WINNING THE WILDERNESS

 In all the story of the world of man, Who blazed the way to greater, better things? Who stopped the long migration of wild men, And set the noble task of building human homes? The learned recluse? The forum teacher? The poet-singer? The soldier, voyager, Or ruler? 'T was none of this proud line. The man who digged the ground foretold the destiny Of men. 'T was he made anchor for the heart; Gave meaning to the hearthstone, and the birthplace, And planted vine and figtree at the door. He made e'en nations possible. Aye, when With his stone axe he made a hoe, he carved, Unwittingly, the scepter of the world. The steps by which the multitudes have climbed Were all rough-hewn by this base implement. In its rude path have followed all the minor Arts of men. Hark back along the centuries, And hear its march across the continents. From zone to zone, all 'round the bounteous world, The man whose skill makes rich the barren field And causes grass to grow, and flowers to blow, And fruits to ripen, and grain turn to gold-- That man is King! Long live the King! --Mrs. J. K. Hudson. 

[Illustration: They sought the trail and followed it westwardin the face of the wind]

WINNING THE WILDERNESS

By

MARGARET HILL McCARTER

Author of "The Price of the Prairie, " "A Wall of Men, ""The Peace of the Solomon Valley, " "A Master's Degree, " etc. 

Illustrations By

J. N. MARCHAND

Chicago

A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

1914

Copyright

A. C. McClurg & Co. 

1914

Published September, 1914

Copyrighted in Great Britain

W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO

To

THAT FARMER FATHER AND MOTHER

WITH THEIR HANDS ON TODAY

BUT WITH THEIR EYES ON TOMORROW

WHO THROUGH LABOR AND LONELINESS AND

HOPES LONG DEFERRED

HAVE WON A DESERT TO FRUITFULNESS

A WILDERNESS TO BEAUTY

FOREWORD

A reach of level prairie bounded only by the edge of the world--mistyravelings of heliotrope and amber, covered only by the arch ofheaven--blue, beautiful and pitiless in its far fathomless spaces. To thesouthwest a triple fold of deeper purple on the horizon line--mere hint ofcommanding headlands thitherward. Across the face of the prairie streamswandering through shallow clefts, aimlessly, somewhere toward thesoutheast; their course secured by gentle swells breaking into sheer lowbluffs on the side next to the water, or by groups of cottonwood trees andwild plum bushes along their right of way. And farther off the brownindefinite shadowings of half-tamed sand dunes. Aside from these things, afeatureless landscape--just grassy ground down here and bluecloud-splashed sky up there. 

The last Indian trail had disappeared. The hoofprints of cavalry horseshad faded away. The price had been paid for the prairie--the costlymeasure of death and daring. But the prairie itself, in its loneliness andloveliness, was still unsubdued. Through the fury of the winter'sblizzard, the glory of the springtime, the brown wastes of burningmidsummer, the long autumn, with its soft sweet air, its opal skies, andthe land a dream of splendor which the far mirage reflects and the widehorizon frames in a curtain of exquisite amethyst--through none of thesewas the prairie subdued. Only to the coming of that king whose scepter isthe hoe, did soul of the soil awake to life and promise. To him thewilderness gave up everything except its beauty and the sweep of thefreedom-breathing winds that still inspire it. 

CONTENTS

PART I

 CHAPTER PAGE I The Blessing of Asher 1 II The Sign of the Sunflower 16 III The Will of the Wind 30 IV Distress Signals 45 V A Plainsman of the Old School 58 VI When the Grasshopper Was a Burden 82 VII The Last Bridge Burned 103 VIII Anchored Hearthstones 122 IX The Beginning of Service 136 X The Coming of Love 155 XI Lights and Shadows 175 XII The Fat Years 187

PART II

 XIII The Rollcall 207 XIV The Second Generation 224 XV The Coburn Book 238 XVI The Humaneness of Champers 263 XVII The Purple Notches 274 XVIII Remembering the _Maine_ 289 XIX The "Fighting Twentieth" 311 XX The Crooked Trail 330 XXI Jane Aydelot's Will 354 XXII The Farther Wilderness 362 XXIII The End of the Wilderness 379 XXIV The Call of the Sunflower 393

ILLUSTRATIONS

 PAGE

They sought the trail and followed it westwardin the face of the wind 1

"Read these, " she said, "then promise me thatin the hour when Leigh needs my help you willlet me help her" 166

"It's a friendly act on somebody's part. " he said grimly 180

Leigh turned to see Thaine Aydelot looking down ather as he leaned over the high back of the rustic seat 274

PART ONE

THE FATHER

 The old Antaean fable of strength renewed from the ground Was a human truth for the ages; since the hour of the Eden-birth. That man among men was strongest who stood with his feet on the earth! --Sharlot M. Hall. 

WINNING THE WILDERNESS

CHAPTER I

THE BLESSING OF ASHER

 Unless there be in the background a mother, no portrait of a man is complete. --Winston Churchill

The old Aydelot farm reached quite down to the little village ofCloverdale, from which it was separated by Clover Creek. But the Aydelotfarmhouse stood a good half-mile away up the National pike road toward theVirginia state line. The farm consisted of two long narrow strips ofground, bordering the road on either side and walled about by forestshiding stagnant marshes in their black-shadowed depths. Francis Aydelothad taken up the land from the government before the townsite was thoughtof. Farming was not to his liking and his house had been an inn, doing athriving business with travelers going out along that great Nationalhighway in ante-railway days. But when the village took root and grew intoa little town, the village tavern absorbed the revenue from the travelingpublic, and Francis Aydelot had, perforce, to put his own hands to theplow and earn a living from the land. It was never a labor of love withhim, however, and although he grew well-to-do in the tilling, he resentedthe touch of the soil as something degrading. 

Cloverdale did not grow toward him, because, out of prejudice at itsbeing, he would not sell one foot of his ground for town lot purposes. Nevertheless, since he was upright in all his dealings, the villagers grewproud of him, deferred to his judgment, quoted his opinions, and rated himgenerally the biggest asset of the community, with one exception. Thatexception was young Asher Aydelot, a pink-cheeked, gray-eyed boy, only sonof the House of Aydelot and heir to all the long narrow acres from thewooded crest on the east to the clear waters of Clover Creek on the west. He was heir to more than these, however, if the heritage of ancestrycounts for anything. 

Jean Aydelot, the first of the name in America, driven from France by hisfamily on account of his Huguenot beliefs, had settled in Virginia. He hadquickly grasped the American ideals of freedom, the while he affiliatedeasily with the exclusive English Cavaliers. Something of the wanderlustin his blood, however, kept him from rooting too firmly at once. Ithappened that when a band of Quaker exiles had sought refuge in Virginiaand was about to be driven out by the autocratic Cavaliers, young Aydelot, out of love for a Quaker girl, had championed their cause vehemently. Andhe was so influential in the settlement that he might have succeeded, butfor one family--the wealthy and aristocratic Thaines. Through the son ofthis family the final expulsion of these Quakers was accomplished. Thewoman in the case was Mercy Pennington, a pretty Quakeress with whom youngJerome Thaine fell in love, promising protection to all her people inreturn for her hand. When she refused his offer, the Thaines carried theday, and the Quakers again became exiles. Jean Aydelot followed them toPennsylvania and married Mercy Pennington, who was promptly disowned bythe Quaker Church for this marriage to one outside its membership. 

In spite of all this heresy, however, the Aydelots became one of theleading families in the development of the colonies. Their descendantsfell heir to the traits of their French-English forbears: freedom ofbelief, courage to follow a cause, a touch of the wanderlust, themercurial French mind, and the steady poise of the followers of the InwardLight. A trace of bitterness had come down the years, however, with thefamily history; a feud-like resentment against the family of Jerome Thaineof Virginia. 

Francis Aydelot had crossed the Alleghanies and settled in Ohio infrontier days. Here his life, like his narrow, woods-bound farm, was cleanand open but narrowed by surroundings and lack of opportunity. What hadmade for freedom and reform in his ancestors, in him became prejudice andstubborn will. Mrs. Aydelot was a broad-minded woman. Something of visionwas in her clear gray eyes. Love of beauty, respect for learning, and analmost statesman-like grasp of civic duty and the trend of nationalprogress were hers, too. 

From such ancestry came Asher Aydelot, the healthiest, happiest countryboy that ever waked the echoes of the old Ohio woodlands, or dared thecurrents of her mad little rivers, or whistled fearlessly as he scampereddown the dusty pike road in the soft black summer nights. 

Asher was just fifteen when the Civil War swept the nation off its feet. The Quaker spirit of Mercy Pennington made fighting repulsive to hisfather, but in Asher the old Huguenot courage of Jean Aydelot blazedforth, together with the rash partisanship of a young hot-blood whose lifehas been hemmed in too narrowly by forest walls. Almost before Cloverdaleknew there was a war, the Third Ohio Regiment was on its way to the front. Among its bearded men was one beardless youth, a round-faced drummer boyof fifteen, the only child of the big farmhouse beside the National road. In company with him was his boyhood chum, Jim Shirley, son of theCloverdale tavern keeper. 

 * * * * *

An April sun was slipping behind the treetops, and the twilight mists werealready rising above the creek. Francis Aydelot and his wife sat on theveranda watching Asher in the glory of a military suit and brass buttonscoming up the pike with springing step. 

"How strong he is! I'm glad he is at home again, " the mother was saying. 

"Yes, he's here to stay at last. I have his plans all settled, " FrancisAydelot declared. 

"But, Francis, a man must make some plans for himself. Asher may notagree, " Mrs. Aydelot spoke earnestly. 

"How can our boy know as well as his father does what is best for him? Hemust agree, that's all. We have gone over this matter often enoughtogether. I won't have any Jim Shirley in my family. He's gone away andnobody knows where he is, just when his father needs him to take the careof the tavern off his hands. "

"What made Jim go away from Cloverdale?" Mrs. Aydelot asked. 

"Nobody seems to know exactly. He left just before his brother, Tank, married that Leigh girl up the Clover valley somewhere. But everything'ssettled for Asher. He will be marrying one of the Cloverdale girls prettysoon and stay right here in town. We'll take it up with him now. There'sno use waiting. "

"And yet I wish we might wait till he speaks of it himself. Remember, he'sbeen doing his own thinking in the time he's been away, " the motherinsisted. 

Just then, Asher reached the corner of the door yard. Catching sight ofthe two, he put his hands on the top of the paling fence, leaped lightlyover it, and came across to the veranda, where he sat down on the topstep. 

"Just getting in from town? The place hasn't changed much, has it?" thefather declared. 

"No, not much, " Asher replied absently, looking out with unseeing eyes atthe lengthening woodland shadows, "a church or two more, some bricksidewalk, and a few stores and homes--just added on, not improved. I missJim Shirley everywhere. The older folks seem the same, but some of thegirls are pushing baby-carriages and the boys are getting round-shoulderedand droopy-jawed. "

He drew himself up with military steadiness as he spoke. 

"Well, you are glad to settle down anyhow, " his father responded. "The oldFrench spirit of roving and adventure has had its day with you, and nowyou will begin your life work. "

"Yes, I'm done with fighting. " Asher's lips tightened. "But what do youcall my life work, father?"

It was the eighth April after the opening of the Civil War. Asher had justcome home from two years of army service on the western plains. Fewchanges had come to the little community; but to the young man, who eightspringtimes ago had gone out as a pink-cheeked drummer boy, the years hadbeen full of changes. He was now twenty-three, straight as an Indian, leanand muscular as a veteran soldier. The fair, round cheeks of boyhood werebrown and tinged with red-blooded health. There was something resolute andpatient in the clear gray eyes, as if the mother's own far vision hadcrept into them. But the ready smile that had made the Cloverdalecommunity love the boy broke as quickly now on the man's face, givingpromise that his saving sense of humor and his good nature would befactors to reckon with in every combat. 

Asher had staid in the ranks till the end of the war, had been wounded, captured, and imprisoned; had fought through a hospital fever and narrowlyescaped death in the front of many battle lines. But he did not ask for afurlough, nor account his duty done till the war was ended. Just beforethat time, when he was sick in a Southern prison, a rebel girl had walkedinto his life to stay forever. With his chum, Jim Shirley, he had chafedthrough two years in a little eastern college, the while bigger thingsseemed calling him to action. At the end of the second year, he brokeaway, and joining the regular army, began the hazardous life of a Plainsscout. 

Two years of fighting a foe from every way the winds blow, cold andhunger, storms and floods and desert heat, poisonous reptiles, poisonedarrows of Indians, and the deadly Asiatic cholera; sometimes with bravecomrades, sometimes with brutal cowards, sometimes on scout duty, utterlyand awfully alone; over miles on endless miles of grassy level prairies, among cruel canyons, in dreary sand lands where men die of thirst, monotonous and maddening in their barren, eternal sameness; andsometimes, between sunrises of superb grandeur, and sunsets of sublimeglory, over a land of exquisite virgin loveliness--it is small wonder thatthe ruddy cheeks were bronze as an Indian's, that the roundness of boyhoodhad given place to the muscular strength of manhood, that the gray eyesshould hold something of patience and endurance and of a vision largerthan the Cloverdale neighborhood might understand. 

When Asher had asked, "What do you call my life work, Father?" somethingimpenetrable was in his direct gaze. 

Francis Aydelot deliberated before replying. Then the decisive tone andfirm set of the mouth told what resistance to his will might cost. 

"It may not seem quite homelike at first, but you will soon find a wifeand that always settles a man. I can trust you to pick the best there ishere. As to your work, it must be something fit for a gentleman, andthat's not grubbing in the ground. Of course, this is Aydelot soil. Itcouldn't belong to anybody else. I never would sell a foot of it toCloverdale to let the town build this way. I'd as soon sell to a Thainefrom Virginia as I'd sell to that town. "

He waved a hand toward the fields shut in by heavy woodlands, where theshadows were already black. After a moment he continued:

"Everything is settled for you, Asher. I've been pretty careful and lucky, too, in some ways. The men who didn't go to war had the big chances atmoney making, you know. While you were off fighting, I was improving thetime here. I've done it fairly, though. I never dodged a law in my life, nor met a man into whose eyes I couldn't look squarely. "

As he spoke, the blood left Asher's cheeks and his face grew gray underthe tan. 

"Father, do you think a man who fights for his country is to be accountedbelow the man who stays at home and makes money?"

"Well, he certainly can do more for his children than some of those whowent to this war can do for their fathers, " Francis Aydelot declared. "Suppose I was helpless and poor now, what could you do for me?"

There was no attempt at reply, and the father went on: "I have preparedyour work for you. You must begin it at once. Years ago Cloverdale set upa hotel, a poor enough tavern even for those days, but it robbed me of thepatronage this house had before that time, and I had to go to farming. Every kind of drudgery I've had to do here. Cutting down forests, anddraining swamps is a back-breaking business. I never could forgive thefounders for stopping by Clover Creek, when they might have gone twentymiles further on where a town was needed and left me here. But that's allpast now. I've improved the time. I have a good share of stock in the bankand I own the only hotel in Cloverdale. I closed with Shirley as soon as Iheard you were coming home. Shirley's getting old, and since Jim has gonethere's no one to help him and take his place later, so he sold at a verygood figure. He had to sell for some reason, I believe. The Shirleys arehaving some family trouble that I don't understand nor care about. You'vealways been a sort of idol in the town anyhow. Now that you are to go intothe Shirley House as proprietor I suppose Cloverdale will take it as adispensation of Providence in their favor, and you can live like agentleman. "

"But, father, I've always liked the country best. Don't you remember howJim Shirley was always out here instead of my going down town when we wereboys?"

"You are only a boy, now, Asher, and this is all I'll hear to your doing. You ought to be thankful for having such a chance open to you. I haveleased the farm for five years and you don't want to be a hired man attwenty dollars a month, I reckon. Of course, the farm will be yours someday, unless you take a notion to run off to Virginia and marry a Thaine. "

The last words were said jokingly, but Asher's mother saw a suddenhardening of the lines of his face as he sat looking out at the darkeninglandscape. 

There was only a faint glow in the west now. The fields toward Cloverdalewere wrapped in twilight shadows. Behind the eastern treetops the red diskof the rising moon was half revealed. Asher Aydelot waited long before hespoke. At length, he turned toward his father with a certain stiffening ofhis form, and each felt a space widening gulf-wise between them. 

"You stayed at home and grew rich, Father. "

"Well?"

The father's voice cut like a steel edge. He saw only opposition to hiswill here, but the mother forecasted the end from that moment. 

"Father, war gives us to see bigger things than hatred between twosections of the country. There is education in it, too. That is a part ofthe compensation. Once, when our regiment was captured and starving, theFifty-fourth Virginia boys saved our lives by feeding us the best supper Iever tasted. And a Rebel girl--" he broke off suddenly. 

"Well, what of all this? What are you trying to say?" queried the olderman. 

"I'm trying to show you that I cannot sit down here in the Shirley Houseand play mine host any more than I could--" hesitatingly--"marry aCloverdale girl on demand. No Cloverdale girl would have me so. I've seentoo much of the country for such a position, Father. Let the men who staidat home do the little jobs. "

He had not meant to say all this, but the stretch of boundless greenprairies was before his eyes, the memory of heroic action where menutterly forget themselves was in his mind, making life in that little Ohiosettlement seem only a boy's pastime, to be put away with other childishthings. While night and day, in the battle clamor, in the little collegeclass room, on boundless prairie billows, among lonely sanddunes--everywhere, he carried the memory of the gentle touch of the handof a rebel girl, who had visited him when he was sick and in prison. Andwithal, he resented dictation, as all the Aydelots and Penningtons beforehim had done. 

"What do you propose to do?" his father asked. 

"I don't know yet what I can do. I only know what I cannot do. "

"And that is--?"

"Just what I have said. I cannot be a tavern keeper here the rest of mydays with nothing to do half of the time except to watch the men pitchhorseshoes behind the blacksmith shop, and listen to the flies buzz in thewindows on summer afternoons; and everything else so quiet and dead youdon't know whether you are on the street or in the graveyard. If you'dever crossed the Mississippi River you'd understand why. "

"Well, I haven't, and I don't understand. But the only way to stop thisroving is to make a home of your own. Will you tell me how you expect tosupport a Cloverdale girl when you marry one?"

"I don't expect to marry one. " The smile was winning, but the son's voicesounded dangerously like the father's. 

"Why not?"

"Because when I marry it will be to a southern girl--" Asher hesitated amoment. When he went on, his voice was not as son to father, but as man toman. 

"It all happened down in Virginia, when I was wounded and in prison. Thislittle girl took care of me. Only a soldier really knows what a woman'shand means in sickness. But she did more. She risked everything, even herlife, to get letters through the lines to you and to get me exchanged. Ishiver yet when I think of her, disguised as a man in soldier's clothes, taking the chance she did for me. And, well, I left my heart down there. That's all. "

"Why haven't you ever told us this before, Asher?" his father asked. 

Asher stood up where the white moonlight fell full on his face. Somehowthe old Huguenot defiance and the old Quaker endurance of his ancestorsseemed all expressed in him. 

"I wasn't twenty-one, then, and I have nothing yet to offer a girl by wayof support, " he said. 

"Why, Asher!" Mrs. Aydelot exclaimed, "you have everything here. "

"Not yet, mother, " he replied. "And I haven't told you because her name isVirginia Thaine, and she is a descendant of Jerome Thaine. Are theAydelots big enough to bury old hates?"

Francis Aydelot sat moveless as a statue. When at length he spoke, therewas no misunderstanding his meaning. 

"You have no means by which to earn a living. You will go down to town andtake charge of the Shirley House at once, or go to work as a hired handhere. But remember this: from the day you marry a Thaine of Virginia youare no longer my son. Family ties, family honor, respect for yourforefathers forbid it. "

He rose without more words, and went into the house. 

Then came the mother's part. 

"Sit down, Asher, " she said, and Asher dropped to his place on the step. 

"We don't seem to see life through the same spectacles, " he said calmly. "Am I wrong, mother? Nobody can choose my life for me, nor my wife, either. Didn't old grandfather, Jean Aydelot, leave his home in France, and didn't grandmother, Mercy Pennington, marry to suit her own choice?"

Even in the shadow, his mother noted the patient expression of the grayeyes looking up at her. 

"Asher, it is Aydelot tradition to be determined and self-willed, and thebitterness against Jerome Thaine and his descendants has never left theblood--till now. "

She stroked his hair lovingwise, as mothers will ever do. 

"Do you suppose father will ever change?"

"I don't believe he will. We have talked of this many times, and he willlisten to nothing else. He grows more set in his notions as we all do withyears, unless--"

"Well, you don't, mother. Unless what?" Asher asked. 

"Unless we think broadly as the years broaden out toward old age. But, Asher, what are your plans?"

"I'm afraid I have none yet. You know I was a farmer boy until I wasfifteen, a soldier boy till I was nineteen, a college student for twoyears, and a Plains scout for two years more. Tell me, mother, what doesall this fit me for? Not for a tavern in a town of less than a thousandpeople. "

He sat waiting, his elbow resting on his knee, his chin supported by hisclosed hand. 

"Asher, when you left school and went out West, I foresaw what hashappened tonight, " Mrs. Aydelot began. "I tried to prepare your father forit, but he would not listen, would not understand. He doesn't yet. Henever will. But I do. You will not stay in Ohio always, because you do notfit in here now. Newer states keep calling you westward, westward. Thiswas frontier when we came here in the thirties; we belong here. But, sooner or later, you will put your life into the building of the West. Something--the War or the Plains, or may be this Virginia Thaine, has leftyou too big for prejudice. You will go sometime where there is room tothink and live as you believe. "

"Mother, may I go? I dream of it night and day. I'm so cramped here. Thewoods are in my way. I can't see a mile. I want to see to the edge of theworld, as I can on the prairies. A man can win a kingdom out there. "

He was facing her now, his whole countenance aglow with brightanticipation. 

"There is only one way to win that kingdom, " Mrs. Aydelot declared. "Theman who takes hold of the plow-handles is the man who will really conquerthe prairies. His scepter is not the rifle, but the hoe. "

For all his life, Asher Aydelot never forgot his mother's face, nor thesound of her low prophetic words on that moonlit night on the shadowyveranda of his childhood home. 

"You are right, mother. I don't want to fight any more. It must be thesoil that is calling me back to the West, the big, big West! And I mean togo when the time comes. I hope it will come soon, and I know you will giveme your blessing then. "

His mother's hands were pressed lovingly upon his forehead, as he leanedagainst her knee. 

"My blessing, and more than mine. The blessing of Moses to Asher of old, as well. 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thystrength be. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are theeverlasting arms. '"

She bent over her boy, and pushing back the hair from his forehead, shekissed it reverently, nor dreamed in how many a bitter strife would thememory of this sacred hour come back to him, with the blessed note ofvictory. 

The next morning Asher put on his working clothes and began the life of ahired man on his father's farm. The summer was long and hot, and in thelate August the dread typhoid malaria swept up from the woods marshes. Itwas of virulent form and soon had its way with Asher's father and mother. 

When the will of Francis Aydelot was read in court, the inexorable will ofa stubborn man, it declared that the Cloverdale Hotel, the bank stock, andthe farm with all the appurtenances thereunto pertaining, should descendto Asher Aydelot, provided he should remain a resident of Ohio and shouldnever be united in marriage to any descendant of Jerome Thaine of theState of Virginia. Failing in this, all the property, except a few hundreddollars in cash, should descend to one Jane Aydelot, of Philadelphia, andher heirs and assigns forever; provided these heirs were not the childrenof Virginia Thaine of the state of Virginia. 

On the same day, Asher wrote to one Jane Aydelot, of Philadelphia, to cometo Ohio and take possession of her property. Then he carefully sodded thetwo mounds in the graveyard, and planted old-fashioned sweet pinks uponthem, and bidding good-by to the home of his boyhood, he turned his facehopefully to the West. 

CHAPTER II

THE SIGN OF THE SUNFLOWER

 Little they knew what wealth untold Lay hid where the desolate prairies rolled: Who would have dared, with brush or pen, As this land is now, to paint it then? --Allerton. 

The trail had left the woodland far to the eastward, and wound its wayover broad prairie billows, past bluffy-banked streams, along crests oflow watersheds, until at last it slid down into an open endlessness of theLord's earth--just a vasty bigness of landstuff seemingly left over whengeography-making was done. It was untamed stuff, too, whereon one man'smarking was like to the track of foam in the wake of one ship inmid-ocean. Upon its face lay the trail, broad and barren of growth as thedusty old National pike road making its way across uplands and valleys ofOhio. But this was the only likeness. The pike was a gravel-built, upgraded highway, bordered by little rail-fenced fields and deep forestshiding malarial marshes in the lower places. 

This trail, flat along the ungraded ground, tended in the direction ofleast resistance, generally toward the southwest. It was bounded byabsence of landmarks, boulder or tree or cliff. Along either side of itwas a fringe of spindling sunflower stalks, with their blooms of goldmarking two gleaming threads across the plains far toward the mistynothingness of the western horizon. 

The mid-September day had been intensely hot, but the light air wasbeginning to flow a bit refreshingly out of the sky. A gray cloud-wave, creeping tide-like up from the southwest, was tempering the afternoonglare. In all the landscape the only object to hold the eye was a prairieschooner drawn by a team of hard-mouthed little Indian ponies, andfollowed by a free-limbed black mare of the Kentucky blue blood. 

Asher Aydelot sat on the wagon seat holding the reins. Beside him was hiswife, a young, girlish-looking woman with large dark eyes, abundant darkhair, a straight, aristocratic nose, and well-formed mouth and chin. 

The two, coming in from the East on the evening before, had reached theend of the stage line, where Asher's team and wagon was waiting for them. 

The outfit moved slowly. It had left Carey's Crossing at early dawn andhad put twenty-five miles between itself and that last outpost ofcivilization. 

"Why don't you let the horses trot down this hill slope, Asher?" Thewoman's voice had the soft accent of the South. 

"Are you tired, Virgie?" Asher Aydelot looked earnestly down at his wife. 

"Not a bit!" The bright smile and vigorous lift of the shoulders wereassuring. 

"Then we won't hurry. We have several miles to go yet. It is a long day'srun from Carey's to our claim. Wolf County is almost like a state. TheCrossing hopes to become the county seat. "

"Why do they call that place Carey's Crossing?" Mrs. Aydelot asked. 

"It was a trading post once where the north and south trail crossed themain trail. Later it was a rallying place for cavalry. Now it's ourpostoffice, " Asher explained. 

"I mean, why call it Carey? I knew Careys back in Virginia. "

"It is named for a young doctor, the only one in ten thousand miles, sofar as I know. "

"And his family?" Virginia asked. 

"He's a bachelor, I believe. By the way, we aren't going down hill. We areon level ground. "

Mrs. Aydelot leaned out beyond the wagon bows to take in the trail behindthem. 

"Why, we are right in a big saucer. All the land slopes to the center downthere before us. Can't you see it?"

"No, I've seen it too often. It is just a trick of the plains--one of themany tricks for the eye out here. Look at the sunflowers, Virgie. Don'tyou love them?"

Virginia Aydelot nestled close to her husband's side and put one hand onhis. It was a little hand, white and soft, the hand of a lady born ofgenerations of gentility. The hand it rested on was big and hard and brownand very strong looking. 

"I've always loved them since the day you sent me the little one in aletter, " she said in a low voice, as if some one might overhear. "Ithought you had forgotten me and the old war days. I wasn't very happythen. " There was a quiver of the lip that hinted at the memory of intensesorrow. "I had gone up to the spring in that cool little glen in themountain behind our home, you know, when a neighbor's servant boy, BoPeep, Boanerges Peeperville, he named himself, came grinning round a bigrock ledge with your letter. Just a crushed little sunflower and a stickyold card, the deuce of hearts. I knew it was from you, and I loved thesunflower for telling me so. Were you near here then? This land looks sopeaceful and beautiful to me, and homelike somehow, as if we should findsome neighbors just over the hill that you say isn't there. "

"Neither the hill nor the neighbors, yet, although settlers will be comingsoon. We won't be lonesome very long, I'm sure. "

Asher shifted the reins to his other hand and held the little whitefingers close. 

"It wasn't anywhere near here. It was away off in the southwest cornerof--nowhere. I was going to say a shorter word, for that's where we were. I took that card out of an old deck from the man nearest me. The Comancheshad fixed him, so he didn't need it in his game any more. There were onlytwo of us left, a big half-breed Cheyenne scout and myself. I picked thesunflower from the only stalk within a hundred miles of there. I guess itgrew so far from everything just for me that day. Weak as I was, I'llnever forget how hopefully it seemed to look at me. The envelope was onemother had sent me, you remember. I told the Cheyenne how to start it toyou from the fort. He left me there, wounded and alone--'twas all he coulddo--while he went for help about a thousand miles away it must haveseemed, even to an Indian. I thought it was my last message to you, dearie, for I never expected to be found alive; but I was, and when youwrote back, sending your letter to 'The Sign of the Sunflower, ' Oh, littlegirl, the old trail blossom was glorified for me forever. "

He broke off so suddenly that his wife looked up inquiringly. 

"I was thinking of the cool spring and the rocks, and that shady glen, andthe mountains, and the trees, and the well-kept mansion houses, andservants like Bo Peep to fetch and carry--and here--Virginia, why did youlet me persuade you away from them? Everything was made ready for youthere. The Lord didn't do anything for this country but go off and leaveit to us. "

"Yes, to us. Here is the sunflower and the new home in the new West andAsher Aydelot. And underfoot is the prairie sod that is ours, and overheadis heaven that kept watch over you for me, and over both of us for this. And I persuaded you to bring me here because I wanted to be with youalways. "

"You can face it all for me?" he asked. 

"With you, you mean. Yes, for we'll stop at 'The Sign of the Sunflower' solong as we both shall live. How beautiful they are, these endless bands ofgold, drawing us on and on across the plains. Asher, you forget thatVirginia is not as it was before the war. But we did keep inherited pridein the Thaine family, and the will to do as we pleased. You see what haspleased me. "

"And it shall please me to make such a fortune out of this ground, andbuild such a home for you that by and by you will forget you ever werewithout the comforts you are giving up now, " Asher declared, looking equalto the task. "Virgie, " he added presently, "on the night my mother told meto come out West she gave me her blessing, and the blessing of the oldBible Asher also--'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, soshall thy strength be. ' I believe the blessing will stay with us; thatthe Eternal God will be our refuge in this new West and newhome-building. "

They rode awhile in silence. Then Asher said:

"Look yonder, Virginia, south of the trail. Just a faint yellow line. "

"Is it another trail, or are you lost and beginning to see things?"

"No, I'm found, " Asher replied. "We scattered those seeds ourselves; didit on Sundays when I was living on my claim, waiting till I could go backand bring you here. We blazed the way, marked it with gold, I'd bettersay; a line clear to Grass River. It leaves the real Sunflower Trail righthere. "

"Who were _we_ in this planting?" Virginia asked. 

"Oh, me and my first wife, Jim Shirley, and his shepherd dog, Pilot. Jimand I have done several things together besides that. We were boystogether back in Cloverdale. We went to the war together to fight youobstreperous Rebels. " There was a twinkle in Asher's eyes now. 

"Yes, but in the end who really won?" Virginia asked demurely. 

"You did, of course--in my case. Jim went back to Cloverdale for awhile. Then he came out here. He's a fine fellow. Plants a few more seeds by thewayside than is good for him, maybe, but a friend to the last rollcall. Hewas quite a ladies' man once, and nobody knows but himself how much hewould have loved a home. He has something of a story back of his comingWest, but we never speak of that. He's our only neighbor now. "

It was twilight when Asher and his wife slipped down over a low swell andreached their home. The afterglow of sunset was gorgeous in the west. Thegray cloud-tide, now a purple sea, was rifted by billows of flame. Levelmist-folds of pale violet lay along the prairie distances. In thesouthwest the horizon line was broken by a triple fold of deepestblue-black tones, the mark of headlands somewhere. Across the landscape agrassy outline marked the course of a stream that wandered dimly towardthe darkening night shadows. The subdued tones of evening held all thescene, save where a group of tall sunflowers stood up to catch the lastlight of day full on their golden shields. 

"We are here at last, Mrs. Aydelot. Welcome to our neighborhood!" Ashersaid bravely as the team halted. 

Virginia sat still on the wagon seat, taking in the view of sunset sky andtwilight prairie. 

"This is our home, " she murmured. "I'm glad we are here. "

"I'm glad you are glad. I hope I haven't misrepresented it to you, " herhusband responded, turning away that he might not see her face just then. 

It was a strange place to call home, especially to one whose years hadbeen spent mainly in the pretty mountain-walled Virginia valleys wherecool brooks babbled over pebbly beds or splashed down in crystalwaterfalls; whose childhood home had been an old colonial house withdriveways, and pillared verandas, and jessamine-wreathed windows; withsoft carpets and cushioned chairs, and candelabra whose glitteringpendants reflected the light in prismatic tintings; and everywhere thelazy ease of idle servants and unhurried lives. 

The little sod house, nestled among sheltering sunflowers, stood on aslight rise of ground. It contained one room with two windows, one lookingto the east and the other to the west, and a single door opening on thesouth. Above this door was a smooth pine board bearing the inscription, "Sunflower Inn, " stained in rather artistic lettering. A low roofextending over the doorway gave semblance to a porch which some scorchedvines had vainly tried to decorate. There was a rude seat made of a goodsbox beside the doorway. Behind the house rose the low crest of a prairiebillow, hardly discernible on the level plains. Before it lay the endlessprairie across which ran the now half-dry, grass-choked stream. A fewstunted cottonwood trees followed its windings, and one little clump ofwild plum bushes bristled in a draw leading down to the shallow place ofthe dry watercourse. All else was distance and vastness void of life andutter loneliness. 

Virginia Aydelot looked at the scene before her. Then she turned to herhusband with a smile on her young face, saying again, "I am glad I am here. "

There is one chord that every woman's voice touches some time, no matterwhat her words may be. As Virginia spoke, Asher saw again the moonlight onthe white pillars of the south veranda of the old Aydelot farmhouse, andhis mother sitting in the shadows; and again he caught the tone of hervoice saying, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strengthbe. "

He leaped from the wagon seat and put up his arms to help his wife to theground. 

"This is the end of the trail, " he said gaily. "We have reached the innwith 'The Sign of the Sunflower. ' See the signboard Jim has put up forus. "

At that moment a big shepherd dog came bounding out of the weeds by theriver and leaped toward them with joyous yelps; a light shone through thedoorway, and a voice at once deep and pleasant to the ear, called out:

"Well, here you are, just as supper is ready. Present me to the bride, Asher, and then I'll take the stock off your hands. "

"Mrs. Aydelot, this is Mr. James Shirley, at present the leading artistichouse decorator as well as corn king of the Southwest. Allow me, Jim, topresent my wife. You two ought to like each other if each of you can standme. "

They shook hands cordially, and each took the other's measure at a glance. What Shirley saw was a small, well-dressed woman whose charm was apositive force. It was not merely that she was well-bred and genial ofmanner, nor that for many reasons she was pretty and would always bepretty, even with gray hair and wrinkles. There was something back of allthis; something definite to build on; a self-reliance and unbreakabledetermination without the spirit that antagonizes. 

"A thoroughbred, " was Shirley's mental comment. "The manners of a lady andthe will of a winner. "

What Virginia saw was a big, broad-shouldered man, tanned to the verylimit of brownness, painfully clean shaven, and grotesquely clean indress; a white shirt, innocent of bluing in its laundry, a glisteningcelluloid collar, a black necktie (the last two features evidently justadded to the toilet, and neither as yet set to their service), darkpantaloons and freshly blacked shoes. But it was Shirley's face thatcaught Virginia's eyes, for even with the tan it was a handsome face, withregular features, and blue eyes seeing life deeply rather than broadly. Just a hint of the artistic, however, took away from rather than added tothe otherwise manly expression. Clearly, Jim Shirley was a man that menand women, too, must love if they cared for him at all. . And they couldn'thelp caring for him. He had too much of the quality of eternal interest. 

"I'm glad to meet you, and I bid you welcome to your new home, Mrs. Aydelot. The house is in order and supper is ready. I congratulate you, Asher, " he said, as he turned away to take the ponies. 

"You will come in and eat with us, " Virginia said cordially. 

"Not tonight. I must put this stock away and hurry home. "

Asher opened his lips to repeat his wife's invitation, but something inJim's face held the words, so he merely nodded a good-by as he led hiswife into the sod cabin. 

Two decades in Kansas saw hundreds of such cabins on the plains. The wallsof this one were nearly two feet thick and smoothly plastered inside witha gypsum product, giving an ivory-yellow finish, smooth and hard as bone. There was no floor but the bare earth into which a nail could scarcelyhave been driven. The furniture was meager and plain. There was only onepicture on the wall, the sweet face of Asher's mother. A bookshelf held aBible with two or three other volumes, some newspapers and a magazine. Sundry surprising little devices showed the inventive skill of thehome-builder, but it was all home-made and unpainted. It must have beenthe eyes of love that made this place seem homelike to these young peoplewhose early environment had been so vastly different in everything!

Jim Shirley had a supper of fried ham, stewed wild plums, baked sweetpotatoes, and hot coffee, with canned peaches and some hard littlecookies. Surely the Lord meant men to be the cooks. Society started wrongin the kitchen, for the average man prepares a better meal with less ofeffort and worry than the average or super-average woman will ever do. Itwas not the long ride alone, it was this appetizing food that made thatfirst meal in the sod mansion one that these two remembered in days ofdifferent fortune. They remembered, too, the bunch of sunflowers thatadorned the table that night. The vase was the empty peach can wrappedround with a piece of newspaper. 

As they lingered at their meal, Asher glanced through the little westwindow and saw Jim Shirley sitting by the clump of tall sunflowers not faraway watching them with the eager face of a lonely man. A bigwhite-throated Scotch collie lay beside him, waiting patiently for hismaster to start for home. 

"I am glad Jim has Pilot, " Asher thought. "A dog is better than no companyat all. I wish he had a wife. Poor lonely fellow!"

Half an hour later the two came outside to the seat by the doorway. Themoon was filling the sky with its radiance. A chorus of crickets sangjoyously in the short brown grass about the sunflowers. The cottonwoodsalong the river course gleamed like alabaster in the white night-splendor, and the prairie breeze sang its low crooning song of evening as it flowedgently over the land. "How beautiful the world is, " Virginia said, as shecaught the full radiance of the light on the prairie. 

"Is this beautiful to you, Virgie?" Asher asked, as he drew her close tohim. "I've seen these plains when they seemed just plain hell to me, fullof every kind of danger: cholera, poison, cold, hunger, heat, hostileIndian, and awful loneliness. And yet, the very fascination of the thingcalled me back and hardened me to it all. But why? What is there here onthese Kansas prairies to hold me here and make me want to bring you here, too? Not a feature of this land is like the home country in Virginia. Whenthe Lord gave Adam and Eve a tryout in the Garden of Eden, He gave themeverything with which to start the world off right. Out here we doubtsometimes if there is any God west of the Missouri River. He didn't leaveany timber for shelter, nor wood, nor coal for fuel, nor fruit, nor nuts, nor roots, nor water for the dry land. All there is of this piece of theLord's leftovers is just the prairie down here, and the sky over it. Andit's so big I wonder sometimes that there is even enough skystuff to coverit. And yet, it is beautiful and maddening in its hold, once it gets you. Why?"

"Maybe it is the very unconquerableness that cries out to the love ofpower in you. Maybe the Lord, who knew how easily Adam let Eden slipthrough his fingers, decided that on the other side of the world He wouldgive a younger race of men, a fire-tried race in battle, the chance tomake their own Eden. So He left the stuff here for such as you and me topicture out our own plan and then work to the pattern. It is the real landof promise. Everything waiting to be done here. "

"And there's only one way to do it. I am sure of that, " Asher replied. "Armies don't win, they terrorize and destroy. We whipped back the Indiansout here; they'd come again, if they dared--but they never will, " he addedquickly, as he saw his wife's face whiten in the moonlight. "It's astruggle to win the soil, with loneliness and distance and a few thousandother things to fight, beside. But I told you all this before I asked youto come out here. "

"I wish I could have brought some property to you to help you, Asher, butyou know how the Thaine estate was reduced. "

"Yes, I helped the family to that, " Asher replied. 

"Well, I seem to have helped you to lose the Aydelot inheritance. We arestarting neck and neck out here, " Virginia cried, "and we'll win. I cansee our plantation--ranch, you call it--now, with groves and a little lakeand a big ranch house, and just acres of wheat and meadows, and red cloverand fine stock and big barns, and you and me, the peers of a proudcountryside when we have really conquered. 'Instead of the thorn shallcome up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtletree. ' Isn't that the promise?"

"Oh, Virgie, any man could win a kingdom with a wife like you, " Asher saidtenderly. "Back in Ohio, when I grubbed the fence corners, I saw thiscountry night and day, waiting for us here, and I wondered why the folkswere willing to let the marshes down in the deep woods stagnate and breedmalaria, and then fight the fever with calomel and quinine every summer, instead of opening the woodland and draining the swamps. Nevertheless, I've left enough money in the Cloverdale bank to take you back East andstart up some little sort of a living there, if you find you cannot stayhere. I couldn't bring you here and burn all the bridges. All you have todo is to say you want to go back, and you can go. "

"You are very good, Asher. " His wife's voice was low and soft. "But Idon't want to go back. Not until we have failed here. And we shall notfail. "

And together that night on the far unconquered plains of Kansas, with themoon shining down upon them, these two, so full of hope and courage, planned their future. In the cottonwood trees by the river sands a nightbird twittered sleepily to its mate; the chirp of many crickets in theshort grass below the sunflowers had dwindled to a mere note at intervals. The soft breeze caressed the two young faces, then wandered far and faracross the lonely land, and in its long low-breathed call to the nightthere was a sigh of sadness. 

CHAPTER III

THE WILL OF THE WIND

 Naught but the endless hills, dim and far and blue, And sighing wind, and sailing cloud, and nobody here but you. --James W. Steele. 

The next day, and for many days following, the wind blew; fiercely andunceasingly it blew, carrying every movable thing before it. Whatever wastending in its direction, it helped over the ground amazingly. Whatevertried to move in the face of it had to fight for every inch of the way. Itwhipped all the gold from the sunflowers and threshed them mercilesslyabout. It snapped the slender stems of the big, bulgy-headed tumble-weedsand sent them tumbling over and over, mile after mile, until they werecaught at last in some draw, like helpless living things, to swell theheap for some prairie fire to feed upon. It lifted the sand from the riverbed and swept it in a prairie simoon up the slope, wrapping the littlecabin in a cloud of gritty dust. The cottonwoods along the waterway moanedas if in pain and flung up their white arms in feeble protest. The wildplum bushes in the draw were almost buried by the wind-borne driftsmothering the narrow crevice, while out on the plains the long lashingwaves of bended grass made the eyes burn with weariness. And the sunwatched it all with unpitying stare, and the September heat was maddening. But it was cool inside the cabin. Sod houses shut out the summer warmth asthey shed off the winter's cold. 

Virginia Aydelot stood at the west window watching her husband trying tocarry two full pails of water which the wind seemed bent on blowingbroadcast along his path. He had been plowing a double fireguard aroundthe premises that morning and his face and clothes were gray with dust. These days of unceasing winds seemed to Virginia to sap the last atom ofher energy. But she was young and full of determination. 

"Why did you put the well so far away, Asher?" she asked, as he cameinside. 

The open door gave the wind a new crevice to fill, and it slappedwrathfully at the buckets, splashing the contents on the floor. 

"We have to put wells close to the water in this country. I put this onein before I built here. And if we have a well, we are so glad we don't tryto move it. The wind might find it out and fill it up with sand while wewere doing it. It's a jealous wind, this. " Asher's smile lit up hisdust-grimed face. 

"I've tried all day to keep the dust off the table. I meant to do awashing this morning, but how could any garment stay on the line out thereand not be whipped to shreds?"

"Virginia, did you ever do a washing before the war?" Asher asked throughthe towel. He was trying to scrub his face clean with the least possibleamount of water. 

"Oh, that's ancient history. No, nor did I do anything else. I was tooyoung. Did you ever try to till a whole section of land back in Ohiobefore the war?" Virginia asked laughingly. 

Asher took the towel from his head to look at her. 

"You are older than when I first knew you--the little lady of the oldJerome Thaine mansion home. But you haven't lost any of that girl's charmsand you have gained some new ones with the years. "

"Stop staring at me and tell me why you didn't put the house down by thewell, then, " Virginia demanded. 

"I did pitch my tent there at first, but it is too near the river, andseveral things happened, beside, " he replied. 

"Is that a river, really?" she inquired. "It looks like a weed trail. "

"Yes, it is very real when it elects to be. They call it Grass Riverbecause there's no grass in it--only sand and weeds--and they call it ariver because there is seldom any water in it. But I've seen such lazysand-foundered streams a mile wide and swift as sin. So I take no riskwith precious property, even if I have to tote barrels of water and slopthe parlor rug on windy days. "

"Then, why didn't you put another door in the kitchen end of the house?"Virginia questioned. 

"Two reasons, dearie. First, can you keep one door shut on days like this, even when there is no draught straight through the house?" he inquired. 

"Yes, when I put a chair against it, and the table against the chair, andthe bed against the table, and the cookstove to back up the bed. I see. Shortage of furniture. "

"No, the effect on this cabin if the wind had a sweep through two weakplaces in the wall. I built this thing to stay till I get ready to go awayfrom it, not for it to go off and leave me sitting here under the sky somestormy day. Of course, the real home, the old Colonial style of house, will stand higher up after awhile, embowered in trees, and the wind mayplay about its vine-covered verandas, and its stately front columns, butthat comes later. "

"All right, but what was the second reason for the one doorway? You saidyou had two?" Virginia broke in. 

"Oh, did I? Well, the other reason is insignificant, but effective in itsway. I had only one door and no lumber within three hundred miles to makeanother, and no money to buy lumber, anyhow. "

"You should have married a fortune, " his wife said demurely. 

"I did. " The smile on the lips did not match the look in the gray eyes. "My anxiety is that I shall not squander my possession, now I have it. "

"You are squandering your dooryard by plowing out there in front of thehouse. Isn't there ground enough if the wind will be merciful, not to useup our lawn?" Virginia would not be serious. 

"I have plowed a double fireguard, and I've burned off the grass betweenthe two to put a wide band of protection about us. I take no chances. Everything is master in the wilderness except man. When he has tamed allthese things--prairie fire, storm and drouth, winds and lonely distances, why, there isn't any more wilderness. But it's tough work gettingacclimated to these September breezes, I know. "

Virginia did not reply at once. All day the scream of the wind had whippedupon her nerves until she wanted to scream herself. But it was not in theblood of the breed to give up easily. Something of the stubborndetermination that had made the oldtime Thaines drive the Quakers fromVirginia shone now in the dark eyes of this daughter of a well-bredhouse. 

"It's all a matter of getting one's system and this September wind systemto play the same tune, " she said. 

"Virginia, you look just as you did that day when you said you were goingthrough the Rebel ranks in a man's dress to take a message for me to theUnion officer of my command, although you ran the risk of being shot for aspy on either side of the lines. When I begged you not to do it, you onlylaughed at me. I thought then you were the bravest girl I ever saw. Now Iknow it. "

"Well, I'll try not to get hysterical over the wind out here. It is amatter of time and adjustment. Let's adjust ourselves to dinner now. "

Beyond her lightly spoken words Asher caught the undertone of courage, andhe knew that a battle for supremacy was on, a struggle between physicaloutcry and mental poise. 

