now; would she be his wife? He had never thought that line
+out to a conclusion before, but now it proved a subject very delightful
+to contemplate.
+
+He had told himself, back in those days in the East, that it would not
+be fair to marry Phyllis Bruce while his heart was another's. He had
+believed that then; now he knew the real reason was that he had allowed
+himself to hope, against all reason, that Zen Transley might yet be his.
+He had harbored an unworthy desire, and called it a virtue. Well--the
+die was cast. He had definitely given Zen up. He would tell Phyllis
+everything.... That is, everything she needed to know.
+
+It would be best to settle it at once--the sooner the better. He went
+to his desk and took out a telegraph blank. He addressed it to Phyllis,
+pondered a minute in a great hush in the storm, and wrote,
+
+"I am sure now. May I come? Dennison."
+
+This done he turned to the telephone, hurrying as one who fears for the
+duration of his good resolutions. It was a chance if the line was not
+out of business, but he lifted the receiver and listened to the thump of
+his heart as he waited.
+
+Presently came a voice as calm and still as though it spoke from another
+world, "Number?"
+
+He gave the number of Linder's rooms in town; it was likely Linder had
+remained in town, but it was a question whether the telephone bell would
+waken him. He had recollections of Linder as a sound sleeper. But even
+as this possibility entered his mind he heard Linder's phlegmatic voice
+in his ear.
+
+"Oh, Linder! I'm so glad I got you. Rush this message to Phyllis
+Bruce.... Linder?... Linder!"
+
+There was no answer. Nothing but a hollow, empty sound on the wire, as
+though it led merely into the universe in general. He tried to call the
+operator, but without success. The wire was down.
+
+He turned from it with a sense of acute impatience. Was this an omen of
+obstacles to bar him now from Phyllis Bruce? He had a wild thought of
+saddling a horse and riding to town, but at that moment the storm came
+down afresh. Besides, there was the boy.
+
+Suddenly came a quick knock at the door; the handle turned, and a
+drenched, hatless figure, with disheveled, wet hair, and white, drawn
+face burst in upon him. It was Zen Transley.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+"Zen!"
+
+"How is he--how is Wilson?" she demanded, breathlessly.
+
+"Sound as a bell," he answered, alarmed by her manner. The self-assured
+Zen was far from self-assurance now. "Come, see, he is asleep."
+
+He led her into the whim-room and turned up the lamp. The lad was
+sleeping soundly, his teddy-bear clasped in his arms, his little pink
+and white face serene under the magic skies of slumberland. Grant
+expected that Zen would throw herself upon the child in her agitation,
+but she did not. She drew her fingers gently across his brow, then,
+turning to Grant,
+
+"Rather an unceremonious way to break into your house," she said, with a
+little laugh. "I hope you will pardon me.... I was uneasy about Wilson."
+
+"But tell me--how--where did you come from?"
+
+"From town. Let me stand in your kitchen, or somewhere."
+
+"You're wet through. I can't offer you much change."
+
+"Not as wet as when you first met me, Dennison," she said, with a smile.
+"I have a good waterproof, but my hat blew off. It's somewhere on the
+road. I couldn't see through the windshield, so I put my head out, and
+away it went."
+
+"The hat?"
+
+Then both laughed, and an atmosphere that had been tense began to settle
+back to normal. Grant led her out to the living-room, removed her coat,
+and started a fire.
+
+"So you drove out over those roads?" he said, when the smoke began to
+curl up around the logs. "You had your courage."
+
+"It wasn't courage, Dennison; it was terror. Fear sometimes makes one
+wonderfully brave. After I saw Frank off I went to the hotel. I had a
+room on the west side, and instead of going to bed I sat by the window
+looking out at the storm and at the wet streets. I could see the
+flashes of lightning striking down as though they were aimed at definite
+objects, and I began to think of Wilson, and of you. You see, it was the
+first night I had ever spent away from him, and I began to think....
+
+"After a while I could bear it no longer, and I rushed down and out to
+the garage. There was just one young man on night duty, and I'm sure
+he thought me crazy. When he couldn't dissuade me he wanted to send a
+driver with me. You know I couldn't have that."
+
+She was looking squarely at him, her face strangely calm and
+emotionless. Grant nodded that he followed her reasoning.
+
+"So here I am," she continued. "No doubt you think me silly, too. You
+are not a mother."
+
+"I think I understand," he answered, tenderly. "I think I do."
+
+They sat in silence for some time, and presently they became aware of
+a grey light displacing the yellow glow from the lamp and the ruddy
+reflections of the fire. "It is morning," said Grant. "I believe the
+storm has cleared."
+
+He stood beside her chair and took her hand in his. "Let us watch the
+dawn break on the mountains," he said, and together they moved to the
+windows that overlooked the valley and the grim ranges beyond. Already
+shafts of crimson light were firing the scattered drift of clouds far
+overhead....
+
+"Dennison," she said at length, turning her face to his, "I hope you
+will understand, but--I have thought it all over. I have not hidden my
+heart from you. For the boy's sake, and for your sake, and for the sake
+of 'a scrap of paper'--that was what the war was over, wasn't it?--"
+
+"I know," he whispered. "I know."
+
+"Then you have been thinking, too?... I am so glad!" In the growing
+light he could see the moisture in her bright eyes glisten, and it
+seemed to him this wild, daring daughter of the hills had never been
+lovelier than in this moment of confession and of high resolve.
+
+"I am so glad," she repeated, "for your sake--and for my own. Now,
+again, you are really the Man-on-the-Hill. We have been in the valley of
+late. You can go ahead now with your high plans, with your Big Idea. You
+will marry Miss Bruce, and forget."
