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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +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 Project Gutenberg Etext of Dennison Grant, by Robert Stead. + diff --git a/old/dnsng10.zip b/old/dnsng10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d929c4b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dnsng10.zip |