After the meal, he said, "I must take my plow down to Shirley's thisafternoon. His is broken and I can mend it while he puts in his fireguardwith mine. I don't mind the wind, but I won't ask you to face it cleardown to Shirley's claim. I don't like to leave you here, either. "

"I think I would rather stay indoors. What is there to be afraid of, anyhow?" Virginia asked. 

"Nothing in the world but loneliness, " her husband replied. 

"Well, I must get used to that, you know. I can begin now, " Virginia saidlightly. 

But for all her courage, she watched him drive away with a sob in herthroat. In all the universe there was nothing save a glaring sunlight andan endless cringing of yellow, wind-threshed grass. 

Asher Aydelot had come here with half a dozen other young fellows, all ofwhom took up claims along Grass River. Six months later Jim Shirley hadcome to the settlement with a like company who extended the free-holdingsuntil it was seven miles by the winding of the river from Aydelot's claimon the northwest down the river to Shirley's claim on the southeast. 

Eighteen months later only two men were left in the Grass River valley, Aydelot and Shirley. The shorter trail as the crow flies between theirclaims was marked by a golden thread of sunflowers. At the third bend ofthe winding stream a gentle ripple of ground rose high enough to hide thecabin lights from each other that otherwise might have given a neighborlycomfort to the two lone settlers. 

Shirley's cabin stood on a tiny swell of ground, mark of a one-timeisland, set in a wide bend in the river that was itself a naturalfireguard for most of the circle of the premises. 

The house was snug as a squirrel's nest. Before it was a strip of whiteclover, as green and fresh looking as if it were on the banks of CloverCreek in Ohio. Above the door a plain board bore the one word, "Cloverdale. "

Jim Shirley stood watching Asher coming down the trail against the wind, followed by the big shepherd dog, Pilot, who had bounded off to meet him. 

"Hello! How did you get away on a day like this?" he called, as the teamdrew near. 

"Why, you old granny!" Asher stopped here. 

Both men had been on the Kansas plains long enough not to mind the wind. It flashed into Asher's mind that Jim was hoping to see his wife with him, and he measured anew the loneliness of the man's life. 

"Most too rude for ladies just yet, although I didn't like to leaveVirginia alone. "

"What could possibly harm her? Your fireguard's done, double done; there'sno water to drown in, no Indian to frighten, no wild beast to enter, nowhite man, in God knows how many hundred miles. Just nothing to be afraidof. "

"Yes, that's it--just nothing. And it's enough to make even a braver womanafraid. It's the eternal vast nothingness, when the very silence cries outat you. It's the awful loneliness of the plains that makes the advanceattack in this fight with the wilderness. Don't we both know that?"

"I reckon we do, but we got over it, and so will Mrs. Aydelot. "

"How do you know that?" Asher inquired eagerly. "I believe she couldhardly keep back the tears till I got away. "

"Then why didn't you get away sooner? I know she will get over it, becauseshe's as good a woman as we are men, and we stood for it. "

"Well, here's your plow. Better get your guard thrown up. I can smellsmoke now. There's a prairie fire sweeping in on this wind somewhere. There's a storm brewing, too. Remember what a fight we had with fire ayear ago?"

Asher was helping to put Jim's team in the harness. 

"Yes, you saved your well and a few other little things. But you've gotyour grit, you darned Buckeye, to hold on and start again from the ashes. And now you have your wife here. You are lucky, " Jim declared. 

"Where's that broken plow of yours? Is it bolt or weld? Maybe I can mendit. " Asher was casting about for tools. 

"It's bolt. Everything is on the stable shelves, " Jim called back againstthe wind, as he drove the plow deep in the black soil. "Be sure you put'em back when you are through with 'em, too. "

"Poor Jim!" Asher said to himself with a smile. "The artist in him makeshim keep the place in order. He'd stop to hang up his coat and vest if hehad to fight a mad bull. Poor judgment puts a good many tragedies intolives as well as stage villain types of crime. "

And then Asher thought of Virginia, and wondered what she was doingthrough the long afternoon. He was whistling softly with a smile in hiseyes as Jim Shirley made the tenth round of the premises and stoppedopposite the stable door. 

"Hey, Asher, come out and see the sky now, " he called. "It's prairie fireand equinoctial storm combined. "

Asher hurried out to see the dull southwest heavens shutting off thesunlight out of which raged a wind searing the sky to a dun gray. 

"Don't stand there staring, you idiot. Why don't you get your plowingdone?" he cried to Shirley. 

Shirley began to loose the trace-chain from the plow. 

"That strip is wide enough now, " he declared. "I've got a clover guard, anyhow. I don't need to back-fire like my neighbors do. "

As Asher untied his ponies and climbed into the wagon, Jim held theirreins. 

"Stop a minute. Let a single man offer you a word of advice, will you?" heasked. 

"All right, I need advice, " Asher smiled down on Jim's earnest face. 

"Then heed it, too. No use to tell you to take care of your wife. You'lldo that to a fault. But don't make any mistake about Mrs. Asher Aydelot. She went through Rebel and Union lines once to save your life. Don't doubther strength to hold her own here as soon as the first fight is over. Sheis like that Kentucky thoroughbred of hers; she's got endurance as well asgrace and beauty. "

"Bless you, Jim, " Asher said, as he clasped Shirley's hand. "I wish youhad a wife. "

"Well, they are something of an anxiety, too. Hustle home ahead of thestorm. I've always wished that bluff at the deep bend didn't hide us fromeach other's sight. I'd like to blast it out. "

Asher Aydelot hurried northward ahead of the hot winds and deepeningshadows of the coming storm. And all the time, in spite of Jim'scomforting words, an anxiety grew and grew. The miles seemed endless, theheavens darkened, and the wind suddenly gave a gasp and died away, leavinga hot, blank stillness everywhere. 

Meanwhile, Virginia, alone in the cabin, had fallen asleep from sheernerve weariness. When she awoke, it was late in the afternoon. Thescreaming outside had ceased, but the whir and whine were still going on, and the blaring light was toned by the dust-filled air. 

"I was only tired, " Virginia said to herself. "Now I am rested, I don'tmind the wind. "

She went out to watch the trail for Asher's coming. He was not in sight, so she came inside again, but nothing there could interest her. 

"I'll go out and wait awhile, " she thought. 

Tying a veil over her head, she shut the cabin door and sat down outside. The wind died suddenly away, the trail was lifeless, and all the plain cutby the trail as well. Then the solitude of the thing took up the flightwhere the wind had left off. 

"How can I ever stand this, " Virginia cried, springing up. "But Asherstood it before I came, or even promised to come. No knight of the oldchivalry days ever endured such hardships as the claimholders on theseKansas plains must endure. But it takes women to make homes. They cannever, never win here without wives. I could go back to Virginia if Iwould. " She shut her teeth tightly, and the small hands were clenched. "But I won't do it. I'll stay here with Asher Aydelot. Other men and womenas eager as we are will come soon. We can wait, and some day, Oh, someday, we'll not miss what the Thaines lost by the war and the Aydelots lostby the Thaines, for we'll have a prince's holdings on these desolateplains!"

She stood with her hands clasped looking with far-seeing dark eyes downthe long trail by the dry river bed, like a goddess of Conquest on a vastuntamed prairie. 

A sudden sweep of the wind aroused her, and the loneliness of the plainsrose up again. 

"I'll get Juno and follow the trail till I meet Asher. I can't get lostwhere there's nothing but space, " she said aloud, as she hurried to thestable and led out the petted thoroughbred. 

Horses are very human creatures, responding not only to the moods of theirmasters, but to the conditions that give these moods. The West was nokinder to the eastern-bred horse than to the eastern-bred man. All dayJuno had plunged about the stable and pawed the hard earth floor in sheernervousness. She leaped out of doors now at Virginia's call, as eager forcomfort as a homesick child. 

"We'll chase off and meet Asher, darling. "

Even the soft voice the mare had heard all her days did not entirelysoothe her. As Virginia mounted the wind flung shut the stable door with abang. Juno leaped as from a gunshot, and dashed away up the river to thenorthwest. Her rider tried in vain to change her course and quiet herspirit. The mare only surged madly forward, as if bent on outrunning thetantalizing, grinding wind. With the sense of freedom, and with theboundlessness of the plains, some old instinct of the unbridled days ofby-gone generations woke to life and power in her, and with the bitbetween her teeth, she swept away in unrestrained speed. 

Virginia was a skilled horsewoman, and she had no fear for herself, so sheheld the reins and kept her place. 

"I can go wherever you can, you foolish Juno, " she cried, giving herselfup to the exhilarating ride. "We'll stay together to the end of the race, and we will get it out of our systems once for all, and come back'plains-broke. '"

Beyond a westward sweeping curve of the river's course the chase became aclimb up a long slope that grew steeper and steeper, cutting off the viewof the stream. Here Juno's speed slackened, then dropped into a steadycanter, as she listened for a command to turn back. 

"We'll go on to the edge of that bluff, lady, now we are here, and seewhat is across the river, " Virginia said. "Then we will hurry home toAsher and prairie hay. "

When they came at last over a rough shale outcrop to the highest headland, the river bed lay between its base and a barren waste of sand dunes, withbroad grassy regions beyond them spreading southward. The view from thebluff's top was magnificent. Virginia held Juno to the place and looked inwonder at the vast southwest on this strange September afternoon. Across areach of level land, miles wide, a prairie fire was sweeping in themajesty of mastery. The lurid flames leaped skyward, while roll on surgingroll of black smoke-waves, with folds of gray ashes smothering between, poured out along the horizon. Beyond the fire was the dark bluestorm-cloud, banded across the front by the hail mark of coppery green. 

Virginia sat enchanted by the grandeur of the scene. The veil had fallenfrom her head, and with white face and fascinated eyes, she watched theglowing fury, a graceful rider on a graceful black horse, on the crest ofthe lone headland outlined against the sky. 

Suddenly the terror of it broke upon her. She was miles from the cabinwith its double fireguard. Asher had said such fires could leap rivers. Between her and safety were many level banks where the sandy stream bedwas narrow, and many grassy stretches where there was no water at all. 

Distance, storm wind, fire and hail, all seemed ready to close down uponher, making her senses reel. One human being, alone before the wrath ofNature! In all the years that followed, she never forgot that scene. Forin that moment a whisper came from somewhere out of the void, "The EternalGod is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, " and sheclasped her hands in a wordless prayer. 

The wind that had been cruel all day grew suddenly kind. A dead calm heldthe air in a hot stillness. Then with a whip and a whirl, it swung itscourse about and began to pour cool and strong out of the northwest. 

"The wind is changing, " Virginia cried, as she felt its chill and saw theflame and smoke tower upward and bend back from the way. "It is blowingthe fire to the east, to the southeast. But, will it catch Asher? Oh, yougood Wind, blow south! blow south!" she pleaded, as she dashed down thelong slope for the homeward race. 

 * * * * *

When Asher reached his claim, he looked in vain for Virginia's face as hepassed the cabin window. He hurried the ponies into the corral, and thewagon under the lean-to beside the stable, half conscious that somethingwas missing inside. Then he hastened to the cabin, but Virginia was notthere. 

"She may be in the stable. " He half whispered the words in his anxiety. 

The ponies in the corral were greedily eating their hay, but the blackmare Juno was gone. As Asher turned toward the house, he caught the lowroaring of the tempest and felt a rush of cool wind from somewhere. A hugestorm-wave of yellow dust was rolling out of the southwest; beyond it theheavens were copper-green, and back of that, midnight darkness; while, borne onward by its force, low waves of prairie fire were swept along theground. 

Down at the third bend of the river where long growths overhung thestream, the flames crossed easily. Even as Asher Aydelot watched thestorm cloud, long tongues of fire came licking up the valley toward him, not a towering height, but a swift crawling destruction which he looked atwith unseeing eyes, for his only thought was for Virginia. 

"How could I have missed her if she started to meet me? Yet, where can shebe now?" he groaned. 

The hungry flames gnawed vainly about his broad fireguard, then waveredback and forth along the south prairie, while he watched them under thefascination the mastery of the elements can exert. He turned at last fromthe fire and storm to see Juno and her rider swinging down the northwestprairie, keeping close to the river line before the chill north wind. 

"Oh, Virgie, Virgie, " he cried, as she slipped from the saddle and hecaught her in his arms. "I've lived a hundred years since I left you thisafternoon. What made you run away?"

In the joy of her safe return, he forgot the fire. 

"Why, don't you see the wind is from the north? And it is blowingeverything south now? I saw it begin away up the river. Did that guardreally keep off that thing I saw from the high bluff up yonder?"

"I put it there to do it, and I'd take the chances. Awful as it is, itcan't do anything but burn, and there's nothing here to burn. If it hadn'tbeen there, everything would have been gone and you would have come backto a pile of ashes if the wind had left a pile. "

"And you put your puny hands to the plow handles and say to that awfulfury, 'So far, and no farther. This is my home. ' You, one little humanbeing!" Virginia's eyes were glowing with wonder at the miracle. 

"Yes, with my puny hands. Me--a little man, " Asher smiled quizzically, ashe spread his broad brown hands before his face and drew himself up to hisfull six feet of height. "Only I say, 'our home. ' But I was so scaredabout you, I forgot to notice the change in the wind. The fire is chasingto the south, and the hailstorm has veered off down that stream this sideof those three headlands over there. The wind gives and the wind takesaway. You can't plow a guard around it. "

They sat down by the cabin door to watch the storm and flame blown faraway in whirls of glaring light and surging cloud, until the rain at lastdrowned all the fury and washed it over the edge of the south horizon outof the world. 

"Sometime we'll plant hedges and forest trees and checker the country withwindbreaks until days like this will belong only to an old pioneer'smemory, " Asher said, as the storm swept wide away. 

"Then, I'm glad I came early enough to see this. I'm getting'plains-broke' along with Juno. Isn't it wonderful to be a real pioneer?Back in Virginia we were two centuries of generations away from the firstsettlers, " Virginia exclaimed. 

But Asher did not answer. He was thinking of Jim Shirley's declaration:"She's got endurance as well as grace and beauty. "

CHAPTER IV

DISTRESS SIGNALS

 Also, we will make promise. So long as the Blood endures, I shall know that your will is mine; ye shall feel that my strength is yours. --A Song of the English. 

Virginia Aydelot soon grew brown as a berry in the tanning prairie winds, and it seemed impossible that this strong young woman of the sod cabin, with her simple dress and her cheeks abloom, could have been the daintychild of the old Southern mansion house. 

No other autumn had ever seemed quite so beautiful to the Aydelots asthis, their first autumn together. Life was before them with its call tovictory. Youth and health, exuberant spirits and love were theirs. Theirs, too, was the great boundless world of mists and mirages, of rainbow tintedgrasses and opal heavens, where no two sunsets were ever the same. Theycould laugh at their poverty, believing in a time when Ease and Plentywould rule the land where now they must fight for the bare necessities ofexistence, picturing life not as it was then with its many hardships, butas it would be in a future day when the real world whose last outpost theyhad left almost fifty miles to the eastward, should move toward them andhelp to people the prairies. 

All the week days were full of duties, but every Sabbath morning found thethree settlers of the valley making a prairie sanctuary of the Aydelotcabin. The elder Aydelots had not united with any church, but Asher andJim, when they were only boys, had been converted at a Methodist revivalin Cloverdale. It was an old-fashioned kind of religious leading, but itwas strong enough to hold the two for all the years that followed. Virginia had been reared an Episcopalian, but the men out-voted her anddeclared that the Aydelot home was the Sunflower Inn for six days in theweek, but on the seventh it was the "First Methodist Church of theConference of the Prairies. "

There was no levity in its service, however, and He who dwelleth not intemples made with men's hands blessed with his own benediction of peaceand trust and courage the three who set up their altar to Him in thisfar-away place. 

On Sabbath afternoons they explored the sand dunes and grassy levels upand down the river. Sometimes they rode northward to the main trail inhope of sighting some prairie schooner coming hitherward, but not oncethat season did the trail hold a human being for them. 

October slipped into November with a gradual sharpening of the frosty air. Everything had been made as snug as possible for the winter. The corralswere enlarged for the stock. The houses and stables were thatched againstthe cold and storms; and fuel and food were carefully stored. But Novemberwas almost passed before the end of the bright and sometimes even balmydays. 

"We must have Jim up to the Sunflower Inn for Thanksgiving dinner. Mightas well invite the whole neighborhood, " Asher said one evening, as hehelped Virginia with the supper dishes. 

"I'm planning a real dinner, too, " his wife declared, "just like old MammyDiane used to cook. You couldn't tell it from hers if you'd ever eaten oneof her spreads. "

"I suppose it will taste about as near like one of Diane's meals as youwill look like the cook that made her meals, " Asher answered. 

"Well, I'm getting along that way. Look at my tanned arms now. There's aregular dead line, a perfect fireguard at the elbow. And my muscles, MammyDiane would say, 'is jus' monst'ous. '"

Virginia pushed back her sleeve to show the well-marked line where whiteabove met tan below. 

"Jim will think anything is better than eating alone out of his own grubbox, and your dinner will be a feast, " Asher said, opening the door tocarry out the dish water. "What do you think of this?"

A gust of cold rain swished in as the door fell open. 

"Our rain is here, at last. Maybe it will bring snow for Thanksgiving, andwe could have a touch of New England here, " Virginia said. 

The pelting rain and deepening chill made the little home a very snug nestthat night. There was only one stove to warm the house, but they kept up afiction of parlor and dining room, kitchen and bed chamber. Even thelibrary was there, although it encroached dreadfully on the parlor, bedroom and kitchen, all three, for it consisted of space enough for twochairs, one footstool, and a tiny lamp-stand, beside which they spenttheir evenings. 

"Who's likely to drop in tonight, and what's the program for the evening:charades, music, readings, dancing, cribbage, or political speeches?"Asher inquired. 

They had invented all sorts of pastimes, with make-believe audiences, suchas little children create for their plays. For these two were children ina big child world. The wilderness is never grown up. It is Nature'slittle one waiting to be led on and disciplined to mature uses. Asher andVirginia had already peopled the valley with imaginary settlers, each oneof a certain type, and they adapted their pastime to the particularneighbors whom they chose to invite for the evening. How little thehelpless folk in the city, bored with their own dullness, and dependent onothers for amusement--how little could such as these cope with theloneliness of the home on the plains, or comprehend the resourcefulness ofthe home-makers there!

"Oh, let's just spend the evening alone. It's too stormy for the Arnoldsand Archibalds beyond the Deep Bend, and the Spoopendykes have relativesfrom the East and the Gilliwigs are all down with colds. "

Virginia had tucked herself down in the one rocking chair, with her feeton the footstool. 

"It's such a nice night to be to ourselves. Watch the rain washing thatwest window. It's getting worse. I always think of Jim on nights likethis. "

"So do I, " Asher said, as he sat down in the armed chair he had made forhimself of cottonwood limbs with a gunny sack seat. "He's all alone withhis dog these dark nights, and loneliness cuts to the heart of a man likeJim. I'm glad I have you, Virginia. I couldn't do without you now. Therain is getting heavier every minute. Sounds like it was thumping on thedoor. Listen to that wind!"

"Tell me about Jim, Asher. What made him come out here anyhow?" Virginiaasked. 

"I don't know all the story. Jim has never seemed to want to tell me, andI've never cared to ask him, " Asher replied. "When we were away togetherat school, he was in love with one of the prettiest girls that Ohio evergrew. She lived in the country up the valley from Cloverdale. Her name wasAlice Leigh, and she was a whole cut above the neighborhood. Jim said shewas an artist, could do wonderful things with a brush and she was justwild to go somewhere and take lessons. 

"Jim was planning always how to give her the opportunity to do it, but hermother, who owned a lot of land for that country and could afford to sendAlice away to study, couldn't see any dollar sign in it, so she kept herdaughter on the farm. "

Asher paused and looked at Virginia. His own happiness made his voicetremble as he went on. 

"He has a brother Tank. I suppose his real name is Thaddeus, or Tantalus, or something like it; I never knew, and I never liked him well enough toask. Tank was a black-eyed little runt whom none of the boys liked, agrasping cuss, younger than Jim, and as selfish as Jim is kind. 

"Just before I came West to scout the Indians off the map, Jim came backto school one time so unlike himself that I made him tell me what was thematter. It was Tank, he said, who was making trouble for him up in theLeigh neighborhood, and he was so grieved and unhappy, I wouldn't ask anymore about it. I left for the West soon after that. When I went back toCloverdale, Tank Shirley had married Alice Leigh and her mother's farm, and Jim had left the country. I ran on to him by accident up at Carey'sCrossing when I came West again, but I've never heard him say a word aboutthe matter, and, of course, I don't mention it, although I believe itwould do Jim good if he could bring himself to tell me about it. He'snever been quite the same since. He has a little tendency to lung trouble, which the plains air is taking out of him, but he's had a bad attack ofpneumonia, and it's an old enemy of his, as it always is to a man of hisphysique. He's a good worker, but lacks judgment to make his work count. Doesn't really seem to have much to work for. But he's a friend to thelast ditch. Just hear the rain!"

"It seems to be knocking against the door again, " Virginia said, "and howthe wind does howl! Poor Jim!"

"Listen to that! Sounds like something loose against the window. There'ssomething out there. " Asher started up with the words. 

Something white had seemed to splash up against the window and drop backagain. It splashed up a second time, and fell again. Asher hurried to thedoor, and as he opened it, Pilot, the big white-throated dog from theShirley claim, came bounding in, so wet and shaggy he seemed to bring allthe storm in with him. 

"Why, Pilot, what's the news?" Asher asked. "Jim's sent him, Virgie. He'sdone this trick often. "

Pilot slipped to the warm stove and shook a whole shower out of his long, wet hair, while Asher carefully untied a little leather bag fastened tothe collar under the dog's throat. 

"You brave fellow. You've come all the way in the rain to bring me this. "

He held up a little metal box from which he took a bit of paper. Bendingclose to the lamp, he read the message it contained. 

"Something is wrong, Virginia. He says, 'I need you. ' What's the matterwith Jim, Pilot? Come here and get up in the chair!"

The dog whimpered and sat still. 

"Come out here, then! Come on, I tell you!" Asher started as if to openthe door, but the dog did not move. 

"He's not out of doors, and he isn't sitting up in a chair. Tell me, now, Pilot, exactly where Jim is! Jim, mind you!"

The dog looked at him with watchful eyes. 

"Where's Jim? Poor Jim!" Asher repeated, and Pilot, with a sorrowful yelp, stretched himself at full length beside the stove. 

"Jim's sick, then?"

Pilot wagged his tail understandingly. 

"Virgie, Jim needs me. I must go to him. " Asher looked at his wife. 

"If Jim needs you, you'll need me, " she replied. 

"And we'll both need Pilot. So we'll keep all the human beings together, "Asher said, as he helped his wife to fasten her heavy cloak and tie a longold-fashioned nubia about her head. 

Then they went out into the darkness and the chilling rain, as neighbor toneighbor, answering this cry for help. 

Pilot ran far ahead of them and was waiting with a dog's welcome when theyreached Shirley's cabin. But the master, lying where he caught the chilldraught from the open door, was rigid with cold. A sudden attack ofpneumonia had left him helpless. And tonight, Pilot, doing a dog's best, did not understand the danger of leaving doors open, and of joyouslyshaking his wet fur down on the sick man to whom help was coming none toosoon. 

"Hello, Jim! We're all here, doctor, nurse, cook, and hired man, and thelittle dog under the wagon, " Asher said cheerily, bending over Jim's bunk. "That pup pretty nearly killed you with kindness, didn't he?"

Jim smiled wanly, then looked blankly away and lay very still. 

The plains frontier had no use for the one talent folk. People must knowhow to take care of life there. Asher's first memory of Virginia was whenshe bent over him, fighting the fever in a prison hospital. He knew hertalent for helping, and he had fairly estimated her quick ingenuity forthis sod house emergency. But a new vision of the plains life came to heras she watched him, gentle-handed, swift, but unhurried, never giving aninch to the enemy in fighting with death for the life of Jim Shirley. 

"He's safe from that congestion, " Asher said when the morning broke. "Buthis fever will come on now. "

"Where did you learn to do all these things for sick people?" Virginiaasked. 

"Partly from a hospital nurse I had in the war. Also, it's a part of thegame here. I learned a few things fighting the cholera in sixty-seven. Wemust look everything on the frontier squarely in the face, danger anddeath along with the rest, just as we have to do everywhere else, only wehave to depend on each other more here. Hold on there, Jim!"

Asher sprang toward Shirley, who was sitting upright, staring wildly atthe two. Then a struggle began, for the sick man, crazed with delirium, was bent on driving his helpers from the cabin. When he lay back exhaustedat length, Asher turned to his wife. 

"One of us must go to Carey's Crossing for a doctor. You can't hold Jim. It's all I can do to hold him. But it's a long way to Carey's. Can yougo?"

"I'll try, " Virginia replied. And Asher remembered what Jim had said onthe windy September day: "She's as good a woman as we are men. "

"You must take Pilot with you and leave him at home. You can't get lost, for you know the way up to the main trail, and that runs straight to theCrossing. Dr. Carey knows Jim, and he will come if he can, I am sure. Hepulled Jim back once a year or two ago when the pneumonia had him. Heavenkeep you safe, you brave little soul. Jim may turn the trick for us someday. "

He kissed her good-by and watched her gallop away on her errand of mercy. 

"The men will have all the credit by and by for settling this country. Little glory will come to their wives, " he thought. "And yet, the womenmake anchor for every hearthstone, and share in every deed of daring andevery test of endurance. God make me worthy of such a wife!"

Virginia Aydelot had spoken truly when she declared that the war had leftthe Thaines little except inherited pride and the will to do as theypleased. Inherited tendencies take varying turns. What had made a reformerof old Jean Aydelot made a narrow bigot of his descendant, Francis. Whathad made a proud, exclusive autocrat of Jerome Thaine, in Virginia Thainedeveloped into a pride of conquest for the good of others. It was thispride and the Thaine will to do as she pleased in defiance of the prairieperils that sent her now on this errand of mercy for a neighbor in need. And she took little measure of the reality of the journey. But she wasprudent enough to stop at the Sunflower Inn and make ready for it. Sheslipped on a warm jacket under her heavy cloak, and put on her thickestgloves and overshoes. She wound a long red scarf about her neck andswathed her head in the gray nubia. Then she mounted her horse for herlong, hard ride. 

The little sod house with all its plainness seemed very cosy as she tookleave of it, and the woman instinct for home made its outcry in her whenshe turned her face resolutely from its sheltering warmth and felt theforce of the north wind whipping mercilessly upon her. But she steeledherself to meet the cold, and her spirits rose with the effort. 

"You are a mean little wind. Not half as big as the September zephyrs. Doyour worst, you can't scare me, " she cried, tucking her head down againstits biting breath. 

Upon the main trail the snow that had fallen after midnight deepened inthe lower places as the wind whirled it from the prairie swells. It wasnot smooth traveling, although the direction of the trail was clear enoughat first. 

Virginia's heart bounded hopefully as Juno covered mile after mile withthat persistent, steady canter that means everything good for a long ride. But the open plains were bitterly cold and the wind grew fiercer as thehours passed. High spirits and hope began to give place to determinationand endurance. Virginia shut her teeth in a dogged resolve not to give up. Indeed, she dared not give up. She must go on. A life depended on her now, and two lives might be forfeited if she let this unending wind chill herto forgetfulness. 

And so, alone in a white cruelty of solitary land, bounded only by thegray cruelty of the sky, with a dimming trail before her under a deepersnowfall, and with long miles behind her, she struggled on. 

She tried to think of everything cheerful and good. She tried to findcomfort in the help she would take to Jim. Truly, she was not nearly socold now and she was very weary and a wee bit sleepy. A tendency to droopin the saddle was overcoming her. She roused herself quickly, and with ajerk at the reins plunged forward at a gallop. 

"It will take the stupor out of me, " she cried. 

Then the reins drooped and the fight with the numbing cold began again. 

"I wonder how far along I am. I must be nearly there. I remember we lostsight of Carey's Crossing soon after we left last September. Some swell ofground cut us off quickly--and I've never seen a human being since then, except Asher and Jim Shirley and Pilot, " she added. 

"The snow is so much heavier right here. It varies so. I've passed half adozen changes, but this is the deepest yet. I'm sure I can see the townbeyond this slope ahead. Why! where's the trail, anyhow?"

It was nearing mid-afternoon. Neither horse nor rider had had food norwater, save once when Juno drank at a crossing. Virginia sat still, conscious suddenly that she has missed the trail somewhere. 

"It isn't far, I know. Could I have left it when I took that gallop?" sheasked herself. 

She was wide awake now, for the reality of the situation was upon her, andshe searched madly for some sign of the trail. In that level prairie seathere was no sign to show where the trail might lie. The gray sky waspitiless still, and with no guiding ray of sunshine the points of thecompass failed, and the brave woman lost all sense of direction. 

"I won't give up, " she said at last, despairingly, "but we may as wellrest a little before we try again. "

She had dropped down a decided slope and hurried to a group of low bushesin a narrow draw. While the wind was sliding the snow endlessly back andforth on the higher ground, the bushes were moveless. Slipping to theground beside them, she stamped her feet and swung her arms until theblood began to warm her chilled body. 

"It is so much warmer here. But what next? Oh, dear Father, help me, helpme!" she cried in the depth of her need. 

And again the same clear whisper that had spoken to her on the headlandwhen she watched the September prairie fire, a voice from out of the vastimmensity of the Universe, came to her soul with its calm strength. 

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. "

How many a time in the days of winning the wilderness did the blessedpromise come to the pioneer women who braved the frontier to build thehomes of a conquering nation. 

"I can't try that blind game again for awhile, " Virginia said to herself. "I'll run up a distress signal; maybe somewhere help is coming to me. Iknow now how Jim felt all alone with only a dog's instinct to depend on. I'm glad I've tried to help him, even if I have failed. "

She unwound the long red scarf from her neck and bound her nubia closerabout her throat. Then bending the tallest bush that she could reach shefastened the bright fabric to its upper limbs and let it swing to itsplace again. The scarf spread a little in the breeze and hung above her, adumb signal of distress where help was not. 

The minutes dragged by like hours to Virginia, trying vainly to decide onwhat to do next. The fury of a Plains blizzard would have quickly overcomeher, but this was a lingering fight against cold and a pathless solitude. Suddenly the memory of one lonely Sabbath day came to her, and how Asher, always resourceful, had said:

"When you are afraid, pray; but when you are lonely, sing. "

She had prayed, and comfort had come with the prayer. She could sing forcomfort, if for nothing else. Somebody might hear. And so she sang. Thesong heard sometimes in the little prayer meeting in some country church;sometimes by sick beds when the end of days is drawing near; sometimes inhours of shipwreck, above the roar of billows on wide, stormy seas; andsometimes on battlefields when mangled forms lie waiting the burial trenchand the mournful drumbeat of the last Dead March--the same song rose nowon the lonely prairie winds sweeping out across the hidden trails andbleak open plains. 

 Nearer, my God, to thee, Nearer to thee, E'en though it be a cross That raiseth me. Still all my song shall be Nearer, my God, to thee, Nearer to thee. 

CHAPTER V

A PLAINSMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL

 I have eaten your bread and salt, I have drunk your water and wine; The deaths ye died I have watched beside, And the lives ye led were mine. --Kipling. 

The little postoffice at Carey's Crossing in Wolf County was full of menwaiting for the mail due at noon. Mail came thrice a week now, andbusiness on the frontier was looking brighter. The postoffice was only onefeature of the room it occupied. Drugs, hardware, horse-feed, groceries, and notions each had claims of their own, while beside the United StatesMail Department was an inksplashed desk holding a hotel register, likewiseinksplashed. Beyond the storeroom was a long, narrow dining room on oneside and a few little cell-like rooms on the other with a crack of a hallbetween them leading back to the kitchen, the whole structure, only onestory high, having more vertical boards than horizontal in its making. Butthe lettering over the front door bore the brave information that this wasthe Post Office, the General Merchandise Store, and the Jacobs House, allin one. 

The rain of the night had shifted to a light snow that whiffed about inlittle white pellets, adding nothing to the land in the way of moisture, or beauty, or protection from cold. Just a chill fraying out of the rain'send that matched the bitterness of the wind's long sweep from out of thevast northwest. A gray sky was clamped down over all, so dull andmonotonous, it seemed that no rainbow tint could ever again brighten theworld. 

"The stage is late again, " observed one of the men. 

"Always is when you want her particular. " This from a large man who heldthe door open long enough to stare up the open street for the sign of thecoming stage and to let in a surge of cold air at the same time. 

"Well, shut the door, Champers. The stage doesn't come inside. It stops atHans Wyker's saloon first, anyhow, " one of the men behind a counterdeclared. 

"If you'd open a bar here you'd do some business and run that Wyker fellowout. Steward, you and Jacobs are too danged satisfied with yourselves. Weneed some business spirit in this town if we want to get the county seathere, " Champers declared. 

"That may help your real estate, but it's not my kind of business, and nobar is going into this tavern, " Jacobs replied, leaning his elbow againstthe back of Stewart, who was bending over the desk. 

Stewart and Jacobs were young men, the former a finely built, fair-hairedScotchman from whom good nature, good health, and good morals fairlyradiated; not the kind of man to become a leader, but rather to belong tothe substantial following of a leader. 

Jacobs was short, and slender, and dark--unmistakably of Jewishblood--with a keen black eye, quick motions, and the general air of ashrewd business man, letting no dollar escape him. He had also the air ofa gentleman. Nobody in Carey's Crossing had ever heard him swear--thelanguage of the frontier always--nor seen him drink, nor had taken aparcel from his store that had been tied up with soiled fingers. 

The Jacobs House register might be splashed with ink, but the ledgerrecords of the business concern were a joy to the eye. 

At Stewart's words Champers shut the door with a slam and blustered towardthe stove, crowding smaller men out of their places before it. 

"I am glad I don't have to run other men's affairs--"he began, when therear door flew open and a slender young Negro hurried in with theannouncement:

"De stage done sighted approachin' from de east, gen'lemen. Hit's donecomin' into town right now. "

"All right, Bo Peep; take care of the team, " Stewart responded, and ageneral re-swarming of the crowd followed. 

Just before the stage--a covered wagon drawn by two Indian ponies--reachedthe Jacobs House a young man crossed the street and entered the door. Somemen are born with a presence that other men must recognize everywhere. Tothis man's quiet, "Hello, gentlemen, " the crowd responded, almost to aman:

"Good morning, Doctor. "

"Hello, Carey. "

"Hello, Doc. "

Each man felt the wish to be recognized by such greeting, and a place wasgiven him at once. Only Champers, the big man, turned away with a scowl. 

"Always gets the best of everything, even to the first chance to get hismail, " he muttered under his breath. 

But the mail was soon of secondary interest to the dealer in real estate. Letters were of less importance to him than strangers, and a stranger hadregistered at the desk and was waiting while Stewart called out the mailin the postoffice department. Champers leaned over the shoulders ofshorter men to read the entry in a cramped little hand, the plain name, "Thomas Smith, Wilmington, Delaware. " Then he looked at the man and drewhis own conclusions. 

Dr. Carey was standing beside the letter counter when Todd Stewart readout, "'Mr. James Shirley, '" and, with a little scrutiny--"'Southwest ofCarey's Crossing. ' Anybody here know Mr. James Shirley?"

The stranger made a hasty step forward, but Dr. Carey had already takenthe letter. 

"I'll take care of that for you, Stewart, " he said quietly. And turning, he looked into the eyes of the stranger. 

It was but a glance, and the latter stepped aside. 

Men formed quick judgments on the frontier. As Carey passed the registerhe read the latest entry there, and like Champers he too drew his ownconclusions. At the door he turned and said to Jacobs. 

"Tell Bo Peep to have your best horse ready by one o'clock for a longride. "

"All right, Doctor, " Jacobs responded. 

Half an hour later the Jacobs House dining room was crowded for the middaymeal. By natural selection men fell into their places. Stewart and Jacobs, with Dr. Carey and Pryor Gaines, the young minister school teacher, had atable to themselves. The other patrons sat at the long board, while thelittle side table for two was filled today with Champers, the real estateman, and the latest arrival, Mr. Thomas Smith, of Wilmington, Delaware. 

"Who's the man with the dark mustache up there?" Thomas Smith asked. 

"Doc Carey, " Champers replied with a scowl. 

"You don't seem to need him?" There was a double meaning in the query, andChampers caught both. 

"No ways, " he responded. 

"Has some influence here?" the stranger asserted rather than questioned. 

"A lot. Has the whole town under hoodoo. It's named for him. He has allthe doctoring he can do and won't half charge, so's no other doctor'llcome here. That's no way to build up a town. He'd get up at one o'clock inthe morning to doctor a widder's cow. Now, sure he would, when he knowseven a dead cow'd make business for the butcher to render up into greaseand the cattle dealer to sell another cow. "

"Not your style of a man then?" the stranger observed. 

"Oh, pshaw, no, but, as I say, he's got the whole country hoodoo'd. Noticehow everybody give him right of way to get his mail first? Why him? Andhear him order the best horse? I'll bet a tree claim in hades right nowthat he's off somewhere to doctor some son of a gun out of cussed goodwill. "

"Who is this James Shirley whose mail he seems to look after?"

There was a half-tone lowering of the voice as Smith pronounced the name, which was not lost on Champers, whose business was to catch men at allcorners. 

"Jim Shirley lives out in one of the rich valleys west. Him and a fellownamed Aydelot have some big notions of things out there. I don't know thedoc's claim to control his mail, but nobody here would deny Carey anydanged thing he wanted. " Champers twisted his face in disgust. 

"You are in the real estate business here?" Thomas Smith asked after apause, as if the subject fell into entirely new lines. 

"Yes, " Champers answered absently with eyes alert on the opposite wall. 

"I'd like to see you later, Mr. --"

"Champers--Darley Champers, " and the dealer in land shoved a soiled cardacross the table. "Come in any time. This cold snap will soon be over andI can show you no end of land worth a gold mine any time you are ready. But make it soon. Land's goin' faster here'n you Delaware fellers think, and"--in a lower voice--"Doc Carey's drivin' over it all the time, andthat Jew of a Jacobs ain't in business here on account of no lung trouble, and his hatred of saloons is somethin' pisen. "

They finished their meal in silence, for they had come to anunderstanding. The afternoon was too short and cold for real estatebusiness to be brisk, and nobody in Carey's Crossing noted that the frontwindow of Darley Champer's little office was covered with a newspaperblind all the rest of that day, nor did anybody pay attention to thewhereabouts of the stranger--Mr. Thomas Smith, of Wilmington, Delaware--during this same time. Nobody, except John Jacobs, of the JacobsHouse, who gained his knowledge mostly by instinct; never, at least, byrude inquiry. He had been up on the roof helping Bo Peep to fasten thesign over the door which the wind had torn loose. From this place hecould see above the newspaper screen of the window across the street thatChampers and Smith were in a tremendously earnest consultation. He wouldhave thought nothing of it had not Champers chanced to sight him on theroof and immediately readjusted the newspaper blind to preventobservation. 

"I'll offer to sell Darley a window shade cheap tomorrow and see how hebites, " and the little Jewish merchant smiled shrewdly at the thought. 

 * * * * *

Out on the trail that day the snow lay deeper to the westward, hiding thewagon ruts. The dead sunflower stalks made only a faint black edging alongthe white monotony of the way and sometimes on bleak swells there were nomarkings at all. Some distance from Carey's Crossing a much heaviersnowfall, covering a wide swath, under which the trails were entirelylost, had wandered in zigzag lines down from the northwest. 

In the early afternoon Dr. Horace Carey had started west on the suresthorse in the Stewart-Jacobs livery stable, taking his old-fashionedsaddle-bags with him through force of habit, and by mid-afternoon wasfloundering in the edge of this deeper snowfall. 

Nature must have meant Horace Carey for the plains. He was of mediumheight, compactly built, without an ounce of unnecessary weight. Thewell-rounded form took away all hint of spareness, while it did notdestroy the promise of endurance. His heavy, dark hair and dark gray eyes, his straight nose and firm mouth under a dark mustache, and his well-setchin made up an attractive but not handsome face. The magnetism of hispersonality was not in manly beauty. It was an inborn gift and would havecharacterized him in any condition in life. There was about him a genialdignity that made men look up to him and a willingness to serve that madeselfishness seem mean. He could not have been thirty, although he had beenon the plains for five years. The West was people by young men. It's needfor daring spirits found less response in men of maturer life. But theWest had most need for humane men. The bully, the dare-devil, the brutal, and the selfish were refuse before the force that swept the frontieronward; but they were never elements in real state building. Before suchmen as Carey they lost power. 

The doctor rode away toward the west, bowing his head before the strongwind that he knew too well to fear, yet wondering as he rode if he haddone wisely to dare the deepening snow of the buried trail. 

"I might have waited a day, anyhow, " he thought. "It's a devil of a rideover to Jim Shirley's, and we got only the tag ends of that storm down atthe Crossing from the looks of this. However, I may as well keep at itnow. "

He surged on for a few miles without any signs of an open trail appearing. Then he dropped to a slow canter. 

"I'd better get this worry straightened and my mind untangled if I am tohave any comfort on this ride, " he said aloud, as was his wont to do whenout in the open alone. "Everything happens to a man who gives too muchleeway to that indefinite inside guide saying, 'Do this! Let that alone!'And yet that guide hasn't failed me when I've listened to it. "

He let the pony have the rein as he looked ahead with unseeing eyes. 

"What made me take this day? First, everybody is well enough to be leftfor two or three days, good time for a vacation, and Stewart can take careof emergencies always. Second, I promised Jim I'd see that his letters gotto him straightway. Third, yes, third, something said, 'Go now!' Buthere's the other side. Why go on the heels of a snowstorm? Why not keepJim's letter a day or two? It's in my hands. And why mistrust a man whocalls himself innocent 'Thomas Smith?' That's it. He's too innocent. There's no place on these wide Kansas prairies for that man Thomas Smith. He'd better get back to his home and his real name at once. "

The doctor smiled at the thought, then he frowned at the cold wind and theshifting snows above the trail. 

"You are a fool--a stack of fools, Dr. Horace Carey, to beat out of townmiles on miles on a fool's errand over a lost trail, trusting yourinstinct that never lost you a direction yet, and all because of an inwardcall to an unrevealed duty. Some other day will do as well. And here'swhere I may as well cut off these notions of being led by inside signals. What should make me sight danger in a man I never saw before, and who willprobably go out on the stage tomorrow morning? Oh, well, the Lord made usas we are. He knows why. "

He wheeled the pony about and began to trot toward Carey's Crossing. Suddenly he halted. 

"Let me see. I'm not twenty miles along, though I've come at a good rate. I believe I'll cut across northwest and hit some of the settlers up on BigWolf Creek for the night. Lucky I've no wife to worry about me. "

A wave of sadness swept over the man's face--just a sweep of sorrow thatleft no mark. He turned abruptly from the trail and struck in a definitedirection across the snow-covered prairie. Presently his path veered tothe north, then to northwest. 

"I know an ugly little creek running into Big Wolf that's the dickens tocross. I'll run clear round it, even if it takes longer. After all, I'mdoing just what I said I wouldn't do. I don't know why I didn't go on, norwhy I am tacking off up here. Something tells me to do it, and I'll doit. "

But however changeable of mind he seemed to himself, Dr. Carey was a manwho formed his judgments so quickly and acted upon them so promptly thathe seemed most stable to other men. He rode forward now to a land wavethat dropped on one side to a creek, a quarter of a mile away, where blackshrubbery marked the water line. A long swell of wind swung down thevalley, whirling the snow in eddies before it. As the doctor's eyefollowed them, he suddenly noted a red scarf lift above the tallest clumpsof bushes and flutter out to its full length, then drop again as the windswell passed. 

"There's nobody in fifteen miles of here. I reckon that scarf blew thereand caught some time this fall when somebody was going out on the trail. Mighty human looking thing, though. It seemed waving a signal to me. But Imust hurry on. "

He hastened at a gallop up the ridge away from the creek, his mind stillon that red scarf flung about by the winter wind. 

"It was a strange thing, " he thought, "but every human token is startlingout here. What's that now?"

The doctor had a plainsman's ear as well as a plainsman's eye. As helistened, through the wail of the wind borne along the distance, he caughtthe words of a song, low and pleading like a plaintive cry for help:

 Though, like the wanderer, The sun gone down, Darkness be over me, My rest a stone-- Yet in my dreams I'd be Nearer, my God, to thee, Nearer to thee. 

It was a woman's voice and Carey faced about to listen. He knew it camefrom the bushes below the red scarf. So he changed his course and hurriedaround a bend in the stream to the other side of the brush where VirginiaAydelot stood beside Juno. 

"I'm afraid there isn't even a stone to rest on here, Madam. Can I be ofany service to you?" he said, lifting his hand toward his cap insemi-military salute. 

Virginia stood looking at the stranger with a half-comprehending gaze. Shehad been less than an hour beside the bushes, but it had seemed to herlike many hours. And the terrifying certainty of a night alone on theprairie made the sudden presence of a human being unreal to her. 

"I beg your pardon; I am Dr. Carey, of Carey's Crossing, and I wasstriking across the prairie to the Big Wolf settlement when I saw yourscarf and heard your singing. I took them both to be distress signals andcame over to see if you needed me. "

One had only to listen to Dr. Carey's voice to understand why DarleyChampers should accuse him of laying a charm on the whole settlement. 

Virginia recovered herself quickly, saying with a wan smile:

"You came just in time, Doctor. I am lost and need help. I was going toyou, anyhow. "

Each one's face was so muffled against the wind that the eyes and lips anda bit of the cheeks alone were visible. 

"Not a bad-looking woman for all the Kansas tan, " the doctor thought. "Shehas a voice like a true Virginian and fine eyes and teeth. But any womanwho bundles up for a horseback ride across the plains on a day like thisisn't out for a beauty show contest. I've seen eyes like that before, though, and as to her voice--"

"I am Mrs. Asher Aydelot from the Grass River Valley, " Virginia went on. "There are only three settlers out there now, Mr. Shirley and my husbandand myself. Mr. Shirley is very sick with pneumonia, and Mr. Aydelot couldnot leave him, so I started to Carey's Crossing to see if you could cometo him. I missed the trail somewhere. I was trying to help, but I failed, you see. "

The doctor was looking at her with a puzzled expression which she thoughtwas born of his sympathy. To the mention of her failing he respondedquickly:

"No, Mrs. Aydelot, you succeeded. I had started to Shirley's myself onpersonal business, and I was letting some whim turn me aside. If you hadkept the trail we should have missed each other, for I was on my way toBig Wolf Creek, a good distance away, and your leaving the trail andwandering down here was providential for Shirley. Shall I show you on tothe Crossing?"

"Oh, no, Doctor, if you will only come back with me. I don't want to goon, " Virginia insisted. 

"You are a regular westerner, Mrs. Aydelot, " Carey declared. "But youhaven't been out here long. I heard of your passing through our town latelast summer. I was up on Big Wolf then and failed to see you. I knowsomething of your husband, but I have never met him. "

He helped her to mount her horse and together they sought the trail andfollowed it westward in the face of the wind. 

 * * * * *

Near midnight down in Jim Shirley's cabin Asher Aydelot turned from a lullin the sick man's ravings to see Dr. Horace Carey entering the door with apair of saddle bags in his hand. 

"Hello, sir! Aydelot? I'm Carey, the doctor. "

Then as his quick eye took in the haggard face of the man before him, hesaid cheerily:

"Everything fit as a fiddle up your way. I left your cabin snug and warmas a prairie dog's hole, and your wife is sound asleep by this time, witha big dog on guard. Yes, I understand, " he added, as Asher silentlygripped his hand. "You've died a thousand deaths today. Forget it, andgive me a hand here. My own are too stiff, and I must get these wet bootsoff. I always go at my work dry shod. "

He had pulled a pair of heavy shoes from the saddle bags, and was removinghis outer coat and sundry scarfs, warming his hands between whiles andseemingly unconscious of the sick man's presence. 