+
+"I shall remember with chastened memory, but I shall never forget," he
+said at length. "I shall never forget Zen of the Y.D. And you--what will
+you do?"
+
+"I have the boy. I did not realize how much I had until to-night.
+Suddenly it came upon me that he was everything. You won't understand,
+Dennison, but as we grow older our hearts wrap up around our children
+with a love quite different from that which expresses itself in
+marriage. This love gives--gives--gives, lavishly, unselfishly, asking
+nothing in return."
+
+"I think I understand," he said again. "I think I do."
+
+They turned their eyes to the mountains, and as they looked the first
+shafts of sunlight fell on the white peaks and set them dazzling like
+mighty diamond-points against the blue bosom of the West. Slowly the
+flood of light poured down their mighty sides and melted the mauve
+shadows of the valley. Suddenly a ray of the morning splendor shot
+through the little window in the eastern wall of the living-room and
+fell fairly upon the woman's head, crowning her like a halo of the
+Madonna.
+
+"It is morning on the mountains--and on you!" Grant exclaimed. "Zen, you
+are very, very beautiful." He raised her hand and pressed her fingers to
+his lips.
+
+As they stood watching the sunlight pour into the valley a sharp knock
+sounded on the door. "Come," said Dennison, and the next moment it
+swung open and Phyllis Bruce entered, followed immediately by Linder. A
+question leapt into her eyes at the remarkable situation which greeted
+them, and she paused in embarrassment.
+
+"Phyllis!" Grant exclaimed. "You here!"
+
+"It would seem that I was not expected."
+
+"It is all very simple," Grant explained, with a laugh. "Little Willie
+Transley was my guest overnight. On account of the storm his mother
+became alarmed, and drove out from the city early this morning for him.
+Mrs. Transley, let me introduce Miss Bruce--Phyllis Bruce, of whom I
+have told you."
+
+Zen's cordial handshake did more to reassure Phyllis than any amount of
+explanations, and Linder's timely observation that he knew Wilson was
+there and was wondering about him himself had valuable corroborative
+effect.
+
+"But now--YOUR explanations?" said Grant. "How comes it, Linder?"
+
+"Simple enough, from our side. When I got back to town last night I
+found Murdoch highly excited over a telegram from Miss Bruce that she
+would arrive on the 3 a.m. train. He was determined to wait up, but
+when the storm came on I persuaded him to go home, as I was sure I could
+identify her. So I was lounging in my room waiting for three o'clock
+when I got your telephone call. All I could catch was the fact that you
+were mighty glad to get me, and had some urgent message for Miss Bruce.
+Then the connection broke."
+
+"I see. And you, of course, assured Miss Bruce that I was being
+murdered, or meeting some such happy and effective ending, out here in
+the wilderness."
+
+"Not exactly that, but I reported what I could, and Miss Bruce insisted
+upon coming out at once. The roads were dreadful, but we had daylight.
+Also, we have a trophy."
+
+Linder went out and returned in a moment with a sadly bedraggled hat.
+
+"My poor hat!" Zen exclaimed. "I lost it on the way."
+
+"It is the best kind of evidence that you had but recently come over the
+road," said Linder, significantly.
+
+"I think no more evidence need be called," said Phyllis. "May I lay off
+my things?"
+
+"Certainly--certainly," Grant apologized. "But I must introduce one more
+exhibit." He handed her the telegram he had written during the night.
+"That is the message I wanted Linder to rush to you," he said, and as
+she read it he saw the color deepen in her cheeks.
+
+"I'm going to get breakfast, Mr. Grant," Zen announced with a sudden
+burst of energy. "Everybody keep out of the kitchen."
+
+"Guess I'll feed up for you, this morning, old chap," said Linder,
+beating a retreat to the stables.
+
+And when Phyllis had laid aside her coat and hat and had straightened
+her hair a little in the glass above the mantelpiece she walked straight
+to Grant and put both her hands in his. "Let me see this boy, Willie
+Transley," she said.
+
+Grant led her into the whim-room, where the boy still slept soundly,
+and drew aside the blinds that the morning light might fall about him.
+Phyllis bent over the child. "Isn't he dear?" she said, and stooped and
+kissed his lips.
+
+Then she stood up and looked for what seemed to Grant a very long time
+at the panorama of grandeur that stretched away to the westward.
+
+"When may I expect an answer, Phyllis?" he said at length. "You know
+why my question has been so long delayed. I shall not attempt to excuse
+myself. I have been very, very foolish. But to-day I am very, very wise.
+May I also be very, very happy?"
+
+He had taken her hands in his, and as she did not resist he drew her
+gently to him.
+
+"Little Willie christened me The Man-on-the-Hill," he whispered. "I have
+tried to live on the hill, but I need you to keep me from falling off."
+
+"What about your settlement plan? I thought you wanted me for that."
+
+"We will give our lives to that, together, Phyllis, to that, and to
+making this house a home. If God should give us--"
+
+He did not finish the thought, for the form of Phyllis Bruce trembled
+against his, and her lips had murmured "Yes."...
+
+"Mr. Grant! Mr. Grant! The telephone is ringing," called the clear voice
+of Zen Transley. "Shall I take the message?"
+
+"Please do," said Dennison, inwardly abjuring the efficiency of the
+lineman who had already made repairs.
+
+"It's Mr. Murdoch, and he's highly excited, and he says have you Phyllis
+Bruce here."
+
+"Tell him I have, and I'm going to keep her."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dennison Grant, by Robert Stead
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