"You are wet to the knees. You dared the short trail and the strange fordsof rivers on a night so dark as this, " Asher declared as he helped Careyto put off his wrappings. 

"It's a doctor's business to forget himself when he sees a distresssignal. " Then Carey added quietly: "Tell me about Shirley. What have youbeen doing for him?"

He was beside Jim's bunk now and his presence seemed to fill the wholecabin with its subtle strength. 

"You know your business, doctor; I'm a farmer, " Asher said, as he watchedthis frontier physician moving deftly about his work. 

"Well, if you mean to farm so far from pill bags you have done well tofollow my trade a little, as you seem to have done with Shirley, " Careyasserted, as he noted the evidences of careful nursing. 

"Oh, Virginia--Mrs. Aydelot--helped me, " Asher assured him. "She's a nurseby instinct. "

"What did you call your wife?" the doctor inquired. 

"Virginia--from her own state. Pretty sick man here. " Asher said this asDr. Carey suddenly bent over Shirley with stern eyes and tightening lips. But the eyes grew tender when Jim looked up into his face. 

"You're all right, Shirley. You must go to sleep now. "

And Shirley, who in his delirium had fought his neighbor all day, becameas obedient as a child, as a very sick child, that night under HoraceCarey's hand. 

The next morning Virginia Aydelot was not able to rise from her bed, andfor many days she could do nothing more than to sit in the rocking chairby the windows and absorb sunshine. 

On the fourth day after Carey had reached Shirley's Asher went down theriver in the early afternoon to find how Jim's case was progressing, leaving his wife comfortably tucked up in the rocking chair by the westwindow. The snow was gone and the early December day was as crisp andbeautiful as an Indian summer day in a colder climate. Virginia satwatching the shadows of the clouds flow along the ground and the prairiehues changing with the angle of the afternoon sunlight. Suddenly a soundof ponies' feet outside was followed by a loud rap on the door. 

"Come in!" Virginia called. "Lie down, Pilot!"

Pilot did not obey, but sat up alert before his mistress as DarleyChampers' bulk filled the doorway. 

"Excuse me, Madam, " the real estate dealer said, lifting his hat, "Me andmy friend, Mr. Smith out there, are looking up a claim for a friend ofours somewhere out in the Grass River settlement. Can you tell me who ownsthe last claim taken up down the river, and how far it is from here?"

"Mr. Shirley's claim is a few miles down the river, if you go by the shorttrail and ford at the bends, but much longer if you go around by the longtrail, " Virginia explained. 

"Is it occupied?" Champers put the question in a careless tone. 

Pilot's bristles, that had fallen at the sound of Virginia's voice, roseagain with the query. It is well to be wary of one whom a dog distrusts. But the woman's instinct in Virginia responded little to the dog'suneasiness, and she replied courteously:

"Yes, Mr. Shirley is there, very sick. "

"Um, who have I the honor of addressing now?" Champers asked awkwardly, asif to change the subject. 

"Mrs. Asher Aydelot. "

"Well, now, I've heard of Aydelot. Where is your man today? I'd like tomeet him, Mrs. A. "

It was the man's way of being friendly, but even a duller-fibred man thanChampers would have understood Mrs. Aydelot's tone as she said:

"You will find him at Shirley's, or on the way. Only the long trail windsaround some bluffs, and you might pass each other without knowing it. "

"How many men in this settlement now?" Champers asked. 

"Only two, " Virginia replied, patting Pilot's head involuntarily. 

"Only two! That's sixteen more'n'll ever make it go here, " Darley Champersdeclared. "Excuse me for saying it, Mrs. Aydelot, but I've been prettymuch over Kansas, and this is the poorest show for settlement the Lordever left out of doors. I've always heard this valley was full of claimsyou simply couldn't give away, but my friend, who has no end of money andinfluence fur developin' the country, wanted me to look over the groundalong the Grass River, It's dead desolation, that's all; no show on earthin fifty year out here, and in fifty year we won't none of us care formore'n six feet of ground anywhere. I'm sorry for you, Madam. You must beawfully lonely here, but you'll be gettin' away soon, I hope. I must beoff. Thank you, Madam, for the information. Good day, " and he left thecabin abruptly. 

The sunshine grew pallid and the prairies lay dull and endless. Theloneliness of solitude hung with a dead heaviness and hope beat at thelowest ebb for Virginia Aydelot, trying bravely to deny his charge againstthe future of the land she had struggled so to dream into fruitfulness. She was only a woman, strong to love and brave to endure, but neither bynature nor heritage shrewd to read the tricks of selfish trade. And shebelieved that while Asher and Jim Shirley were hopeful dreamers likeherself, here was an ill-mannered but unprejudiced man who saw thesituation as they could not see it. 

"That woman and her fool dog were half afraid of me at first. They don'tknow that women aren't in my line. I'd never harm a one of 'em. "

"They're in my line always. Was she good looking? I never pass a prettywoman, " Thomas Smith said smoothly. 

"Don't be a danged fool, Smith. I might cut a man's throat to some extent, if it would help my business any, but I'd cut it more'n some if he forgetshis manners round a woman. We're a coarse, grasping lot out here fur asproperty goes, and we ain't got drawing-room manners, but it takes yoursmug little easterners to be the real dirty devils. Come on. "

And Thomas Smith knew that the big, coarse-grained man was sincere. 

"Yonder's Aydelot now. Want to see him?" Darley Champers declared, sighting Asher down the short trail beyond the deep bend. 

"I've no business with him, and he's the man I don't want to see, " ThomasSmith said hastily. "I'll ride on out of sight round this bend and waitfor you. It's a good place when you don't want to be seen. "

"Depends on how much of a plainsman Aydelot is. He ought to have sightedboth of us half a mile back, " Champers declared. 

But Smith hurried away and was soon behind the low bluff at the deep bend. Asher Aydelot had seen the two before they saw him, and he saw them partcompany and only one come on to meet him. 

"You're Aydelot from the claim up the river, I s'pose. I'm just outlookin' at the country. Not much to it but looks, " Champers declared asthe two met at the deep bend. 

"Yes, sir; my name is Aydelot, " Asher replied, deciding at once that thisstranger was not to be accepted on sight, a judgment based not on awoman's instinct but on a man's experience. 

"Any of these claims ever been entered?" Champers asked. 

"Yes, sir; most of them, " Asher responded. 

"I see. Couldn't make it out here. I s'pose you'll get out next. Hardplace to take root. Most too far away, and land's a little thin, I see, "the real estate dealer remarked carelessly. 

"Yes, it's pretty well out, " Asher assented. 

"The river ever get low here?" was the next query. 

"Not often, in the winter, " Asher replied. 

"Most too uncertain for water power, though, and the railroad ain't comin'this way at all. I must be gettin' on. One man's too few to be travelin'so fur from civilization. "

"Come up to the cabin for the night, " Asher said, with a plainsman'scourtesy. 

"Thank you, no. Hope to see you again nearer to the Lord's ground; losin'game here. Good-by. "

Asher did not look like a disappointed man when he reached the SunflowerInn. 

"Best news in the world, " he declared when Virginia related what hadhappened in the cabin that afternoon. "A man who goes prospecting aroundthe Kansas prairies doesn't discourage the poor cuss he pities; he triesto encourage the wretch to hold on to land he wouldn't have himself. Listen to me, Virgie. That man has his eye on Grass River right now. Iknow his breed. "

Meanwhile the early dusk found Champers and Smith approaching Shirley'spremises. 

"I don't know about Aydelot, " Champers declared as they lariated theirponies beyond the corral. "He's one of the clear-eyed fellows who sees agood thing about as soon as you sight it yourself, and then he turns clamand leach and you won't move him nor get nothin' out of him, and that'sall there is to it. "

"Yes, I know that. I mean, you say he does?" Smith seemed too preoccupiedto follow his own words, but Champers followed Smith shrewdly enough. 

They made a hasty but careful examination of the premises, keeping wide ofthe cabin where the sick man lay. 

"He's got three horses in there. He's well fixed, " Champers declared, peering into the stable, where it was too dark to discover that the thirdhorse was Dr. Carey's. "Let's hike off for some deserted shack for thenight and get an early start for the Crossing in the morning. Easy trick, this, gettin' in and out of here unseen. And it's one of the best claimson Grass River. "

"Couldn't we slip into the cabin?" Smith asked in a half whisper. "If he'stoo sick"--Something in the man's face made it look diabolical in thefading twilight, and he seemed about to start toward the house. 

"Now, see here, Mr. Smith, " Champers said with slow sternness. "What'd Isay back there about women? Neither we ain't man-slaughterers out here, though your _Police Gazette_ and your dime novels paint us that way. There's more murderers per capiter to a single street in New York than inthe whole state of Kansas, right now. If it's land and money, we're afterit, tooth an' toenail, but forget the thing in your mind this minute oryou an' me parts company right here, an' you can hoof it back to Carey'sCrossing or Wilmington, Delaware. "

Smith made no reply and they mounted their ponies and galloped away. 

And all the while Dr. Horace Carey, inside the unlighted cabin, hadwatched their movements with grim curiosity, even to the hesitating, half-expressed intention of entering the dwelling. 

"Champers would pull up another man's stakes and drive them into his ownground if he wanted them, but that Thomas Smith would drive them throughthe other fellow's body if nobody else was around, " was the doctor'smental comment as he went outside and watched the course of the two mentill the twilight gathered them in. 

 * * * * *

When the turning point came to the sick man, the up-climb was marvelous, as his powers of recoil asserted themselves. 

"It is just a matter of self-control and good spirits now, Shirley, andyou have both, " Dr. Carey said, as he sat by his patient on the ninth day. 

"You staid the game out, Carey, " Shirley said with an undertone ofhopelessness behind his smile. "What possessed you to happen in, anyhow?"

"I was possessed not to come and turned back after I'd started. If Ihadn't met Mrs. Aydelot coming after me I'd have rampsed off up on BigWolf Creek for a week, maybe, and missed your case entirely. "

"And likewise my big fee, " Jim interrupted. "Some men are born lucky. Andso Mrs. Aydelot went after you. Asher's a fortunate man to have a wifelike Virginia, although he had to give up an inheritance for her. "

"How was that?" Carey asked, glad to see the hopeless look leaving Jim'seyes. 

"Oh, it's a pretty long story for a sick man. The mere facts are thatAsher Aydelot was to have bank stock, a good paying hotel, and a splendidbig farm if he'd promise never to marry any descendant of Jerome Thaine, of Virginia. Asher hiked out West and enlisted in the cavalry and didUnited States scout duty for two years, hoping to forget Virginia Thaine, who is a descendant of this Jerome Thaine. But it wasn't any use. Distancedon't count, you know, in cases like that. "

"Yes, I know. "

Shirley was too sick to notice Dr. Carey's face, and he did not rememberafterward how low and hard those three words sounded. 

"It seems Virginia had pulled Asher through a fever in a Rebel hospital, and we all love our nurses. " Jim patted the doctor's knee as he said this. "And when the father's will was read out against ever, ever, ever his sonmarrying a Thaine, Asher promptly said that the whole inheritance, bankstock, hotel, and farm, might go where--the old man Aydelot had alreadygone--maybe. Anyhow, he married Virginia Thaine and she was game to comeout here and pioneer on a Grass River claim. Strange what a woman will dofor love, isn't it? And to go on a forty-mile ride to save a worthlesspup's life! That's me. Think of the daughter of one of those old Virginiahomes up to a trick like that?"

"You've talked enough now. "

Shirley looked up in surprise at this stern command, but Dr. Carey hadgone to the other side of the cabin and sat staring out at the riverrunning bank-full at the base of the little slope. 

When he turned to his patient again, the old tender look was in his eyes. Men loved Jim Shirley if they cared for him at all. And now the pathetichopelessness of Jim's face cut deep as Carey studied it. 

"I say, Shirley, did you ever know a man back East named Thomas Smith?" heasked. 

"No. Strange name, that! Where'd you run onto it? Smith! Smith! How do youspell it?" Jim replied indifferently. 

"With a spoonful of quinine in epsom salts, taken raw, if you don't payattention. Now listen to me. " The doctor's tone was as cheery as ever. 

"Well, don't make it necessary for me to tell you when you've talkedenough. "

In spite of the joking words, there was a listless hopelessness inShirley's voice, matching the dull, listless eyes. And Horace Carey roseto the situation at once. 

"A stranger named Thomas Smith came to the Crossing the day I came downhere. Rather a small man, with close-set, dark eyes; signed his name in acramped, left-handed writing. I noticed his right hand seemed a littlestiff, sort of paralyzed at the wrist. But here's the funny thing. He mademe uneasy, and he made me think of you. Could you identify him? He lookedas much like you as I look like that young darkey, Bo Peep, up at theJacobs House. "

"None of my belongings. You are a delicate plant to be so sensitive tostrangers. " Jim sighed from mental weariness more than from physicalweakness. 

"I was sensitive, and when I heard Stewart call out your name in the mailand saw this man step up as if to take the letter, I took it. And ifyou'll take a brace and decide it's worth while you can have it. It'saddressed in a woman's handwriting, not a Thomas Smith style of pinchingletters out of a penholder and squeezing them off the pen point. Lie downthere, man!"

For Jim was sitting up, listening intently. With trembling fingers he tookthe letter and read it eagerly. Then he looked at Carey with eyes in whichlistlessness had given place to determination. 

"Doctor, I was ready to throw up the game five minutes ago. Now I'll doanything to get back to strength and work. "

"You don't seem very joyous, however, " the doctor responded. 

"Joy don't belong to me. We parted company some years ago. But life ismine. "

"And duty?"

"Yes, and duty. Say, Doctor, if you'd ever cared all there was in you tocare for one woman, and then had to give her up, you'd know how I feel. And if, then, a sort of service opened up before you, you'd know how Iwelcome this. "

Jim's face, white from his illness, was wonderfully handsome now, and helooked at his friend with that eager longing for sympathy men of his mouldneed deeply. Horace Carey stood up beside the bed and, looking down with aface where intense feeling and self-control were manifest, said in a lowvoice:

"I have cared. I have had to give up, and I know what service means. "

CHAPTER VI

WHEN THE GRASSHOPPER WAS A BURDEN

 Although the figtree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. --HABAKKUK. 

While Jim Shirley was getting back to health, he and his physician hadmany long talks regarding the West and its future; its products and itspeople. There was only one topic in which Horace Carey was butintermittently interested, namely, Jim's neighbors--the Aydelots. Atleast, it seemed so to Jim, who had loved Asher from boyhood, and hadtaken Virginia on sight and paid homage to her for all the years thatfollowed. Jim accepted the doctor's manner at first as a mere personaltrait, but, having nothing to do except to lie and think, he grewcuriously annoyed over it. 

"I wish you'd tell me what ails you?" he blurted out one evening, as thetwo sat together in the twilight. 

"About what?" the doctor inquired. "If I knew, I might even risk my ownmedicine to get over it. "

"Don't joke, Horace Carey, not with a frail invalid. I've tried all day totalk to you about my neighbors and you turn the subject away as if it wasof no consequence, and now, tonight, you settle down and say, 'Tell meabout the Aydelots. ' Why do you want to hear in the dark what you won'tlisten to in the daylight?"

"Oh, you are a sick man, Jim, or you wouldn't be so silly, " the doctorreplied, "but to please you, I'll tell you the truth. I'm homesick. "

"Yes?"

"And this Mrs. Aydelot was a Virginia woman. "

"Yes?"

"Well, I'm a true son of Virginia, and I thought it might make me happy tohear about somebody from--"

"You are a magnificent liar, " Jim broke in. 

"Evidently it's better to have you talk about your neighbors than yourmedical advisor tonight, " Carey retorted. 

"Oh, I won't say a word more, " Jim declared. 

"More Ananias magnificence! Do you suppose the Aydelots will be downbefore we go away?" the doctor asked. 

"We?"

"Yes, I am going to take you with me, or give you a quieting powder when Ileave here. On your own declaration you'd do anything to get back tostrength and work. Now, the only way to get well, with or without aphysician, is to get well. And you'll never do that by using up a littlemore strength every day than you store up the night before. Men haven'tsense enough to be invalids. Nothing else is such a menace to human lifeas the will of the man who owns that life. You'll obey my will for a monthor two. "

"You are a--doctor, Carey. No, the Aydelots won't be down before we goaway, because Virginia has been sick ever since that awful trip to Carey'sCrossing, " Jim said sadly. 

"Why haven't you told me?" Carey's voice was hardly audible. 

"Because Asher just told me today, and because you took no interest inthem. "

"Sickness is a doctor's interest, always, " Carey replied in a stern voice. And then the two sat in silence while the night shadows darkened thelittle cabin. 

 * * * * *

As soon as Shirley was able to ride, he went up to Carey's Crossing for atwo months' stay, and the Aydelots were left far away from the edge ofcivilization. A heavy snowfall buried all the trails and the world, thehappy, busy world, forgot these two holding their claim on the grimwilderness frontier. 

In after years they often talked of the old pioneer days, but of this onewinter they spoke but rarely. 

"We lived alone with each other and God, " Virginia said once. "He walkedbeside us on the prairie and made our little sod house His sanctuary. Those were consecrated days to Asher and me, like the stormy days of ourfirst love in the old war times, and the first hours of our baby's life. We were young and full of hope and belief in the future, and we loved eachother. But we had need to have shoes of iron and brass, as Moses promisedAsher of old. It was a hard, hard way, but it was His way. I am glad wewalked through it all. It made the soil of Kansas sacred to us twoforevermore. "

One March day spring came up the Grass River Valley with a glory all itsown, and sky and headland and low level prairie were baptized with a newlife. A month later a half-dozen prairie schooners moved out on the oldsunflower-bordered trail. Then following down the Grass River trail, theschooner folk saw that the land, which Darley Champers had denounced, wasvery good. And for Asher and Virginia Aydelot, the days of lonely solitudewere ended. 

But the prairie had no gifts to bestow. It yielded slowly to itspossessors only after they had paid out time and energy and hope andundying faith in its possibilities. The little sum of money per acreturned over to the Government represented the very least of the cost. There were no forests to lay waste here, nor marshes to be drained. Instead, forests must be grown and waters conserved. What Francis Aydelotwith the Clover Valley community had struggled to overcome on the Ohiofrontier, his son, Asher, with other settlers now strove to develop inKansas. But these were young men, many of them graduates, either in theNorth or the South, from a four years' course in the University of theCivil War. No hardship of the plains could be worse than the things theyhad already endured. These men who held the plow handles were Statebuilders and they knew it. Into the State must be builded schools andchurches, roads and bridges, growing timber and perpetual waterreservoirs; while fields of grain and orchard fruitage, and the product offlock and herd must be multiplied as the sinews of life and largeropportunity. For all these things the Kansas plains offered to AsherAydelot and his little company of neighbors only land below, crossed by agrass-choked river, and sky overhead, crossed but rarely by blessedrain-dropping clouds. And yet the less the wilderness voluntarily gave up, the more these farmer folk were determined to win from it. Truly, theyhad need not only for large endurance in the present, but for large visionof a future victory, and they had both. 

The weight of pioneer hardship, however, fell heaviest on the women ofwhom Virginia Aydelot was a type. Into the crucible out of which a stateis moulded, she cast her youth and strength and beauty; her love ofluxury, her need for common comforts, her joy in the cultured appointmentsof society. She had a genius for music, trained in the best schools of theEast. And sometimes in the lonely days, she marked her only table with abit of charcoal to the likeness of a keyboard. Then she set her musicagainst her clean dishpan and dumbly fingered the melodies she had loved, hoping her hands might not lose all their cunning in these years ofhome-making on the plains. 

The spring of the memorable year of 1874 opened auspiciously. The peachtrees on the Aydelot and Shirley claims bloomed for the first time; moresod had been turned for wheat and corn; gardens and truck patches wereplanted; cattle were grazing beyond the sand dunes across the river, whilethe young cottonwood and catalpa groves, less than three feet high it istrue, began to make great splotches of darker green on the prairie, promising cool forest shade in coming years. Mail went west on the maintrail three times a week. The world was coming nearer to the Grass Riversettlement which, in spite of his doleful view once, Darley Champers washelping to fill up to the profit of the real estate business. 

Carey's Crossing, having given up all hope of becoming a county seat, hadfaded from the face of the earth. The new county seat of Wolf County wasconfidently expected to be pitched at Wykerton, up in the Big Wolf Creeksettlement, where one Hans Wyker, former saloon-keeper of Carey'sCrossing, was building up a brewery for the downfall of the community. Dr. Carey was taking an extended medical course in the East, whither Bo Peephad followed him. Darley Champers was hovering like a hawk betweenWykerton and the Grass River settlement. Todd Stewart had taken a claim, while John Jacobs, temporarily in the East, was busy planting the seedsfor a new town which no Wyker brewery should despoil. 

All lovely was this springtime of 1874. Midsummer had another story totell. A story of a wrathful sun in a rainless sky above a parched land, swept for days together by the searing south winds. In all the prairiethere was no spot of vivid green, no oasis in the desert of tawny grassesand stunted brown cornstalks, and bare, hot stubble wherefrom even thepoor crop of straw had been chaffless and mean. 

On a Sabbath morning in late July, the little Grass River schoolhouse wascrowded, for Sabbath school was the event of the week. It did not take amultitude to crowd the sod-built temple of learning. Even with the infantclass out of doors in the shade, the class inside filled the space. Theminister school-teacher, Pryor Gaines, called it the "old folks' class, "although there was not a person over thirty-five years of age in the wholesettlement. 

Asher Aydelot was the superintendent, and Virginia took care of the infantclass. Jim Shirley led the singing, and Pryor Gaines taught the "oldfolks. " He was the same minister school-teacher who had sat at the tablewith Dr. Carey and Todd Stewart and John Jacobs on the day that ThomasSmith ate his first meal at the Jacobs House. With the passing of Carey'sCrossing, he had taken a homestead claim on Grass River. 

This morning the lesson was short, and the children, finding the heat ofthe shade outside unbearable, were sitting on the earth floor beside theirparents. Nobody seemed ready to go home. 

"Times are getting worse every day, " one man observed. "No rain since thetenth of May, and the prettiest stand of wheat I ever saw, burned to ahalf-yield or less before cutting time. I'd counted on wheat for my livingthis year. "

"It's the same if you'd had corn, Bennington, " Jim Shirley observed. "Iwas polishing my crown for a Corn King Festival this fall. I don't believeI'll harvest fifteen bushels to the acre. "

"Fifteen bushels!" another neighbor exclaimed. "Fifteen ears to the row asection long would encourage me, Darley Champers told me when I took up myclaim, if I'd plant a grove or two, that in three years the trees would beso big that rainfall would be abundant. You all know my catalpa woods is awonder, " he added with a wink. 

Darley Champers himself had just come down the trail and was entering thedoor. 

"Well, come over our way if you are on the hunt for prosperity, " ToddStewart interposed. "Grass River isn't living up to its name any betterthan our creek; isn't any fuller of weeds than our brook is of--shale. Idid lose the trail in your river this morning, though. The weeds arenearly up to the pony's flanks. Think of the fertility of a river bed thatwill grow weeds three feet high and two shades more yellow green than thedead grass on the bank. If there's a drop of water in our creek for twentymiles, I'd go get it and have Brother Gaines analyze it to make sure itwasn't resin. "

"You do well to see the humor of the situation, Stewart, " Pryor Gainesbegan, with the cheery tone of a man who believes in hope. 

"I don't see that that helps any, " Bennington, the first speaker, broke indolefully. "Joking isn't going to give us food and clothes and fuel tillcrop time comes again--if it ever does. "

"I'm not suffering for extra clothes. What I wear now is a burden, " ToddStewart declared. 

"Well, gentlemen. " Darley Champers took the floor. "What are you going todo? That's what brought me here today. I knowed I'd find you all here. When I sent some of you fellows into this blasted Sahara, I was honest. Ithought Grass River was a real stream, not a weed patch and a stoneoutcrop. I'd seen water in it, as I can prove by Aydelot. Remember, whenwe met down by the bend here, one winter day?"

"Yes, I remember, " Asher replied. 

"Well, I just come by there and there ain't a drop of water in that deepbend, no more'n in my hat. " Champers plumped his hat down on the floorwith the words. "And the creek, on Stewart's testimony, is a blastedfissure in the earth. "

"I always said when that bend went dry, I'd leave the country, but Ican't, " Jim Shirley said doggedly. 

"Why not?" Champers inquired. 

"Because I can't throw away the only property I have in the world, and Ihaven't the means to get away, let alone start up anywhere else. "

"We're all in the same boat, " Bennington declared. 

"Same boat, every fellow rocking it, too, and no water to drown in if wefall out. We're in the queerest streak of luck yet developed, " ToddStewart observed. 

"Let's take a vote, then, and see how many of us really have no visiblemeans of support and couldn't walk out of here at all. Let's have a showof hands, " Jim Shirley proposed. 

"How did you decide?" Champers asked, as the hands dropped. 

His eyes were on Asher Aydelot, who had not voted. 

"Didn't you see? Everybody, except Asher there, is nailed fast to thegumbo, " Stewart declared. 

Darley Champers looked Asher Aydelot straight in the eyes, and nobodycould have said that pity or dislike or surprise controlled the man'smind, for something of all three were in that look. Then he said:

"Gentlemen, I know your condition just as well as you do. You're in alosing game, and it's stay and starve, or--but they ain't no 'or. ' Now, I'll advance money tomorrow on every claim held here and take it andassume the mortgage. Not that they are worth it. Oh, Lord, no. I'll beland-logged, and it's out of kindness to you that I'm willin' to stretchthem fellers I represent in the East. But I'll take chances. I'll helpeach feller of you to get away for a reasonable price on your claim. It'sa humanitarian move, but I may be able to lump it off for range land in afew years for about what it costs to pay taxes. But, gents, I got some ofyou in and I'm no scallawag when it comes to helpin' you out. Think itover, and I'll be down this way in two weeks. I've got to go now. It's tooinfernal hot to keep alive here. I know where there's two sunflower stalksup on the trail that's fully two feet tall. I've got to have shade. Goodday. " And Champers was gone. 

"What do you say?" The question seemed to come from all at once. 

"Let Pryor Gaines speak first. He's our preacher, " Asher said with asmile. 

Pryor Gaines was a small, fair-faced man, a scholar, a dreamer, too, maybe. By birth or accident, he had suffered from a deformity. He limpedwhen he walked, and his left hand had less than normal efficiency. On hisface the pathos of the large will and the limited power was written overby the ready smile, the mark of abundant good will toward men. 

"I am out of the race, " he said calmly. "I'm as poor as any of you, ofcourse, and I must stay here anyhow, Dr. Carey tells me. I came West onaccount of heart action and some pulmonary necessities. I cannot choosewhere I shall go, even if I had the means to carry out my choice. But mynecessities need not influence anyone, " he added with a smile. "I can livewithout you, if I have to. "

"How about you?" Stewart said, turning to Asher. "You take no risk at allin leaving, so you'll go first, I suppose?"

All this time the settlers' wives sat listening to the considerations thatmeant so much to them. They wore calico dresses, and not one of them hadon a hat. But their sun-bonnets were clean and stiffly starched, and, while they were humbly clad, there was not a stupid face among them;neither was their conversation stupid. Their homes and home devices forimprovement, the last reading in the all too few papers that came theirway, the memories of books and lectures and college life of other days, and the hope of the future, were among the things of which they spoke. 

Virginia Aydelot was no longer the pretty pink and white girl-bride whohad come to the West three years before. Her face and arms were brown as agypsy's, but her hair, rumpled by the white sunbonnet she had worn, wasabundant, and her dark eyes and the outlines of her face had not changed. She would always be handsome without regard to age or locality. Nor hadthe harshness of the wilderness made harsh the soft Southern tongue thatwas her heritage. 

At Stewart's words, Asher glanced at his wife, and he knew from her eyeswhat her choice would be. 

"When I was a boy on the old farm back at Cloverdale, Ohio, my mother'sadvice was as useful to me as my father's. " Swift through Asher's mind ranthe memory of that moonlit April night on his father's veranda five yearsbefore. "Out here it is our wives who bear the heaviest burdens. Let ushave their thoughts on the situation. "

"That's right, " Jim Shirley exclaimed. "Mrs. Aydelot, you are first inpoint of time in this settlement. What do you say?"

"It's a big responsibility, Mrs. Aydelot, " Bennington, who had not smiledhitherto, said with a twinkle in his eye. 

"As goes Asher Aydelot, so goes Grass River, " Todd Stewart declared. "Youspeak for him, Mrs. Aydelot, and tell us what to do. "

"I cannot tell _you_ what to do. I can speak only for the Aydelots, "Virginia said. "When we came West Asher told me he had left one bridge notburned. He had put aside enough money to take us back to Ohio and to starta new life, on small dimensions, of course, back East, whenever we foundthe prairies too hostile. They've often been rough, never worse than now, but"--her eyes were bright with the unconquerable will to do as shepleased, true heritage of the Thaines of old--"but I'm not ready to goyet. "

Jim Shirley clapped his hands, but Pryor Gaines spoke earnestly. "There isno failure in a land where the women will to win. By them the hearthstonesstand or crumble to dust. The Plains are master now. They must be servantsome day. "

"Amen!" responded Asher Aydelot, and the Sabbath service ended. 

Two weeks later Darley Champers came again to the barren valley and metthe settlers in the sod schoolhouse. Not a cloud had yet scarred theheavens, not a dewdrop had glistened in the morning sunlight. Clearly, August was outranking July as king of a season of glaring light andwithering heat. The settlers drooped listlessly on the backless seats, andthe barefoot children did not even try to recite the golden text. 

"I'd like to speak to you, Aydelot, " Champers said at the door, as theschool service ended. 

The two men sought the shady side of the cabin and dropped on the ground. 

"I'm goin' to be plain, now, and you mustn't misunderstand me for aminute, " Champers declared. The blusterer is rarely tactful. 

"All right. "

Champers seemed to take the cheery tone as a personal matter. 

"Two weeks ago, I understand you and Mrs. Aydelot headed off these poordevils from their one chance of escape. Now, you know danged well you_don't_ intend to stay here a minute longer'n it'll take to kite out ofthis in the fall. And you are sacrificing human lives by persuadin' thesefolks to hold onto this land they just can't keep, nor make a livin' on, under five years and pay the interest till their mortgages expire. AndI've just this to say:" Champers spoke persuasively. "I'm not a shark. I'mhumane. If you'll help me to get these poor settlers out of Grass RiverValley, I'm willing to pay you a good commission on every single claim andtake no commission at all on yours. It will help you a lot toward makin' abigger start back East. Don't listen to your woman now; listen to me, forI'm givin' you the chance of your life, robbin' myself to do it, too. But"--his tone changed abruptly--"if you figger you can take your dangedrainy-day bank account out'n the Cloverdale bank and grab onto this land, you leave yourself, and hold onto it while you stay East a few years, andthen sneak back here and get rich off their loss, I tell you now, youcan't do it. And if you don't use your influence right now to get 'em tosell out to my company, you're going to regret it. Don't ask how I know. I_know_. I warn you once for all. You go in there and help the men decideright now--I'll buy at a reasonable figger, you understand--and you'regoin' to help make 'em sell to save their fool skins from starvation andtheir wives and their little ones, or you're going to rue the day youdrove into Kansas. What do you say? What are you goin' to do?"

The man's voice was full of menace, and he looked at Asher Aydelot withthe determination of one who will not be thwarted. 

Asher looked back at him with clear gray eyes that saw deeper than thethreatening words. A half smile hovered about his lips as he replied. 

"So that's your game, Darley Champers. If I'll help you to get hold ofthis land, you'll pay the settlers more than the claims are worth andyou'll pay me more than they are worth. A pretty good price for worthlessground. "

"Well, look at the landscape and tell me what you see. " Darley Champersflung his hand out toward the sweep of brown prairie with the dry riverbed and the brazen sands beyond it. Lean cattle stood disconsolately inthe shadeless open, while the cultivated fields were a mass of yellowclods about the starveling crops. 

Asher did not heed the interruption. 

"You declare that I'll leave here as soon as I can get away, and that I'mbrutal to use my influence to keep the settlers here; that I am working atrick _you_ have worked out already for me, to get the land myself becauseit is valuable; you, in your humane love for your fellowmen, you threatenme with all unknown calamities if I refuse your demand. And then you askme what I have to say, what I am going to do, and, with fine gestures, what I see?"

"Well?" Champers queried urgently. 

The plains life made men patient and deliberate of speech, and Asher didnot hasten his words for all the bluster. 

"I say I am not using my influence to keep any man here or push him out ofhere. I speak only for the family at the Sunflower Inn. I know 'dangedwell' I am not going to leave the Grass River country this fall. Further, I know your hand before you play it, and I know that if you can play itagainst Todd Stewart and Jim Shirley and Cyrus Bennington and the rest ofthem, I haven't taken their measure right. I know, again, that I am notafraid of you, nor can any threat you make have an influence on my action. And, lastly, as to what I see. "

Asher turned toward the west where the hot air quivered between the ironearth and a sky of brass. 

"I see a land fair as the garden of Eden, with grazing herds on broadmeadows, and fields on fields of wheat, and groves and little lakes andrivers, a land of comfortable homes and schools and churches--and nosaloons nor breweries. "

"I see a danged fool, " Darley Champers cried, springing up. 

"Come down here in twenty-five years and make a hunt for me, then, " Ashersaid with a smile, but Champers had already plunged inside theschoolhouse. 

The council following was a brief one. Three or four Grass River settlersagreed to give up the equity on their claims of one hundred and sixtyacres for enough money to transport themselves and their families to theirformer homes east of the Mississippi River. This decision left only onechild of all the little ones there, Todd Stewart, a stubby little fellow, as much of a Scotchman as his fair-haired father, who wound one arm abouthis father's neck, and whispered:

"They can't budge us, can they, dad?"

When the matter was concluded, Darley Champers rose to his feet. 

"I want to say one thing, " he began doggedly. "I give you the chance. Don't never blame me because you are too green to know what's good foryou. You are the only green things here, though. And don't forget, thereain't a man of you can get out of here on your own income or on your ownsavin's. Not a one. You're all locked into this valley an' the key's inpurgatory. An' I'd see you all with the key before I'd ever lift a fingerto help one of you, and not a one of you can help yourselves. "

With these words Champers left the company and rode away up the trailtoward civilization and safety. 

In the silence that followed, Pryor Gaines said:

"Friends, let us not forget that this is the Sabbath day on the prairie asin the crowded city. Let us not leave until we ask for His blessing inwhose sight no sparrow falls unnoticed. "

And together the little band of resolute men and women offered prayer toHim whose is the earth and the fulness, or the emptiness, thereof. 

Four days and nights went by. On the fifth morning at daybreak the coolbreeze that sweeps the prairies in the early dawn flowed caressingly alongthe Grass River valley. The settlers rose early. This was the best part ofthe day, and they made use of it. 

"You poor Juno!" Virginia Aydelot said, as she leaned against the corralpost in the morning twilight, and patted the mare gently. 

"You and I are 'plains-broke' for certain. We don't care for hot winds, nor cold winds, nor prairie fire, nor even a hailstorm, if it would onlycome. Never mind, old Juno, Asher has the greenest fields of all thevalley because he hasn't stopped plowing. That's why you must keep onworking. Maybe it will rain today, and you'll get to rest. Rain andrest!"

She looked toward the shadowy purple west, and then away to the east, decked in the barbaric magnificence of a plains sunrise. 

"It may rain today, but it won't rain rain. It will be hot air andtrouble. The sod shack is cool, anyhow, Juno. Not so cool, though, as thatlittle glen in the mountains where the clear spring bubbles and babblesall day long. " She brushed her hair back from her forehead and, squeezingJuno's mane, she added, "We don't want to go back yet, though. Not yet, dowe, Juno, even if it rains trouble instead of rain? Inherited pride andthe will to do as we please make us defy the plains, still. "

The day was exceedingly hot, but by noon a cloud seemed rising in thenorthwest; not a glorious, black thunder-cloud that means cool wind andsharp lightning and a shower of longed-for rain. A yellow-gray cloud withno deeper nor shallower tints to it, rising steadily, moving swiftly, shutoff the noonday glare. The shadows deepened below this strangeun-cloud-like cloud, not dark, but dense. The few chickens in thesettlement mistook the clock and went to roost. At every settler's house, wondering eyes watched the unheard-of phenomenon, so like, yet utterlyunlike, the sun's eclipse. 

"Listen, Asher, " Virginia exclaimed, as the two stood on the low swellbehind the house. "Listen to the roar, but there's no wind nor thunder. "

"Hear that rasping edge to the rumble. It isn't like anything I everknew, " Asher said, watching the coming cloud intently. 

From their height they could see it sweeping far across the land, not highin the air, but beclouding the prairie like a fog. Only this thing was dryand carried no cool breath with it. Nearer it came, and the sun abovelooked wanly through it, as surging, whipping, shimmering with silversplinters of light, roaring with the whir of grating wings, countlessmillions of grasshoppers filled the earth below and the air above. 

"The plague of Egypt, " Asher cried, and he and Virginia retreated hastilybefore its force. 

But they were not swift enough. The mosquito netting across the openwindows was eaten through and the hopping, wriggling, flying pest surgedinside. They smeared greasily on the floor; they gnawed ravenously atevery bit of linen or cotton fabric; they fell into every open vessel. 

Truly, life may be made miserable in many ways, but in the Kansas homes inthat memorable grasshopper year of 1874 life was wretchedly uncomfortable. Out of doors the cloud was a disaster. Nor flood, nor raging wind norprairie fire, nor unbroken drouth could claim greater measure of havoc inits wake than this billion-footed, billion-winged creature, an appetitegrown measureless, a hunger vitalized, and individualized, and endowedwith power of motion. No living shred of grass, or weed, or stalk of corn, or straw of stubble or tiniest garden growth; no leaf or bit of tenderbark of tree, or shrub, escaped this many-mouthed monster. 

In the little peach orchard where there were a few half-ripe peaches, thevery first fruits of the orchards in this untamed land, the hard peachstones, from which the meat was eaten away, hung on their stems among theleafless branches. The weed-grown bed of Grass River was swept as by aprairie fire. And for the labor of the fields, nothing remained. Thecottonwood trees and wild plum bushes belonged to a mid-winter landscape, and of the many young catalpa groves, only stubby sticks stood up, makinga darker spot on the face of the bare plains. 

For three days the Saint Bartholomew of vegetation continued. Then thepest, still hungry, rose and passed to the southeast, leaving behind itonly a honey-combed soil where eggs were deposited for future hatching, and a famine-breeding desolation. 

In days of great calamity or sorrow, sometimes little things annoystrangely, and it is not until after the grief has passed that the memoryrecalls and the mind wonders why trifles should have had such power amidsuch vastly important things. While the grasshopper was a burden, one losswore heavily on Virginia Aydelot's mind. She had given up hope for vinesand daintier flowers in the early summer, but one clump of coarsesunflowers she had tended and watered and loved. 

"It is our flower, " she said to Asher, who laughed at her care. "I won'tgive them up. I can get along without the other blooms this year, but mysunflowers are my treasure here--the only gold till the wheat turns yellowfor us. "

"You are a sentimental sister, " Asher declared. But he patiently carriedwater from the dwindling well supply to keep the drouth from searing them. When they fell before the ravenous grasshoppers, foolish as it was, Virginia mourned their loss above the loss of crops--so scanty were thejoys of these women state builders. 

The day after the pests left was the Sabbath. When Asher Aydelot read themorning lesson in the Sunday school, his voice was deep and unfaltering. He had chosen the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, with its sublime promisesto a wilderness-locked people. 

Then Pryor Gaines offered prayer. 

"Although the figtree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in thevines"--the old, old chant of Habakkuk on Mount Shigionoth--"the labor ofthe olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shallbe cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet Iwill rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LordGod is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind's feet, and He willmake me to walk upon mine high places. "

So the scholarly man, crippled and held to the land, prayed; and comfortcame with his words. 

Then Jim Shirley stood up to sing. 

"I'm no preacher, " he said, holding the song book open a moment, "but I dobelieve the Lord loves the fellow who can laugh at his own hard luck. Weweren't so green as Darley Champers tried to have us believe, because thehoppers didn't bite at us when they took every other green and growingthing, and we have life enough in us to keep on growing. Furthermore, wearen't the only people that have been pest-ridden. It's even worse up onBig Wolf Creek, where Wyker's short on corn to feed his brewery this fall. I'm going to ask everyone who is still glad he's in the Grass Riversettlement in Kansas to stand up and sing just like he meant it. It's theold Portuguese hymn. Asher and I learned it back on Clover Creek in Ohio. 

 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith--in His excellent word!"

Every man and woman rose at once. 

"The 'ayes' have it, " Jim declared. 

Then strong and sweet the song floated out across the desolatedrouth-ridden, pest-despoiled prairie. The same song was sung that day, nodoubt, where many worshipers were met together. The same song, sung incountry chapel and city church; in mining villages, and in lonely lumbercamps; on vessels far out at sea, and in the missionary service of distantheathen lands; by sick beds in humble homes, and beneath the groinedarches of the Old World cathedrals. 

But nowhere above the good green sod of Christendom did it rise in braver, truer worship from trustful and unconquered hearts than it rose that dayin the little sod schoolhouse on the Kansas prairie, pouring its melodydown the wide spaces of the Grass River Valley. 

CHAPTER VII

THE LAST BRIDGE BURNED

 . .. Scores of better men had died. I could reach the township living, but--He knew what terrors tore me-- But I didn't! But I didn't! I went down the other side. --The Explorer. 

Pryor Gaines never preached a better sermon than the one that followed thesinging of that old Portuguese hymn; and there were no doleful faces inthat little company when the service closed. The men stopped long enoughto discuss the best crops to put in for the fall, and how and where theymight get seeds for the same; to consider ways for destroying the eggsleft by the grasshoppers in the honey-combed ground, and to trade help inthe wheat-breaking to begin the next day. The women lingered to plan apicnic dinner for the coming Saturday. Jim Shirley hummed an old love tuneas he helped Pryor Gaines to close the windows and door for the week. Onlylittle Todd Stewart, with sober face, scratched thoughtfully at the hardearth with his hard little toes. 

"Can't there be no more little children where there's grasshoppers andDarley Champerses?" he asked his mother. 

"Yes, yes, Todd. You won't be lonesome long, " his mother assured him. "Some time when you are a man you can say, 'I was the only little boy thegrasshoppers and Darley Champers didn't get. ' You stout little Trojan!"

And then Todd, too, caught the spirit of the day and went singingblithely away. Across the bare hollow of Grass River, and beyond the sanddunes into the brown wastes that had been grassy prairies, his young voicecame trailing back still singing, as he rode behind his father, followingthe long hot trail toward their home. And the other settlers went theirways, each with courage renewed, for the new week's work. 

Yet, they were lonesomely few in number, and the prairies were vast; theywere poverty-stricken, with little means by which to sustain life throughthe coming season; on every hand the desolate plains lay robbed of everygreen growth, and to this land they were nailed hand and foot as to across of crucifixion. But they were young. They believed in the West andin themselves. Their faces were set toward the future. They had votedthemselves into holding on, and, except for the Aydelots, no one familyhad more resource than another. The Aydelots could leave the West if theychose. But they did not choose. So together they laughed at hardship; theymade the most of their meager possessions; they helped each other as onefamily--and they trusted to Providence for the future. And Providence, albeit she shows a seamy side to poverty, still loves the man who laughsat hard luck. The seasons following were not unkind. The late summerrains, the long autumn, and the mild winter were blessings. But withal, there were days on days of real hunger. Stock died for lack ofencouragement to live without food. And the grim while of waiting for seedtime and signs of prosperity was lived through with that old Anglo-Saxontenacity that has led the English speaking peoples to fight and colonizeto the ends of the earth. 

"Virginia, " Asher said one noontime, as the two sat at their spare meal, "the folks are coming up tonight to hold a council. I saw Bennington thismorning and he had heard from the men over Todd Stewart's way. Dust thepiano, polish up the chandelier, and decorate with--smiles, " he added, ashe saw the shadow on his wife's face. 

"I'll have the maid put the reception room in order, " Virginia replied, with an attempt at merriment. 

Then through the long afternoon she fought to a finish with the yearningfor the things she missed daily. At supper time, however, she was the samecheery woman who had laughed at loss and lack so often that she wonderedsometimes if abundance might not really make her sad. 

In the evening the men sat on the ground about the door of the SunflowerInn. Their wives had not come with them. One woman was sick at home;little Todd Stewart was at the beginning of a fever, and the other womenwere taking turns at nursing. Virginia's turn had been the night before. She was weary now and she sat in the doorway listening to the men, andremembering how on just such a moonlit September night she and Asher hadsat together under the Sign of the Sunflower and planned a future ofwealth and comfort. 

"The case is desperate, " Cyrus Bennington was saying. "Sickness andstarvation and the horses failing every day and the need for all theplowing and getting winter fuel. Something must be done. "

Others agreed, citing additional needs no less pressing. 

"There are supplies and money coming from the East right now, " Jim Shirleydeclared. "A hunting party crossed south two days ago. I was down on lowerPlum Creek searching for firewood, and I met them. They said we might gethelp from Wykerton if we went up right away. "

"Well, you are Mr. Swift, Jim, " one of the men exclaimed. "If you knew ittwo days ago, why in thunder didn't you report. We'd have made a woodenhorse gallop to Wykerton before night. "

"How'd I round up the neighborhood? I didn't get home till nearly noontoday. And, besides, they said Darley Champers has the distributing of thesupplies and money, and he's putting it where it will do the most good, not giving to everybody alike, he says. "

A sudden blankness fell upon each face, as each recalled the last words ofChampers when he left them on the Sabbath day in August. 

"Well, you said a wooden horse could have galloped up to Wykerton. " JimShirley tried to speak cheerfully. "A horse of iron might, too, but who'sgot a critter in Grass River Valley right now that could make a trip likethat? Mine couldn't. It took me two days and a half to haul up a load ofstuff, mostly sunflower stalks, that I gathered down south. "

"Aydelot's black mare could do it if anything could, " Pryor Gainesdeclared, trying to speak cheerfully, yet he was the least able to meetthe hardships of that season. 

"Yes, maybe, " Shirley commented. "She's a thoroughbred, and they finallywin, you know. But knowing what you do, who of you wants to face DarleyChampers?"

Again a hopeless despair filled the hearts of the little company. ToddStewart clinched his hands together. The husband of the sick woman set hisjaws like iron. Pryor Gaines turned his face away and offered no furtherword. Asher Aydelot sat looking out across the prairie, touched to silverybeauty by the pitying moonlight, and Jim Shirley bowed his head and saidnothing. 

"I will go to Wykerton, " Virginia Aydelot's soft voice broke the silence. "I'll take Juno and go tomorrow morning. If Darley Champers refuses me, hewould do the same to you. "

"Oh, Mrs. Aydelot, will you go? Can you try it? Do you think you could doit?" The questions came from the eager settlers. 

"We'll try it, Juno and I, " Virginia replied. 

"Thoroughbreds, both of 'em, " Jim Shirley murmured under his breath, andPryor Gaines' face expressed the things he could not say. 

"I believe that is the best thing to do, " Asher Aydelot declared. 

Then the settlers said good night, and sought their homes. 

As Virginia Aydelot rode away in the early morning, the cool breeze camesurging to her out of the west. The plains were more barren than she hadever seen them before, but the sky above them had lost nothing of itsbeauty. No color had faded from the eastern horizon line, no magnificencehad slipped away from the sunset. 

"'The heavens declare the glory of God, '" Virginia said to herself. "HasHe forgotten the earth which is His also?"

She turned at the little swell to the northward to wave good-by to Asher, standing with arms folded beside a corral post, looking after her. 

"Is he thinking of Cloverdale and the big cool farmhouse and the well-keptfarm, and the many people coming and going along that old National pikeroad? He gave it all up for me--all his inheritance for me and this. "

She looked back once more at the long slope of colorless land and thesolitary figure watching her in the midst of it all. 

"I'll tell him tonight I'm ready to go back East. We can go to Ohio, andAsher can live where his boyhood days were spent. My Virginia can never beas it was in my childhood, but Asher can have some of the pleasures of hiseastern home. " She pushed back the sunbonnet from her face, and let thewest breeze sweep across it. 

"I used to wear a veil and was somewhat acquainted with cold cream, and myhands were really white and soft. They are hard and brown now. When I gethome I'll put it straight to Asher about going back to civilization, evenif there are only a few dollars waiting to take us there, and nothingwaiting for us to do. "

With a sigh, half of anticipation and half of regret, she rode away towardthe little town of Wykerton in the Big Wolf Creek settlement. 

There were few differences between the new county seat and Carey'sCrossing, except that there were a few more houses, and over by the creekbank the brewery, by which Hans Wyker proposed to save the West. Therewas, however, one difference between the vanished Carey's Crossing andthis place, the difference between the community whose business leadershave ideals of citizenship, and the community wherein commerce is advancedby the degradation of its citizens. Wykerton had no Dr. Carey nor JohnJacobs to control it. The loafers stared boldly at Virginia Aydelot asshe rode up before the livery stable and slipped from her saddle. Notbecause a woman in a calico dress and sunbonnet, a tanned, brown-handedwoman, was a novelty there, but because the license of the place was oneof impudence and disrespect. 

The saloon was on one side of the livery stable and the postoffice was onthe other side. Darley Champers' office stood next to the postoffice, adingy little shack with much show of maps and real estate information. Behind the office was a large barren yard where one little lilac bushlanguished above the hard earth. The Wyker hotel and store were across thestreet. 

Virginia had been intrusted with small sums for sundry purchases for thesettlement, especially for the staple medicines and householdneeds--camphor and turpentine, quinine and certain cough syrups for thewinter; castor oil, some old and tried ointment, and brand of painkiller;thread and needles and pins--especially pins--and buttons for everybody'sclothes. One settler had ridden back at midnight to ask for the purchaseof a pair of shoes for his wife. It was a precious commission thatVirginia Aydelot bore that day, although to the shopper in a Kansas citytoday, the sum of money would have seemed pitifully small. 

In the postoffice, printed rulings and directions regarding the supplieswere posted on the wall, and Virginia read them carefully. Then with manymisgivings and a prayer for success, she crossed the street to DarleyChampers' place of business. 

In spite of her plain dress, Virginia Aydelot was every inch a lady, andDarley Champers, dull as he was in certain lines, felt the difference herpresence made in the atmosphere of his office when she entered there. 

"I understood, Mr. Champers, that you have charge here of the suppliessent into the state for the relief of those who suffered from thegrasshoppers, " she said, when she was seated in the dingy little room. 

"Yes, mom!" Champers replied. 

"I am Mrs. Asher Aydelot, and I represent the Grass River settlement. Ihave come to ask for a share of this relief fund, and as I must start backas soon as possible after dinner, perhaps we can make all arrangementsnow. "

She never knew how near her gentle manner and pleasant voice came towinning the day at once. Champers' first impulse was to grant her anythingshe asked for; his second was to refuse everything; his third, his rulingprinciple always, was to negotiate to his own advantage. He dropped hiseyes and began to play for time. 

"I don't know as I can help you at all, madam, " he said, halfsympathetically. "The supplies and money is about gone, except what'spromised, and, well--you ought to have come sooner. I'd a been glad tohelp you, but I thought you Grass River folks had about everything youneeded for the winter. "

"Oh, Mr. Champers, " Virginia cried, "you know that nobody could foretellthe coming of the plague. We were as well off as hundreds of othersettlers this dry summer before the grasshoppers came. "

"Yes, yes, madam, but the supplies is gone, about. "

"And you cannot promise that any more will be coming soon?" The pathos ofthe woman's voice was appealing. 

"If you could only understand how poor and how brave those settlers are!"

"I thought your man had some little means to get you and him away, if he'duse it that way. "

The sorrow of failure here and the suffering that must follow it madeVirginia sick at heart. A homesick longing suddenly possessed her; a wishto get away from the country and forget it altogether. And Champers wascunning enough to understand. 

"You'd just like to get away from it, now, wouldn't you?" he askedpersuasively. 

"I surely would, when I think of the suffering there will be, " Virginiareplied. "Our staying won't help matters any. "

"Not a bit! Not a bit, " Champers asserted. "It's too bad you can't go. "

Virginia looked up wonderingly. 

"Madam, I haven't no supplies. They're all gone, I think. But if you'llcome in right after dinner, I'll see if I can't do something. I'm a humaneman. "

"I'll be here at one o'clock, " she replied. 

It was the last hope, and anything was better than utter failure in hererrand. 

When she registered her name at the hotel for dinner, Virginia's eye wascaught by the two names on the page. Both belonged to strangers, but itwas the sharp contrast of the writing that made her read them. Onerecorded in a cramped little hand the name of Thomas Smith, Wilmington, Delaware. The other in big, even, backward slanting letters spelled outthe name of John Jacobs, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

The dining room was crowded with men when Virginia entered. Whoever ishunting for evidence of good breeding and unselfishness, must not expecttoo much in any eating-house, be it dining car on the Empire Limited orgrub shack on the western frontier, if only men are accustomed to feedthere. The best places were filled with noisy talkers and eaters, whostared at her indifferently, and it was not until Gretchen Wyker, tow-haired, pimpled, and short-necked like her father, chose to do so, that she finally pointed out a chair at a shabby side table and waved herempty tin waiter toward it. Virginia was passing the long table of staringmen to reach this seat, when a man rose from the small table at the otherside of the room and crossed hastily to her. 

"Excuse me, madam, " he said politely. "Will you come over to our table? Weare strangers to you, but you will get better service here than you mightget alone. My name is Jacobs. I saw you in the store this morning, and Iknow nearly every man in your settlement. "

It was a small service, truly, but to Virginia it was a grateful one inthat embarrassing moment. 

"You can take Dr. Carey's place. He's away today, locating a claim on theupper fork of Grass River somewhere. He hasn't been back a month, but he'sbusy as ever. Tell me about your neighborhood, " Jacobs said. 

Virginia told the story of the community that differed little from thestory of the whole frontier line of Kansas settlements in the earlyseventies. 

"Do you have hope of help through Mr. Champers?" Jacobs asked. 

"I don't know what to hope for from Mr. Champers. He seems kind-hearted, "Virginia replied. 

"I hope you will find him a real friend. He is pretty busy with a man fromthe East today, " Jacobs answered, with a face so neutral in its expressionthat Virginia wondered what his thought might be. 

As she rose to leave the table, Mr. Jacobs said:

"I shall be interested in knowing how you succeed this afternoon. I hopeyou may not be disappointed. I happen to know that there are funds andgoods both on hand. It's a matter of getting them distributed withoutprejudice. "

"You are very kind, Mr. Jacobs, " Virginia replied. "It is a desperatecase. I feel as if I should be ready to leave the West if I do not getrelief for our neighborhood today. "

Jacobs looked at her keenly. "Can you go?" he asked. "I wonder you havewaited until now. "

"I've never wanted to go before. I wouldn't now. I could stand it for ourhousehold. " The dark eyes flashed with the old Thaine will to do as shepleased. "But it is my sympathy for other people, for our sick, fordiscouraged men. "

Jacobs smiled kindly and bowed as she left the room. 

When she returned to Champers' office Mr. Thomas Smith was already there, his small frame and narrow, close-set eyes and secretive manner seemingout of place in the breezy atmosphere of the plain, outspoken West of thesettlement days. In the conversation that followed it seemed to Virginiathat he controlled all of the real estate dealer's words. 

"I am sorry to say that there ain't anything left in the way of supplies, Mrs. Aydelot, except what's reserved for worthy parties. I've looked overthings carefully. " Darley Champers broke the silence at once. 

"Who draws the line between the worthy and the unworthy, Mr. Champers?"Virginia asked. "I am told the relief supply is not exhausted. "

"Oh, the distributin's in my hands in a way, but that don't changematters, " Champers said. 

"I read the rulings in the postoffice, " Virginia began. 

"Yes, I had 'em put there. It saves a lot of misunderstandin', " theguardian of supplies declared. "But it don't change anything here. "

Virginia knew that her case was lost and she rose to leave the room. Shehad instinctively distrusted Darley Champers from their first meeting. Shehad disliked him as an ill-bred, blustering sort of man, but she had notthought him vindictive until now. Now she saw in him a stubborn, unforgiving man, small enough to work out of petty spite to the completedownfall of any who dared oppose his plans. 

"Sit down, Mrs. Aydelot. As I said this mornin', it's too bad you can't goback East now, " Champers said seriously. 

"We can. " Virginia could not keep back the words. 

Champers and Smith exchanged glances. 

"No, mom, you can't, Mrs. Aydelot. Let me show you why. "

He opened the drawer of his rickety desk and out of a mass of papers hefished up a copy of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_, six weeks old. "Look atthis, " and he thrust it into Virginia's hand. 

The head-lines were large, but the story was brief. The failure of theCloverdale bank, the disappearance of the trusted cashier, the loss ofdeposits--a story too common to need detail. Virginia Aydelot never knewuntil that moment how much that reserve fund had really meant to her. Shehad need of the inherited pride of the Thaines now. 

"The papers are not always accurate, " she said quietly. 

"No, mom. But Mr. Smith here has interests in Cloverdale. He's just comefrom there, and he says it's even worse than this states it. "

Virginia looked toward Mr. Smith, who nodded assent. 

"The failure is complete. Fortunately, I lost but little, " he said. 

"Why hasn't Mr. Aydelot been notified?" she demanded. 

"It does seem queer he wasn't, " Thomas Smith assented. 

Something in his face made Virginia distrust him more than she distrustedDarley Champers. 

"Now, Mrs. Aydelot, seein' your last bridge is burned, I'm humane enoughto help you. You said this mornin' you wanted to get away. Mr. Smith and Icontrol some funds together, and he's willing to take Shirley's place andI'll give you a reasonable figger, not quite so good as I could 'a doneprevious to this calamity--but I'll take the Aydelot place off yourhands. " Champers smiled triumphantly. 

"The Aydelot place is not for sale. Good afternoon. " And Virginia left theoffice without more words. 

When she was gone Champers turned to Smith with a growl. 

"It's danged hard to turn agin a woman like her. What made you sobitter?"

Smith half grinned and half snarled in reply:

"Oh, her neighbor, Shirley, you know. "

Hopeless and crushed, Virginia sat down on the bench before the WykerHouse to wait for Juno to be brought to her from the stables. Theafternoon sun was beginning to creep under the roof shading the doorway. Before her the dusty street ran into the dusty trail leading out to thecolorless west. It was the saddest moment she had known in the conflictwith the wilderness. 

"Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, " ran the blessing of Asher through hermind. "It must be true today as in the desert long ago. And Asher lives bythe memory of his mother's blessing. " The drooping shoulders lifted. Thedark eyes brightened. 

"I won't give up. I'm glad the money's gone, " she declared to herself. "Wedid depend on it so long as we knew we had it. "

"What luck, Mrs. Aydelot?" It was John Jacobs who spoke as he sat downbeside her. 

"All bad luck, but we are not discouraged, " she replied bravely, andJacobs read the whole story in the words. 

A silence fell. Virginia sat looking at the vacant street, while the youngman studied her face. Then Juno was brought to the door and Virginia roseto mount her. 

"Mrs. Aydelot, " John Jacob's sharp eyes seemed to pierce to her very soulas he said slowly, "I believe you are not discouraged. You believe in thiscountry, you, and your neighbors. I believe in it, and I believe in you. Stewart and I had to dissolve partnership when Carey's Crossing dissolved. He took a claim. It was all he could do. I went back to Cincinnati, butonly for a time. I'm ready to start again. I will organize a company oftown builders, not brewery builders. You must not look for favors in awhisky-ridden place like this. There'll be no saloon to rule our town. "

Virginia listened interestedly but not understandingly. 

"What of this?" Jacobs continued. "I have some means. I'm waiting formore. I'll invest them in Grass River. Go back and tell yourhomesteaders that I'll make a small five-year loan to every man in thesettlement according to his extreme needs. I'll take each man's note withfive per cent interest and the privilege of renewing for two years ifcrops fail at the end of the term. I am selfish, I'll admit, " he declared, as Virginia looked at him incredulously, "and I want dollar fordollar--always--sometimes more. My people are popularly known asShylocks. But you note that my rate of usury is small, the time long, and that I want these settlers to stay. I am not trying to get rid ofthem in order to speculate on their land in coming days ofprosperity--the days when you will be landlords over broad acres and I amerchant prince. I say again, I believe in the West and in you farmerpeople who must turn the West from a wilderness to a land of plenty. I'mwilling to risk something on your venture. "

"Oh, Mr. Jacobs, " was all Virginia could say, and, womanlike, the tearsfilled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. 

"Tell the men to send a committee up here with their needs listed, " Jacobssaid hastily, "or better, I'll go out there myself the day after tomorrow. I want to see what kind of a claim Carey has preempted. Good-by, now, good-by. "

He hurried Virginia to her horse and watched her ride away. 

Down at the ford of Wolf Creek the willow brush fringed the main trailthinly for a little distance and half hid the creek trail, winding up along canyon-like hollow, until a low place in the bank and a steep climbbrought it up to the open prairie. It was the same trail that Dr. Careyhad spoken of as belonging to an ugly little creek running into Big Wolf, the trail he had wanted to avoid on the day he had heard Virginia singingwhen she was lost on the prairie one cold day. 

Virginia paused in this semblance of shade to let Juno drink. She pushedback her sunbonnet and sat waiting. Her brown face grew radiant as shethought of the good news she was bearing to the waiting home-makers of theGrass River Valley. A song came to her lips, and as she sang a soft littlemeasure she remembered how somewhere down a tributary to this very creekshe had sung for help in pleading tones one cold hopeless day three yearsbefore. So intent was she on the triumph of the hour she did not even lookup the willow-shadowed creek trail. 

Dr. Horace Carey, coming in from a distant claim, had dropped into thistrail for the bits of shade here and there and was letting his pony takeits way leisurely along the side of the creek bed. There were only a fewshallow pools now where the fall rains would soon put a running stream, and as the doctor's way lay along the moist places the pony's feet fellnoiselessly on the soft ground. As he rounded a bend in the stream hecaught sight of Virginia, her face outlined against the background ofwillow sprays, making a picture worth a journey to see, it was such ahopeful, happy face at that moment. Dr. Carey involuntarily checked hispony at the sight. His own countenance was too pale for a Kansasplainsman, and he sat so still that the low strain of Virginia's songreached his ears. 

Presently Juno lifted her head and Virginia rode away out on the SunflowerTrail, bordered now only by dead pest-ridden stalks. Suddenly lifting hereyes she saw far across a stretch of burned prairie a landscape ofexquisite beauty. In a foreground lay a little lake surrounded by grassybanks and behind it, on a slight elevation, stood a mansion house of theold Colonial style with white pillared portico, and green vines and foresttrees casting cool shade. Beyond it, wrapped in mist, rose a mountainheight with a road winding picturesquely in and out along its side. Virginia caught her breath as a great sob rose in her throat. This was allso like the old Thaine mansion house of her childhood years. 

"It's only the mirage, " she said aloud. "But it was so like--what?" Sheheld Juno back as she looked afar at the receding painting of the plains. "It's like the house we'll have some day on that slope beyond theSunflower Inn. The mountains are misty. They are only the mountains ofmemory. But the home and the woods and the water--all may be real. "

Then she thought of Asher and of the dull prairie everywhere. 

"I wonder if he would want to go back if he could see this as I see it, "she questioned. "But I know he has seen it daily. I can tell by that lookin his gray eyes. "

It was long after moonrise when Asher Aydelot, watching by the corral, heard the sound of hoof-beats and saw the faint outline of a horse andrider swinging in from the northward as once before he had watched thesame horse and rider swinging over the same trail before the cool northwind that beat back the September prairie fire. 

"I have supper all ready. See what grew just for you!" Asher said as heand his wife entered the house. 

A bunch of forlorn little sunflowers in a brown pitcher graced the table. They could scarcely be called flowers, but to Virginia, who had hardlyseen a blossom through the days of drouth, the joy they brought was keenerthan the joy that the roses and orchids gave in the days of a laterprosperity. 

"I found them in the draw where the wild plums grow, " Asher said. "Howthey ever escaped the hoppers is a miracle. "

"We will christen our claim 'The Sunflower Ranch' tonight, and these areour decorations for the ceremony. It is all we have now. But it is ours, "Virginia declared. 

And then she told the story of the bank failure at Cloverdale. 

"The last bridge is burned surely, " Asher commented as he looked acrossthe table at Virginia. "This is the only property we have except youth andhealth and hope--and--each other. "

"And the old Aydelot heritage to stand for principle, and your mother'sbelief in the West and in you, and the Thaine stubbornness about giving upwhat they want to keep, " Virginia declared. 

"As our days so shall our strength be, " Asher added, as he saw his wife'sface bright with hope and determination, and remembered the sweet face ofhis mother as it had looked that night on the veranda of the oldfarmhouse by the National pike road. 

 * * * * *

For a long time down by the willows thinly shadowing Wolf Creek awhite-faced man sat looking out toward the west, where a horse and riderhad vanished into the mellow tones of distance. 

CHAPTER VIII

ANCHORED HEARTHSTONES

 Dear Mother of Christ, who motherhood blessed, All life in thy Son is complete. The length of a day, the century's tale Of years do His purpose repeat. As wide as the world a sympathy comes To him who has kissed his own son, A tenderness deep as the depths of the sea, To motherhood mourning is won. No life is for naught. It was heaven's own way That the baby who came should stay only a day. 

Living by faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, is good forthe spirit but reducing to the flesh. Yet it was much by faith that thefrontier settlers lived through the winter after the grasshopper raid. JimShirley often declared in that time between crops that he could make threemeals a day on Pryor Gaines' smile. And Todd Stewart asserted that whenthe meat was all gone from their larder his family lived one whole week onJohn Jacobs' belief in the future of their settlement. For the hardship ofthat winter was heavy. All the more heavy because the settlers were notstupid pauper-bred folk but young men and women of intelligence andculture, whose early lives had known luxuries as well as comforts. But thesaving sense of humor, the saving power of belief in themselves, and thesaving grace of brotherly love carried them through. 

The winter was mercifully mild and the short grass of the prairies wasnourishing to the stock that must otherwise have perished. Late inFebruary a rainfall began that lasted for days and Grass River, rising toits opportunity, drowned all the fords, so that the neighbors on widelyseparated claims were cut off from each other. No telephones relieved theloneliness of the country dwellers in those days, and each household hadto rely on its own resources for all its needs. March came raging in likea lion. All the rain turned to snow and the wind to a polar blast as theone furious blizzard of that season fell upon the plains and for manyhours threshed the snow-covered land. 

On the night before the coming of the blizzard the light did not go out inthe Aydelot cabin. And while the wind and rain without raved at door andwindow, a faint little cry within told that a new life had come to theworld, a baby girl born in the midst of the storm. Morning brought nocheck to the furious elements. And Asher, who had fought in the front lineat Antietam, had forced his way through a storm of Indian arrows out of adeath-trap in the foothills of the Rockies, had ministered to men on theplains dying of the Asiatic plague, and had bound up the wounds of men whoreturned to the battle again, found a new form of heroism that morning inhis own little cabin--the heroism of motherhood. 

"You must go for help, Asher, " Virginia said, smiling bravely. "Leave thebaby beside me here. We'll wait till you come back. Little Sweetheart, youare welcome, if you did come with the storm, a little before you wereexpected. " The young mother looked fondly at the tiny face beside her. 

"I can't leave you alone, Virgie, " Asher insisted. 

"But you must. " Virginia's voice was full of courage. "You can go as faras Pryor Gaines' and send him on for you. Little daughter and I will beall right till you come back. "

So Asher left her. 

Pryor Gaines was waterbound across Grass River. Of the three women livingeast of the stream one was sick abed, one was kept at home with a sickhusband, and the third had gone with her husband to Wykerton for suppliesand was stormstaid somewhere along the Sunflower Trail. 

"I must go for Jim. Any neighborhood is blessed that has a fewgood-hearted unmarried folks in it, " Asher thought as he braced himselfagainst the driving rain and hurried away. 

When he reached home again the fire was low, the house was very quiet, andVirginia's face was white against her pillow. 

"Our little daughter is asleep, " she said, and turning away she seemed notto hear her husband's voice assuring her that Jim would bring the doctoras soon as possible. 

The blizzard was just beginning in the early evening when Jim Shirleyfairly blew down the trail from the north. He slipped into the kitchen andpassed quietly to the next room. Asher was bending over his wife, who layin a delirium. 

Jim Shirley had one of those sympathetic natures that read the joys andsorrows of their friends without words. One look at Asher told him whathad been. 

"The doctor was away up Wolf Creek, but I left word with his colored manfor him to come at once, and he'll do it, " Jim assured Asher as he stoodfor a moment beside the bed. "I didn't wait because you need me. "

Asher lifted his head and looked at Jim. As man to man they knew as neverbefore the strength of their lifetime friendship. 

"I need you. She needs the doctor. The baby--"

"Doesn't need any of us, " Jim said softly. "I'll do what I can. "

It is no strange, unreal story of the wilderness day, this fluttering inand out of a little life, where no rosewood grew for coffins nor floristsmade broken columns of white lilies and immortelles. 

But no mother's hands could have been more gentle than the gentle hands ofJim Shirley as he prepared the little form for burial. 

Meantime the wind was at its wildest, and the plains blizzard swirled inblinding bitterness along the prairie. The hours of the night dragged byslowly to the two men hoping for the doctor's coming, yet fearing thathope was impossible in the face of such a night. 

"Carey has the keenest sense of direction I ever knew in a human being, "Jim assured Asher. "I know he will not fail us. "

Yet the morning came and the doctor came not. The day differed from thenight only in the visible fierceness of the storm. The wind swept howlingin long angry shrieks from the northwest. The snow seemed one dizzy, maddening whirlpool of white flakes hanging forever above the earth. 

Inside the cabin Virginia's delirium was turning to a frenzy. And Asherand Jim forgot that somewhere in the world that day there was warmth andsunlight, health and happiness, flowers, and the song of birds, and babiescooing on their mothers' knees. And the hours of the day dragged on toevening. 

 * * * * *

Meanwhile, Dr. Carey had come into Wykerton belated by the rains. 

"The wind is changing. There'll be a snowstorm before morning, Bo Peep, "he said wearily as the young colored man assisted him into warm, dryclothes. "It's glorious to sit by a fire on a night like this. I didn'tknow how tired I was till now. "

"Yes, suh, I'se glad you all is home for the night, suh. I sho' is. I gotmighty little use for this yuh country. I'se sorry now I eveh done takenmy leave of ol' Virginny. " Bo Peep's white teeth glistened as he laughed. 

"Any calls while I was gone?" Dr. Carey asked. 

Bo Peep pretended not to hear as he busied himself over his employer'swraps, until Carey repeated the question. 

"No, suh! no, suh! none that kaint wait till mawhnin', suh, " Bo Peepassured him, adding to himself, "Tiahd as he is, he's not gwine way out toGrass Riveh this blessed night, not if I loses my job of bein' custodianof this huh 'stablishment. Not long's my name's Bone-ah-gees Peepehville, no, suh!"

Dr. Carey settled down for the evening with some inexplicable misgiving hecould not overcome. 

"I didn't sleep well last night, Bo Peep, " he said when he rose late thenext morning. "I reckon we doctors get so used to being called out onespecially bad nights we can't rest decently in our beds. "

"I didn't sleep well, nutheh, " Bo Peep replied. "I kep thinkin' bout thatman come heah foh you yestedy. I jes wa'n't gwine to le' yuh go out againlas' night. "

"What did he want?" the doctor asked, secretly appreciative of Bo Peep'sgoodness of heart as he saw the street full of whirling snow. 

"He done said hit wah a maturity case. "

Bo Peep tried to speak carelessly. In truth, his conscience had not lefthim in peace a moment. 

"What do you mean? Who was it?" Horace Carey demanded. 

"Don't be mad, Doctah, please don't. Hit wah cuz you all wah done woah outlas' night. Hit wah Misteh Shulley from Grass Riveh, suh. He said hit wahMisteh Asheh Aydelot's wife--"

"For the love of God!" Horace Carey cried hoarsely, springing up. "Do youknow who Mrs. Aydelot is, Bo Peep?"

"No, suh; neveh see huh. "

"She was Virginia Thaine of the old Thaine family back at home. "

Bo Peep did not sit down. He fell in a heap at Dr. Carey's feet, moaninggrievously. 

"Fo' Gawd, I neveh thought o' harm. I jus' thought o' you all, deed I did. Oh! Oh!"

"Help to get me off then, " Carey commanded, and Bo Peep flew to histasks. 

When the doctor was ready to start he found two horses waiting outside inthe storm and Bo Peep, wrapped to the eyes, beside them. 

"Why two?" he asked kindly, for Bo Peep's face was so full of sorrow hecould not help pitying the boy. 

"Please, kaint I go with you all? I can cook betteh'n Miss Virginia evehcould, an' I can be lots of help an' you all'll need help. "

"But it's a stinger of a storm, Bo Peep, " the doctor insisted, anxious tobe off. 

"Neveh mind! Neveh mind! Lemme go. I won't complain of no stom. " And thedoctor let him go. 

It was already dark at the Sunflower Ranch when the two, after hours ofbattling with wind and snow and bitter cold, reached the cabin door. BoPeep, instead of giving up early or hanging a dead weight on Dr. Carey'shands, as he had feared the boy might do, had been the more hopeful of thetwo in all the journey. The hardship was Bo Peep's penance, and rightmerrily, after the nature of a merry-hearted race, he took hispunishment. 

Jim Shirley, putting wood on the kitchen fire, bent low as he heard thepiteous moanings from the sick room. 

"Oh, Lord, if you can work miracles work one now, " he pleaded below hisbreath. "Bring help out of this storm or give us sense to do the best forher. We need her so, dear Lord. We need her so. "

He lifted his eyes to see Horace Carey between himself and the bedroomdoor, slipping out of his snowy coat. And beside him stood Bo Peep, helping him to get ready for the sick room. 

"I know Miss Virginia back in the Souf, suh. I done come to take keer ofthis kitchen depahtment. I know jus' what she lak mos' suh, " Bo Peep saidto Jim, who had not moved nor spoken. "I'se Misteh Bone-ah-geesPeepehville, an' I done live with Doctah Carey's family all mah life, suh, 'cept a short time I spent in the Jacobs House at Carey's Crossing. I'sehis custodian now, suh, and I know a few things about the cookin'depahtment, suh. "

He looked the part, and Jim accepted him gladly. 

It is given to some men to know the power of the healing spirit. Dr. Careywas such a man. His presence controlled the atmosphere of the place. Therewas balm in his voice and in the touch of his hand as much as in hismedicines. To him his own calling was divine. Who shall say that the hopeand belief with which his few drugs were ministered carried not equalpower with them toward health and wholeness?

When Virginia Aydelot had fallen asleep at last the doctor came into thekitchen and sat down with the two haggard men to whom his coming hadbrought unspeakable solace. 

"You can take comfort, Mr. Aydelot, " he said assuringly. "Your wife hasbeen well cared for. Hardly one man in a thousand could do as well as youhave done. I wonder you never studied medicine. "

"You seem confident of results, Doctor, " Asher said gratefully. 

"I have known the Thaine family all my life, " Horace Carey said quietly. And Asher, whose mind was surged with anxiety, did not even think to besurprised. 

"We did not recognize each other when I found her on the way to Carey'sCrossing three or four years ago, and--I did not know she was marriedthen. "

He sat a while in silence, looking at the window against which the windoutside was whirling the snow. When he spoke again his tone was hopeful. 

"Mrs. Aydelot has had a nervous shock. But she is young. She has aheritage of will power and good blood. She will climb up rapidly with thecoming on of spring. "

How strange it was to Asher Aydelot to listen to such words! He had notslept for fifty hours. It had seemed to him that the dreadful stormoutside and sickness and the presence of death within were to be unending, and that in all the world Jim Shirley would henceforth be his onlyfriend. 

"You both need sleep, " Carey was saying in a matter-of-fact way. "Bo Peepwill take care of things here, and I will look after Mrs. Aydelot. Youwill attend to the burial at the earliest possible time in order to saveher any signs of grieving. And you will not grieve either until you havemore time. And remember, Aydelot, " he put his hand comfortingly on Asher'sshoulders. "Remember in this affliction that your ambition may stake outclaims and set up houses, but it takes a baby's hand to really anchor thehearthstones. And sometimes it takes even more. It needs a little grave aswell. I understood from Shirley that some financial loss last fallprevented you from going back to Ohio. You wouldn't leave Grass River nowif you could. "

Dr. Carey's face was magnetic in its earnestness, and even in the sorrowof the moment Asher remembered that he had known Virginia all her life andhe wondered subconsciously why the two had not fallen in love with eachother. 

And so it was that as the Sunflower Inn had received the first bride andgroom to set up the first home in the Grass River Valley, so the firstbaby born in the valley opened its eyes to the light of day in the sameSunflower Inn. And out of this sod cabin came the first form to itsburial. And it was the Sunflower Ranch that gave ground for God's Acrethere for all the years that followed. It happened, too, that as JimShirley had been the friendly helper at that bridal supper and happyhouse-warming more than three years ago, so now it was Jim Shirley who inthe hour of sorrow was the helper still. 

 * * * * *

The winter season passed with the passing of the blizzard. The warm springair was delicious and all the prairies were presently abloom with a wildluxuriance of flowers. 

Asher carried Virginia to the sunshine at the west window from which shecould see the beautiful outdoor world. 

"We wouldn't leave here now if we could, " she declared as she beheld allthe glory of the springtime rolling away before her eyes. 

"Bank accounts bring comforts, but they do not make all of life norconsecrate death. We have given our first-born back to the prairie. It issacred soil now, " Asher replied. 

And then they talked of many things, but mostly of Dr. Carey. 

"I have known him from childhood, " Virginia said. "He was my very firstsweetheart, as very first sweethearts go. He went into the war when he wasyoung. I didn't know much that happened after that. He was at home, Ithink, when you were in that hospital where I first saw you, and--oh, yes, Asher, dear, he was at home when your blessed letter came, the one withthe old greasy deuce of hearts and the sunflower. It was this same BoPeep, Carey's boy, who brought it to me up in the glen behind the bighouse. Horace left Virginia just after that. " Virginia closed her eyes andlived in the past again. 

"I wonder you never cared for Dr. Carey, Virgie. He is a prince amongmen, " Asher said, as he leaned over her chair. 

"Oh, I might, if my king had not sent me that sunflower just then. It madea new world for me. "

"But I am only a common farmer, Virgie, just a king of a Kansas claim, just a home-builder on the prairie, " Asher insisted. 

"Asher, if you had your choice this minute of all the things you might be, what would you choose to be?" Virginia asked. 

"Just a common farmer, just a king of a Kansas claim, " Asher replied. Thenlooking out toward the swell of ground beside the Grass River schoolhousewhere the one little mound of green earth marked his first-born's grave, he added, "Just a home-builder on the prairies. "

The second generation of grasshoppers tarried but briefly, then alltogether took wing and flew away, no man knew, nor cared, whither. And theGrass River settlers who had weathered the hurricane of adversity, poor, but patient and persistent still, planted, sometimes in tears to reap injoy, sometimes in hope to reap only in heartsick hope deferred, but failednot to keep on planting. Other settlers came rapidly and the neighborhoodthickened and broadened. And so, amid hardships still, and lack ofopportunity and absence of many elements of culture, a sturdy, independent, God-fearing people struggled with the soil, while they liftedup faces full of hope and determination to the skies above them. What ofthe prairies they could subdue they bent to their service. What they couldnot overcome they defied the right to overcome them. There were no linesof social caste. They were needy or full together. They shared theirpleasures; together they laughed at calamities; and they comforted oneanother in every sorrow. 

A new town was platted on the claim that Dr. Carey had preempted where theupper fork of Grass River crossed the old Sunflower trail. The townfounders ruled Hans Wyker out of a membership among them. Moreover, theydeclared their intentions of forever beating back all efforts at saloonbuilding within the corporation's limits, making Wykerton their swornenemy for all time. In the new town, which was a ten-by-ten shack ofvertical boards, a sod stable, and two dugout homes, the very first saleof lots, for cash, too, was made to Darley Champers & Co. , dealers in realestate, mortgages, loans, etc. 

One summer Sabbath afternoon, three years after the grasshopper raid ofdreadful memory, Asher came again to the little grave in the Grass Rivergraveyard where other graves were consecrating the valley in other hearts. This time he bore in his arms a dimpled, brown-eyed baby boy who cooed andsmiled as only babies can and flung his little square fists aimlesslyabout in baby joy of living. 

"We'll wait here, Thaine, till your mother comes from Bennington's to tellus about the little baby that just came to our settlement only two daysago and staked out a claim in a lot of hearts. "

Little Thaine had found that his fist and his mouth belonged together, sohe offered no comment. Asher sat down on the warm sod with the baby on hisknees. 

"This is your little sister's grave, Thaine. She staid with us less than aday, but we loved her then and we love her still. Her name was to havebeen Mercy Pennington Aydelot, after the sweet Quaker girl your twogreat-great-grandfathers both loved. Such a big name for such a tiny girl!She isn't here, Thaine. This is just the little sod house she holds as herclaim. She is in a beautiful mansion now. But she binds us always to theGrass River Valley because she has a claim here. We couldn't bear to goaway and leave her little holding. And now you've come and all the bigpiece of prairie soil that is your papa's and mamma's now will be yourssome day. I hope you'll want to stay here. "

A stab of pain thrust him deeply as he remembered his own father andunderstood for the first time what Francis Aydelot must have felt for him. And then he remembered his mother's sacrifice and breadth of view. 

"Oh, Thaine, will you want to leave us some day?" he said softly, gazingdown into the baby's big dark eyes. "Heaven give me breadth and courageand memory, too, " he added, "when that time comes not to be unkind; but tobe brave to let you go. Only, Thaine, there's no bigger place to go thanto a big, fine Kansas farm. Oh! we fathers are all alike. What CloverCreek was to Francis Aydelot, Grass River is to me. Will it be given toyou to see bigger things?"

Thaine Aydelot crowed and stretched his little legs and threw out hishands. 

"Thaine, there are no bigger things than the gifts of the soil. I mayonly win it, but you can find its hundredfold of increase. See, yondercomes your mother. Not the pretty, dainty Virginia girl I brought here asmy bride. But I tell you truly, baby boy, she will always be handsome, because--you wouldn't understand if I told you, but you will some day. "

"Oh, Asher, the new baby is splendid, and Mrs. Bennington is ever sowell, " Virginia said, coming up to where he sat waiting for her. "Theycall her Josephine after Mr. Bennington's mother. Thaine will never belonely here, as we have been. After all, it is not the little graves alonethat anchor us anywhere, for we can take memory with us wherever we go; itis the children living, as well, that hold our hearthstones fast and builda real community, even in a wilderness. We are just ready to begin now. The real story of the prairie is the story of the second generation. Thereal romance out here will be Thaine Aydelot's romance, for he was bornhere. "

CHAPTER IX

THE BEGINNING OF SERVICE

 Amid all the din Of the everyday battle some peace may begin, Like the silence of God in its regal content, Till we learn what the lesson of yesterday meant. 

Hans Wyker had managed skillfully when he pulled the prospective countyseat of Wolf county up Big Wolf Creek to Wykerton, a town he hoped tobuild after his own ideals. And his ideals had only one symbol, namely, the dollar sign. Hans had congratulated himself not a little over hissuccess. 

"I done it all mineself, " he was wont to boast. "So long as Doc Carey tinkhe own der town vots name for him, an' so long as Yon Yacob, derding-busted little Chew, tink him an' Todd Stewart run all der pusinessmitout regardin' my saloon pusiness, an' so long as Pryor Gaines preachin'an' teachin' all time gifin' black eye to me, 'cause I sells wisky, I notmak no hetway. "

"You are danged right, " Darley Champers would always assure him. 

"Yah, I be. But von day I pull a lot of strinks at vonce. I pull dercounty seat locate to Pig Wolf Creek, an' I put up mine prewery here mitwater power here vot dey vassent not at Carey's Crossing. An' der railroatcomin' by dis way soon, I know. I do big business two times in vonce. Ilaugh yet to tink how easy Yon Yacob fall down. If Yon Yacob say so hehold Carey's for der county seat. But no. He yust sit shut oop like antneffer say von sinkle vord. An' here she coom--my prewery, my saloon, mycounty seat, an' all in vonce. "

Hans would laugh till the tears ran down his rough red cheeks. Thenblowing his nose like a blast against the walls of Jericho he would add:

"Yon Yacob go back to Cincinnati. Doc Carey, he come Vest an' locate againright here. Course he tak up claim on nort fork of Grass River. But dat'syust for speculation some yet. Gaines an' Stewart go to Grass Riversettlement an' homestead. Oh, I scatter 'em like chaffs. Ho! Ho!" Andagain the laughter would bring tears to his watery little white-grayeyes. 

What Hans Wyker said of John Jacobs was true, for in the council thatdecided the fate of the town it was his silence that lost the day and putCarey's Crossing off the map. Hans, while rejoicing over the result, openly accused Jacobs of being a ding-busted, selfish Jew who cared fornobody but John Jacobs. Secretly Hans admired Jacobs for his businessability, and all men respected him for a gentleman. Hence it was no smalldisappointment to the brewery owner to find when Jacobs returned to Kansasthat he did not mean to open a business in Wykerton. Instead, he loanedhis money to Grass River homesteaders. 

When crops began to bring returns Jacobs established a new town fartherwest on the claim that Dr. Carey had taken up. Jacobs insisted on callingthe place Careyville in honor of the doctor, because he had been the meansof annihilating the first town named after Carey. And since he hadbefriended the settlers in the days after the grasshopper raid he drew allthe trade west of Big Wolf to this new town, cutting deep into theWykerton business. Misfortunes hunt in couples when they do not gather inlarger companies. Not only did the Jacobs store decrease the income of theWykerton stores, but, following hard after, came the shifting of countylines. Wolf county fell into three sections, to increase three othercounties. The least desirable ground lay in the north section, and thetown built up on a brewery and the hopes of being hit by a railroadsurvey, and of holding the county seat, was left in this third part which, like Caesar's third part of all Gaul, was most barbarous because leastoften the refining influences of civilization found their way thither. 

Then came the crushing calamity, the Prohibitory Law, which put Hans Wykerout of business. And hand in hand with this disaster, when the railroadcame at last it drove its steel lines imperiously westward, ignoringWykerton, with the ugly little canyons of Big Wolf on the north, and thesite of Carey's Crossing beside the old blossom-bordered trail on thesouth. Finding the new town of Careyville a strategic point, it headedstraight thither, built through it, marked it for a future division point, and forged onward toward the sunset. 

Dr. Carey had located an office on his claim when there were only fourother buildings on the Careyville townsite. Darley Champers opened abranch office there about the same time, although he did not leaveWykerton. But the downfall of Wyker and his interests cut deeper into theinterests of the Grass River settlement than anyone dreamed of at thetime. It sifted into Wyker's slow brain that the Jew, as he called Jacobswith many profane decorations, had been shrewd as well as selfish when hissilent vote had given Wykerton the lead in the race for a county seatlocation. 

"Infernal scoundrel, " Hans would cry with many gestures, "he figger it outin his own little black het and neffer tell nobody, so. He know to hisselfdat Carey's Crossing's too fur sout, so--an' Big Wolf Creek too fur nort, so. " Hands wide apart, and eyes red with anger. "He know der survey gobetween like it, so! And he figger it hit yust fer it hit Grass River, nort fork. An' he make a townsite dere, yust where Doc Carey take oop. Devil take him! An' he pull all my town's trade mit his fat pocketbook, huh! I send Champers to puy all Grass River claims. Dey don't sell none. Isay, 'Champers, let 'em starf. ' Den Champers, he let 'em. When suppliesfor crasshopper sufferers cooms from East we lock 'em oop in der office, tight. An' ve sell 'em. Huh! Cooms Yon Yacob an' he loan claim-holtersmoney--fife per cent, huh! Puy 'em, hide an' hoof, an' horn, an' tail! Deyall swear py Yon Yacob. He rop me. I fix him yet sometime. I hate YonYacob!"

And Hans Wyker's hate was slow, but it was incurably poison. 

One morning in early autumn Dr. Horace Carey drove leisurely down thestreet of the town that bore his name. The air was crisp and invigorating, for the September heat had just been broken by copious showers. ToddStewart stood in the doorway of Jacobs' store, watching the doctor'sapproach. 

"Good morning, Doctor, " he called. "Somebody dying or a highwayman chasingafter you for your pocketbook, that you drive so furiously?"

"Good morning, Stewart. No, nobody is in danger. Can't a doctor enjoylife once in a while? The country's so disgustingly healthy I have to makethe best of it and kill time some way. Come, help at the killing, won'tyou?" Carey drew rein before the door of the store. 

"I can't do it, Carey. Jacobs is away up on Big Wolf appraising some landand I want to be here when he comes in. I must do some holding up myselfpretty soon if things don't pick up after this hot summer. "

"You're an asset to the community, to be growling like that with thisyear's crops fairly choking the market, " Horace Carey declared. 

With a good-by wave of his hand he turned his horses' heads toward thesouth and took his way past the grain elevator toward the railroadcrossing. The morning train was just pulling up to the station, blockingthe street, so Carey sat still watching it with that interest a greatlocomotive in motion always holds for thinking people. 

"Papa, there's Doctor Carey, " a child's voice cried, and Thaine Aydelotbounded across the platform toward him, followed by his less-excitedfather. 

Thaine was a sturdy, sun-browned little fellow of seven years, withblooming cheeks and big dark eyes. He was rather under than over normalsize, and in the simplicity of plains life he had still the innocence ofthe very little boy. 

"Good morning, Thaine. Good morning, Aydelot. Are you just getting home?Let me take you out. I'm going your way myself, " Dr. Carey said. 

"Good morning. Yes, we are getting home a little earlier than we wereexpected and nobody is here to meet us. We'll be glad to ride out withyou. "

Asher lifted Thaine into the buggy with the words. A certain reservebetween the two men had never been broken, although they respected eachother deeply and were fast friends. 

The train cleared the crossing and the three went south over the bridgeacross the dry North Fork Creek, beyond the cattle pens, and on to theopen country leading out toward the Grass River Valley. The morning wasglorious with silvery mists lifting along the river's course and ashimmering light above golden stubble and brown plowed land and levelprairie; while far away, in all its beauty, hung the deep purple veil thatNature drops between her finite and her infinite, where the things thatare seen melt into the things that are not seen. 

"Take the lines, Aydelot, and let me visit with Thaine, " Horace Careysaid, giving Asher the reins. 

He was fond of children and children were more than fond of him. Thaineidolized him and snuggled up in his lap now with complete contentment ofsoul. 

"Tell me all about it now, Thaine. Where have you been so long? I mighthave missed you down on the Sunflower Ranch this morning if I had drivenfaster and headed off the through train as it came in. "

"Oo-o!" Thaine groaned at the possible disaster to himself. "We've been toTopeka, a very long way off. "

"And you saw so many fine things?" Carey questioned. 

"Yes, a big, awful big river. And a bridge made of iron. And it justrattled when we went across. And there were big pieces of the Statehouselying around in the tall weeds. And such greeny green grass just_everywhere_. And, and, oh, the biggest trees. So many, all closetogether. Papa said it was like Ohio. Oh, so big. I never knew treescould grow so big, nor so many of them all together. "

Little Thaine spread his short arms to show how wondrous large these treeswere. 

"He has never seen a tree before that was more than three inches through, except two or three lonesome cottonwoods. The forests of his grandfather'sfarm in Ohio would be gigantic to him. How little the prairie childrenknow of the world!" Asher declared. 

Dr. Carey remembered what Jim Shirley had told him of that lost estate inOhio, and refrained from comment. 

"You'd like to live in Topeka where the big Kaw river is, and the bigtrees along its banks, and so much green grass, wouldn't you, Thaine?"

"No!" The child's face was quaintly contemptuous. "It's too--too choky. "The little hand clutched at the fat brown throat. "And the grass is somussy green, and you can't _see_ to _any_where for the bumpy hills andthings. I like our old brown prairies best. It's so--nice out here. " Andwith a sigh of perfect satisfaction Thaine leaned against Dr. Carey'sshoulder and gazed out at the wide landscape swathed in the early morningsunlight. 

The two men exchanged glances. 

"This will be the land of memory for him some day, as you look back to themountains of Virginia and I to the woodlands of Ohio, " Asher said. 

"It is worth remembering, anyhow, " Carey replied. "I can count twentyyoung windbreaks from the swell just ahead, and the groves are springingup on many ranches from year to year. Your grove is the finest in thevalley now, Aydelot. "

"It is doing well, " Asher said. "Mrs. Aydelot and I planned our home-to-beon the first evening we came to the Sunflower Inn. It was a sort ofmirage-of-the-desert picture, it is true, but we were like the tapestryweavers. We hung the pattern up before our eyes and worked to it. It isslow weaving, I'll admit, but we kept on because we wanted to at first, then because we had to, and finally because our hearts took root in ababy's grave. They say the tapestry makers work on the wrong side of thethreads, but when their work is done the pattern comes out complete. Ihope ours will too. But there's many a day of aching muscles, and many aday of disappointment along the way. Crops prosper and crops fail, but wecan't let the soil go untilled. "

"I think we are all tapestry weavers. The trouble is sometimes in thepattern we hang up before us and sometimes in the careless weaving, " Dr. Carey added. 

They rode a while in silence. The doctor's cheek was against Thaine's darkhair and Asher looked down at his hard brown hands and then away at theautumn prairie. 

Fifteen years on a plains claim, with all the daily grind of sowing andreaping and care of stock and garden, had not taken quite all the militarybearing from him. He was thirty-eight years old now, vigorous andwholesome and hopeful. The tanning Kansas sunshine had not hidden the oldexpression of patience and endurance, nor had the sight of many hardshipsdriven the vision from the clear, far-seeing gray eyes. 

"Look at the sunflowers, Papa, " Thaine cried as a curve of the trailbrought a long golden line to view. 

"You like the sunflowers, don't you?" Carey asked. 

"Oh, yes, better than all the flowers on the prairie. My mamma loves them, too, because they made her think once papa wasn't dead. "

"Thaine, what do you mean to do when you grow up?" Horace Careyinterrupted the child. 

"I'm going to be a soldier like my papa was, " Thaine declared decisively. 

"But there will probably be no wars. You see, your papa and I fought thebattles all through and settled things. Maybe you can't go to war, " Dr. Carey suggested. 

"Oh, yes, I can. There'll be another war by that time, and I'm going, too. And when I come back I'm going away to where the purple notches are andhave a big ranch and do just like my papa, " Thaine asserted. 

"Where are the purple notches?" the doctor asked. 

"See yonder, away, way off?"

Thaine pointed toward the misty southwest horizon where three darkercurves were outlined against a background of pale purple blending throughlilac up to silvery gray. 

"I'm going there some day, " the boy insisted. 

"And leave your papa and mamma?"

"They left their papas and mammas, too, " Thaine philosophized. 

The men laughed, although each felt a curious deep pain at the boy'swords. 

Thaine settled back, satisfied to be silent as he watched the wonderfulprairie landscape about him. 

"I am going down to Shirley's, " Carey began, as if to change the subject. "Strange fellow, Jim; I never knew another like him. "

"I was just thinking of Shirley, " Asher responded. "He is a royal neighborand true friend, better to everybody else than he is to himself. His owncrops suffer sometimes while he helps other folks lay theirs by. And yethis premises always look like he was expecting company. One cannot helpwondering what purpose stays him in his work. "

"There is the tragedy of it, " Horace Carey declared. "I never knew a moreaffectionate man, yet he has lived a bachelor all these years. "

"How long have you known him, Carey?" Asher asked. 

"Since the night at Kelley's Ferry, back in the Civil War. Our regiment, the Fifty-fourth Virginia, was taken. We were worn out with fighting andmarching, and we were nearly starved besides. The Third Ohio boys had beenin the same fix once and our boys--"

"Yes, I was a Third Ohio boy. I know what you fellows did. You saved ourlives, " Asher broke in. 

"Well, you paid us back at Kelley's Ferry. I first knew Jim Shirley thatnight, although he remembered me from the time we had your regiment at ourmercy. He brought me bacon and hard tack and coffee. We have been friendsever since. How long have you known him?"

"I am going to war when I get big, before I ever go to the purple notches. I know I am. "

Thaine had been listening intently and now he broke in with face aglow andeyes full of eagerness. 

"God forbid!" Carey said. "The lure of the drum beat might be hard forolder men to resist even now. "

"Your hand will fit a plow handle better than a gun-stock, Thaine, " hisfather assured him, looking down at the boy's square, sun-browned handwith a dimple in each knuckle. 

Thaine shut his lips tightly and said no more. But his father, who knewthe heart of a boy, wondered what thoughts might lie back of thatsilence. 

"I have known Jim all my life, " Asher Aydelot took up the conversationwhere Thaine had interrupted it. "That is why I have wondered at thetenacity of his holding on out here. A man of his temperament is prone tolet go quickly. Besides, Jim is far from being a strong man physically. "

"When he was down with pneumonia in the early seventies he was ready togive up. Didn't want to get well and was bound not to do it, " Dr. Careysaid, "but somehow a letter I had brought him seemed to change him withone reading. 'I will do anything to get back to strength and work, ' hedeclared, and he has worked ever since like a man who knew his business, even if his business judgment is sometimes faulty. "

They rode awhile in silence, drinking in the delicious air of earlyautumn. Presently Dr. Carey said:

"Aydelot, I am taking a letter down to Jim this morning. It is in the samehandwriting as the one I took when he had the pneumonia so severely. Ilearned a little something of Jim's affairs through friends when I wasEast studying some years ago. "

He paused for a moment. Then, as if to change the subject, he continued:

"By the way, there was a bank failure at Cloverdale once that interestedyou. Did you ever investigate it?"

"There was nothing to investigate, " Asher replied. 

It did not occur to him to connect the query with Carey's knowledge ofShirley's affairs or with his studying in the East. 

"You have relatives there?" Carey asked. 

"Yes, a Jane Aydelot. Married, single, widowed, I can't tell. My fatherleft his estate to her. I was in love with the West then, and madly inlove with my wife. My father wasn't impressed with either one. But, yousee, I was rash about little things like money matters. I had so muchfaith in myself and I couldn't give up a girl like Virginia Thaine. Understand, I have no quarrel with Jane Aydelot. Her property isabsolutely her own, not mine to crave and look forward to getting someday. "

"I understand, " Horace Carey said, looking out toward the purple notchesnow more clearly outlined against the sky. "How this country has changedsince that cold day when Mrs. Aydelot came almost to the old Crossingafter me. The sand dunes narrow and the river deepens a little every year. The towns come and go on the prairies, but the homesteaders build better. It is the farmer who really makes a new country habitable. "

"That's what my mother said when I talked of coming West. But the realtest will come with the second generation. If it is loyal we will havewon. Here is the old Grass River trail that Jim and I followed many lonelydays. The valley is slowly coming out of the wilderness, " Asher replied, remembering his wife's words long before when she said: "The real story ofthe plains is the story of the second generation. The real romance outhere will be Thaine Aydelot's romance. "

They had reached the old trail that led to the Grass River settlementnow. It was still a new country where few trees, save some lonecottonwoods, were as tall as a cabin, and nothing broke the view. Butgroves had rooted, low windbreaks cut the country at frequent intervals;many acres of sod had been turned by the plow, and many more were beingshut in by fences where the open cattle range was preempted by freeholds. One bit of woodland, however, was beginning to dignify the valley. TheAydelot grove spread over a hundred acres before the one-time sodSunflower Inn. The new home was on the swell now as Virginia had seen theColonial mansion of the mirage on the day she went seeking aid for thegrasshopper-beset neighborhood. But this was just a little cottagewaiting, like the grove, for years of time in which to grow a mansionshaded with tall trees, with the lake and the woodland before it, and theopen prairie beyond. 

Down at Jim Shirley's ranch the changes were many, for Jim had an artist'seye. And the energy other settlers spent on the needs of wives andchildren Jim spent on making his little dwelling attractive. He hadbrought clover seed from Ohio, and had carefully sowed a fire guard aroundhis sod shack. Year by year the clover business increased; fire guard grewto clover-lot, and clover-lot to little meadow. Then the little meadowexpanded along Grass River to a small cattle range. Over the door of hisfour-roomed cottage he put the name "Cloverdale, " as he had put it overhis sod cabin years before. And the Cloverdale Ranch, like the SunflowerRanch farther up the river, became a landmark on the trail. 

Pryor Gaines, still the teacher-preacher of the Grass River settlement, had come to the Cloverdale Ranch on an errand, and he and Jim Shirleywere chatting beside the well curb when Dr. Carey drove up. 

"Hello, Carey. How did you scent chicken pie so far? And a plum puddingall brown and ready?" Shirley called hospitably. 

"It's my business to find what produces sickness as well as to providecures, " Carey responded as he stepped from his buggy to tie his horses. 

"Take him in the house, Pryor, while I stable his crowbaits, " Jim said, patting one of the doctor's well groomed horses the while. 

"I hope you will stay, too, " Horace Carey said to Pryor Gaines. "I havesome important news for Shirley, and you and he are fast friends. "

"The bachelor twins of Grass River, " Pryor Gaines declared. "Jim hasn'tany lungs and I haven't any heart, so we manage to keep a half a householdapiece, and added together make one fairly reputable citizen. I'll stay ifJim wishes me to, of course. "

"The two most useful men in the community, " Carey declared. "Jim has beenfather and mother, big brother, and hired girl for half the settlement, while you, you marry and train up and bury. No neighborhood is completewithout a couple of well-meaning old bachelors. "

"How about a bachelor M. D. ?" Pryor Gaines asked. "I've not been able toget in my work on you yet. "

"Purely a necessary evil, the M. D. Business, " Carey insisted. "Here's Jimnow. We wait the chicken and plum pudding, Host Shirley. "

Jim's skill as a cook had not decreased since the day when he preparedAsher Aydelot's wedding supper, and the three men who sat together atthat day's meal took large enjoyment in this quiet hour together. 

"I have a letter for you, Shirley, " the doctor said at last. "It was sentto me some months ago with the request that I give it to you when I hadword to do so. I have had word. Here it is. "

"I think I'll be going now. " Pryor Gaines rose with the words. 

"Don't go, " Jim insisted. "I want you here. "

So Gaines sat down. Shirley, who was quick in intuitive power, knewinstinctively what awaited him. He opened the letter and read it while thetwo friends busied themselves with a consideration of Jim's bookcase, reading-table, and toolchest combined, all made out of one goods box withsundry trimmings. 

Jim said nothing when he had finished, grateful that no painful silence onthe part of the other two men forced him to words until he was ready tospeak. 

"Listen to me, " he said at length. "I need your help now. When I came Westlife didn't seem worth living at first, but I had it on my hands andcouldn't throw it away. I tried to take an interest in Asher Aydelot'shome. But it is a second-rate kind of pleasure to sit by your own lonelyfireside and enjoy the thought of the comfort another man has in his homewith the wife of his choice. "

A shadow fell on Dr. Carey's face as he sat looking through the openwindow at the stretch of green clover down the valley. 

"I was about ready to call time on myself one winter here when Careybrought me a letter. It was from Alice Leigh, my brother Tank's wife. Tankand I were related--by marriage. We had the same father, but not the samemother. My mother died the day I was born. Nobody else is so helpless as aman with a one-day-old baby. My father was fairly forced into a secondmarriage by my step-mother, Betsy Tank. She was the housekeeper at thetavern after my mother's death. Her god was property and Tank is just likeher. She married the old Shirley House. It looked big to her. Oh, well! Ineedn't repeat a common family history. I never had a mother, nor a wife, nor a sister, nor a brother. Even my father was early prejudiced in Tank'sinterest against mine, always. The one happy memory of my boyhood yearswas the loving interest of Asher Aydelot's mother, who made the oldAydelot farmhouse on the National road a welcome spot to me. For the Lordmade me with a foolish longing for a home and all of these things--father, mother, sister, and brother. "

"So you have been father and mother, brother and sister to this wholesettlement, " Pryor Gaines said. 

"Which may be vastly satisfying to these relatives, but does not alwaysfill the lack in one's own life, " Horace Carey added, as a man who mightknow whereof he spoke. 

"I won't bore you with details, " Jim began again. "The letter I had fromAlice Leigh, Tank's wife, a dozen or more years ago, asked me if I wouldtake the guardianship of her children if they should need a guardian. Iknew they would need one, if she were--taken from earth, as she had reasonto fear then that she might be soon. I began to live with a new motive--asense that I was needed, a purpose to be ready to help her children--theone service I could give to her. There's a long, cruel story back of hermarriage to Tank--a story of deception, coercion, love of money, and allthe elements of common cussedness--too common to make a good story. And, as generally happens, when Tank married the girl who didn't want him hetreated her as he's always treated everybody else. "

Jim clinched his fists hard and shut his teeth with a grip as he satsilent for a moment. Then drawing a deep breath, as if he were lifting aweight from his life, he said calmly:

"Mrs. Shirley died some time ago. Only one child survived her--a littlegirl six years old. The letter says--"The letter fluttered in Jim'strembling hands. "It says, 'My little Leigh is just six. She has beentaught to love her uncle Jim. .. . Through the help of a friend here'--shedoesn't give the name--'I have made you her guardian. I want her to go toyour home. Her father will not take any responsibility, nor try to keepher. I know you will not fail me. '"

Jim folded the letter abruptly. "It is a dead woman's last wish. How can Imake a home for a little girl? What shall I do?"

He looked at the two men for answer. The doctor lifted his hand to PryorGaines, but the preacher waited awhile before replying. Then he saidthoughtfully:

"It is easy for us two to vote a duty on you, Shirley. I answer onlybecause you ask, not because I would advise. From my angle of vision, thislooks like your call to service. Your lonely fireside is waiting for alittle child's presence--the child already taught to love you. I would saysend for her at once. "

"But how can I send?" Jim questioned. "How can I do a parent's part byher? I can help a neighbor in need. I can't bring up his children. I'm notfit for that kind of work. I've hung on here for more than a dozen yearsto be ready to help when the time came, and now the thing seemsimpossible. "

"'As thy day, so shall thy strength be. ' If you have prepared yourself todo anything, you can do it, " Pryor Gaines assured him. 

"Well, how can I send?" Jim asked again. "There's nobody there to bringher, and nobody here to go after her. It's an awfully long way from hereto Ohio. A little six-year-old girl can't come alone. I couldn't go backmyself. I may be a coward, but the Almighty made me as I am. I can't goback to Cloverdale and see only a grave--I can stay here and remember, andmaybe do a kind of a man's part, but I can't go back. " He bowed his headand sat very still. 

"You are right, Shirley, " Pryor Gaines spoke softly still. "Unless youwere close to the life in its last days, don't hang any graves like deadweights of ineffectual sorrow about your neck. Look back to the bestmemories. Look up to the eternal joy no grave can withhold. "

There was a sympathetic chord in Pryor Gaines' voice that spoke home tothe heart, and so long as he lived in the Grass River valley, he gave thelast service for everyone who left it for the larger life beyond it. 

"I will go for you, Shirley, " Horace Carey said. "You forget who broughtyou this letter. That it was sent to me for you, and that the time to giveit to you was left until I was notified. This friend of your brother'swife is a friend of mine. Let me go. "

"Horace Carey, since the night your Virginia regiment fed us poor starvingfellows in the old war times, you've been true blue. "

"Well, I wore the gray that night, and I'd probably do it again. I can'ttell. It was worth wearing, if only for men to find out how much biggermanhood and brotherhood are than any issue of war to be satisfied only byshedding of innocent blood, " Horace Carey replied, glad to lift the burdenof thought from Shirley's mind. 

"Could a sectional war ever have begun out here on these broad prairies, where men need each other so?" Pryor Gaines asked, following the doctor'slead. 

"Something remarkably like it did make a stir out here once. Like it, onlyworse, " Horace Carey answered with a smile. "But the little girl, what'sher name? Leigh? We'll have her here for you. Your service is onlybeginning, but think of the comfort of such a service. I envy you, Jim. "

"A little child shall lead them, " Pryor Gaines added reverently. 

Then they fell to talking of the coming of little Leigh Shirley. The hoursof the day slipped by. The breeze came pouring over the prairie from thefar southwest where the purple notches stood sentinel. The warm afternoonsunlight streamed in at the door. The while these childless men plannedtogether for the welfare of one motherless, and worse than fatherless, little girl away in the Clover Creek Valley in Ohio, waiting for a homeand guardianship and love under far Kansas skies. 

CHAPTER X

THE COMING OF LOVE

 I love the world with all its brave endeavor, I love its winds and floods, its suns and sands, But, oh, I love most deeply and forever The clinging touch of timid little hands. 

The Ohio woods were gorgeous with the October coloring. The oak in regalpurple stood outlined against the beech in cloth-of-gold, whilegreen-flecked hickory and elm, and iridescent silver and scarlet ash, andflaming maple added to the kaleidoscope of splendor. 

The old National pike road leading down to Cloverdale was still flanked bylittle rail-fenced fields that were bordered by deep woodlands. The oldAydelot farmhouse was as neat and white, with gardens and flower beds aswell kept, as if only a day had passed since the master and mistressthereof had gone out to their last earthly home in the Cloverdalegraveyard. 

Fifteen years had seen the frontier pushed westward with magic swiftness. The Grass River Valley, once a wide reach of emptiness and solitude, whereonly one homestead stood a lone bulwark against the forces of thewilderness, now, after a decade and a half, beheld its prairie dotted withfreeholds, where the foundations of homes were laid. 

Fifteen years marked little appreciable change in the heritage given up byAsher Aydelot out of his love for a girl and his dream of a largeropportunity in the new West. For fifteen springtimes the old-fashionedsweet pinks had blossomed on the two mounds where his last service hadbeen given to his native estate. Hardly a tree had been cut in the Aydelotwoods. The marshes in the lower ground had not been drained. The onlychange in the landscape was the high grade of the railroad that cut atriangle from the northwest corner of the farm in its haste to reachCloverdale and be done with it. The census of 1880, however, showed anincrease in ten years of seventy-five citizens in Clover County, and thecommunity felt satisfied with itself. 

The afternoon train on the Cloverdale branch was late getting into town, but the station parasites were rewarded for their patience by the sight ofa stranger following the usual two or three passengers who alighted. Strangers were not so common in Cloverdale that anyone's face would beforgotten under ten years of time. 

"That's that same feller that come here ten year or mebby twelve year ago. I'd know him in Guinea, " one of the oldest station parasites declared. 

"That's him, sure as shootin', " his comrade-in-laziness agreed. "A doctor, don't you ricolleck? Name's Corrie, no, Craney, no, that's not itneither--A-ah!" trying hard to think a little. 

"Carey. Don't you remember?" the first speaker broke in, "Doc Carey. Theysay he doctored Miss Jane in Philadelphia, an' got in good with her, more'n a dozen years ago. "

"Well, " drawled the second watcher of affairs, "if he thinks he can getanything out'n o' her by hangin' round Cloverdale, he's barkin' up thewrong saplin'. Miss Jane, she's close, an' too set in her ways now. Shemust be nigh forty. "

"That's right. But, I'll bet he's goin' there now. Let's see. "

The two moved to the end of the station, from which strategic point boththe main street, the National pike road, of course, and the new streetrunning "cat-i-cornered" from the station to the creek bridge could becommanded. 

"Darned fool! is what he is! hikin' straight as a plumbline fur the crick. If he was worth it, I'd foller him. "

"Oh, the ornery pup will be back all right. Lazy fellers waitin' to marryrich old maids ain't worth follerin'. Darn 'em! Slick skeezicks, tryin' togit rich jes' doin' nothin'. "

So the two citizens agreed while they consigned a perfect stranger to amild purgatory. His brisk wholesomeness offended them, and the narrownessof their own daily lives bred prejudice as the marshes breed mosquitoes. 

Dr. Carey walked away with springing step. He was glad to be at hisjourney's end; glad to be off the slow little train, and glad to see againthe October woods of the Alleghany foothills. To the eastern-bred man, nothing in the grandeur of the prairie landscape can quite meet thecraving for the autumn beauty of the eastern forests. The slanting rays ofthe late afternoon sun fell athwart the radiant foliage of the woods asDr. Carey's way led him between the two lines of flaming glory. When hehad cleared the creek valley, his pace slackened. Something of the oldboyhood joy of living, something of the sorrowful-sweet memory, the tendergrace of a day that is dead, but will never be forgotten, came with thepensive autumn mood of Nature to make the day sweet to the pensive mind. 

Jane Aydelot sat on the veranda of the Aydelot home, looking eagerlytoward Cloverdale, when she discovered Dr. Carey coming leisurely up theroad. She was nearly forty years old, as the railroad station loafers haddeclared, but there was nothing about her to indicate the "old maid, setin her ways. " She might have passed for Asher's sister, for she had acertain erect bearing and strong resemblance of feature. All single womenwere called old maids at twenty-five in those days. Else this fair-facedwoman, with clear gray eyes and pink cheeks, and scarce a hint of white inher abundant brown hair, would not have been considered in the thenridiculed class. There was a mixture of resoluteness and of timidity inthe expression of her face betokening a character at once determined ofwill but shrinking in action. And withal, she was daintily neat and wellkept, like her neat and well-kept farm and home. 

As Dr. Carey passed up the flower-bordered walk, she arose to greet him. If there was a look of glad expectancy in her eyes, the doctor did notnotice it, for the whole setting of the scene was peacefully lovely, andthe fresh-cheeked, white-handed woman was a joy to see. Some quickremembrance of the brown-handed claimholders' wives crossed his mind atthat instant, and like a cruel stab to his memory came unbidden thepicture of Virginia Thaine in her dainty girlishness in the old mansionhouse of the years now dead. Was he to blame that the contrast betweenAsher Aydelot's wife, now of Kansas, and Jane Aydelot of Ohio should throwthe favor toward the latter, that he should forget for the moment whatthe women of the frontier must sacrifice in the winning of thewilderness?

"I am glad to see you again, Doctor, " Jane Aydelot said in cordialgreeting. 

"This is a very great pleasure to me, I assure you, Miss Aydelot, " HoraceCarey replied, grasping her hand. 

Inside the house everything was as well appointed as the outsidesuggested. As the doctor was making himself more presentable after hislong journey, he realized that the pretty, old-fashioned bedroom hadevidently been a boy's room once, Asher Aydelot's room. And with a woman'sloving sentiment, neither Asher's mother nor the present owner had changedit at all. The petals of a pink rose of the wallpaper by the old-styleddresser were written over in a boyish hand and the doctor read the namesof "Jim and Alice, " and "Asher and Nell. "

"Old sweethearts of 'the Kerry Dancing' days, " he thought to himself. 

From the open window he looked out upon the magnificence of the autumnforests and saw the white pike road leading down to Clover Creek and thechurch spires and courthouse tower above the trees. 

"The heir to all this comfort and beauty gave it up because he didn't wantto be a tavern-keeper here, and because he did want a girl--Virginia!"Horace Carey said the name softly. "I know what her jessamine-drapedwindow looked out upon. I hardly realized when I was here before whatAsher's early home had been. Yet those two for love of each other arebuilding their lives into the life of their chosen State. It is the tillerof the soil who must make the West. But how many times in the lonely daysin that little sod cabin must they have remembered their childhood homes!How many times when the hot fall winds swept across the dead brown prairiehave their memories turned to the beauty of the October days here in theEast! Oh, well, the heroes weren't all killed at Lexington and BunkerHill, nor at Bull Run and Gettysburg. Some of them got away, and withheroic wives went out to conquer the plains from the harsh rule of Naturethere. "

When the doctor went downstairs again, a little girl met him, saying, "Miss Jane says you may sit in the parlor, or out on the meranda, tillsupper is ready. "

"How pleasant! Won't you come and sit with me?" Doctor Carey replied. 

"I must put the--the lap-robes on the tables to everybody's plate, and theknives and forks and poons. Nen I'll come, " she answered. 

Carey sat on the veranda enjoying the minutes and waiting for the littlegirl. 

"What is your name?" he asked when she appeared, and climbed into MissJane's vacant chair. 

"Leigh Shirley. What's yours?"

"Horace Carey. "

The doctor could not keep from smiling as he looked at her. She was solittle and pretty, with yellow hair, big blue eyes, china-doll cheeks, andwith all the repose of manner that only childhood and innocence canbestow. 

"I think I like you, Horace, " Leigh said frankly, after carefully lookingCarey over. 

"Then, we'll be friends, " he declared. 

"Not for so mery long. " Leigh could not master the V of the alphabet yet. "'Cause I'm going away pretty soon, Miss Jane say. You know my mamma'sdead. " The little face was very grave now. "And my Uncle Jim out in Kansaswants me. I'm going to him. "

Even in her innocence, Doctor Carey noted the very definite tone and cleartrend of the young mind. 

"Miss Jane loves me and I love her, " Leigh explained further. "Don't youlove Miss Jane, Horace?"

"Certainly, " Carey said, with some hesitancy. 

"I'll tell her so. She will love you, too. She is mery sweet, " Leighassured him. "Where are you going to?"

"I'm going back to Kansas soon. "

"Wim me?"

"I should like to. Let's go together. "

Leigh slid quickly from the chair and ran inside, where Doctor Carey heardher clear childish voice saying, "He is going to Kansas, too, Miss Jane. He says he loves you. His name is Horace, and he's mery nice. He's notmery pretty, though, but you love him, too, don't you, Miss Jane?"

Evidently the child was close to Miss Jane, for the doctor heard somethinglike a kiss and low words that seemed to send her away on some errand. Presently he caught sight of a sunny head and two big blue eyes and alittle hand beckoning to him, as Leigh peeped around the corner of thehouse. 

"Miss Jane says I mustn't talk too much and mustn't call you Horace, butjust Doctor Carey. Won't you come with me to get flowers for supper?"

The two strolled together into the old flower garden where verbenas andphlox and late asters and early chrysanthemums and a few monthly rosesunder Miss Jane's careful covering had weathered the first frosts. Leighknew each plant and shrub, and gave out information freely. 

"Would you rather stay with Miss Jane?"

Doctor Carey knew he should not ask the question, but it came anyhow. 

"Oh, no, I want to go to my Uncle Jim. " Leigh settled the matter once forall. 

 * * * * *

That night Leigh fell asleep early, for Miss Jane was methodical withchildren. Then she and Doctor Carey sat until late by the open wood fireand talked of many things, but first of Leigh and her future. 

"You will miss her, I'm sure, " the doctor said. 

"More than anyone will know, " Miss Jane replied. "But I could not be happywithout fulfilling my promise. I wrote you to come soon because each daymakes the giving up a little harder for me. But I must know the truthabout this Uncle Jim. I cannot send Leigh out of my house to be neglectedand unloved. She demands love above all things. "

The pink color deepened in Miss Jane's fair cheek as she recalled whatLeigh had said to Doctor Carey about loving her. The doctor rememberedalso, and knew why she blushed. Yet blushes, he thought, were becoming toher. 

"I'll tell you all I know of Mr. Shirley. We have been friends for manyyears, " he said. 

Then as truthfully as possible he told her of the life and mind of thelonely loving plainsman. When he had finished, Miss Jane sat awhile insilent thought. 

"It is right that you should know something of conditions here, Doctor, "she said at last. "The older Shirleys are dead. Tank's life hastened theend for them, the Cloverdale gossips say. And as I have owned the ShirleyHouse for several years, I came to know them well, and I do not think thegossips were far out of the way. "

"What of Tank's life?" Doctor Carey asked. "I have some personal reasonsfor asking. "

Miss Jane looked up quickly. She was a pretty woman, and a keenlyintelligent one as well. To Horace Carey, she seemed most charming at thatmoment. 

"Let me tell you of Alice first, " she said. "You know, of course, that sheloved Jim. They were just suited to each other. But her mother and Tank'smother planned otherwise. Alice was submissive. Tank was greedy. He wantedthe old Leigh farm. And envious, for he seemed to hate Jim always. It grewto be the passion of his life to want to take whatever Jim had. His motherhated Jim before he was born. It was his pre-natal heritage, combined witha selfish nature. There was misrepresentation and deception enough to makea plot for a novel; a misunderstanding and brief estrangement, separatingJim and Alice forever--all managed by Tank and his mother, for the farmfirst, and the downfall of Jim second. They took no account of Alice, whomust be the greatest loser. And after they were married, bothmothers-in-law were disappointed, for the Leigh farm was heavilyincumbered and sold by the sheriff the same fall, and the Shirley Housefell into Uncle Francis Aydelot's hands in about the same way. Love ofproperty can be the root of much misery. " Miss Jane paused, for the storybrought bitterness to her kindly soul. 

"It is ended now, " Horace Carey said gently. "It is well that it is, I amsure. "

"Yes, Alice rests now beside her two little ones who went before her. Shehad no sorrow in going, except for Leigh. And"--

"And you lifted that, I know. " Doctor Carey finished the sentence. 

"I tried to, " Miss Jane said, struggling between timidity andtruthfulness. "I made her last hours peaceful, for she knew Leigh would becared for and safe. I saw to that. Tank Shirley is bound to a surrender ofall legal claim to her. It was left to Jim to take her, if he chose. Ifnot, she belongs to me. She is a strange child, wise beyond her years, with a sort of power already for not telling all she knows. You can relyon her in almost anything. She will make a strong woman some day. "

Doctor Carey read the loving sacrifice back of the words, and his heartwarmed toward this sweet-spirited, childless woman. 

"Jim wants her, else I could not have come, " he said gently, "but you cancome to Grass River to see her sometimes. "

"Oh, no, it is so far, " Jane Aydelot said, and Carey realized in how smallan orbit her life revolved. 

"But she does good in it. What does distance count, against that?" hethought to himself. Aloud he said:

"Tell me of Tank, Miss Aydelot. "

"He has run his course here, but he is shrewd enough to escape the law. His parents mortgaged the Shirley House to get money to keep his doingsquiet. My Uncle Francis foreclosed on them at last. But by Jim's abruptleaving, Cloverdale blamed him for a long time for the family misfortunes. Tank broke every moral law; he invested his money wildly in his greed tomake more money, until finally the bank failure came. That is a longstory, and it was a dead loss. But the cashier's suicide stoppedinvestigation. All blame was laid on him. And he, being dead, made nocomplaint and incriminated nobody. "

"Where is Tank now?" Carey asked. 

He did not know why the image of Thomas Smith of Wilmington, Delaware, should come unbidden to his mind just now, nor why he should feel that theanswer to his question held only a portion of what could have been toldhim then. 

"Nobody knows exactly where, " Jane Aydelot replied. "He left his wifepenniless. She lived here with me and died here. Tank hasn't been seen inCloverdale for a long time. It is strange how family ties get warpedsometimes. And oftenest over property. "

Doctor Carey thought of Asher, and was silent. But Jane Aydelot divinedhis thought. 

"I am thinking of our own family, " she said, looking into the heart of thewood fire. "I have my cousin Asher's heritage, which by law now neither henor any child of his can receive from me. "

"Miss Aydelot, he doesn't want it. And there is no prejudice in himagainst you at all. Moreover, if his dreams come true, little ThaineAydelot will never need it. " There was a sternness in Carey's voice thatpained his hostess. 

"But, Doctor Carey!" she began hesitatingly. Then, as if to change thetrend of thought, she added simply, "I try to use it well. "

Horace Carey was by nature and experience a keen reader of humanminds. As Jane Aydelot studied the burning coals in the grate, hestudied her face, and what he read there gave him both pleasure andpain. Between him and that face came the image of Virginia Aydelot, whoshould be there instead; of the brown-handed farmer's wife, who hadgiven up so much for the West. And yet, that face, framed in its darkhair, lighted by luminous dark eyes, seemed to blot out the daintypink and white Jane Aydelot. A strength of will, a view of life at wideangles of vision, a resourcefulness and power of sacrifice seemed todeify the plainly clad prairie home-maker, winning, not inheriting, herpossessions. Had Jane been anywhere else save in the home that Virginiamight have had, her future might have had another story. But why forecastthe might-have-been?

"You do use your property well, I am sure, " Doctor Carey said, replying tothe last words spoken between them, "and yet, you would give it up?" Heknew her answer, or he would not have asked the question. 

For reply, she rose and went to the little writing desk where the Aydelotpapers were kept. Taking therefrom two documents, she placed them inCarey's hands. 

"Read these, " she said, "then promise me that in the hour when Leigh needsmy help you will let me help her. "

They were the will of Francis Aydelot and her own will. How much ofsacrifice lay in that act of hers, only Horace Carey could understand. 

[Illustration: "Read these, " she said, "then promise me that in the hourwhen Leigh needs my help you will let me help her"]

"I promise gladly, Miss Aydelot. I see why you are willing to give uplittle Leigh now, " he said, looking up with eyes filled with sincerestadmiration. "You are a wonderful woman. You have the same Aydelot heritageof endurance and patience and the large view of duty that characterizesyour cousin Asher. Your setting is different. I hope the time may comesoon when Ohio and Kansas will not be so far apart as they are tonight. "

He rose and took her hand in his. 

If Doctor Carey's magnetism made men admire him, it was no less anattractive force with women. As he looked into Jane Aydelot's gray eyes, he saw a new light there. And swiftly its meaning translated itself tohim. He dropped her hand and turned away, and when their eyes met again, the light was gone. 

 * * * * *

It was still Indian-Summer weather on the prairie when Doctor Carey withlittle Leigh Shirley reached Careyville. He had a feeling that Jim wouldprefer meeting Leigh in his own home, so no word had been sent forward asto the time of the coming of the two. 

All through the journey, the doctor had wondered how Jane Aydelot couldhave given Leigh up at all. She was such a happy prattler, such an honest, straightforward little body, such an innocent child, and, withal, soloving that Carey lost his own heart before the first half day was ended. In her little gray wool gown and her gray cap with its scarlet quill aboveher golden hair, she was as dainty and pretty as a picture of childhoodcould be. 

Down on the Grass River trail, the two came upon Thaine Aydelot trudgingin from some errand to a distant neighbor, and the doctor hailed him atonce. 

"Come, ride with us. We'll take you home, " he said, turning the wheel forThaine's convenience. "This is Leigh Shirley, who is coming to live withher uncle, Jim. You'll like to go to the Cloverdale Ranch more than evernow. "

Thaine was only a little country boy, unused to conventionalities, so hetook Leigh on her face value at once. And Leigh, honest as she wasinnocent, returned the compliment. At the Sunflower Ranch, Carey drew reinto let Thaine leave them. Leigh, putting both arms about the little boy'sneck, kissed him good-by, saying: "I have known you always because you arethe Thaine"--she caught her breath, and added: "You must come to my uncleJim's and see me. "

"I will, I will, " Thaine assured her. 

Doctor Carey looked back to wave good-by just in time to see VirginiaAydelot coming toward Thaine, who stood watching the buggy. Instantly thepretty face of Jane Aydelot came to his mind, her face as she had lookedon the night when they sat by the wood fire in the Aydelot farmhouse. Against that picture stood the reality of Virginia with her richercoloring. 

"Nor storm nor stress can rob her of her beauty, " he thought. "Howeversweet and self-sacrificing Jane Aydelot may be, the Plains would havebroken her long ago. "

He turned about at once and came back to where Thaine stood beside hismother. 

"This is Jim Shirley's little girl, Mrs. Aydelot, " he said, gently pattingLeigh's shoulder. 

"That's my wife, " little Thaine said gravely. "We will go and live at thepurple notches when I come home from the war. "

Virginia's heart warmed toward the motherless little one, and Leighunderstood her at once. Nor once in all the years that followed did thetwo fail each other. 

The Cloverdale homestead never had known such a gala fixing as Jim Shirleyhad kept there for nearly a week awaiting the doctor's return. Truly, loveis genius in itself, and only genius could have put so many quaint andattractive touches to such common surroundings as now embellished thelittle four-roomed house in the bend of Grass River. 

Doctor Carey tied his horses to the post beside the trail, and, liftingLeigh from the buggy, he said:

"Uncle Jim is up there waiting for you, and oh, so glad, so glad to haveyou come. Go and meet him, Leigh. "

Leigh smoothed her little gray wool frock down with her dainty littlehands. Then, pushing back the gray cap with its scarlet quill from herforehead where the golden hair fell in soft rings, she passed up thegrassy way to meet Jim Shirley. He could never have looked bigger andhandsomer than he did at that moment. In his eyes all the heart hunger ofyears seemed centered as he watched the little six-year-old child comingtowards him. 

Just before reaching the doorway, she paused, and with that clearpenetration only a little child possesses, she looked up into the strongman's face. 

"Uncle Jim. My Uncle Jim, " she cried. "I can love you always. "

Jim gathered her close in his arms, and she clung about his neck, softlypatting his brown cheek as they passed into the house. While all unseen, the light of love went in with them, a light that should never fade fromthe hearthstone, driving loneliness and sorrow from it, far away. 

Leigh Shirley's coming marked an epoch in the annals of the Grass Riversettlement, for her uncle often declared that he could remember only twoevents in the West before that time: the coming of Mrs. Aydelot and thegrasshopper raid. With Leigh in his home, he almost forgot that he hadever been sad-hearted. This loving little child was such a constant sourceof interest and surprise. She was so innocently plain-spoken andself-dependent sometimes, and such a strange little dreamer of dreams atother times. She would drive a shrewd bargain for whatever shewanted--some more of Uncle Jim's good cookies, or a ride all alone on thebiggest pony, or a two-days' visit at the Aydelot ranch, scrupulouslyrendering back value received of her own wares--kisses, or washing all thesupper dishes for her tired uncle, or staying away from her play to watchthat the chickens did not scratch in the garden. 

But there were times when she would go alone to the bend in the river andpeople her world with folk of her own creation and live with them and forthem. Chief among them all was a certain Prince Quippi, who would comefrom China some day to marry her and take her away to a house made ofpurple velvet and adorned with gold knobs. She had to send a letter toPrince Quippi every day or he would think she did not love him. Of course, she loved Uncle Jim best of what she called folks--but Prince Quippi wasbig and brown and handsome; and, strangely enough, the only kind of letterhe could read from her was in a flower. 

So Leigh dropped a flower on the waters of Grass River every day to floataway to China telling her love to Prince Quippi. And oftenest it was thetawny sunflower, because it was big and strong and could tell a big lovestory. Thus she dreamed her happy dreams until one day Thaine Aydelot, listening to her, said:

"Why my papa sent my mamma a sunflower once, and made her love him verymuch. I'll be your real Prince Quippi--not a--a paper-doll, thinkish one, and come after you. "

"Clear from China?" Leigh queried. 

"Yes, when I'm a big soldier like my papa, and we'll go off to the purplenotches and live. "

"You don't look like my Prince Quippi, " Leigh insisted. 

"But I can grow to look like _any_ thing I want to--like a big elephant ora hippopopamus or a--angel, or _any_ _thing_, " Thaine assured her. 

"Well, escuse me from any of the free--a angel or a elephant. I don't knowwhat the poppy one is, but it's too poppy, " Leigh said decisively. 

There were others in the Grass River settlement who would have envied themythical Prince Quippi also. For even at six years of age Leigh had thesame quality that marked her uncle. People must love her if they cared forher at all; and they couldn't help caring for her. She fitted into thelife of the prairie, too, as naturally as Thaine Aydelot did, who was bornto it. The baby gold was soon lost from her hair for the brown-gold likethe shimmering sunlight on the brown prairie. The baby blue eyes deepenedto the deep violet-blue of overhead skies in June. The pretty pink andwhite complexion, however, did not grow brown under the kisses of theprairie winds. The delicate china-doll tinting went with other babyfeatures, but, save for the few little brown freckles in midsummer, LeighShirley kept year after year the clear complexion with the peach blossompink on her cheeks that only rarely the young girls of the dry westernplains possessed in those days of shadeless homes. 

Thaine Aydelot looked like a gypsy beside her, he was so brown, and hisbig dark eyes and heavy mane of dark hair, and ruddy cheeks made thecontrast striking. From the first day of their meeting, the children wereplaymates and companions as often as opportunity offered. They sattogether in the Grass River Sabbath School; they exchanged days on days ofvisits, and the first sorrow of their hitherto unclouded lives came whenthey found that Leigh was too far away to attend the week-day school. 

Settlers were filling up the valley rapidly, but they all wanted ranches, and ranches do not make close neighbors. Land-lust sometimes overshadowsthe divine rights of children. And the lower part of the settlement wasnot yet equal to the support of a school of its own. 

The two families still kept the custom of spending their Sabbathstogether. And one Sabbath Thaine showed Leigh the books and slate andsponge and pencils he was to take to school the next week. Leigh, who hadbeen pleased with all of them, turned to her guardian, saying gravely:

"Uncle Jim, can I go to school wif Thaine?"

"You must meet that question every day now, Jim, " Asher said. "Why notanswer it and be rid of it?"

"How can I answer it?" Jim queried. 

"Virgie, help us with this educational problem of the State, " Asher turnedto his wife. "Women are especially resourceful in these things, Jim. Ihope Kansas will fully recognize the fact some day. "

"Who is Kansas?" Virginia asked with a smile. 

"Oh, all of us men who depend so much on some woman's brain every day ofour lives, " Jim assured her. "Tell me, what to do for my little girl. Mrs. Bennington and some of the other neighbors say I should send her East forher sake--"

"And for both of your sakes, Jim, I say, no, " Virginia broke in. "The waymust open for all of our children here. It always has for everything else, you know. "

"Thaine can walk the two miles. He's made of iron, anyhow. But Leigh can'tmake the five miles 'up stream, '" Asher declared. 

"Jim, " Virginia Aydelot said gravely, "Pryor Gaines will be our teacherfor many years, we hope, but he is hardly equal to tilling his ground now. John Jacobs holds the mortgage on his claim still that he put there afterthe grasshopper loan, which he could not pay. Life is an uphill pull forhim, and he bears his burdens so cheerfully. I believe Mr. Jacobs wouldtake the claim and pay him the equity. We all know how unlike a ShylockJohn Jacobs really is, even if he is getting rich fast. Now, Jim, why nottake Pryor into your home and let him drive up to the school with Leighand the other little folks down your way. We can pay him better wages andhe will have a real home, not a lonely cabin by himself, and you will befortunate in having such a man in your household. "

"Just the thing, Virginia, " Jim declared. "Why haven't we done it before?He always says I'm his heart and he's my lungs. We might stack up to aone-man power. Old bachelors should be segregated, anyhow, out here. TheWest needs more families. And think what Pryor Gaines' cultivated mindwill mean to a little artist soul like Leigh Shirley's. Glorious!"

"Well, Virgie, if you will also segregate John Jacobs and Dr. Carey, we'llsettle the bachelors once for all. A quartette of royal good fellows, too, State-makers who really make. They ought to be in the legislature, butCarey and Pryor are democrats and Jim and Jacobs are republican. Theybalance too well for the interests of any party. Anyhow, if Pryor agrees, the school problem is fixed, " Asher asserted. 

Pryor Gaines did agree, to the welfare of many children, who remember himstill with that deep-seated affection of student for teacher unlike anyother form of human devotion. But especially did this cultured man putinto Leigh Shirley's life a refining artistic power that stood her well inthe years to come. 

CHAPTER XI

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

 They saw not the shadow that walked beside, They heard not the feet with silence shod. --Whittier. 

With successive seasons of good crops, combining with the time of thecrest between two eras of financial depression, and with Eastern capitaleasy to reach, a mania of speculation known as "the boom" burst forth; amania that swept men's minds as prairie fires sweep along the wide lengthsof the plains, changing both the face of the land and the fortunes of theland owners, and marking an epoch in the story of the West. New countieswere organized out of the still unoccupied frontier. Thousands of citizenspoured into these counties. Scores of towns were chartered and hundreds ofmiles of railroad were constructed. Colleges and universities sprouted upfrom the virgin soil of the prairie. Loans on real estate were easy tosecure. Land, especially in town lots, took on an enormously inflatedvaluation and the rapid investment in real estate and the rapidtransference from buyer to seller was bewildering, while voting bonds forextensive and extravagant improvements in cities-to-be was not the leastphase of this brief mania of the fortune-making, fortune-breaking "boom. "

When Hans Wyker had seen his own town wane as Careyville waxed, heconsigned the newer community, and all that it was, to all the purgatoriesever organized and some yet to be created. 

Wykerton was at a standstill now. The big brewery had become a flouringmill, but it was idle most of the time. The windows served as targets forthe sons of the men who consumed its brewing product in other days, andthe whole structure had a disconsolate, dismantled appearance. 

There was neither a schoolhouse nor a church inside the corporationlimits. The land along Big Wolf was not like the rich prairies west of it, and freeholds entered first with hopes in Wykerton's prosperity had proveddisappointing, if not disastrous, to their owners. 

The rough ground, mortgaged now, and by the decline of the town, decreasedin value, began to fall into the hands of John Jacobs, who made no effortat settlement, but turned it to grazing purposes. His holdings joined theproperty foreclosed by Wyker when his town failed, but inhabited still bytenants too poor to leave it. The boundary line between Wyker and Jacobswas the same ugly little creek that Doctor Carey had turned his course toavoid on that winter day when he had seen Virginia Aydelot's distresssignal and heard her singing a plaintive plea for help. 

It was an ugly little stream, with much mire and some quicksand to beavoided; with deep earth-canyons and sliding avalanches of dirt on steepslopes, and now and then a stone outcrop jagged and difficult, not to saydangerous, to footways, and impossible to stock. It was called Little Wolfbecause it was narrower than the willow-fringed stream into which itemptied. But Big Wolf Creek could rarely boast of half the volume of waterthat the sluggish little tributary held. Big Wolf was shallow, with moreshale and sand along its bed. Little Wolf was narrow and deceivingly deepin places. 

One Spring day, John Jacobs and Asher Aydelot rode out to Jacobs' ranchestogether. 

"You are improving your stock every year, Stewart tells me, " Asher wassaying. "I may try sheep myself next year. "

"I am hoping to have only thoroughbreds some day. That's a good horse youride, " Jacobs replied. 

"Yes, he has a strain of Kentucky blue-blood. My wife owned a thoroughbredwhen we came West. We keep the descent still. We've never been without ablack horse in the stable since that time. Do we turn here?"

They were following the lower trail by the willows, when Jacobs turnedabruptly to a rough roadway leading up a shadowy hollow. 

"Yes. It's an ugly climb, but much shorter to the sheep range and thecattle are near. "

"How much land have you here, Jacobs?" Asher asked. 

"From Little Wolf to the corporation line of Wykerton. Five hundred acres, more or less; all fenced, too, " Jacobs added. "This creek divides Wyker'sground from mine. All the rest is measured by links and chains. We agreedto metes and bounds for this because it averages the same, anyhow, and I'dlike a stream between Wyker and myself in addition to a barbed wire fence. It gives more space, at least. "

They had followed the rough way only a short distance when Asher, who wasnearest the creek, halted. The bank was steep and several feet above thewater. 

"Does anybody else keep sheep around here?" he inquired. 

"Not here, " John Jacobs answered. 

"Look over there. Isn't that a sheep?"

Asher pointed to a carcass lying half out of the water on a pile of driftwhere the stream was narrow, but too deep for fording. 

"Maybe some dog killed it and the carcass got into the creek. My sheepcan't get to the water because my pasture is fenced. That's on Wyker'sside, anyhow. I won't risk fording to get over there. It's as dead rightnow as it will ever be, " Jacobs asserted. 

Their trail grew narrower and more secluded, winding up a steep hillbetween high banks. Half way up, where the road made a sharp turn, a breakin the side next to the creek opened a rough way down to the water. Asthey neared this, a woman coming down the hill caught sight of the twohorsemen around the bend, and made a swift movement toward this opening inthe bank, as if to clamber down from their sight. She was not quickenough, however, and when she found she had been seen, she waited by theroadside until the men had passed on. 

Asher, who was next to her, looked keenly at her as he bade her goodmorning, but John Jacobs merely lifted his hat without giving her morethan a glance. 

The woman stared at both, but made no response to their greetings. She wasplainly dressed, with a black scarf tied over her tow-colored hair. Shehad a short club in one hand and a big battered tin can in the other, which she seemed anxious to conceal. When the men had passed, she lookedafter them with an ugly expression of malice in her little pale grayeyes. 

"That's a bad face, " Asher said, when they were out of her hearing. "Iwonder why she tried to hide that old salt can. "

"How do you know it was a salt can?" Jacobs asked. 

"Because it is exactly like a salt can I saw at Pryor Gaines' old cabin, and because some salt fell out as she tipped it over, " Asher replied. 

"You have an eye for details, " Jacobs returned. "That was Gretchen Gimpke, Hans Wyker's girl. She married his bartender, and is raising a family oflittle bartenders back in the hilly country there, while Gimpke helps Hansrun a perfectly respectable tavern in town. "

"Well, I may misjudge her, but if I had any interest near here, I shouldwant her to keep on her own side of the creek, " Asher declared. 

And somehow both remembered the dead sheep down in the deep pool at thefoot of the hill. 

The live sheep were crowding along the fence on the creek side of the bigrange when the two men entered it. 

"What ails the flock?" Asher asked, as they saw it following the fenceline eagerly. 

"Let's ride across and meet them, " Jacobs suggested. 

The creek side was rough with many little dips and draws hiding theboundary line in places. The men rode quietly toward the flock by theshortest way. As they faced a hollow deepening to a draw toward the creek, Asher suddenly halted. 

"Look at that!" he cried, pointing toward the fence. 

John Jacobs looked and saw where the ground was lowest that the barbedwires had been dragged out of place, leaving an opening big enough for twoor more sheep to crowd through at a time. As they neared this point, Ashersaid:

"It's a pretty clear case, Jacobs. See that line of salt running up thebare ground, and here is an opening. The flock is coming down on thatline. They will have a chance to drink after taking their salt. "

John Jacobs slid from his horse, and giving the rein to Asher, he climbedthrough the hole in the fence and hastily examined the ground beyond it. 

"It's a friendly act on somebody's part, " he said grimly. "The creek cutsa deep hole under the bank here. There's a pile of salt right at the edge. Somebody has sprinkled a line of it clear over the hill to toll the flockout where they will scramble for it and tumble over into that deep water. All they need to do is to swim down to the next shallow place and wadeout. The pool may be full of them now, waiting their turn to go. Sheep arepolite in deep water; they never rush ahead. "

"They swim well, too, especially if they happen to fall into the waterjust before shearing time when their wool is long, " Asher saidironically. 

"What did you say Gretchen Gimpke had in that tin can?" Jacobs inquiredblandly. 

"Oil of sassafras, I think, " Asher responded, as he tied the horses andhelped to mend the weakened fence. 

"Nobody prospers long after such tricks. I'll not lose sleep over lostsheep, " John Jacobs declared. "Let's hunt up the cattle and forget this, and the woman and the scary little twist in the creek trail. "

[Illustration: "It's a friendly act on somebody's part. " he said grimly]

"Why scary?" Asher asked. "Are you so afraid of women? No wonder you are abachelor. "

Jacobs did not smile as he said:

"Once when I was a child I read a story of a man being killed at just suchan out-of-the-way place. Every time I go up that crooked, lonesome hillroad, I remember the picture in the book. It always makes me think of thatstory. "

When the fence was made secure, the two rode away to look after thecattle. And if a Shadow rode beside them, it was mercifully unseen, and innowise dimming to the clear light of the spring day. 

It was high noon when they reached Wykerton, where Hans Wyker still fedthe traveling public, although the flourishing hotel where VirginiaAydelot first met John Jacobs had disappeared. The eating-place behind thegeneral store room was divided into two parts, a blind partition wallcutting off a narrow section across the farther end. Ordinary diners wentthrough the store into the dining room and were supplied from the longkitchen running parallel with this room. 

There were some guests, however, who entered the farther room by a reardoor and were likewise supplied from the kitchen on the side. But as therewas no opening between the two rooms, many who ate at Wyker's never knewof the narrow room beyond their own eating-place and of the two entrancesinto the kitchen covering the side of each room. Of course, the primereason for such an arrangement lay in Wyker's willingness to evade the lawand supply customers with contraband drinks. But the infraction of one lawis a breach in the wall through which many lawless elements may crowd. Theplace became, by natural selection, the council chamber of the lawless, and many an evil deed was plotted therein. 

"How would you like to keep a store in a place like this, Jacobs?" AsherAydelot asked, as the two men waited for their meal. 

"I had the chance once. I turned it down. How would you like to keep atavern in such a place?" Jacobs returned. 

"I turned down a bigger tavern than this once to be a farmer. I have neverregretted it, " Asher replied. 

"The Sunflower Ranch has always interested me. How long have you had it?"Jacobs asked. 

"Since 1869. I was the first man on Grass River. Shirley came soonafterward, " Asher said. 

"And your ranches are typical of you, too, " John Jacobs said thoughtfully. "How much do you own now?"

"Six quarters, " Asher replied. "I've added piece by piece. Mortgaged onequarter to buy another. There's a good deal of it under mortgage now. "

"You seem to know what's ahead pretty well, " Jacobs remarked. 

"I know what's in the prairie soil pretty well. I know that crops willfail sometimes and boom sometimes, and I know if I live I mean to ownthree times what I have now; that I'll have a grove a mile square on it, and a lake in the middle, and a farmhouse of colonial style up on theswell where we are living now and that neither John Jacobs nor the FirstNational Bank of Careyville will hold any mortgage on it. " Asher's facewas bright with anticipation. 

"You are a dreamer, Aydelot. "

"No, Jim Shirley's a dreamer, " Asher insisted. "Mrs. Aydelot and I plannedour home the first night she came a bride to our little one-roomed soddy. There are cottonwoods and elms and locust trees shading our house nowwhere there was only a bunch of sunflowers then, and except for Jim'slittle corn patch and mine, not a furrow turned in the Grass River Valley. We have accomplished something since then. Why not the whole thing?"

"You have reason for your faith, I admit. But you are right, Shirley is adreamer. What's the matter with him?"

"An artistic temperament, more heart than head, a neglected home life inhis boyhood, and a fight for health to do his work. He'll die mortgaged, but he has helped so many other fellows to lift theirs, I envy Jim's'abundant entrance' by and by. But now he dreams of a thousand things andrealizes none. Poor fellow! His dooryard is a picture, while the weedssometimes choke his garden. "

"Yes, he'll die mortgaged. He's never paid me interest nor principal on mylittle loan, yet I'd increase it tomorrow if he asked me to do it, " JohnJacobs declared. 

"You are a blood-sucking Shylock, sure enough, " Asher said with a smile. "I wish Jim would take advantage of you and quit his talking about theboom and his dreams of what it might do for him. "

"How soon will you be platting your Sunflower Ranch into town lots for thenew town that I hear is to be started down your way?" John Jacobsinquired. 

"Town lots do not appeal to me, Jacobs, " Asher replied. "I'm aslow-growing Buckeye, I'll admit, but I can't see anything but mushroomsin these towns out West where there is no farming community about them. I've waited and worked a good while; I'm willing to work and wait a whilelonger. Some of my dreams have come true. I'll hold to my first position, even if I don't get rich so fast. "

"You are level-headed, " Jacobs assured him. "You notice I have not turnedan acre in on this boom. Why? I'm a citizen of Kansas. And while I like toincrease my property, you know my sect bears that reputation--"Jacobsnever blushed for his Jewish origin--"I want to keep on living somewhere. Why not here? Why do the other fellows out of their goods, as we Jews arealways accused of doing, if it leaves me no customer to buy? I wantfarmers around my town, not speculators who work a field from hand tohand, but leave it vacant at last. It makes your merchant rich today butbankrupt in a dead town tomorrow. I'm a merchant by calling. "

"Horace Greeley said thirty years ago that the twin curses of Kansas werethe land agent and the one-horse politician, " Asher observed. 

"You are a grub, Aydelot. You have no ambition at all. Why, I've heardyour name mentioned favorably several times for the legislature nextwinter, " Jacobs insisted jokingly. 

"Which reminds me of that rhyme of Hosea Bigelow:

 If you're arter folks o' gumption You've a darned long row to hoe. 

"I'm not an office seeker, " Asher replied. 

"Do I understand you won't sell lots off that ranch of yours to start anew town, and you won't run for the legislature when you're dead sure tobe elected. May I ask how you propose to put in the fall after wheatharvest?" Jacobs asked, with a twinkle in his black eyes. 

"I propose to break ground for wheat again, and to experiment withalfalfa, the new hay product, and to take care of that Aydelot grove andbuild the Aydelot lake in the middle of it. And I'll be supplying thewheat market and banking checks for hay one of these years when your townstarters will be hunting clerkships in your dry goods emporium, and yourfarmers, who imagine themselves each a Cincinnatus called to office, willbe asking for appointment as deputy county assessor or courthousecustodian. Few things can so unfit a Kansas fellow for the real businessof life as a term in the lower house of the Kansas legislature. If you area merchant, I'm a farmer, and we will both be booming the state when thesepresent-day boomers are gone back East to wife's folks, blaming Kansas fortheir hard luck. Now, mark my words. But to change the subject, " Ashersaid smiling, "I thought we should have company for dinner. I saw DarleyChampers and another fellow head in here before us. Darley is in clovernow, planning to charter a town for every other section on Grass River. Did you know the man who was with him?"

"That's one fly-by-night calling himself Thomas Smith. Innocent name andeasy to lose if you don't want it. Not like Gimpke or Aydelot, now. He'sfrom Wilmington, Delaware--maybe. "

"You seem to doubt his genuineness, " Asher remarked. 

"I don't believe he will assay well, " Jacobs agreed. "I've doubted himsince the day he landed in Carey's Crossing fifteen years ago. Inside ofan hour and a half I caught him and Champers in a consultation so secretthey fastened newspapers across the window to keep from being seen. "

"Where were you meanwhile?"

"Up on the roof, fixing the sign the wind had blown loose. When they sawme through the uncovered upper pane, they shaded that, too. I've littleinterest in a man like that. "

"Does he come here often?" Asher inquired. 

"He's here and away, but he never sets foot in Careyville. My guess isthat he's a part of the 'Co. ' of 'Champers and Co. ' and that Hans Wyker isthe rest of it. Also that in what they can get by fair means, each of thetrio reserves the right to act alone and independently of the other two, but when it comes to a cut-throat game, they combine as readily ashydrogen and sulphur and oxygen; and, combined, they have the same effecton a proposition that sulphuric acid has on litmus paper. But this is allonly a Jew's guess, of course. For myself, I have business with only oneof the three, Wyker. He doesn't like my sheep, evidently, because he knowsI keep track of his whisky selling in this town and keep the law foreverhanging over him. But I've sworn under high heaven to fight that curse tohumanity wherever I find it threatening, and under high heaven I'll do it, too. "

Jacobs' face was the face of a resolute man with whom law was law. Thenthe two talked of other things as they finished their meal. 

John Jacobs was city bred, a merchant by instinct, a Jew in religion, anda strictly honest and exacting business man. Asher Aydelot had been acountry boy and was by choice a farmer. He was a Protestant of theMethodist persuasion. It must have been his business integrity that firstattracted Jacobs to him. Jacobs was a timid man, and no one else inKansas, not even Doctor Carey, understood him or appreciated him quite askeenly as Asher Aydelot did. 

CHAPTER XII

THE FAT YEARS

 "The lean years have passed, and I approve of these fat ones. " "Be careful, old man. That way lies bad work. " --_The Light That Failed. _

John Jacobs little realized how true was his estimate of the firm of"Champers & Co. " Nor did he suspect that at this very minute the firm wasin council in the small room beyond the partition wall--the "blind tiger"of the Wyker eating-house. 

"I tell you it's our chance, " Darley Champers was declaring emphatically. "You mustn't hold back your capital now. This firm isn't organized topromote health nor Sunday Schools nor some other fellow's fortune. We aretogether for yours truly, every one of us. If you two have some othergames back of your own pocketbooks, they don't cut any against this commonpurpose. I'm for business for Darley Champers. That's why I'm here. I'vegot no love for Doc Carey, ruling men's minds like they was all putty, andhim a putty knife to shape 'em finer yet. And another fellow I'd like toput down so hard he'll never get over it is that straight-up-and-downfarmer, Asher Aydelot of the Sunflower Ranch, who walks like a militarycaptain, and works like a hired man, and is so danged independent he don'tgive a damn for no man's opinion of him. If it hadn't been for him we'd ahad the whole Grass River Valley now to speculate on. I'm something of adanged fool, but I knowed this boom was comin'. I felt it in my craw. "

"So you always said, Champers, " Thomas Smith broke in, "but it's been acentury coming. And look at the capital I've sunk. If you'd worked thatdeal through, time of the drouth in seventy-four, we'd be in clover and noCareyville and no Aydelots in the way. I could have saved Asher's littlebank stock then, too. "

"You could?" Darley Champers stared at the speaker. 

"Yes, if he'd given up right that first trip of yours down there. When herefused I knew his breed too well. He's as set and slow and stubborn ashis old dad ever was. That's what ailed those two, they were too nearalike; and you'll never catch Asher Aydelot bending to our plans now. Iwarn you. "

"Well, but about this bank account?" Champers queried. 

"Oh, the fates played the devil with everything in two weeks. Doc Careygot in with Miss Jane Aydelot down at Philadelphia, and she came straightto Cloverdale, and, womanlike, made things so hot there I had to let looseof everything at once or lose everything I had saved for myself. Servesher right, for Asher's pile went into the dump, although there's naturallyno love lost between the two. But this Miss Jane is Aydelot clear through. She's so honest and darned set you can't budge her. But she's a timidwoman and so she's safe if you keep out of her range. She won't chase youfar, but she's got fourteen rattles and a button. "

"Well, well, let her rattle, and get to pusiness, " Hans Wyker demanded. "Here's Champers says he's here yust for pusiness and he wants to getAydelot and Carey, too. "

"Gentlemen!" Champers struck the table with his fist. "Let's play fairnow, so's not to spoil each other's games. I'll fix Aydelot if it's in meto do it, just because he's stood in my way once too often. But he's myside line, him and Carey is. I'm here for business. Tell me what you arehere for. "

Hans Wyker's little eyes were red with pent-up anger and malice as heburst out:

"Shentlemen, you know my hart luck. You see where I be today. I not repeatno tiresome history here. Kansas yust boomin'! Wykerton dead! Yon Yacobown all der groun' right oop to der corporation line on tree side, an' henot sell one inch for attitions to dis town. He say dere notings to keeptown goin' in two, tree year. What we care? We be rich by den an' let itgo to der devil. But he not sell. Den I go mit you and we organize towncompany. We mark townsite, we make Grass River sell to us. We boom! boom!boom! We knock Careyville from de prairie alretty, mak' Yon Yacob go backto Cincinnati where he belong mit his Chews. He damned queer Chew, but heChew all de same all right, all right. I want to down Yon Yacob, an' I doit if it take tree hundred fifty years. I'll kill him if he get in my way. I hate him. He run me off my saloon in ol' Carey Crossin'; my prewerygoin' smash mit der damned prohibittery law; he growin' rich inCareyville, an' me!"

His voice rose to a shriek and he stamped his foot in rage. 

"Hold your noise, Wyker!" Champers growled. "Don't you know who's on theother side of that partition?"

"I built that partition mineself. It's von dead noise-breaker, " Wykerbegan. But Champers broke in:

"It's your turn, Smith. "

Dr. Carey had described Smith once as rather small, with close-set darkeyes and a stiff, half-paralyzed right arm and wrist, a man who wrote in acramped left-handed style. There was a crooked little scar cutting acrosshis forehead now above the left eye that promised to stay there for life. He had a way of evading a direct gaze, suggesting timidity. And when HansWyker had threatened to kill John Jacobs he shivered a little, and for theinstant a gray pallor crept across his face, unnoted by his companions. 

"We propose to start a town in the Grass River country that will killCareyville. We two put up the capital. You do the buying and selling. We'll handle real estate lively for a few months. We'll advertise till wefill the place with buyers, and we'll make our pile right there andthen--and it's all to be done by Darley Champers & Co. We two are not tobe in the open in the game at all. "

Thomas Smith spoke deliberately. There seemed to be none of Champers'bluster nor Wyker's malice in the third part of the company, or else hewas better schooled in self-control. 

"You have it exactly, " Champers declared. "The first thing is to take infellows like Jim Shirley and Cyrus Bennington and Todd Stewart, andAydelot, if we can. "

"Yes, if we can, but we can't, " Thomas Smith insisted. 

"And having got the land, with or without their knowing why, we boom herto destruction. But to be fair, now, why do you want to keep yourself inhiding, and who's the fellow you want to kill?" Darley Champers said witha laugh. 

"I may as well let you know now why I can't be known in this, " ThomasSmith said smoothly, even if the same gray hue did flit like a shadow asecond time across his countenance--a thing that did not escape the shrewdeye of Darley Champers this time. 

"Wyker is pitted against Jacobs. You are after Asher Aydelot's scalp, ifyou can get it. I must get Jim Shirley, fair or foul. "

Smith's low voice was full of menace, boding more trouble to his man thanthe bluster and threat of the other two could compass. 

"I paid you well, Darley Champers, for all information concerning Jim whenI came here fifteen years ago. I was acting under orders, and as Jim wouldhave known me then I had to keep out of sight a little. "

"Vell, and vot has Shirley ever done mit you that you so down on him?"Hans Wyker asked. 

The smooth mask did not drop from Smith's face, save that the small darkeyes burned with an intense glow. 

"I tell you I was acting under orders from Shirley's brother Tank inCloverdale, Ohio. And if Dr. Carey hadn't been so blamed quick I'd havegotten a letter Mrs. Tank Shirley had written to Jim the very day I got toCarey's Crossing. No brother ever endured more from the hands of arelative than Tank Shirley endured from Jim. In every way Jim tried todefraud him of his rights; tried to prejudice their own father againsthim; tried to rob him of the girl, a rich girl, too, that he married inspite Of Jim--and at last contrived to prejudice his wife against him, andwith Jane Aydelot interfering all the time, like the old maid that she is, managed to get Tank Shirley's only child away from him and given legallyto Jim. Do you wonder Tank hates his brother? You wouldn't if I dared totell you all of Jim's cussedness, but some things I'm sworn to secrecy on. That's Tank's streak of kindness he can't overcome. Gets it from hismother. I'm his agent, and I'm paid for my work. You both understand me, Ireckon. "

"We unterstant, an' we stay py you to der ent, " Hans Wyker exclaimedenthusiastically. But Darley Champers had a different mind. 

"I'll watch you, my man, and I'll do business with you accordin', " he saidto himself. "Devil knows whether you are Thomas Smith workin' for TankShirley, or Tank Shirley workin' for hisself under a assoomed name. Longas I get your capital to push my business I don't care who you are. " Aloudhe remarked:

"So that's how Jim Shirley got that little girl. She's a comely youngun, anyhow. But Smith, since you are only an agent and nobody knows it but us, why keep yourself so secret? Where's the harm in letting Shirley lay eyeson you? Why not come out into the open? How'll Shirley know you from theMayor of Wilmington, Delaware, anyhow?"

Thomas Smith's face was ashy and his voice was hoarse with anger as hereplied:

"Because I'm not now from Wilmington, Delaware, any more than I ever was. I'm from Cloverdale, Ohio. You know, Wyker, how I lost money in yourbrewery, investing in machinery and starting the thing, only to go tosmash on us. "

He turned on Hans fiercely. 

"And you know how I lost by you in this town and the land around it. Itwas my money took up all this ground to help build up Wykerton and you, asmy agent, sold every acre of it to Jacobs. "

This as fiercely as Darley Champers. 

Both men nodded and Darley broke in:

"I was honest. I thought Jacobs was gettin' it to boom Wykerton with, orI'd never sold. And him bein' right here was a danged sight easier'nhavin' some man in Wilmington, Delaware, to write to. That's why I let himin on three sides, appealin' to his pride. "

But Thomas Smith stopped him abruptly. 

"Hold on! You need money to push your schemes now. And I'm the one whodoes the financing for you. "

Both men agreed. 

"Then it's death to either of you if you ever tell a word of this. Youunderstand that? I'm not to be known here because I'm a dead man. I'm thecashier that was mixed up in the Cloverdale bank affair. And, as I say, ifJane Aydelot had let things alone Tank Shirley and I could have pulled outhonorably, but, womanlike, because she had a lot of bank stock and was thebiggest loser of anybody, in her own mind, she pushed things where a manwould not have noticed or kept still, and she kept pushing year afteryear. Damn a woman, anyhow! All I could do at last was to commit suicide. Tank planned it. It saved me and helped Tank. You see, Miss Jane had aline around his neck, too. She was the only one who really saw me go downand she spread the report that I'd committed suicide on account of thebank failure. So, gentlemen, I'm really drowned in Clover Creek rightabove where the railroad grade that cuts the Aydelot farm reaches thewater. "

Darley Champers wondered why Thomas Smith was so particular in hisdescription. 

"I've known Jim Shirley all my life. He was as bad a boy as ever leftCloverdale, Ohio, under a cloud. Got into trouble over some girl, Ibelieve, finally. But you can see why I'm out of this game when it comesto the open. And maybe you could understand, if you knew the brothers aswell as I do, why Tank keeps me after him. And I'll get him yet. "

The vengeance of the last words was venomous. 

"Well, now we understand each other we'll not be tramping on anybody'scorns, " Darley Champers urged, anxious to get away from the subject. 

With all of his shortcomings he was a man of different mould from theother men. Eagerness to represent and invest large capital and to make byfar the best of a bargain by any means just inside the law were hisbesetments. But he had not the unremitting hatred that enslaved ThomasSmith and Hans Wyker. 

Champers' store of energy seemed exhaustless. Following this council hefell upon the Grass River Valley and threshed it to his profit. 

One mid-June evening the Grass River schoolhouse was lighted early, whileup from the prairie ranches came the work-worn farmers. 

This year the crop outlook was bad, yet somehow an expectant spirit liftedsagging shoulders and looked out through hopeful eyes. 

While the men exchanged neighborly greetings, a group of children, thesecond generation in the valley, romped about in the twilight outside. 

"Here comes Thaine, " they shouted as Asher Aydelot and his boy came downthe trail. 

"Come on, Thaine, " Leigh Shirley said, reaching for his hand. "We aregoing to play drop the handkerchief. "

"Thaine's going to stand by me, " pretty Jo Bennington declared, pushingLeigh boisterously aside. 

Josephine, the week-old baby Mrs. Aydelot had gone to see one day nineyears ago, had grown into a big, black-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl who lordedit over every other child in the neighborhood. And every other childsubmitted except Leigh Shirley, who had a quiet habit of going straightahead about her affairs in a way that vexed the pretty Jo not a little. From the first coming of Leigh among the children Jo had resented herindependence. But, young as they all were, she objected most to ThaineAydelot's claiming Leigh as his playmate. Thaine was Jo's idol fromearliest memory. 

"What's the row here?" Todd Stewart, Junior, broke in. "You mustn't fussor you'll all have to go in and listen to Darley Champers and I'll playout here by myself. "

Todd was a young-hearted, half-grown boy now, able to work all day in thehayfield or to romp like a child with younger children in the evening. Hewas half a dozen years older than Thaine and Jo, a difference that wouldtend to disappear by the end of a decade. 

"We'll be good, Toddie, if you'll let us stay and you'll play with us, "the children entreated, and the game began, with Thaine between Leigh andJo. 

When Asher Aydelot joined the group inside Darley Champers rapped on thedesk and called the men to order. 

"Gentlemen, let's have a businesslike proceeding, " he said. "Who shallpreside at the meeting?"

"I move Jim Shirley be made chairman. He's the best looking man here, "Todd Stewart said, half seriously. 

The motion carried and Jim, looking big and handsome and kindly as always, took the chair. 

"I'll ask Mr. Champers to state the purpose of the meeting, " he said. 

"Gentlemen, " Champers began with tremendous dignity, "I represent the firmof the Champers Town Company, just chartered, with half a million dollars'capital. Gentlemen, you have the finest valley in Kansas. "

The same was said of every other valley in Kansas in the fat years of theboom. But to do Darley justice, he had never made a finer effort in hislife of many efforts than he was bent on making tonight. 

"And this site is the garden spot of it all, " he continued. "Theelevation, the water power at the deep bend of Grass River (where at thatmoment only a trace of water marked the river's grassy right of way), thefine farming land--everything ready for a sudden leap into prosperity. And, gentlemen, the A. And T. (Arctic and Tropic) North and South Railroadwill begin grading down this very stream inside of thirty days. A townhere this year will be a city next year, a danged sight bigger city thanCareyville will ever be. Why, that town's got its growth and is beginningto decay right now. The A. And T. Will miss it comin' south, by tenmile. "

He paused and looked at the men before him. They were farmers, drooped torest after the long summer day's work, yet they listened with intenseeagerness. Only Asher Aydelot sat in easy dignity, looking straight atDarley Champers with steady interest. The four years' training in theUniversity of the Civil War had not been overcome by his hold on the plowhandles. And no farmer will grow hopelessly stooped in shoulders and sadof countenance who lifts his face often from the clods beneath his feet tothe stars above his head. 

"You all know crops was poor last year and only moderately promisin' thisyear, " Champers continued. "But this is temporary and you are stayers, asI can testify. The Champers Town Company is ready to locate a townsite andstart a town right here at the deep bend of Grass River. We propose toplat the prairie into town lots with a public square for the courthouseand sites for the railroad station and grain elevators, a big hotel, anopera house, and factories and foundries that's bound to come. "

The speaker paused a moment. Then the inspiration of the evening came tohim. 

"When you first came here, Aydelot, there wasn't nothing but imaginationto make this a farming community. And it looked lots more impossible thenthan this looks to me now. What's to prevent a metropolis risin' righthere where a decade and a half ago there wasn't nothing but bareprairie?"

The appeal was forceful, and the very men who had stood like heroesagainst hardships and had fought poverty with a grim, unyieldingwill-power, the same men fell now before Darley Champers' smooth advances. 

"Our company's chartered with no end of stock for sale now that in sixmonths will be out of sight above par and can't be bought for no price. It's your time to invest now. You can easy mortgage your farms to raisethe money, seein' you can knock the mortgage off so quick and haveabundance left over, if you use your heads 'stead of your tired legs tomake money out of your land. "

Cyrus Bennington and Todd Stewart and Jim Shirley, with others, weresitting upright with alert faces now. Booms were making men rich all overKansas. Why should prosperity not come to this valley as well? It was notimpossible, surely. Only the unpleasant memory of Champers' holding backthe supplies in the days when the grasshopper was a burden would intrudeon the minds of the company tonight. Champers was shrewd to remember also, and he played his game daringly as well as cautiously. 

"Maybe some of you fellows haven't felt right toward me sometimes, " hesaid. "I hate to tell it now, but justice is justice. The truth is, it wasa friend of yours who advised me not to let any supplies come your way, time of the grasshopper raid. I listened to him then and didn't know nobetter'n to be run by him till I see his scheme to kill Wykerton an' builda town for hisself. He'll deny it now, declare he never done it, and he'llnot do a thing for your town down here. See if he does. But it's Gawd'struth, he held me back so's he could run you his way. It's your turn tolisten to me now and believe me, too. "

And well they listened, especially the men who still owed John Jacobs forthe loan of 1874. 

"You can have a boom right here that'll make you all rich men inside of ayear. Why not turn capitalists yourselves for a while, you hard-workingfarmers. Money is easy and credit long, now. Take your chance at it andmake five hundred per cent on your investments. I'm ready to takesubscriptions for stock in this new town right now. Why not stop thissnail's pace of earnin' and go to livin' like gentlemen--like someCareyville men I know who own hundreds of acres they never earned and theywon't improve so's to help others?"

"You're right there, " a farmer sitting beside Asher Aydelot called out. "We all know how Careyville got her start. It's kept some of us poor doingit. I'll invest in Town Company stock right now. "

Asher Aydelot turned toward the speaker in surprise. 

"Jacobs helped you out as well as the rest of us in the drouth andgrasshopper time of seventy-four, " he said. "What's your grievance againsthim now?"

"Yes, and hung onto me like a leech of a Jew ever since, " the manmuttered. 

"Because you never paid either interest or principal. And Jacobs hascarried you along and waited your time, " Asher asserted frankly. 

But the farmer plunged into the discussion again, not realizing that hisgrudge against Careyville was the outgrowth of his own shortcomings. 

"Take this site right here in the middle of your neighborhood where you'vealready got your church and your schoolhouse, and your graveyard, "Champers declared. "Aydelot here gave part of it and Pryor Gaines therest. Gaines don't farm it any more himself, it's most too big a job for aman of brains like him. And that quarter across the river that used to beall sand, you own that now, Aydelot, don't you? What did you think ofdoin' with it now?"

"I think I'll set it in alfalfa this fall, " Asher replied. 

"Yes, yes, now these two make the very site we want. You are lucky, foryou are ready right now to start things. How much stock do you want, Aydelot, and how will you sell?"

As Asher listened he seemed to see the whole scheme of the town builderbare itself before him, and he wondered at the credulity of hisneighbors. 

"Gentlemen, " he said, standing before them, "it is a hard thing to putyourself against neighborhood sentiment and not seem to be selfish. But asI was the first man in this valley and have known every man who settledhere since, I ought to be well enough known to you to need no certificateof good moral character here. I offer no criticism on the propositionbefore you. You are as capable of judging as I am. The end may show youmore capable, but I decline to buy stock, or to donate, or sell any landfor a townsite at the deep bend of Grass River. A man's freehold is hisown. "

Asher's influence had led in Grass River affairs for years. But DarleyChampers had the crowd in the hollow of his paw tonight. 

"How about Gaines?" he demanded. "You join him on the south. You ought toknow some of his notions. "

"Gaines has no land to consider, " Asher said frankly. "He sold it morethan a year ago. "

"You mean the Jew foreclosed on the preacher, don't you?" someone saidsarcastically. 

"You'll have to ask the preacher, " Asher replied good-naturedly. "Ididn't understand it so at the time. But as for myself, I'm no boomer. Istand for the prosperity that builds from day to day, and stays built. Thevalues here are in the soil, not in the shining bubbles that glitter andburst on top of it. You'll have to count me out of your scheme. I'm afarmer still. So I'll wish you all good luck and good night. "

"Good night, I must go with papa, " Thaine Aydelot said, springing up fromhis play outside. 

"No, you've got to stay here. Hold him, Leigh, " Jo Bennington commanded, clutching at Thaine's arm. 

Leigh sat calmly disobedient. 

"He's his papa's boy, I guess, and he ought to go, " she asserted. 

"You meany, meany, " Jo whispered, "I don't like you. "

But Leigh paid little heed to her opinion. 

As Asher passed out of the room there was an ugly look in Darley Champers'eyes. 

"No more ambition than a cat. One of them quiet, good-natured fellers thatare as stubborn as the devil once they take a stand. Just a dangedclod-hopper farmer, but he don't leave no enemies behind him. That'senough to make any man hate him. He's balked twice when I tried to drive. I'll not be fooled by him always. "

So Champers thought as he watched Asher Aydelot walk out of the room. Andin the silence that followed his going the company heard him through theopen window whistling some old patriotic air as he strode away in the Junemoonlight with little Thaine trotting beside him. 

"Shirley, where is Pryor tonight?" Cyrus Bennington broke the silence withthe query. "I couldn't get him to come; said he had no land for sale normoney to invest, " Jim replied. 

"Then Jacobs got him at last. Fine friend to you fellers, that man Jacobs. Easy to see what he wants. He ain't boomin' no place but Careyville, "Champers snarled. "But the deep bend ain't the only bend in Grass River. Or do you want to shove prosperity away when it comes right to yourdoor?"

Nobody wants to do that. Least of all did the Kansas settlers of the boomdays turn away from the promise of a fortune. 

So the boom came to the Grass River Valley as other disasters had comebefore it. Where a decade and a half ago Asher and Virginia Aydelot hadlived alone with each other and God, in the heart of the wide solitarywilderness, the town of Cloverdale was staked out now over the prairie. 

Stock in the new venture sold rapidly, and nobody ever knew how much clearprofit came to Champers & Co. From this venture. A big slice of theCloverdale ranch went into the staking of the new city, and prosperityseemed wedded to Jim Shirley. He ceased farming and became a speculatorwith dreams of millions in his brain. Other settlers followed his exampleuntil the fever had infected every man in the community except AsherAydelot, who would not give up to it, and Pryor Gaines, who had nothing togive up. 

Everything fell out as advertised. The railroad grade swelled up like agreat welt across the land, seemingly in a day. Suburban additionsradiated for miles in every direction. Bonds were voted for light andwater and public buildings and improvements. Speculators rushed to investand unload their investments at a profit. The Grass River Farmers'Company built the Grass River Creamery. And because it looked big and goodthey built the Grass River Sugar Factory and the Grass River Elevator. Butwhile they were building their money into stone and machinery they forgotto herd cattle to supply the creamery and to grow cane for the sugarproduct and to sow and reap grain to be elevated. 

Also, the Cloverdale Farmers' Company, made up mostly of the members ofthe Grass River Farmers' Company, built the Cloverdale Hotel, and theCloverdale State Bank, and the Cloverdale Office Block. And the sad partof it all was that mortgaged and doubly mortgaged farms and not the priceof crops had furnished the capital for the boom building. 

It is an old story now, and none too interesting--the story of a boomtown, founded on prairie breezes and built out of fortune seekers'dreams. 

Meanwhile, Asher Aydelot, watching the sudden easy prosperity of hisneighbors, fought down the temptation to join them and resolutely strovewith the soil for its best yield. The drouth and hot winds had notforgotten all their old tricks, and even the interest on his mortgagecould not be met promptly sometimes. Yet with the same old Aydelottenacity with which his father had held Cloverdale in Ohio away from theold farm beside the National pike road, the son of this father held theboundary of the Sunflower Ranch intact, nor yielded up one acre to beplatted into a suburban addition to the new Cloverdale in the Grass RiverValley in Kansas. And all the while the Aydelot windbreaks strengthened;the Aydelot grove struck deeper root; the long corn furrows and the acreson acres of broken wheat stubble of the Sunflower Ranch wooed the heavierrainfall, narrowing the sand dunes and deepening the water courses. 

For two brief years Cloverdale, in the Grass River Valley in Kansas, had aname, even in the Eastern money markets. Speculation became madness; andriotous commercialism had its little hour of strut and rave. 

Then the bubble burst, and all that the boom had promised fell tonothingness. Many farms were mortgaged, poor crops worked tribulation, taxes began to eat up acres of weed-grown vacant town lots, Eastern moneywas withdrawn to other markets, speculators departed, the strangeenthusiasm burned itself out, and the Wilderness came again to the GrassRiver Valley. Not the old Wilderness of loneliness, and drouth, andgrasshoppers, and prairie fires that had dared the pioneer to conquest;but the Prairie, waiting again the kingly hand on the plow handle, gave noquarter to him whom the gilded boom had lured to shipwreck. 

PART TWO

THE SON

 Give me the land where miles of wheat Ripple beneath the wind's light feet, Where the green armies of the corn Sway in the first sweet breath of morn; Give me the large and liberal land Of the open heart and the generous hand; Under the wide-spaced Kansas sky Let me live and let me die. --Harry A. Kemp. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE ROLLCALL

 Nothing is too late Until the tired heart shall cease to palpitate. --Longfellow. 

The twilight had fallen on the prairie. Grass River, running bank fullfrom the heavy May rains, lay like a band of molten silver glistening inthe after-sunset light. The draw, once choked with wild plum bushes in thefirst days of the struggle in the wilderness, was the outlet now to thelittle lake that nestled in the heart of the Aydelot grove. The odors ofearly summer came faintly on the soft twilight breeze. Somewhere among thecottonwoods a bird called a tender good-night to its mate. Upon the lowswell the lights were beginning to twinkle from the windows of the Aydelothome, and the sounds of voices and of hurrying footsteps told of somethingunusual going on within. Asher Aydelot, driving down the old Grass Rivertrail, saw from far away the windows of his home beginning to glow likebeacons in the twilight. Beyond it was the glimmer of the waters of theriver and before it spread the mile-long grove, dim and shadowy in themist-folds rising up from the prairie. 

"A man can win a kingdom in the West, I told my mother one spring eveninglong ago, " he murmured as his eyes took in the view. "It's surely morelike a kingdom now than it was when we came down this trail a quarter of acentury ago. Twenty-five good years of life, but it's worth the effort, and we are just now at the opening of our best years. A man's realusefulness begins at fifty. This is more like a kingdom, too, than it wasten years ago when those old hulks of wrecks that strew the prairie downthe river were banks, and hotels, and opera houses, and factories ofboomed-up Cloverdale. We are doing something for the land. I hope our boywill make up his mind to want to keep it when his time comes. "

He lifted his head bravely, as if to throw off all doubt, and tighteningthe reins on his horses he swung away down the trail toward the homelights shining in the gathering gloom. 

As he neared the house Thaine Aydelot leaped from the side porch andhurried toward him. Climbing into the moving wagon, he put one handaffectionately on his father's shoulder. 

"Don't you know whose birthday this is?" he inquired with seriouscountenance, "and you've not spoken to me all day. "

"I know my boy is nineteen today and expects to have a birthday party heretonight, and that I left him asleep when I started to town this forenoonabout nine o'clock. "

"Nine cats! You left at six sharp to go with John Jacobs over to WolfCreek after what you never got, judging from this empty wagon. And I hadhalf of the feeding done when you left the house here. I saw you when Iwas out by the old stone corral looking after the pigs, but they squealedso loud you could not hear me telling you good-by. "

"All pigs squeal alike to me, " Asher began, but Thaine choked him tosilence. 

"Hurry up and get togged out for the party, " he urged. "The Benningtonswill be over early. Jo's been here all day. I'll take care of the horses. Hike!"

"Be sure to rub them down. They had to pull hard today, " Asher called backas he went up the walk toward the house. 

"Oh, fiddle! Always take care of a horse like it was a prize poodle. Farmslike he was decorating chinaware. Good enough dad, but too particular. Mefor the State University and the professional or military life. This ranchis all right for Asher Aydelot, but it's pretty blamed slow for T. A. AndJo Bennington doesn't like a farm either, " he added with a smile. 

In the superiority of his youth Thaine fumed at his father's commands, butfailed not to obey them. He was just nineteen, as tall as his father, andbrawny with the strength of the outdoors life of the prairie ranch. Strength of character was not expressed in his face so much as the promiseof strength with the right conditions for its development in future days. His features were his mother's set in masculine lines, with the sameabundant dark hair, the same lustrous dark eyes, the same straight noseand well-formed chin. The same imperious will of all the Thaines to do ashe chose was his heritage, too, and he walked the prairies like a king. 

"The real story of the plains is the story of the second generation; thereal romance here will be Thaine Aydelot's romance, for he was bornhere. "

So Virginia Aydelot had declared on the day she had gone to visit theBennington baby, Josephine, and coming home had met Asher with littleThaine beside Mercy Pennington's grave. Sorrow for the dead had become atender memory that day, and joy in the living made life full of hope. 

In Virginia's mind a pretty romance was begun in which Thaine andJosephine were central figures. For mothers will evermore weave romancesfor their children so long as the memory of their own romance lives. 

The time of the second generation came swiftly, even before the wildernessof the father's day had been driven entirely from the prairie. Somecompensation for the loss of eastern advantages belonged to the simplelife of the plains children. If they lacked the culture of city societythey were also without its frivolity and temptations. What the prairiesdenied them in luxuries they matched with a resourcefulness to meet theirneeds. Something of the breadth of the landscape and of the free sweepingwinds of heaven gave them breadth and power to look the world squarely inthe face, and to measure it at its true value, when their hour for actioncame. 

The Grass River children could ride like Plains Indians. They could cut asteer out of a herd and prevent or escape a stampede. They had no fear ofdistance, nor storm, nor prairie fire, nor blizzard. Because theiropportunities were few, they squandered them the less. Matched against thecity-bred young folks their talents differed in kind, not in number, norin character-value. 

Tonight the Aydelots were to give a party in honor of Thaine's birthday, and the farmhouse was dressed for the occasion. Thaine had been busy allday carrying furniture in or out, mowing the front lawn where the olddouble fireguard once lay, and fixing a seat under the white honeysuckletrellis, "for the afflicted ones, " he declared to pretty Jo Bennington. Jo's blush was becoming. Thaine felt sure that he must be in love withher. All the other boys were, too, he knew that well enough. 

"What's going on in the dining room?" Asher asked, as he sat at supperwith Virginia in the kitchen. 

"The decorating committee is fixing it up for dancing. Bo Peep is comingwith his fiddle and there'll be a sound of revelry by night. "

"Who's the decorating committee?" Asher inquired. 

"Jo Bennington is helping Thaine, and our new hired girl, Rosie Gimpke, from over on Little Wolf. She came this morning just after you left, "Virginia replied. "She acts and looks like she'd never had a kind wordspoken to her. "

"Rosie Gimpke must be Hans Wyker's granddaughter. There's a nest of themover on Little Wolf. They give John Jacobs no end of trouble, but you musthave help, " Asher said thoughtfully. 

Virginia's mind was not on hired help, however, as the sound of laughtercame from the dining room. 

"The bridal wreath and snowballs make it look like a wedding was expectedin there, " she declared. 

"Will the Arnolds and the Archibalds be up? Have you heard from theSpoopendykes and the Gilliwigs?" Asher inquired with a smile. 

"Oh, Asher! What a change since the days when we invented parties for ourlonely evenings here! What has become of the old prairie?"

"It's out there still, under the wheat fields. We have driven thewilderness back; plowed a fireguard around the whole valley; tempered thehot winds by windbreaks and groves. "

"It seems impossible that there ever was a one-room sod cabin here, andonly you and I and Jim and faithful old Pilot in all the valley. "

"Since so many things have come true it may be that many more will also bythe time Thaine is as old as I was when I came out here and thought theLord had forgotten all about this prairie until I reminded Him of it. Wecan almost forget the hard work and the waiting for results, " Asher said. 

"Oh, we don't want to forget, " Virginia replied. "Not a season's joy orsorrow but had its uses for us. Do you remember that first supper here andthe sunflowers in the old tin can?"

"Yes, and Jim sitting outside so lonely. What a blessing Leigh has been tohis life. There they come now. "

The next moment Jim's tall form filled the doorway. 

"Good evening, folks. I can't resist the habit of the sod shack days tocome right into the kitchen. I understand that we forty-niners are to havean old settlers' reunion while the young folks dance, " he said. 

There were lines of care on his face now, suggesting a bodily wearinessthat might never grow less. The old hopefulness and purpose seemed fadingaway. But the kindly light of the eyes had not disappeared, nor the directgaze of an honest man whose judgment might bring him to tragedy, while hissense of honor was still sublime. 

"Come in, Jim. Where are Pryor and Leigh? Did you take it you were all weexpected?" Asher asked. 

"Leigh went in the front door like a Christian. As to Pryor, " hehesitated a moment. "I'll tell you later about him. "

"Take this chair. I must help the children, " Virginia said cordially asshe rose and left the kitchen. 

Leigh Shirley was coming from the front hall as she entered the diningroom, and Virginia paused a moment to look at her. Something about Leighmade most people want more than a glance. Tonight, as she stood in thedoorway, Virginia could think of nothing but the pink roses that grew inthe rose garden of the old Thaine mansion house of her girlhood. A visionswept across her memory of Asher Aydelot--just Thaine's age then--of amoonlit night, sweet with the odor of many blossoms, and the tinklingwaters of the fountain in the rose garden, and herself a happy younggirl. 

Leigh's fair face was set in the golden brown shadows of her hair. Oneither side of her square white forehead the sunny ripples kept the onlymemory of the golden curls of babyhood. The darker eyebrows and heavylashes and the deep violet-blue eyes, the pink bloom of the cheeks, andthe resolute mouth gave to Leigh's face all the charm of the sweet younggirl. But the deeper charm that claimed the steady gaze lay in the spiritback of the face, in the self-reliance and penetrating power, combinedwith something of the artist's dreams; and swayed altogether by genuinegood nature and good will. 

Tonight she wore a simple white gown revealing her white throat and theline of her neck and shoulder. White flowers nestled in the folds of herhair, and the whole effect enhanced the dainty coloring of cheeks andlips. Leigh had an artist's eye in dress and knew by instinct what towear. She had an artist's hand also, as her mother had had before her, and was far more skilled in the painting of prairie landscapes than any ofthe Grass River folk dreamed of. 

Thaine was busy on the top of the stepladder and did not see Leigh as shecame in. Jo Bennington, who was holding sprays of spirea for him tofestoon above the window, stared at Leigh until Thaine, waiting for theflowers, turned to see the pink-cheeked living picture framed against theshadows of the hall behind her. 

"I thought you were coming early to help us. This Gimpke girl doesn't knowhow to do a thing, " Jo exclaimed. 

If her voice was a trifle high-pitched it was not out of keeping with herbrilliant coloring and dashing manners. Even the thoughtless rebuke of theGimpke girl seemed excusable from her lips, and Rosie Gimpke looked at herwith unblinking eyes. 

"You can put on my apron and finish, but don't change a thing, now mind. I'll go and dress. I brought my whole wardrobe over early in the week, " Jorattled on, and thrusting her gingham apron into Leigh's hands she dashedthrough the hall toward the stairway. 

Rosie Gimpke, the tow-headed image of her mother, Gretchen Wyker, staredat Leigh, who smiled back at her. Rosie was stupid and ignorant, but sheknew the difference between Jo Bennington's frown and Leigh Shirley'ssmile. A saving thing, the smile of good will, and worth its cost in anymarket. 

"Shall I help you too, or shall Rosie and I look after the refreshments?"Virginia asked as she greeted Leigh. 

"No, run along and get dressed. Rosie knows just how to fix things in thekitchen, and I never need anybody else if Leigh can help me, " Thainedeclared. "How is this, Leigh?"

Leigh gave a quick glance and answered: "Too heavy everywhere? Can we fixit right?" "You bet we can. I'm not going to have a thing wrong tonight, "Thaine answered her. "But Jo fixed it, and you know Jo. "

Leigh made no reply, but went about the rearrangement with swift artisticskill; while Jo, who had changed her mind about being in a hurry, slippeddown stairs to the dining room again. At the doorway she discovered theundoing of her work. For a minute or two she watched the pair, then passedunnoticed up stairs again. Leigh Shirley was the only girl who ever daredto oppose Jo, and she did it so quietly and completely that Jo could onlyignore her. She could not retaliate. 

"Jo Bennington, you are the prettiest girl in Kansas, and I claim thefirst dance and the last, and some in-betweens, right now, " Thainedeclared when she appeared again. 

Jo was tall and graceful and imperious in her manner. The oldest andhandsomest child in a large family, she had had her own way at home andwith her associates all her life. Her world was made to give way to herfrom the beginning, until nothing seemed possible or popular without hersanction. Tonight her heavy black hair was coiled in braids about herhead, her black eyes were full of youthful glow and her cheeks were likeJune roses. She wore a pink lawn dress vastly becoming to her style, and astring of old-fashioned pearl beads was wound through her dark braids. 

"You'd better make amends for spoiling all my pretty work as you and Leighhave done, " she said in reply to Thaine's frank compliment. "I'll make ita few more dances, for you do dance better than any of the other boys--"

"Except Todd Stewart, Junior, " the owner of the name, who had just comein, declared. "There is to be a birthday party and an old settlers'meeting, and maybe a French duel or two before midnight. I remember when Iwas the only kid in the Grass River Valley. There were others at first, but I always thought the grasshoppers or Darley Champers ate 'em. And Jois the first white girl baby born in captivity here. We'll lead theopening of this ball or shoot up the ranch. You can have Jo for the lastdance, Thaine, my son, but me first. "

"Oh, that's fine, " Jo declared as Thaine was about to protest. "Servesyou right for spoiling my decorations. But, Thaine, I claim you forthe in-betweens and the last. Let's take one more look at therefreshments--that Gimpke girl may have them all in a mess by this time. "

There was a rush for the kitchen, where Leigh Shirley was already showingRosie how to keep the table of dishes in order. 

Meanwhile, Asher Aydelot had gone out to the seat Thaine had put up underthe honeysuckle trellis. 

"It is early for the crowd, Virgie. Come here and watch BoanergesPeeperville tuning up, " Asher Aydelot said as Virginia stood on theveranda a little later. 

She came out to the seat under a bower of sweet white honeysuckle and satdown beside her husband. 

"The same Bo Peep of the old Virginia days, only he was a half-grown boythen, " she said, watching the Negro bending above his violin. "Howfaithfully he has served Dr. Carey all these years. He's past forty now. Asher, we are all getting along. "

"With a boy nineteen tonight, how can it be otherwise?" Asher replied. "But when the Careyville crowd gets here I'm going to ask you for a dance, anyhow, Miss Thaine. "

Virginia stood in the moonlight and looked out over the prairie slumberingin a silver-broidered robe of evening mist. 

"How fast the years have gone. Do you remember the night in the old Thainehome in Virginia when you were our guest--too sick to dance?" she asked. 

Asher caught her arm and drew her to the seat beside him. 

"I remember the jessamine vines and the arbor at the end of the rosegarden. "

"We are not old until we forget our own romance days, " Virginia said. "Youwere my hero that night. You are my hero still. "

"Even with a son as old now as I was that night? The real romance of theprairie, you've said it often, Virgie, is Thaine Aydelot's romance. There's little chance for the rest of us. "

The coming of the guests just then called the host and hostess to theparlor, and the evening's festivities began. 

In the building of the Aydelot home there was a memory of the oldfarmhouse beside the National pike road in Ohio and the old Thaine mansionhouse of the South. The picture the mirage had revealed to VirginiaAydelot on the afternoon when she rode the long lonely miles fromWykerton with John Jacob's message of hope in her keeping--that wonderfulmirage picture had grown toward a reality with the slowly winning years. Tonight, with the lighted rooms and the music of the violin, and the soundof laughter and the rhythm of dancing feet, and outside the May moonlighton the veranda with its vine-draped columns, and the big elm treesthrowing long shadows down the lawn, with the odor of plowed fields andblossoming grain and shrub mingled with the perfume floating from thecreamy catalpa blooms in the shadowy grove, all made a picture notunworthy to hang beside the painting of an Ohio landscape or an oldVirginia mansion. 

"Here's where the forty-niners get the best of it, " Jim Shirley declared, as the older men gathered about the veranda steps. "We're dead certain ofourselves now. We're not like those youngsters in there with their battlesbefore 'em. "

"There hasn't been such a gathering as this in ten years. Not since thenight Darley Champers herded us into the schoolhouse and blew a boom downour throats through a goosequill, " Cyrus Bennington declared. 

"See that black thing away across the prairie east of Aydelot's grove. Wait till the moon gets out from that cloud. Now!" Todd Stewart directedthe eyes of all to a tall black object distinct in the moonlight. 

"That's the Cloverdale Farmers' Company's elevator. Looks like alighthouse stretching up in that sea of wheat. "

"There are plenty of derelicts in that sea as well as some human derelictsleft afloat, " Jim said, with a laugh. "Let's take the census. "

"Begin with Darley Champers, " Asher suggested. 

"Not present. Who got his excuse?" Jim inquired. 

"He sent it by me, " Horace Carey spoke up. "Business still keeping himbusy. He's a humane man. "

"Up to a point he is, " John Jacobs broke in. "Let's be fair. He is alarge-sized boomer and a small-sized rascal. A few deals won't bear thelight of day, but mainly they are inside the law. I've let him handle allbut my grazing land around Wykerton. He's done well by me. But he's beenat his line a quarter of a century and he'll end where he began--in a realestate office over in Wykerton, trying to get something for nothing andcalling it business. "

"Horace Carey?" Jim Shirley called next. 

"Here, " Carey replied. 

"With a big H, " Todd Stewart declared. "Same doctor of the old school. Whydon't you get married or take a trip to India, Doctor? Not that we aren'tsatisfied all over with you as you are, though, and wouldn't hear to yourdoing either one. You belong to all of us now. "

"I may have a call to a bigger practice some day, a service that will makeyou proud of your former honorable townsman. At present I'm satisfied, "Carey said, with a smile. 

Four years later the men remembered this reply and the attractive face ofthe speaker, the sound of his voice, and the whole magnetic presence ofthe man. 

"John Jacobs?" Shirley called next. 

"The merchant prince of Careyville, " Asher Aydelot declared. "Themoney-loaning Shylock. Didn't let the boom so much as turn one hair blackor white. Land owner and stock raiser of the Wolf Creek Valley and haterof saloons seven days in the week. Whatever it may mean in New York andCincinnati and Chicago, being a Jew means being a gentleman in this cornerof Kansas, " Asher was running on, till John Jacobs threw a chair cushionat his head and Jim called out:

"Cyrus Bennington. "

"Busted by the boom. Lived at the public crib ever since. Held everylittle county office possible to get, asking now for your votes this fallfor County Treasurer. Will end his days seeking an election and go at lastto be with the elected, " Cyrus Bennington frankly described himself. 

"Not so bad yet as Todd Stewart, " Todd declared. "He lost everything inthe boom except his old Scotch Presbyterian faith. Now head clerk in J. Jacobs' dry goods and general merchandise store. Had the good sense, though, this old Todd did, to send his son back to the land and make afarmer out of him, and the second generation of Stewarts in this valleypromises to make it yet. Why don't you revert to the soil, too, Bennington?"

"Todd is doing well with his leases, " Asher Aydelot declared. "He'll be alandowner yet. "

"My family, especially the girls, object to living on a farm, " CyrusBennington said gravely. "They have notions of city life I can't overcome. Jo especially dislikes the country and Jo runs things round the Benningtonplace. "

"James Shirley, Esquire, " Jim announced and added quickly:

"The biggest sucker in the booming gang. Lost his farm to the ChampersCompany. Holds a garden patch and homestead only, where once theCloverdale Ranch smiled. All under mortgage also to other capitalists. Boys, I'd be ready to give up if it wasn't for my little girl. What's theuse in a man as big as I am, with no lung power, keeping at it?" There wasa sad hopelessness in Shirley's tone. 

"No, no!" the men chorused in one voice. "Go on, Jim, go on!"

"Asher Aydelot. " Jim pretended it was the rollcall they demanded. 

"Gentlemen, " John Jacobs began seriously. But at that moment LeighShirley, followed by Rosie Gimpke, came from the side door with a tray ofglasses and a pitcher of lemonade. 

"Gentlemen, a toast to the man who stuck to the soil and couldn't beblasted to financial ruin by a boom, the wheat king of these prairies. Ourhost, Asher Aydelot. "

"The clod-hopper, Buckeye farmer, " Jim added affectionately, and theydrank to Asher's health. 

"Lord bless you, Aydelot. You said the money was in the soil, not on topof it. I remember you looked like a prophet when you said it, " CyrusBennington declared. "But I was wild to get rich quick and let my soil go. I never look at Aydelot's spreading acres of wheat increasing in areaevery year without wondering why the Lord let me be such a fool. "

"Well, you've spent a lot of days in an easy chair in the shade of acounty office since then while I was driving a reaper in the hotsunshine, " Asher insisted. 

"You are the strongest man here now, for all your farm work, Aydelot, "John Jacobs asserted. "It is the store that really breaks a man down. "

"Not in his nerve, nor in pocketbook, " Todd Stewart added. "Here's atoast, now, to the second generation, and especially to Thaine Aydelot, son of the Sunflower Ranch. Nineteen years old tonight. "

"What is Thaine going to follow, Asher?" someone inquired. "I supposeyou'll be making a gentleman out of him, since he's your only child. "

"My father tried to make a gentleman out of me and failed, as you see, "Asher replied. 

"Tragic failure, " Jim groaned. 

"Seriously, Aydelot, what's Thaine to do?" The query came from Dr. Carey;the company awaited the answer. 

"He isn't wanting to follow anything right now. He has a notion that theearth is following him, " Asher said with a smile. "And having handledAydelots all my life, I'm letting him alone a little with the hope that atlast he'll come back to the soil as I did. He goes to the KansasUniversity this fall and he has all sorts of notions, even a craving formilitary glory. I can't blame him. I had the same disease once. I don'tbelieve in any wild oats business. I hope Thaine will be a gentleman, butI don't wonder that a green country boy who has looked out all his life onopen prairies and lonely distances should have a longing for citypavements and the busy haunts of men. How well he will make his way andwhat he will let these things fit him to do depends somewhat on how wellgrounded the farm life and home life have made him. The old French Aydelotblood had something of the wanderlust in it. I hope that trait may notreappear in Thaine. But where's Pryor Gaines in this rollcall? We aregetting away from the subject before the house. "

Jim Shirley's handsome face grew sorrowful. 

"He was not affected by the boom. He has been the same man in spirit andfortune for twenty-five years. But we are going to lose him. That's whyhe's not here tonight, " Jim hurried on as the others were about tointerrupt him. "He won't say good-by to anybody. You can understand why. He's going to start for China tomorrow morning--missionary! It's the lastof Pryor Gaines for us. I promised not to tell till he was gone. I've liedto him. That's all. But you'll not tell on me nor let him know. He sayshe's 'called. ' And when a preacher gets that in his blood there's nostopping him. "

At that moment Virginia Aydelot and a group of matrons came throngingout. 

"Come in for the Virginia Reel, " they demanded. "The young folks arehaving refreshments on the side porch and Bo Peep wants us to dance forhim. "

"May I have the honor?" Horace Carey said, bowing to Virginia Aydelot. 

"With pleasure, Horace, " Virginia replied with a smile. 

As they led the way to the dining room, Dr. Carey said:

"I congratulate you tonight, Virginia, on your son, your kingly husband, and your busy, useful life. You've won the West, you two. "

"Not yet, " Virginia replied. "Not until our son proves himself. He's afarmer's boy now. Wait five years till he is the age his father was whenhe came out here. The test of victory is the second generation. "

Bo Peep's fiddle began its song and the still young middle-aged guestswith their host and hostess kept time to its rhythm. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE SECOND GENERATION

 The younger generation does not want instruction. It is perfectly willing to instruct if anyone will listen to it. --_The Education of Otis Yeere. _

The second generation gave little thought to what was filling the minds ofthe first settlers tonight. The company was a large one and a dozen yearslater more than one young matron remembered Thaine Aydelot's birthdayparty as the beginning of a romance that ended happily for her. 

"Jo, you are the queen of the ball tonight, " Todd Stewart, Junior, declared, as he led her to the cool veranda after their fourth dancetogether. 

Jo looked the part in the moonlight, as in the lamplight. 

"Oh, no, I'm not. Leigh Shirley is Thaine's favorite, and his choice isqueen tonight, " Jo said coquettishly. 

"Darn him! We all know who his choice is, all right, " Todd said. "But, Jo, can't a fellow have half a chance, anyhow? You know, you can't helpknowing a lot of us would fight for you. "

He caught her hand in his and she did not resist at once. 

"Oh, Jo, I know one fellow, anyhow--"

"Look at Thaine now, " Jo interrupted him, as Thaine came near the openwindow. "Todd, do you know why he thinks so much of Leigh Shirley?"

"Of Leigh? Does he? I hope he does. He shows good taste, anyhow. Everybody from Little Plum Creek clear to Northfork likes Leigh. "

Jo's eyes flashed. 

"She must be very popular. "

"Oh, not as they like you, Jo. You must know the difference between youtwo, a real beauty and a sweet little girlie. "

"She's not so sweet. She tries to attract and doesn't know how, " Jodeclared, for jealousy belongs to the dominant. 

Todd Stewart's sense of justice was strong, even in his infatuation. 

"Why, Jo, you mustn't be jealous of Leigh. She's the girl the boys can'tmake like them. She's the funniest, settest little creature. And yet, sheis a cute child. But you are our pride, you know, and to me--well, let metake you home tonight, and I'll tell you about my pride. "

"I don't care for your pride, if you all admire the cute child. " Jowithdrew her hand from his. "Here comes Thaine now. I think you'd bettertake Leigh home. Thaine will take me, I'm sure. But I'll go torefreshments with you, " she added, for she knew how to play on more thanone string. 

"Why, Josephine, my queen, my queen, where are you hiding? I've danced anextra, waiting for you. Todd Stewart, I'll have to kill you yet tonight. What do you mean by breaking up my party?"

Thaine caught Jo's arm and with a mock thrust at Todd he whirled her intothe house. 

"Did you really miss me?" Jo's big dark eyes were fastened on Thaine'sface. "More than tongue can tell. Who wouldn't miss you?" Thaine's eyeswere shining mischievously. 

"Leigh Shirley wouldn't, " Jo said softly and half sadly. 

Something impenetrable dropped before Thaine's face. 

"Let's go out to the honeysuckle arbor and not dance now. I'm so tired, "Jo murmured, with a sweet pleading in her voice. 

"I fixed it just for you, " Thaine declared as he led the way to themoonlit lawn and shadowy seat. 

"You are so good to me, Thaine. What makes you do so many things just forme? I know you don't really care for me. You are so different from mostfarmers' sons. " Jo's head drooped a little and she put one hand on hisarm. 

"I can't help being good to folks. It's just the angel in me, " Thainedeclared. Then he added seriously, "I wish I could do something for you, Jo. All the boys are wild about you tonight. You are a picture. "

She was beautiful at the moment, and as she lifted her eyes to hissomething in their shining depths spoke witchingly to the youth ofnineteen, untrained in ways of feminine coquetry. He was only a countryboy, unskilled in social tactics, but a combination of timidity and goodbreeding shaped his ideals and his action. 

"I don't care for all the boys, " Jo murmured. 

"Then we are hopelessly bankrupt, " Thaine declared. "Isn't this awonderful night?"

"Yes, and father and mother are going home so early, " Jo said. 

"Well, your whole wardrobe is over here; why not stay all night? You canhelp Rosie and mother and me tomorrow. There are plenty of Benningtonsleft at your home without you, and mother will want you, " Thaine urged. 

"Do you want me to?" Jo asked softly. 

"Tremendously. We'll eat all the ice cream that's left when the crowd goesand have the empty mansion all to ourselves, " Thaine declared. 

"We are to dance the last dance together too, " Jo reminded him. 

"Let's run in now. The crowd doesn't miss me, but I'm host, you know, andthey're gasping for you. They'll be scouring the premises if we waitlonger. "

As Thaine lifted Jo to her feet there was a glitter of tears in her brighteyes. And because the place was shadowy and sweet with honeysuckleperfume, and the moonlight entrancing, and Jo was very willing, and tearsare ever appealing, he put his arm around her and drew her close to him, and kissed her on each cheek. 

Jo's face was triumphant as they met Leigh Shirley at the dining roomdoor. 

"What's the next case on docket, Leigh?" Thaine asked, dropping Jo's arm. 

Jealousy has sharp eyes, but even jealousy could hardly have found faultwith the friendly and indifferent look on Thaine's face. 

"Why, it's my first with you, Leigh. Who's your partner, Jo?" Thainecontinued. 

Two or three young men claimed the honor, and the music began. 

"Mrs. Aydelot, Thaine has asked me to stay all night, " Jo said, as thefigures were forming. 

"It will please us all, " Virginia said graciously, and Jo tripped away. 

When the strains of music for the last dance began Jo looked for Thaine, but he was nowhere to be found. She waited impatiently and the angryglitter in her eyes was not unbecoming her imperious air. 

Bo Peep did not wait long, for he was getting tired. Half a dozen youngmen rushed toward Jo as she stood alone. But Todd Stewart let noopportunity escape him. And the dance began. A minute later Thaine came inwith Leigh Shirley. Smiling a challenge at Todd, he caught Leigh's handand swung into the crowd on the floor. 

The older guests were already gone. The music trailed off into a weird, rippling rhythm, with young hearts beating time to its melody and youngfeet keeping step to its measure. Then the tired, happy company broke intogroups. Good-bys and good wishes were given again and again, and the partywas over. 

The couples took their way up or down the old Grass River trail or outacross the prairie by-roads, with the moon sailing serenely down the west. Everybody voted it the finest party ever given on Grass River. And nobodyat all, except his mother and Jo Bennington, noticed that Thaine had notleft Leigh Shirley's side from his first dance with her late in theevening until the time of the good-bys. 

As the guests were leaving Thaine turned to Jo, saying:

"I'm sorry about that last dance, but I'll forgive Todd this last time. Rosie cut her hand on a glass tumbler she dropped and I was helping Leighto tie it up when old Bo Peep started the music. Here's the girl I'm totake home. Got your draperies on already. The carriage waits and the blacksteed paws for us by the chicken yard gate. Good-night, gentle beings. "And taking Leigh's arm, he led her away. 

"Gimpke is as awkward as a cow, " Jo Bennington declared, "and too stupidto know what's said to her. "

But Rosie Gimpke, standing in the shadows of the darkened dining room, wasnot too stupid to understand what was said about her. And into her stolidbrain came dreams that night of a fair face with soft golden brown hairand kindly eyes of deep, tender blue. Stupid as she was, the woman'sinstinct in her told her in her dreams that the handsome young son of heremployer might not always look his thoughts nor dance earliest andoftenest with the girl he liked best. But Rosie was dull and slept heavilyand these things came to her sluggish brain only in fleeting dreams. 

Thaine and Leigh did not hurry on their homeward way. And Jo Bennington, wide awake in the guest room of the Aydelot house, noted that the moon wasfar toward the west when Thaine let himself in at the side door andslipped up stairs unheard by all the household except herself. 

"Let's go down by the lake, " Thaine suggested as he and Leigh came to theedge of the grove. "It's full to the bridge, and the lilies are wide opennow. Are you too sleepy to look at them? You used to draw them with chalkall along the blackboard in the old schoolhouse up there. "

"I'm never too sleepy to look at water lilies in the moonlight, " Leighreplied, "nor too tired to paint them, either. Lilies are a part of mycreed. 'Consider the lilies, how they grow. '"

"With their long rubbery stems, up out of mud mostly, " Thaine saidcarelessly. "I pretty nearly grew fast along with them down there, till Ilearned how to gather them a better way. "

The woodland shadows were thrust through with shafts of white moonbeams, giving a weird setting to the silent midnight hour. The odor of woods'blossoms came with the moist, fresh breath of the May night. There was alittle song of waters gurgling down the spillway that was once only a drydraw choked with wild plum bushes. The road wound picturesquely throughthe grove to a bridged driveway that separated the lakelet into two parts. A spread of silvery light lay on this driveway and Thaine checked hishorse in the midst of it while the two looked at the waters. 

"It's all just silver or sable. There's no middle tone, " Leigh said, looking at the sparkling moonbeams reflected on the face of the lake andthe darkness of the shadowed surface beyond them. 

"Isn't there pink, or creamy, or something softer in those lilies right bythe bank? I'm no artist, but that's how it looks to a clod-hopper, " Thainedeclared. 

"You are an artist, or you wouldn't catch that, where most anybody wouldsee only steely white and dead black. It is the only color in this blackand white woodsy place, " Leigh insisted, looking up at Thaine's face inthe shadow and down at her own white dress. 

"There's a bit of color in your cheeks, " Thaine said, as he studied thegirl's fair countenance, all pink and white in the moonlight. 

"Oh, not the pretty blooming roses like Jo Bennington has, " Leigh said, smiling frankly and folding her hands contentedly in her lap. 

Thaine recalled the seat under the honeysuckle, and Jo Bennington'spleading eyes, and bewitching beauty, and the touch of her hand on hisarm, and her willingness to be kissed. He was flattered by it all, for Jowas the belle of the valley, and Thaine thought himself in love with her. He knew that the other boys, especially Todd Stewart, Jr. , envied him. Andyet in this quiet hour in the silent grove, with the waters shimmeringbelow them, the gentle dignity of the sweet-faced girl beside him, withher purity and simplicity wrapping her about, as the morning mists wrappedthe far purple notches on the southwest horizon, gave to her presencethere an influence he could not understand. 

Thaine had never kissed any girl except Jo, had never cared enough for anyother girl to think about it. But tonight there suddenly swept through hismind the thought of the joy that was waiting for some man to whom Leighwould give that privilege, and without any self-analysis (boys at nineteenanalyze little) he began to hate the man who should come sometime to claimthe privilege. 

"Leigh, don't you ever feel jealous of Jo?" He didn't know why he askedthe question. 

Leigh gave a little laugh. 

"Ought I?" she inquired, looking up. "She hasn't anything I want. "

The deep violet eyes under the long lashes were beautiful without theflashing and sparkle of Jo Bennington's coquettish gaze. 

"That was an idiotic thing to ask, " Thaine admitted. "Why should you, sureenough?"

"I wish I had some of those lilies. " Leigh changed the subject abruptly. 

"Hold the horse, then, and I'll get them. I keep a hooked knife on a longstick hidden down here on purpose to cut them for me mummy, on occasion. "

Thaine jumped out of the buggy and ran down to the end of the drivewaywhere the creamy lilies lay on the dark waters near the bank. 

"Be careful of your dress, " he said, as he came back and handed a bunch ofblossoms with their trailing wet stems up to Leigh. "Do you remember yourPrince Quippi off in China, and your love letters, with old Grass Riverfor postal service? Will you send me a letter down the old Kaw River whenI go to the Kansas University this fall?"

"A sunflower letter like I used to send to Quippi?" Leigh asked. 

"Any kind of a letter. I'll miss you more than anything here, except mybeloved chores about the farm, " Thaine responded. 

"Jo will write all the letters you'll have time to answer, " Leighasserted. 

"Oh, she says she's going to Lawrence too, if her pa-paw is elected CountyTreasurer. We'll be in the University together. You'll just have to writeto me, Leighlie. "

"Not unless you go to China. I'll send you a letter there like I used tosend to Prince Quippi. " There was a sudden pathos in her tone. 

"Will you? Oh, Leigh, will you?" Thaine asked, gaily, looking down intoher face, white and dainty in the soft light. "Quippi never answered oneof them, but I would if I was over there, and I may go yet. There's notelling. "

Leigh looked up with her eyes full of pain. 

"Why, I didn't mean to tease you, " Thaine declared. 

"Thaine, Pryor Gaines is to start to China tomorrow. He's been planning itfor weeks and weeks. He's going to be a missionary and he'll never comeback again--and--and there is so much for me to do when he is gone. He hasbeen such a kind helper all these years. His refined taste has meant somuch to me in the study of painting, and I need him now. "

Thaine gave a low whistle of surprise. Leigh's eyes were full of tears, but Thaine would not have dared to take her in his arms, as he had takenJo Bennington. 

"Little neighbor, we've been playmates nearly all our lives. Can't I helpyou in some way?" he asked gently. 

"Yes, you can, " Leigh replied in a low voice. "There are some things Imust do for Uncle Jim and when you are doing _for_ people you can't tellthem nor depend on their advice. When Pryor is gone, may I ask yousometimes what to do? I won't bother you often. "

Asher Aydelot had declared that Alice Leigh was the prettiest girl in Ohioin her day. 

The pink-tinted creamy lilies looking up from the still surface of thelakelet were not so fair as the pink-tinted face of Alice Leigh'sdaughter, framed in the soft brown shadows of her hair with a hint of goldin the ripples at the white temples. And behind the face, looking outthrough long-lashed violet eyes, was loving sacrifice and utterself-forgetfulness. 

Thaine was nineteen and wise to give advice. A sudden thrill caught hispulse, mid-beat. 

"Is that all? Can't I _do_ something?" he asked eagerly. 

"That's a great deal. And nobody can _do_ for anybody. We have to _do_ forourselves. "

"You are not doing anything for Uncle Jim, then, I am to understand, "Thaine said. 

But Leigh ignored his thrust, saying:

"When Pryor leaves, he doesn't want to say good-by to anybody, not even toUncle Jim. He says China is only a little way off, just behind the purplenotches over there. I'm going to take him to the train tomorrow and thenI'm going on to Wykerton on business. After that, I may need lots ofadvice. "

"Wykerton's a joint-ridden place, but John Jacobs has put a good class offarmers around it. He's such an old saloon hater, Hans Wyker'd like tokill him. But say, why not tell me now what you are about, so I can belooking up references and former judicial decisions handed down in similarcases?" Thaine asked lightly. 

"Because it's too long a story, and I must get Pryor to the eight o'clocklimited, " Leigh said. 

The crowing of chickens in a far away farmyard came faintly at thatmoment, and Thaine with a strange new sense of the importance of living, sent the black horses cantering down the trail to the old Cloverdale Ranchhouse. 

Jo Bennington slept late. She had been up late. She had danced often andshe had waited for Thaine's homecoming. Yet, when she came downstairs ina white morning dress all sprinkled with little pink sprays, there washardly a hint of weariness in her young face or in her quick footsteps. 

"I'm glad you stayed, Jo, " Mrs. Aydelot greeted her. "This is 'the morningafter the night before, ' and, as usual, the desertions equal the woundedand imprisoned. Asher and the men had to go across the river early to lookafter the fences and washouts on the lower quarter. And Rosie Gimpkedecided to go home this morning as soon as breakfast was done. So it isleft for us to get the house over the party. Not so easy as getting readyfor it, especially without help. "

"Where's Thaine?" Jo asked carelessly, though her face was a tattler. 

"He took some colts over to John Jacobs' ranch. He had Rosie ride one andhe rode another and led two. They were a sight. I hoped you might see themgo by your window. Thaine had his hat stuck on like a Dutchman's and hepuffed himself out and made up a regular Wyker face as he jogged along. And Rosie plumped herself down on that capering colt as though she shiftedall responsibility for accidents upon it. The more it pranced about, thefirmer she sat and the less concerned she was. I heard Thaine calling out, 'Breakers ahead!' as he watched her bring it back into the road in frontof him with a sort of side kick of her foot. "

"What made Gimpke leave?" Jo asked, to cover her disappointment. 

"She cut her hand badly last night. She insisted at first that she wouldhelp me today and go home later to stay till it gets well. Then shesuddenly changed her mind. Possibly it was the spare-room bed, " Virginiasaid laughing. "When I told her not to wake you when she made up the otherbeds, she suddenly got homesick, her hand grew worse and she flew thepremises. I'll run up and attend to that bed while you finish yourbreakfast, " and Virginia left the room. 

At that moment young Todd Stewart appeared on the side porch before thedining room door. 

"Thaine stopped long enough to ask me to come over and move furniture forhis mother, " Todd sang out. "He doesn't think you were made to liftcupboards and carry chairs downstairs. "

"Oh, it's his mother he's thinking about, " Jo said with pretty petulance. In truth, she was angry with Thaine for taking Leigh home last night andfor leaving home today. 

"No, it's his mother he's ceased to love, " Todd said, coming inside. "Hesaid he'd quit the old home and was moving his goods up to Wolf Creek forkeeps. And with that fat tow-headed Gimpke girl sitting on the frisky baycolt as unconcerned as a bump on a log, it was the funniest sight I eversaw. "

Jo tossed her head contemptuously. 

"Say, Curly Locks, Curly Locks, you ought to always sit on a cushion andsew a fine seam and wear a dress to breakfast with those little pinkdu-dads scattered over it. "

"Not if I was a farmer's wife, " Jo responded quickly. 

"Oh, Jo, do you really want to be a city girl?" Todd's face was franklysorrowful. "Could you never be satisfied on a farm?"

"I don't believe I ever could, " Jo said prettily. 

"Thaine's a farmer all right, Jo. "

"He isn't going to be one always, " Jo broke in quickly. "He's going to theKansas University and there's no telling after that. "

"No, he's just going to Wykerton, that's all. Nay, he have went. Him andhim fraulein. And say, there's another pretty fraulein went up the trailjust ahead of the Aydelot horse party. A sweetheart of a girl whom ThaineAydelot took home after all last night. "

"I don't care where Thaine goes, " Jo cried. 

"And you don't care for a farmer anyhow, " Todd said suavely. 

"Oh, that depends on how helpful he is, " Jo responded tactfully. 

Todd sprang up and began to fling the chairs about with extravagant energyin his pretense of being useful. 

"Let's help Mrs. Aydelot as swift as possible. It's hot as the dickensthis morning, and the prognostics are for a cyclone before twelve hours. It's nearly eleven of 'em now. I'll take you home when we are through. Thaine isn't the whole of Grass River and the adjacent creeks andtributaries and all that in them is. "

CHAPTER XV

THE COBURN BOOK

 And I see, from my higher level, It is not the path but the pace That wearies the back, and dims the eye, And writes the lines on the face. --Margaret E. Sangster. 

Meanwhile the May sunshine beat hot upon the green prairie, and thepromised storm gathered itself together behind the horizon where the threeheadlands were lost in an ash-colored blur. Wykerton, shut in by thebroken country about Big Wolf Creek, was more uncomfortable than the openprairie. And especially was it uncomfortable in the "blind tiger" of theWyker eating-house. 

Today the men of the old firm of Champers & Co. Were again holding ameeting in this little room that could have told of much lawless plottingif walls could only tell. 

"It's danged hot in here, Wyker. Open that window, " Darley Champerscomplained. "What kept you fellows so long, anyhow?"

"Business kep' me, and Smith here, he stop to peek at a pretty girl forgoot as ten minute, " Hans Wyker said jocosely. 

Champers stared at Thomas Smith, whose small eyes gleamed back at him. 

"Oh, I just turned to look at Miss Shirley in the dining room. Can't a manlook at a pretty girl if he is past forty-five? She didn't see me, though. "

"Naw, she see nopotty but young Aydelot sitting mit her. Why you take oopprecious time peekin' trough der crack in der kitchen door? I be back in aminute vonce. Smitt haf business mit you, " Wyker declared as he turned tothe kitchen again. 

Left together, the two men sat silent a moment. Then Champers said with afrown:

"What do you want now? We've got no business with each other except as Iam agent for your rents and mortgages. "

"You seem to fatten on them, or something, " Smith answered insinuatingly. "You lose no flesh with the years, I see. "

"I've little occasion to worry, " Darley Champers replied meaningly. 

"Not with a fat income like yours and small returns to your employer who'skept you all these years, " Smith began, but Darley Champers mentally blewup. It was in the bluffer's game that he always succeeded best. 

"Now, see here, dang you. Get to business. You and Wyker and me dissolvedpartnership long ago. I've been your agent years and years. I've did mybest. I never got so rich you could notice it on my breath. I'm not athief nor a murderer. I keep inside the law. I broke with you fellowsyears ago, except straight contract that'll probate in any court. You area bully in power and a coward out of it. What the devil do you want withme? I'm no bank. Be clear and quick about it and quit your infernaldodgin' human beins like a cut-throat. I've signed your name to no end ofpapers for you when you wouldn't put your own left-handed writin' insight. I have your written permit safe for doin' it. I reckon somebodymust a' put that right hand of yours out of commission sometime. I'll findout about it one of these days myself. "

Thomas Smith sat looking at the speaker with steady gaze. Many linescrossed his countenance now, but the crooked scar had not faded with time. In a coffin his would be the face of an old man. Alive, it was socolorless and uninteresting in expression that not one person in a hundredwould turn to take a second look at him nor dream of the orgies ofdissipation his years could recount. Withal, he had the shabby, run-downappearance as of a man in hard lines financially. 

"I want money and I want it quick, or I'd not come clear out here. And youare going to get it for me. That Cloverdale quarter I've held grown toweeds so long you will sell to the first buyer now. Jim Shirley's at thelast of his string. I did what I wanted to do with him. He'll never own aquarter again, " Smith spoke composedly. 

"Yes, I guess you're right. You've done him to his ruin. Jacobs has amortgage on his home, too, and a Jew's a Jew. He'll close on Jim with asnap yet. It won't be the first time he's done it, " Darley Champersdeclared. 

"And that niece, Tank's girl, he was to protect for Alice Leigh?" Smithasked. 

"Oh, eventually she'll either marry some hired man, I reckon, or go tosewin' or something like it for a livin'. She's a danged pretty girl now, but girls fade quick, " Champers said. 

For just one instant something like remorse swept Smith's face. Then hehardened again as the ruling passion asserted itself. 

"Serves her right, " he said in a tone so brutal that Champers rememberedit. 

"But I tell you I must have money. Two hundred dollars tonight andfourteen hundred inside of two weeks. And you'll get it for me. Youunderstand that. And listen, now. " Smith's voice slowly uncoiled itself toChampers' senses as a snake moves leisurely toward a bird it means to drawto itself. "You say you have signed my name for me and transactedbusiness, handling my money. If you care to air the thing in court, I'mready for you anytime. But do you dare? Well, bring me two hundred dollarsbefore tomorrow and the other fourteen hundred inside of two weeks. Andafter this look out for yourself. "

The threat in the last words was indescribable, and Champers would haveshuddered could he have seen Smith's countenance as he left the room. 

"So he taunts me with being a coward and a brute, a thief and acut-throat; dares to strike me in the face when I've given him a living solong he's forgotten who did it. I'm done with him. But he don't dare tosay a word. "

He shut his lips tightly and slowly clinched his hands. 

"For wy you stare so at dat door yet? Where's Champers?" Hans Wykerdemanded as he came in. 

"The game's between us two now, " Thomas Smith declared, turning to HansWyker. 

And a grim game was plotted then and there. Hans, who had been a perpetuallaw-breaker since the loss of his brewery business, had let his hatred ofJohn Jacobs grow to a virulent poison in his system. While Thomas Smith, whose character Darley Champers had read truly, followed so many wrongpaths down the years that conscience and manhood were strangers to him. From being a financier he had dropped to the employment of a brewers'association. His commission was to tempt young men and boys to drink; tocreate appetites that should build up the brewing business for the future. In the game now, Smith was to deliver beer and whisky into Wyker's hands. Wyker would do the rest. Whoever opposed him must suffer for hisrashness. 

It was cooler in the large dining-room where Thaine Aydelot and LeighShirley had met by chance at noontime. Leigh's face wore a deeper bloomand her eyes were shining with the exciting events of the day: the goingof Pryor Gaines and the business that had brought her to Wykerton. Something like pain stabbed suddenly into Thaine Aydelot's mind as hecaught sight of her, a surprise to find how daintily attractive she was inher cool summer gown of pale blue gingham and her becoming hat with itsbroad brim above her brown-gold hair. 

"I didn't expect to find you here, " Leigh said as Thaine took the chairopposite her at the little table. 

"I came over to Little Wolf with Rosie Gimpke and some other colts. Then Iwalked over here to catch a ride to Careyville, if I could, " Thaine saidcarelessly. 

"You can ride with me if you want to. I'll be going soon after dinner, "Leigh suggested. 

"Oh, I'll want to all right. It may be well to start early. It's so hot Iexpect there'll be a storm before night, " Thaine suggested, wondering thewhile what Leigh's business in Wykerton might be. 

Darley Champers was in a fever when he came from his conference withThomas Smith. Smith had played large sums into his hands in the firstyears of their partnership. Of late the sums had all gone the other way. But Champers was entangled enough to know that he must raise the moneyrequired, and the land was the only asset. Few things are more difficultto accomplish than to find a buyer for what must be sold. 

At the office Leigh was waiting for him. "Mr. Champers, I am Leigh Shirleyfrom the Cloverdale place on Grass River, " she said, looking earnestly upat him. 

Darley Champers was no ladies' man, but so far as in his coarse-grainednature lay, he was never knowingly rude to a woman, and Leigh's manner andpresence made the atmosphere of his office comfortingly different from theplace he had just quitted. The white lilac bush in the yard behind theoffice whose blossoms sent a faint odor through the rear door, seemed todouble its fragrance. 

"Sit down, madam. I'm pleased to meet you. Can I be of any service to youtoday?" he said with bluff cordiality. 

"Yes, sir. I want to buy the quarter section lying southeast of us. It wasthe old Cloverdale Ranch once. It belongs to Champers & Co. Now, therecords show, and I want to get it. It was my Uncle Jim Shirley's firstclaim. "

Darley Champers stared at the girl and said nothing. 

"What do you ask for it?" Leigh inquired. 

Still the real estate dealer was silent. 

"Isn't it for sale? It is all weed-grown and hasn't been cultivated foryears. "

The tremor in the girl's voice reached the best spot in Darley Champers'trade-hardened heart. 

"Lord, yes, it's for sale!" he broke out. 

A sense of relief at this sudden opportunity, combined with the intensesatisfaction of getting even with Thomas Smith, overwhelmed him. Smithwould rave at the sale to a Shirley, yet this sale had been demanded. Champers had written Smith's name into too many documents to need theowner's handwriting in this transaction. Smith would leave town in theevening. The whole thing was easy enough. While Leigh waited, the realhumaneness of which Champers so often boasted found its voice within him. 

"I'll sell it for sixteen hundred dollars if I can get two hundred downtoday and the rest in cash inside of two weeks. But I must close thebargain today, you understand. "

He had fully meant to make it seventeen hundred fifty dollars. It was theunknown humane thing in him that cut off his own commission. 

"It's worth it, " he said to himself. "Won't Thomas Smith, who's got noname to sign to a piece of paper, won't he just cuss when it's all did!It's worth my little loss just to get something dead on him. The trickythief!"

"I'll take it, " Leigh said, a strange light glowing in her eyes and a firmline settling about her red lips. 

Champers couldn't realize an hour later how it was all done, nor why withsuch a poor bargain for himself he should feel such satisfaction as he sawLeigh Shirley and Thaine Aydelot driving down the road toward Little Wolftogether. Neither could he understand why the perfume of white lilacblossoms from the bush in the back yard of his office should seem so sweetthis morning. He was not a flower lover. But he felt the two hundreddollars of good money in his pocket and chuckled as he forecasted thehour of Thomas Smith's discovery. 

"This is a shadier road than the one I came over this morning, " Leigh saidas she and Thaine followed the old trail toward Little Wolf Creek. 

"It's a little nearer, too, and you'll see by casting a glimpse westwardthat things are doing over Grass River way, " Thaine replied. 

Leigh saw that a sullen black cloud bank was heaving above the westernhorizon and felt the heated air of the May afternoon. 

"I don't like storms when I'm away from home, " she said. 

"Are you afraid, like Jo Bennington? She has the terrors over them. Wewere out once when she nearly bankrupted everything, she was so scared. "

Thaine recalled a stormy night when Jo had clung to his arm to the dangerof both of them and the frightened horse he could hardly control. 

"No, I'm not afraid. I just don't like being blown about. I am glad Ihappened to find you, to be blown about, too, if it's necessary, " Leighreplied. 

"'Happened' is a good word, Leigh. You happened on what I managed youshould, else that long circus performance with Mademoiselle RosellaGimpkello, famous bareback rider, had not been put on the sawdust this hotday. "

"What are you saying, Thaine Aydelot?" Leigh asked. 

"You said last night you were coming over here today and that after youhad come you might need my advice. Me for the place where my advice isneeded ever, on land or water. Rosie's hand isn't fit to use yet. I knewthat was a nasty glass cut, so I met her in the hall upstairs early thismorning and persuaded her to come over today. It gave me the excuse Iwanted--to get here by mere happening. "

"And leave Mrs. Aydelot all the cleaning up to do. Humane son!" Leighexclaimed. 

"Oh, Jo stayed all night, and I stopped at Todd Stewart's place andpersuaded him down to help mother and Jo. It wasn't hard work to get himpersuaded, either. "

"Aren't you jealous of Todd?" Leigh asked, with a demure curve of herlip. 

"Ought I be? He hasn't anything I want, " Thaine retorted. 

"No, he's a farmer. Some folks don't like farmers. "

"I don't blame them, " Thaine said thoughtlessly. "I haven't much use for afarm myself. But Leigh, am I an unnecessary evil? I really turned 'RoryRumpus' and 'rode a raw-boned racer' clear over here just to be ready tohelp you. I wish now I'd stayed home and dried the knives and forks andspoons for my mammie. "

"Oh, Thaine, you are as good as--as alfalfa hay, and I need you more todaythan I ever did in my life before. "

"And I want to help you more than anything. Don't be a still cat, Leighlie. Tell me what you are up to. "

They had reached the steep hill beyond the Jacobs sheep range where thenarrow road with what John Jacobs called "the scary little twist" wounddown between high banks to a shadowy hollow leading out to the open trailby the willows along Big Wolf. At the break in the bank, opening a roughway down to the deep waters of Little Wolf, a draught of cool air sweptup refreshingly against their faces. Thaine flattened the buggy top underthe shade of overhanging trees and held the horse to the spot to enjoy thedelightful coolness. They had no such eerie picture to prejudice themagainst the place as the picture that haunted John Jacobs' mind here. 

"I've bought a ranch, Thaine; the quarter section that Uncle Jim enteredin 1870, " Leigh said calmly. 

"Alice Leigh Shirley, are you crazy?" Thaine exclaimed. 

"No, I'm safe and sane. But that's why I need your advice, " Leighanswered. 

Something in the girl's appealing voice and perfect confidence offriendship, so unlike Jo Bennington's pouting demands and pretty coquetry, came as a revelation and a sense of loss to Thaine. For he loved Jo. Hewas sure of that, cock-sure. 

"It's this way, " Leigh went on, "you know how Uncle Jim lost everything inthe boom except his honor. He's helped everybody who needed help, andeverybody likes him, I guess. "

"I never knew anybody who didn't, " Thaine agreed. 

"So many things, I needn't name them all, bad crops, bad faith on the partof others, bad luck and bad judgment and bad health, for all his size, have helped till he is ready to go hopeless, and Uncle Jim's onlyfifty-one. It's no time to quit till you're eighty in such a good oldstate as Kansas, " Leigh asserted. "Only, big as he is, he's not a realstrong man, and crumples down where small nervy men stand up. "

"Well, lady landlord, how can I advise you? You are past advising. Youhave already bought, " Thaine said. 

"You can tell me how to pay for the ranch, " Leigh declared calmly. "Ibought of Darley Champers for sixteen hundred dollars. I paid two hundreddown just now. I've been saving it two years; since I left the high schoolat Careyville. Butter and eggs and chickens and some other things. " Shehesitated, and a dainty pink tint swept her cheek. 

Why should a girl be so deliciously fair with the bloom of summer on hercheeks and with little ringlets curling in baby-gold hair about hertemples and at her neck, and with such red lips sweet to kiss, and thenput about herself a faint invisible something that should make the youngman beside her blush that he would even think of being so rude as to tryto kiss her. 

"And you paid how much?" Thaine asked gravely. 

"Two hundred dollars. I want to borrow fourteen hundred more and get itclear away from Darley Champers. I'm sure with a ranch again, Uncle Jimwill be able to win out, " Leigh insisted. 

"What's on it now?" Thaine asked. 

"Just weeds and a million sunflowers. Enough to send Prince Quippi such amessage he'd have to write back a real love letter to me, " Leigh replied. 

"Leighlie, you can't do it. You might pay interest maybe, year in and yearout, the gnawing, wearing interest. That's all you'd do even with yourhens and butter. Don't undertake the burden. "

"I've already done it, " Leigh declared. 

"Throw it up. You can't make it, " Thaine urged. 

"I know I can, " Leigh maintained stoutly. 

"You can't. "

"I can. "

"How?" Thaine queried hopelessly. 

"If I can get the loan--"

"Which you can't, " Thaine broke in. "Any man on Grass River will tell youthe same, if you don't want to believe the word of a nineteen-year-oldboy. "

"Thaine, I must do something. Even our home is mortgaged. Everything isslipping out from under us. You don't know what that means. "

"My father and mother knew it over and over. " Thaine's face was full ofsympathy. 

"And they won out. I'm not so foolish after all. When they came out here, they took the prairies as Nature had left them, grass-covered and waiting. I'm taking them as the boom left them, weed-covered and waiting. I'll earnthe interest myself and make the land pay the principal and I know exactlyhow it will do it, too. "

"Tell me how, " Thaine demanded. 

"It's no dream. I got the idea out of a Coburn book last winter, " Leighreplied. 

"You mean the State Agricultural Report of Secretary Coburn? Funny placeto hunt for inspiration; queer gospel, I'd say, " Thaine declared. "Whydidn't you go to the census report of 1890, or Radway's Ready ReliefAlmanac, or the Unabridged Dictionary?"

"All right, you despiser of small things. It was just an agriculturalreport full of tables and statistics and comparative values and thingsthat I happened on one day when things were looking blackest, and right inthe middle I found a page that Foster Dwight Coburn must have put in justfor me, I guess. There was a little sketch of an alfalfa plant with itslong good roots, and just one paragraph beside it with the title, 'TheSilent Subsoiler. '"

"That sounds well, " Thaine observed. He was listening eagerly in spite ofhis joking, and his mind was alert to the girl's project. 

"Mr. Coburn said, " Leigh went on, "that there are some silent subsoilersthat do their work with ease and as effectually as any plow ever hitched, and the great one of these is alfalfa; that it is a reservoir of wealththat takes away the fear of protest and over-draft. "

"Well, and what if Coburn is right?" Thaine queried. 

"Listen, now. I planned how I'd get back that old claim of Uncle Jim's;how I'd pay some money down and borrow the rest, and begin seeding it toalfalfa. Then I'll churn and feed chickens and make little sketches ofwater lilies, maybe, and pay the interest and let the alfalfa pay off theprincipal. I haven't any father or mother, Thaine; Uncle Jim is all Ihave. He hasn't always been successful in business ventures, but he'salways been honest. He has nothing to blush for, nothing to keep hidden. Iknow we'll win now, for that writing of Foster Dwight Coburn's is true. Don't try to discourage me, Thaine, " she looked up with shining eyes. 

"You are a silent little subsoiler yourself, Leigh, doing your workeffectually. Of course you'll win, you brave girl. I wish it was adifferent kind of work, though. "

A low peal of thunder rolled up from the darkening horizon, and the sundisappeared behind the advancing clouds. 

"That's our notice to quit the premises. I shouldn't want to ford LittleWolf in a storm. It is ugly enough any time and was bank full when I tookRosie Posie over this morning. And say, her mother's got a face like abrass bedstead. "

Thaine was lifting the buggy top as he spoke. Suddenly he exclaimed:

"Oh, Leigh, look down yonder. "

He pointed down the little rift toward the water. 

"Where?" Leigh asked, looking in the direction of his hand. 

"Across the creek, around by the side of that hill. That's the Gimpke homestuck in there where you'd never think of looking for a house from uphere. They can see anybody that goes up this lonely hill and nobody cansee them. If I was gunning for Gimpkes, I'd lie in wait right here, "Thaine declared. 

"Maybe, if the Gimpkes were gunning for you, they could pick you off asyou went innocently up this Kyber Pass and you'd never know what hit younor live to tell the tale; and they so snugly out of sight nobody but youwould ever have sighted them, " Leigh replied. "But let's hurry on. It willbe cooler on the open prairie than down there along the creek trail. Andif we are storm-stayed, we are storm-stayed, that's all. "

"You are the comfortablest girl a fellow could have, Leighlie. You aren'ta bit scared of storms like--"

"Yes, like Jo. I can't help it. I never was much of a 'fraid cat, but Idon't mind admitting I am fonder of water in lakes and rivers andwater-color drawings than thumping down on my head from the little end ofa cyclone funnel. "

The air grew cooler in their homeward ride, while they followed the sameold Sunflower Trail that Asher and Virginia Aydelot had followed oneSeptember day a quarter of a century before. And, for some reason, theydid not stop to question, neither was eager to reach the end of the trailtoday. 

As they came to a crest of the prairie looking down a long verdant slopetoward what was now a woodsy draw, Thaine said, "Leigh, my mother was losthere somewhere once and Doctor Carey found her. Maybe Doctor Carey is theman to help you now. "

"Oh, Thaine, I believe I could ask Doctor Carey for anything. You are sogood to think of him, " Leigh exclaimed. "I knew you'd help me out. "

"Yes, I'm good. That's my trade, " Thaine replied. "And I'm pretty brave tooffer advice, too. But if you want to talk any about courage, mine's adifferent brand from yours. I may be a soldier myself some day. BrotherAydelot of the Sunflower Ranch, trustee of the Grass River M. E. Church, fit, bled, and died in the Civil War and was not quite my age now when hecame out all battle-scoured and gory. I always said I'd be a soldier likemy popper. But I'd fall in a dead faint before that alfalfa and mortgagebusiness you face like a hero. It's getting cooler. See, the storm didn'tget this side of the purple notches; it stayed over there with PryorGaines and Prince Quippi. "

They rode awhile in silence, then Thaine said: "Leigh, I will go up toCareyville and send Doctor Carey down to Cloverdale to see you. It willsave you some time at least, and I'll tell him you want to see himparticularly and alone. You can tell me the result Sunday if you want to. "

Leigh did not reply, but gratitude in the violet eyes made wordsunnecessary. 

On the Sabbath after the party, Thaine Aydelot waited at the church doorfor Jo Bennington, who loitered out slowly, chatting the while with ToddStewart. 

"Let me take you home, Jo. I see your carriage will be full with thecompany you will have today, " Thaine said. 

Jo looked with a pretty pout at the invited guests gathered about hermother and father waiting for her at the family carriage. 

"Thank you, yes. I am glad to get away from those tiresome goody-goodies. It looks like the Benningtons are taking the whole official board and the'amen corner' home for dinner. "

"Then come to the Sunflower Inn and dine with me. Rosie Gimpke came backlast night and she promised me shortcake and sauerkraut and pretzels andschooners of Grass River water. Do come. "

Indeed, Thaine had been most uncomfortable since the day at Wykerton, andhe wanted to be especially good to Jo now. He didn't know exactly why, norhad he felt any jealousy at the bright looks and the leisure preferenceshe had just given to Todd Stewart. 

"Oh, you are too good. Yes, I'll go, of course, " Jo exclaimed. "Can't wego down to the grove and see the lilies this afternoon, too?"

"Yes, we can go to China if we want to, " Thaine declared. "Wait here inthe shade until I drive up. "

Teams were being backed away from the hitching-rack, and much chatting ofneighbors was everywhere. Jim Shirley was not at church today, and Jo sawLeigh Shirley going alone toward the farther end of the rack where herbuggy stood, while three or four young men were rushing to untie herhorse. Jo, turning to speak to some neighbors, did not notice who hadoutdistanced the others in this country church courtesy until she realizedthat the crowd was going, and down the deserted hitching line LeighShirley sat in her buggy talking with Thaine, who was standing beside itwith his foot on the step, looking up earnestly into her face. 

Jo was no better pleased that Leigh's face was like a fair picture underher white hat, and she felt her own cheeks flushing as she saw how cooland poised and unhurried her little neighbor appeared. 

"Thank you, Thaine. All right. Don't forget, then, " Jo heard her say asshe gathered up the reins, and noted that it was her motion and not theyoung man's that cut short the interview. 

"Leigh is a leech when she has the chance, " Jo said jokingly, as the twosat in the Aydelot buggy at last. 

When one has grown up from babyhood the ruling spirit in a neighborhood, her opinions are to be accepted. 

Thaine gave Jo a quick look but said nothing. 

"By the way, papa says Jim isn't very well this summer. Says he stillgrieves over the farm he lost. Leigh hasn't much ahead of her, nailed downto a chicken lot and a cow pasture and a garden. I wonder they don't moveto town. She'd get a clerkship, maybe. "

Thaine only waited, and Jo ran on. 

"I'd never stay in the country a minute if I could get to town. I'll beglad when papa's elected treasurer, so we can live in Careyville again. Poor Leigh. Doesn't she look like a drudge?"

Still Thaine was silent. 

"Why don't you say something?" Jo demanded, looking coquettishly at him. 

"About what?" he asked gravely. 

"About Leigh. I don't want to do all the gossiping. Tell me what you thinkof her. "

"It would take a Cyclopedia Britannica set of volumes to do that, " Thainereplied. 

"Oh, be serious and answer my questions, " Jo demanded. 

"'Doesn't she look like a drudge?' What kind of an answer--information orjust my opinion?"

"Oh, your opinion, of course, " Jo said. 

"If she looks like a drudge, it's what she is. " The young man's eyes wereon his team. 

"I thought you liked her, " Jo insisted. 

"I do, " Thaine replied. 

"How much, pray?"

"I haven't measured yet. "

Thaine Aydelot was by inheritance a handsome young fellow, and as heturned now to his companion, something in his countenance gave it amanliness not usual to his happy-go-lucky expression. But the sameunpenetrable something beyond which no one could see was always on hisface when Jo talked of Leigh. 

"How much do you like me?" The query was daringly put, but the beauty ofthe girl's striking face seemed to warrant anything from her lips, howeverdaring. 

"A tremendous lot, I know that, " Thaine replied quickly, and Jo droppedher eyes and began to chatter of other things. 

In the afternoon the cool grove was inviting, and Thaine and Jo loiteredabout in careless enjoyment of woodland shadows and wind-dimpled watersand Sabbath quiet and one another. 

"I want father to have a little boathouse over by the lily corner and makea picnic place here sometime, " Thaine said as they sat by the lake in thelate afternoon. 

"Such a nice place for you to come in the summer. Aren't you glad youdon't just have to stay in the country?" Jo asked. 

"Would you never be satisfied in the country, Jo?" Thaine queried. "Not ifyou had a home there?"

Jo blushed and her face was exquisite in its rich coloring. 

"Would you be?" she asked. 

"Oh, I'd like to do something worth while, " Thaine replied. "Fatherdoesn't say much, but he wants me here, I know. "

"He will get over it, I'm sure, " Jo insisted. "Why should the firstgeneration here weight us all down here, too? I hope you'll not give up toyour father. I wouldn't, " Jo said defiantly. 

"Did you ever give up to him?" Thaine asked. 

"No, he gives up to me. " The words were too sweetly said to seem harsh. 

"I don't blame him, " Thaine added. 

"I don't believe any of our crowd will stay here like the old folks havedone, except Todd Stewart and, of course, Leigh, " Jo declared. 

"Say, Jo, my folks don't look old to me. Mummie is younger andgood-lookinger than anybody, except--"

"Leigh Shirley, " Jo broke in. 

Thaine looked at his watch without replying. 

"Is it late? You must take me home, now, " Jo said. "You'll be overtonight, won't you? We will have some company from Careyville who want tomeet you. "

"I'm sorry, but I promised Leigh up here at church that I'd go over toCloverdale for a little while tonight. "

Thaine could not tell Jo of Leigh's affairs, and he felt that theShirleys' intimacy with his father's family and his own expressedadmiration and attention to Jo were sufficient to protect him fromjealousy. Jo stiffened visibly. 

"Thaine Aydelot, what's the reason for your actions--Oh, I don't care. Goto Shirley's, by all means. Everybody to his likes, " she cried angrily. 

"Well, that's my rathers for tonight, and I can't help it, " Thaineanswered hotly. 

"Of course you can't. Let's go home quick so you can get off early, " Josaid in an angered tone. 

"I'll go as slowly as I can. You can't get rid of me so. " Thaine wasgetting control of himself again. 

"Say, Thaine, tell me why you go away from our company tonight, " Jopleaded softly, putting her hand on her companion's arm. "Don't you careto come to our house any more?"

They were in the buggy now on the driveway across the lake. Thainerecalled the moonlight hour when he sat with Leigh, of how little Leighseemed to be thinking of herself, of how he had admired her because shedemanded no admiration from him. Was there an obligation demanded heretoday? And had he given grounds for such obligation? Past question, hehad. 

"Jo, you must take me just as I am, " he said. "All the boys are ready tocrowd into any place I vacate around Cyrus Bennington's premises. Youwon't miss one from your company tonight. I may get desperate--and killoff a few of them sometime to make you really miss me. "

He knew he was talking foolishly. He had felt himself superior to theother young men who obeyed every wish of Jo's. He had been flatteredalways by her evident preference for his company, and had not thought ofhimself as being controlled by her before. He had been too willing to doher bidding. Today, for the first time, her rule was irksome. In spite ofhis efforts to be agreeable, the drive homeward was not a happy one. 

It was twilight when Thaine reached the Cloverdale Ranch and found Leighwaiting for him on the wide porch. All the way down the river he had beencalling himself names and letting his conscience stab him unmercifully. And once when something spoke within him, saying, "You never told Jo youwere fond of her. You have not done her any wrong, " he stifled back thepleasing voice and despised himself for trying to find such excuse. He wasonly nineteen and had not had the stern discipline of war that AsherAydelot had known at the same age. 

Jo had offered no further complaint at his refusing her invitation. Sheplayed the vastly more effective part of being grieved but not angry, andher quiet good-by was so unlike pretty imperious Jo Bennington that Thainewas tempted to go back and spend the evening in her company. Yet, strangely enough, he did not blame Leigh for being the cause of hisdiscomfort, as he should have done. As he neared her home, his consciencegrew less and less noisy, and when he sat at last in Jim Shirley's easyporch chair with Leigh in a low rocker facing him, while the long summerSabbath twilight was falling on the peaceful landscape about him, he hadalmost forgotten Jo's claim on him. 

"Doctor Carey came down to see me, " Leigh was saying, "just as you werekind enough to ask him to do. He told me he had no money of his own toloan, but he knew of a fund he might control in a few days. He had toleave Kansas yesterday on a business trip, but he will see me as soon ashe comes back. "

"Better than gold! Your plans just fall together and fit in, don't they?"Thaine exclaimed. "Will he be back in time, though?"

"Yes. But really, Thaine, " Leigh's eyes were beautiful in the twilight, "Inever should have thought of Doctor Carey if it hadn't been for you. "

"I am of some use to the community after all, " Thaine said with seriousface. 

"You are a great deal of use to me, " Leigh assured him. 

"Oh, anybody else could do all I do for you, " he retorted. 

"But I wouldn't ask anybody else, " the girl replied. 

"Not even my mother? She thinks there is no girl like you this side ofheaven, or Virginia, anyhow, and she'd have taken it up with father, "Thaine declared. 

"I thought of her, " Leigh answered, "but in things like this, it isimpossible. You said yourself that no man on Grass River would think it awise plan. Your father won his fight out here, even his fight against theboom. We have a different wilderness to overcome, I guess. Mine isreclaiming that Cloverdale ranch from the Champers Company and the weeds. I don't know where your battlefield lies, but you'll have it, and it'sbecause you haven't won yet that I can come to you. You have helped me andyou always will. "

"I'm glad you came to me, anyhow, " Thaine assured her. 

They sat awhile looking out at the prairies and the line of the riverglistening in the gloaming. A faint pink tone edged some gray cloud flakesin the southwest sky and all the scene was restful in the soft eveninglight. 

At last Thaine said thoughtfully: "I haven't heard the bugle trumpet formy call to battle yet. Maybe I'll find out down at the University and makeeverybody proud of me some day as I am proud of you in your fight for aweed-covered quarter of prairie soil. Jo Bennington is always ridiculingcountry life, and yet she's pretty fond of Todd Stewart, who is more of afarmer every day. "

A little smile curved the corners of Leigh's mouth, and Thaine knew herthoughts. 

"You are not a bit alike, you two girls, " he exclaimed. 

"Does it make any difference? There's only one of a kind of anything inthis world, flower or fruit or leaf or life, " Leigh added. "I found thatout in painting. There's only one Jo, and one Pryor Gaines, and one JaneAydelot as I remember her back in Ohio; one anything or anybody. "

"And only one Leigh in all the world. "

It was not the usual bantering tone now, and there was something in theexpression of Thaine's handsome face; something looking out from his darkeyes that Leigh did not see, because she was looking out at the lightsand shadows of evening. 

The sunset's afterglow had thrown a splendor far up the sky. In itsreflected light, softened by twilight shadows, Leigh made a pictureherself that an artist might love to paint. 

She turned away at his words, and a quiver of pain swept her face asThaine leaned toward her eagerly. 

"Oh, Leigh, I wasn't joking. You are so unlike anybody else. " He broke offsuddenly. But Leigh was herself again and, smiling frankly, she added, "Let's count our blessings, then, and be thankful it's no worse. "

Thaine rose at once. 

"I must be going. It is after eight and I ought to be at Bennington's now. I am so glad, I am so honored, to have your confidence. Won't you keeptelling me your plans, and if I can help you, will you let me do it?"

He had taken Leigh's hand in good-by and held it as he put the question. 

"I'll be so glad to have your help, for we will see things alike, not asthe older people see for us. It is only at our age that we dare takerisks. Your father and Uncle Jim wouldn't come to Kansas now if it werenow like it was when they were twenty-one. "

Thaine did not release her hand. 

"I'm glad there is only one Leigh, " he said softly. 

The light of his eyes and the sympathetic tone seemed all unlike the heirof the Sunflower Ranch, yet very much like the spirit of the father whohad wrested it from the wilderness, and the mother who had courageouslyshared his every need. 

"I don't know tonight where my wilderness lies. But I hope, little girl, Ihope I'll fight as good a battle on my frontier as my father has done--asyou are doing. Good-night. "

He hurried away and, falling into the gay company at Bennington's, waswelcomed by Jo as a penitent, and abundantly forgiven. 

While down at Cloverdale, Leigh Shirley sat long alone, looking withunseeing eyes at the twilight into which he had vanished. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE HUMANENESS OF CHAMPERS

 What is the use of trying to make things worse? Let's find things to do, and forget things. --_The Light That Failed. _

On the third day after Darley Champers had closed with Leigh Shirley, Horace Carey walked into his office. 

"Hello, Champers, how's business?" he asked, with the cheerful way thatdrew even his enemies to him. 

"Danged bad!" Champers replied. "Rotten world is full of danged fools whowant money and ain't satisfied when you get it for 'em. "

"Have you made such a sale lately?" Carey inquired. 

"Yes; day before yesterday, " Champers replied. 

"Was it the old Jim Shirley quarter, the Cloverdale Ranch?" the doctorasked. 

"The very place, and I'm in a devil of a fix, too, " Darley Champersdeclared. "The trouble is I'm dead sure I'll not get the other fourteenhundred. "

Thomas Smith had been paid the two hundred dollars and had fully releasedthe land to Champers to finish the sale. Unfortunately for Champers, Smithstill hung about Wykerton, annoying his agent so much that in a fit ofanger, Champers revealed the fact that Leigh Shirley was the buyer of theCloverdale Ranch. Smith's rage was the greater because he did not believethe price money could be paid by a girl without resources, and againstthis girl he was not now ready to move. The burden of the whole matternow was that Darley Champers had taken his life in his own hands by thedeal. The bulldog in Champers was roused now, and, while he was a goodmany things evil, he was not a coward. 

But for his anger this morning, he would hardly have been so free inanswering Doctor Carey's query. Carey was a living rebuke to him, and noman loves that force anywhere. 

"I tell you, I'm in a devil of a fix, " he repeated. 

"Well, be wise and go to a doctor in time, " Doctor Carey said, only halfin jest. "Champers, we haven't always worked together out here, but Iguess we know each other pretty well. I'm willing to trust you. Are youafraid to trust me?"

Darley Champers leaned back in his office chair and stared at thequestioner. 

Horace Carey's heavy hair was very white now, although he was hardlyfifty-five years old. The decades of consecrated service to his professionhad told only in this one feature. His face was the face of a vigorousman, and something in his life, maybe the meaning of giving up and themeaning of the service, he once told Jim Shirley, he had known, had leftupon his countenance their mark of strength. As Darley Champers looked atthis face, he realized, as he had never done before, the freedom and joyof an unsullied reputation and honest dealing. 

"Lord, no, I'd trust you in hell, Doc, " he exclaimed bluntly. 

"I won't put it to the proof, " the doctor assured him. "Nor will I troubleyou nor myself with any matter not concerning us two. Tell me frankly allthe trouble about this sale. "

Briefly, Champers explained Smith's hatred of Jim Shirley, and his angerat the present sale. 

"All I ask is that you will not break your word to Miss Shirley, " HoraceCarey said. "I happen to know that the money will be ready for you. ThisSmith is the same man who came to old Carey's Crossing years ago, ofcourse?"

"Why, do you remember him?" Darley Champers asked in surprise. 

"I've crossed his trail a hundred times since then, and it's always anill-smelling trail. Some day I may follow it a bit myself. You'll do wellto break with him, " the doctor assured him. 

"If Doc Carey ever starts on that hyena's trail, I'd like to be in at theend of the chase, " Champers declared with a grin. 

"Why not help a bit yourself? I'm going East for a week. When I come back, I'll see you. Maybe I can help you a little to get his claws unhooked fromyour throat, " Carey suggested, and the two men shook hands and separated. 

Champers stood up and breathed deeply. The influence of an upright man'spresence is inspiring. Horace Carey did not dream that his confidence andgood will that day were turning the balances for Darley Champers for theremainder of his life. Champers was by nature a ferret, and Carey'sparting words took root and grew in his mind. 

The May rains that had flooded Grass River and its tributaries did worsefor Clover Creek in Ohio a few days later. The lower part of the town ofCloverdale was uncomfortably submerged until the high railroad gradeacross the creek on the Aydelot farm broke and let the back water havebroader outlet. 

Doctor Carey had not startled the same old loafers who kept watch over therailway station when he suddenly dropped into the town again. They weretoo busy watching the capers of Clover Creek to attend to their regularpost of duty. And since he had been a guest of Miss Jane Aydelot as muchas a half dozen times in two decades, they knew about what to expect ofhim now. 

They were more interested in a big bluff stranger who dropped into townoff the early morning train, ate a plentiful meal at the depot restaurant, and then strolled down to the creek. He loitered all day about the spotwhere the grade broke, nor did he leave the place when the crowd wascalled away late in the afternoon to a little stream on the other side oftown that had suddenly risen to be a river for the first time in thememory of man. 

To Doctor Carey, Jane Aydelot looked scarce a day older for the dozenyears gone by. Her days were serene and full of good works. Such women donot lose the charm of youth until late in life. 

"I have come for help, as you told me to do when I took Leigh away, "Doctor Carey said as they sat on the south veranda in the pleasant lightof the May evening. 

Jane Aydelot's face was expectant. Nobody except Doctor Carey knew how alittle hungry longing in her eyes disappeared when he made his briefvisits and crept back again when he said good-by. 

"I am waiting always to help you, " she replied. 

"I need fourteen hundred dollars to loan to Leigh, and I must have thatsum at once. "

Miss Jane looked thoughtfully at the deep woodland, hiding the marshes asof old. 

"I can arrange it, " she said presently. "Tell me about it. "

And Horace Carey told her all of Leigh's plans. 

"It is a wonderful undertaking for a girl, but she has faith in herself, and if she fails, the land is abundantly worth the mortgage with nothingbut weeds on it, " the doctor explained. "She is a charming girl. She seemsto have inherited all of her mother's sweetness and artistic gifts, without her mother's submissiveness to others; and from her father, shehas keen business qualities, but fails to inherit his love of gain andtraits of trickery. Her executive mind with her uncle's good heart make awinning team. By the way, my affection for Jim Shirley is leading me tomake some quiet investigation of an agent of Tank's who is hounding Jimand will, I suppose, turn against Leigh. Can you help me at all?"

Doctor Carey had always felt that Miss Jane knew much more than she caredto tell of the Shirley family's affairs. 

She rose without replying and went into the house. In a few minutes shereturned and gave a large sealed envelope into Doctor Carey's hands. 

"Do not use that until it is needed to protect someone from Tank Shirley'sviolence. It is legally drawn and witnessed. You will find it effective ifit is needed at all. "

"I have one more duty, Miss Aydelot, " Doctor Carey said. "My time isbrief. I have an intuition, too, that I may never come East again. "

Jane Aydelot's face whitened, and her hands closed involuntarily on oneanother as she waited. 

"I must have you and Asher Aydelot reconciled. What can I tell him ofyou?"

The pink flush returned to the pale cheeks. 

"Let him read my will. I copied it when I had your telegram two days ago. I cannot give him my property; Uncle Francis' will forbids it. But--takethe copy with you. I hope my wishes will be realized. "

Doctor Carey held her hand long when he bade her good-by. In her cleargray eyes he read a story that gave him infinite sorrow. Stooping down, heput his arm gently about her shoulders and, drawing her to him, kissed heronce on her forehead, and once--just once--on her lips, and was gone. 

They never met again. But those who knew her best in Cloverdale rememberyet that from the Maytime of that year, Miss Jane's face was glorifiedwith a light never there before. 

Down at the creek, Doctor Carey saw a large man intently studying the bankbeyond the break in the railroad grade. Something made the doctor passslowly, for the figure appealed to his interest. Presently, the man turnedaway and, climbing up to the National pike road before him, made his wayinto town. As the last light of evening fell full upon him, it revealed toDoctor Carey a very white face, and eyes that stared, as if seeingnothing--even the bluff face and huge form of Darley Champers. 

Two weeks later when Darley Champers gave Leigh Shirley the deed in herown name to the Cloverdale Ranch, he said, in his bluff way:

"I'm sayin' nothin' against Jim Shirley, madam, when I say I hope you'llkeep this in your own name. Some day you'll know why. And I hope to Gawdyou'll prosper with it. It's cost more'n the money paid out for it to getthat quarter section of prairie out of the wilderness. Sorrow anddisappointment, bad management, and blasted hopes, and hard work, andhate. But I reckon it's clean hands and a pure heart, as the Good Booksays, that you are usin' now. This money don't represent all it'll cost meyet by a danged sight. "

He bade her a hearty good-by and strode away. 

The mortgage for the loan was given to Horace Carey, as agreed uponbetween himself and Miss Jane Aydelot. 

"If Leigh knows it's Aydelot money she might feel like she's taking whatshould be Thaine's. Would the Aydelots feel the same if they knew it?"Miss Jane had asked. 

"The thing the Aydelots have never grieved for is this Ohio inheritance, "Carey answered her. "Asher gave it up to live his life in his own way. Ifyou knew what a prince of a fellow he is, although he's only a Kansasfarmer, you would understand how that prairie ranch and the lure of thesunflower have gripped him to the West, "

The day after the completion of the sale Dr. Carey went to the Big Wolfneighborhood. In the dusk of the evening he drove up to Darley Champers'office in Wykerton. As he was hitching his team Rosie Gimpke rushed out ofthe side street and lunged across to the hitching post. 

"Oh, Doctor Carey, coom queek mit me, " she exclaimed in a whisper. "Coom, I just got here from Mis' Aydelot's. They mak' me coom home to work atthe Wyker House, ant a man get hurt bad in there. Coom, do coom, " sheurged in a frenzy of eagerness. 

"What's the trouble?" Dr. Carey asked. 

"Coom. I show you. I 'fraid the man coom back and finish heem. Don't makeno noise, but coom. " Rosie was clutching hard at Dr. Carey's arm as shewhispered. 

"That sounds surprising, but life is full of surprises, " the doctorthought as he took up his medicine case and followed Rosie's lead. 

The way took them to the alley behind the Wyker House, through a rear gateto the back door of the kitchen, from which it was a short step to thelittle "blind tiger" beyond the dining room. Sounds of boisterous talkingand laughter and a general shuffling of dishes told that the evening mealwas beginning. For her size and clumsiness Rosie whisked the doctor deftlyout of sight and joined the ranks of the waiters in the dining room. 

The only light inside the little room came from the upper half of the onewindow looking toward the alley. As it was already twilight the doctor didnot get his bearings until a huge form on the floor near the table made aneffort to rise. 

"What's the trouble here?" Carey asked in the sympathetic-professionalvoice by which he controlled sick rooms. 

"Lord, Doc, is that you?" Darley Champers followed the words with agroan. 

"You are in a fix, " Carey replied as he lifted Champers to his feet. 

Blood was on his face and clothes and the floor, and Champers himself wasalmost too weak to stand. 

"Get me out of here as quick as you can, Doc, " he said in a thick voice. 

At the same moment Rosie Gimpke appeared from the kitchen. 

"Slip him out queek now. I hold the dining room door tight, " she urged, rushing back to the kitchen. 

Carey moved quickly and had Darley Champers safely out and into his ownoffice before Rosie had need to relax her grip on the dining roomdoor-knob. 

"I guess you've saved me, " Champers said faintly as the doctor examinedhis wounds. 

"Not as bad as that, " Dr. Carey replied cheerfully. "An ugly scalp woundand loss of blood, but you'll come back all right. "

"And a kick in the abdomen, " Champers groaned. "But it was from what wascomin' you saved me. I've never been sick a day in my life and I've hadlittle sympathy for you and your line, and then to be knocked down soquick by a little whiffet like Smith and roll over like a log at the firstblow!"

"You're in luck. Most men in your line ought to have been knocked down agood many times before now, " the doctor declared. "How did this happen?"

"I settled with Smith and made him sign everything up to a hog-tightcontract. Then he started in to abuse me till I got tired and told him I'djust got back from Ohio and a thing or two I saw there. Then he suddenlybelted me and, against all rules of the game, kicked me when I was down, and left me, threatening to come back and finish me. That's what you savedme from. "

"Champers, my old buggy is like a rocking chair. Let me take you homewith me for a few days while you are wearing patches on your head, " HoraceCarey suggested. 

Darley Champers stared at his helper in surprise. Then he said slowly:

"Say, Doc, I've hated you a good many years for doin' just such tricks forfolks. It was my cussedness made me do it, I reckon. I'd like to get outof town a little while. That joint of Wyker's has seen more'n one fellowlaid out, and some of 'em went down Big Wolf later, and some of 'em fellinto Little Wolf and never come out. It's a hole, I tell you. And Smith isa devil tonight. "

On the homeward way Dr. Carey said quietly:

"By the way, Champers, I saw you at Cloverdale, Ohio, last week. "

Champers did not start nor seem surprised as he replied:

"Yes, I seen you, but I didn't want to speak to nobody right then. "

"No?" Dr. Carey questioned. 

"No. I've got hold enough of Smith now to make him afraid of me if I'dturn loose. I'd a made money by doin' it, too. Good clean money. That'swhy he's gettin' good and drunk to beat me up again tonight, maybe. "

"Well, why don't you tighten up on him? Why let a scoundrel like that runfree?" Carey inquired. 

"Because it might drag Leigh Shirley's name into the muss. And I'm nodevourer of widders and orphans; I'm a humane man, and I'll let Smith runtill his tether snaps and he falls over the precipice and breaks his neckfor hisself. Besides I'm not sure now whether he's a agent, representin'some principal, or the principal representin' hisself. And in that caseI'd have to deal the cards different for him, and them he'd do harm to. "

"You are a humane man, Champers, " Carey declared. "I think I've hated you, too, a good many years. These gray hairs of ours ought to make us betterbehaved now. But, even if you do let Smith run, that 'blind tiger' ofWyker's must go out of business. I'll start John Jacobs after that holeone of these days. He holds the balance of power on public sentiment outhere. He'll clear it out. His hatred of saloons is like Smith's hatred ofShirley, only it's a righteous indignation. I've heard John's father was adrunkard and his mother followed her husband into a saloon in Cincinnatito persuade him out and was killed by a drunken tough. Anyhow, John willbreak up that game of Wyker's one of these times. See if he doesn't. "

Darley Champers slowly shifted his huge frame into an easier posture as hereplied:

"Yes, he can do it all right. But mark me, now, the day he runs Hans Wykerout of that doggery business it will be good-by to John Jacobs. You see ifit isn't. I wouldn't start him after it too quick. "

Darley Champers spent two weeks with his physician, and the many friendsof Dr. Carey smiled and agreed with Todd Stewart, who declared:

"Carey would win Satan to be his fast friend if the Old Scratch would onlylet Carey doctor him once. "

But nobody understood how the awakening of the latent manhood in DarleyChampers and his determination to protect an orphan girl were winning thedoctor to him as well. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE PURPLE NOTCHES

 Two things greater than all things are. One is Love, and the other War. And since we know not how War may prove, Heart of my heart, let us talk of Love. --The Ballad of the King's Jest. 

The summer ran its hot length of days, but it was a gay season for thesecond generation in the Grass River Valley. Nor drouth nor heat can muchannoy when the heart beats young. September would see the first scatteringof the happy company for the winter. The last grand rally for the crowdcame late in August. Two hayrack loads of young folks, with some few incarriages, were to spend the day at "The Cottonwoods, " a far-away picnicground toward the three headlands of the southwest. Few of the company hadever visited the place. Distances are deceiving on the prairies and betterpicnic grounds lay nearer to Grass River. 

On the afternoon before the picnic Leigh Shirley took her work to the lawnbehind the house. 

What most ranches gave over to weed patches, or hog lots, or dumpinggrounds along the stream, at Cloverdale had become a shady clover-soddedlawn sloping down to the river's edge. The biggest cottonwoods and elms inthe whole valley grew on this lawn. A hedge of lilac and other shrubberybordered by sunflowers and hollyhocks bounded it from the fields andtrellises of white honeysuckle screened it from the road. 

[Illustration: Leigh turned to see Thaine Aydelot looking down at her ashe leaned over the high back of the rustic seat]

In a rustic seat overlooking the river and the prairies beyond, LeighShirley bent lovingly above a square of heavy white paper on which she wassketching a group of sunflowers glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Leigh'stalent was only an undeveloped inheritance, but if it lacked training it'sfresh originality was unspoiled. 

"The top of the afternoon to you. "

Leigh turned to see Thaine Aydelot looking down at her as he leaned overthe high back of the rustic seat. He was in his working clothes with hisstraw hat set back, showing his brown face. His luminous dark eyes wereshining and a half-teasing, half-sympathetic smile was on his lips. Butwhatever the clothes, there was always something of the Southern gentlemanabout every man of the Thaine blood. Something of the soldierly bearing ofhis father had been his heritage likewise. 

"May I see your stuff, or is it not for the profane eyes of a thresher ofalfalfa to look upon?"

Leigh drew back and held up her drawing-board. 

"It's just like you, Leigh. You always were an artist, but when did youlearn all the technique? Is that what you call it? How do you do it?"

"I don't know, " Leigh answered frankly. "It seems to do itself. "

"And why do you do it? Or why don't you do more of it?" Thaine asked. 

The girl answered, smiling:

"Just between us two, I hope to do a piece good enough to sell and help tolift the price of alfalfa seed a bit. "

"By the way, I brought the first load of seed over just now. Where's UncleJim?" Thaine asked, trying not to let the pity in his heart show itself inhis eyes. 

"Uncle Jim is breaking sod--weeds, I mean--for fall sowing. Wait a minuteand I'll get you the money he left for you. "

Thaine threw himself down in the shade beside Leigh's seat while she wentinto the house. 

"I wish I didn't have to take that money, but I know better than to say aword, " he said to himself. "Thank the Lord, the worried look is beginningto leave Uncle Jim's face, though. How could any of us get along withoutUncle Jim?"

"What little seed to be worth so much, but it's the beginning ofconquest, " Leigh said as Thaine took the bills from her hand. "And it's amuch more hopeful business to reclaim from booms and weeds than from thislonely old prairie as it was when Uncle Jim and your father first camehere. "

"It's just the same old pioneer spirit, though, and you are fighting amortgage just like they fought loneliness, and besides, Asher Aydelot hadVirginia Thaine to help him to keep his courage up. "

A sudden flush deepened on his ruddy cheeks and he continued:

"Of course you are going to the picnic? You'll have to start early. It's agoodish way to 'The Cottonwoods. ' The Sunflower Ranch needs my talents, soI can't go with the crowd, but I may draggle in about high noon. I'lldrive over in the buggy, and I'll try to snake some pretty girl off thewagons to ride home with me when it's all over. "

"Maybe the pretty girls will all be preempted before you get there, " Leighreplied. 

"I know one that I hope won't be, " Thaine said. 

Leigh was bending over her drawing board and did not look up for a longminute. It was her gift to make comfort about her while she followed herown will unflinchingly. The breeze had blown the golden edges of her hairinto fluffy ripples about her forehead and the deep blue of August skieswas reflected in her blue eyes shaded by their long brown lashes. Thainesat watching her every motion, as he always did when he was with her. 

"Well?" Leigh looked up with the query. "And what's to hinder your gettingthe pretty girl you want if she understands and you are swift enough tocut off the enemy from a flank movement?"

"The girl herself, " Thaine replied. 

"Serious! Tragical! Won't you give me that chrome-yellow tube by yourelbow there?" Leigh reached for the paint and their hands met. 

"Say, little Sketcher of Things, will you be missing me when I go toschool next month? Or will your art and your ranch take all yourthoughts?"

"I wish they would, but they won't, " Leigh said. "They will help to fillup the time, though. "

"Leigh, may I bring you home tomorrow night? I'm going away the next day, and I won't see you any more for a long time. "

"No, you may not, " Leigh replied, looking up, and her sunny face framed byher golden brown hair was winsomely pleasing. 

"Why not, Leigh? Am I too late?"

"Too early. You haven't asked Jo and been refused yet. But you are kind toput me on the 'waiting list. '"

Thaine was standing beside her now. 

"I mean it. Has anybody asked you specially--to be your very particularescort?"

"Oh, yes. The very nicest of the crowd. " Leigh's eyes were shining now. "But I've refused him, " she added. 

"Who was it?"

"Thaine Aydelot, and I refused because it was good taste for me to do it. If it's his last day at home--and--oh, I forget what I was going to say. "

"I wish you wouldn't make a joke of it, anyhow. Tell me why you are sounkind to an old neighbor and lifelong pal, " Thaine insisted. 

But Leigh made no reply. 

"Leigh!"

"Tell me why you insist when by all the rules you are due to snake theprettiest girl in the crowd off the wagon and into your buggy. Why aren'tyou satisfied to make the other boys all envy you?" Leigh had risen andstood beside the rustic seat, her arm across its high back. 

"Because it is the last time. Because we've known each other sincechildhood and have been playmates, chums, companions; because I am goingone way and you another, and our paths may widen more and more, andbecause--oh, Leigh, because I want you. "

He leaned against the back of the seat and gently put one hand on herarm. 

The yellow August sunshine lay on the level prairies beyond the river. Theshining thread of waters wound away across the landscape under a play oflight and shadow. The clover sod at their feet was soft and green. The biggolden sunflowers hung on their stalks along the border of the lawn, andoverhead the ripple of the summer breezes in the cottonwoods made a musiclike pattering raindrops. Under their swaying boughs Leigh Shirley stood, a fair, sweet girl. And nothing in the languorous beauty of the midsummerafternoon could have been quite so pleasing without her presence there. 

She looked down at Thaine's big brown hand resting against her white arm, and then up to his handsome face. 

"It would only make trouble for, for everybody. No, I'm coming home withthe crowd on the hayrack. " She lifted her arm and began to pull the petalsfrom a tiny sunflower that lay on the seat beside her. 

"Very well. " There was no anger in Thaine's tone. "Do you remember the bigsunflower we found to send to Prince Quippi, once?"

"The one that should bring him straight from China to me, if he reallycared for me?" Leigh asked. 

"You said that one was to tell him that you loved him and you knew itwould bring him to you. But he never came. "

"It's a way my princes have of doing, " Leigh said with a little laugh. 

"If I were in China and you should send me a sunflower, I'd know youwanted me to come back. "

"If I ever send you one you will know that I do, " Leigh said. "Meantime, my prince will wear a sprig of alfalfa on his coat. "

"And a cockle burr in his whiskers, and cerulean blue overalls like mine, and he'll drudge along in a slow scrap with the soil till the soil getshim, " Thaine added. 

"Like it got your father, " Leigh commented. 

"Oh, he's just one sort of a man by himself, " Thaine declared. "A prettygood sort, of course, else I'd never have recommended him to be my father. Good-by. I'll see you across the crowd tomorrow. "

He turned at once and left her. 

"The Cottonwoods" was a picturesque little grove grown in the last decadeabout a rocky run down which in the springtime a full stream swept. Therewas only a little ripple over a stony bed now, with shallow pools lost inthe deeper basins here and there. The grasses lay flat and brown on thelevel prairie about it. Down the shaded valley a light cool breeze pouredsteadily. Beyond the stream a gentle slope reached far away to the foot ofthe three headlands--the purple notches of Thaine Aydelot's childhoodfancies. 

The day was ideal. Such days come sometimes in a Kansas August. The youngpeople of the Grass River neighborhood had made merry half of the morningin the grove, and as they gathered for the picnic lunch someone calledout:

"Jo Bennington, where's Thaine Aydelot? Great note for him to disappearwhen this Charity Ball was executed mainly for him. "

"Better ask Todd Stewart. He's probably had Thaine kidnaped for thisoccasion, " somebody else suggested. 

"I tried to do it and failed, " Todd Stewart assented. "I don't need him inmy business. He can start to school today if he wants to. "

"Well, you don't want him to go, do you, Jo?"

"Oh, I don't care especially. I'm going away myself, but not to theUniversity, but I'm not going till papa's elected, " Jo replied. 

"And if papa's defeated we stay home all winter, eh?" Todd questioned. 

"That all depends, " Jo replied. 

"Of course it does. What is it, and who depends on it? Jo, I'll help youif you must defend yourself. "

Thaine Aydelot bounced down from the rocky bank above into the midst ofthe company and became at once Jo's escort by common consent. 

"Now life's worth living, Thaine's here. Let's have dinner, " the boysurged. 

It was not Leigh Shirley's fault that Thaine should be placed between herand Jo at the spread of good things to eat; nor Jo's planning that sheshould be between Thaine and Todd Stewart. But nobody could be unhappytoday. 

In the late afternoon the crowd strolled in couples and quartettes andgroups up and down the picturesque place. 

Thaine had been with Jo from the moment of his coming and Leigh was gladthat she had not yielded to his request of the afternoon before. She hadbecome a little separated from the company as she followed a trail ofgolden sunflowers down the edge of the wide space between the stream andthe foot of the headlands towering far beyond it. The sun had disappearedsuddenly and the gleam of the blossoms dulled a trifle. Leigh sat down ona slab of shale to study the effect of the shadow. 

"Are you still looking for a letter that will bring Prince Quippi back?"Thaine Aydelot asked as he climbed up from the rough stream bed to a seatbeside her. 

"I'm watching the effect of sunshine and shadow on the sunflowers, " Leighreplied. 

"It will be all shadow if you wait much longer. The clouds are gatheringnow and we must start home. "

"Then I must be going, too. It's a lovely, lazy place here, though. Sometime I'm going to the top of those bluffs, away off there. "

"Let's go up now, " Thaine suggested. 

"But it's too late. I mustn't keep the crowd waiting, " Leigh insisted. "It's a stiff climb, too. "

"I can drive up. I know a trail through the brush. Let me drive you up, Leigh. It won't take long. There's something worth seeing up there, "Thaine insisted. 

"Well, be quick, Thaine. We'll get into trouble if we are late, " Leighdeclared. 

The trail up the steep slope twisted its way back and forth through thelow timber that covered the sides of the bluffs, and the two in the buggyfound themselves shut away in its solitary windings. 

"What a shadowy road, " Leigh said. "And see that cliff dropping downbeyond that turn. How could there be such a romantic place out on theselevel plains?"

"It was my fairy land when I was a little tot, " Thaine replied. "I camehere long ago and explored it myself. "

"I'd like to come here sketching sometime. See how the branches meetoverhead. The odors from the bluffside are like the odors of the woodlandback in the Clover valley in Ohio. I remember them yet, although I was solittle when I left there, " Leigh said, turning to Thaine. 

He shifted the reins, and throwing his hat in the buggy before him hepushed back the hair from his forehead. 

"Leigh, will you let me take you home? I didn't ask Jo after all. Toddwouldn't wait long enough for me to do that, as I knew well enough hewouldn't. Don't be mad at me. Please don't, " he pleaded. 

"Why, I'm glad if you really want me to go with you, but you shouldn'thave staid away this morning. "

"I did it on purpose. I knew Todd wouldn't let the chance slip--nor Joneither, if I let him have it. "

"You let him have it merely because you didn't want the chance today. Yourkindness will be your undoing some day, " Leigh said with a smile that tookoff the edge of sarcasm. 

Thaine said nothing in response, and they climbed slowly to the top of thebluff and stood at last on the crest of the middle headland. 

Below them lay "The Cottonwoods" and the winding stream whose course, marked by the dark green line of shrubbery, stretched away toward GrassRiver far to the southeast. To the westward a wonderful vista of levelprairie spread endlessly, wherein no line of shrubbery marked awatercourse nor tree rose up to break the circle of the horizon. Over allthis vast plain the three headlands stood as sentinels. In the west thesunlight had pierced a heavy cloudbank and was pouring through the rift inone broad sheet of gold mist from sky to earth. Purple and silver andburnt umber, with green and gray and richest orange, blended all in thetones of the landscape, overhung now by a storm-girdled sky. 

"This prairie belongs mostly to John Jacobs now and it is just as it waswhen the Indians called it the Grand Prairie and the old Pawnees came downhere every summer to hunt buffalo. Some day, soon, there will be a sea ofwheat flowing over all that level plain, " Thaine said. 

"And up here a home with nothing to cut off a fragment of the wholehorizon. Think of seeing every sunrise and every sunset from a place likethis, " Leigh said, her face aglow with an artist's love of beauty. "It'sfarther to China than I used to think when I dreamed of a purple velvethouse decorated with gold knobs beyond these three headlands. "

"I always did want to live on the Purple Notches, " Thaine saidreminiscently. "I'm glad we came up here today. "

The sound of singing came faintly up from the valley far away. 

"The crowd is mobilized. See the wagons crawling out of the grove and thecivilians in citizens' clothes following in carriages, " Thaine said as hewatched the picnic party pushing out toward the eastward. "I'm so glad wearen't with them. "

Leigh sat leaning forward, looking at the majestic distances lost inpurple haze, overshadowed by purple clouds with gold-broidered edges ofsunlight. 

"The world is all ours for once. We see all there is of it and yet we arealone in it up here on the purple notches I used to dream about, " she saidsoftly. 

Thaine leaned back in his buggy and looked at Leigh with the sameimpenetrable expression on his countenance that was always there when shewas present. 

"Leigh, " he said at last, "if you didn't have Uncle Jim what would youdo?"

"I don't know, " the girl answered. 

"I never knew one of the fellows who didn't like you, but you, you don'tseem to care for any of them. Don't they suit you?" Thaine asked. 

"Yes, but I can't think much about them. "

"Why not?"

Leigh drew a long breath. 

"Thaine, you have always been a good friend to me. Some day I'll tell youwhy. "

"Tell me now, " Thaine insisted gently. 

Leigh looked up, a mist of tears in her violet eyes. 

"Oh, little girl, forgive me. It's because--because, " Thaine hesitated. "Because deep down where nobody ever knew I've loved you always, Leigh. Ididn't know how much until the night of my party and the day we were atWykerton. "

"Thaine! Thaine! you mustn't say such things, " Leigh cried, gripping herhands together. "You mustn't! You mustn't!"

"But I must, and I will, " Thaine declared. 

"Then I won't listen to you. You are a flirt. Not satisfied with makingone girl love you, you want to make all of us care for you. "

"I know what you mean. I thought I loved Jo. Then I knew I didn't, and Ifelt in honor bound to keep her from finding it out. But that's a deadfailure of a business. You can't play that game and win. I've learned agood many things this summer, and one of them is that Todd Stewart is theonly one who really and truly loves Jo, and she cares as much for him asshe does for anybody. "

"How do you know?" Leigh asked as she leaned back now and faced Thaine. 

"Because she doesn't know herself yet. She's too spoiled by the indulgenceof everybody and too pretty. She wants attention. But I found finally, maybe mother helped me a little, that if she has Todd's attention she'ssatisfied. More, she's comfortable. She was always on thorns with me. Isn't that enough about Jo?"

"Well?" Leigh queried. 

"No, nothing is well yet. Leigh, let me go away to the University. Let memake a name for myself, a world-wide name, maybe, let me fight on myfrontier line and then come back and lift the burden you carry now. I wantto do big things somewhere away from the Kansas prairies, away from thegrind of the farm and country life. Oh, Leigh, you are the only girl Iever can really love. "

He leaned forward and took her hands in his own, his dark eyes, beautifulwith the light of love, looking down into hers, his face aglow with theambition of undisciplined youth. 

"Let me help you, " he pleaded. 

"It is only sympathy you offer, Thaine, and I don't want sympathy. Yousaid that game wouldn't win with Jo. Neither would it with me. I am happyin my work. I'm not afraid of it. The harder part is to get enough moneyto buy seed and pay interest, and Uncle Jim and I will earn that. I tellyou the mortgage must be lifted by alfalfa roots just as Coburn's booksays it will be. "

There was a defiant little curve on her red lips and the brave hopefulnessof her face was inspiring. 

"Go and do your work, Thaine. Fight your battles, push back your frontierline, win your wilderness, and make a world-wide name for yourself. Butwhen all is done don't forget that the fight your father and mother madehere, and are making today, is honorable, wonderful; and that the winningof a Kansas farm, the kingdom of golden wheat, bordered round by goldensunflowers, is a real kingdom. Its sinews of strength uphold the nation. "

"Why, you eloquent little Jayhawker!" Thaine exclaimed. "You should havebeen an orator on the side, not an artist. But all this only makes me carethe more. I'm proud of you. I'd want you for my chum if you were a boy. Iwant you for my friend, but down under all this I want you for my girlnow, and afterwhile, Leigh, I want you for my own, all mine. Don't youcare for me? Couldn't you learn to care, Leigh? Couldn't you go with me toa broader life somewhere out in the real big world? Couldn't we come sometime to the Purple Notches and build a home for just our summer days, because we have seen these headlands all our lives?"

Leigh's head was bowed, and the pink blooms left her cheeks. 

"Thaine, " she said in a low voice that thrilled him with its sweetness, "Ido care. I have always cared so much that I have hoped this moment mightnever come. "

Thaine caught her arm eagerly. 

"No! no! We can never, never be anything but friends, and if you care morethan that for me now, if you really love me--"the voice was verysoft--"don't ask me why. I cannot tell you, but I know we can never beanything more than friends, never, never. "

The sorrow on her white face, the pathos of the great violet eyes, thefirm outline of the red lips told Thaine Aydelot that words were hopeless. He had known her every mood from childhood. She never dallied norhesitated. The grief of her answer went too deep for words to argueagainst. And withal Thaine Aydelot was very proud and unaccustomed tobeing denied what he chose to want very much. 

"Leigh, will you do two things for me?" he asked at length. The sad, quiettone was unlike Thaine Aydelot. 

"If I can, " Leigh answered. 

"First, will you promise me that if you want me you will send for me. Ifyou ever find--oh, Leigh, ever is such a long word. If you ever think youcan care enough for me to let me come back to you, you will let me know. "

"When I send you the little sunflower letter Prince Quippi never answeredyou may come back, " Leigh said lightly, but the tears were too near forthe promise to seem trivial. "What is the other thing?"

"I want you just once to let me kiss you, Leigh. It's our good-by kissforever. Hereafter we are only friends, old chums, you know. Will you letme be your lover for one minute up here on the Purple Notches, where thewhole world lies around us and nobody knows our secret? Please, Leigh. Then I'll go away and be a man somewhere in the big world that's alwaysneeding men. "

Leigh leaned toward him, and he held her close as he kissed her red lips. In all the stormy days that followed the memory of that moment was withhim. A moment when love, in all its purity and joy, knew its firstrealization. 

The next day Leigh Shirley made butter all the morning, and in theafternoon she tried to retouch her sketch of sunflowers as she had seenthe shadows dull the brightness of their petals in the valley below thePurple Notches. 

The same day Thaine Aydelot left home for the winter, taking the memory ofthe most sacred moment of his life with him out into the big world that isalways needing men. 

CHAPTER XVIII

REMEMBERING THE MAINE

 The Twentieth Kansas was fortunate in opportunity, and heroic in action, and has won a permanent place in the hearts of a grateful people. --William McKinley. 

The sunny plains of Kansas were fair and full of growing in the spring of1898. The alfalfa creeping out against the weeds of the old CloverdaleRanch was green under the April sunshine. The breezes sweeping down theGrass River Valley carried a vigor in their caress. The Aydelot grove, just budding into leaf, was full of wild birds' song. All the sights andsounds and odors of springtime made the April day entrancing on the Kansasprairies. 

Leigh Shirley had risen at dawn and come up to the grove in the earlymorning. She tethered her pony to graze by the roadside, and with herdrawing board on a slender easel she stood on the driveway across thelakelet, busy for awhile with her paints and pencil. Then the sweetness ofthe morning air, the gurgling waters at the lake's outlet, once the littledraw choked with wild plum bushes, and the trills of music from theshimmering boughs above her head, all combined to make dreaming pleasant. She dropped her brushes and stood looking at the lake and the bit of openwoodland, and through it to the wide level fields beyond, with the rivergleaming here and there under the touch of the morning light. 

She recalled in contrast the silver and sable tones of the May night whenshe and Thaine sat on the driveway and saw the creamy water lilies opentheir hearts to the wooing moonlight and the caressing shadows. It was afairyland here that night. It was plain daylight now, beautiful, but real. Life seemed a dream that night. It was very real this April morning. Theyoung artist involuntarily drew a deep breath that was half a sigh andstooped to pick up her fallen brushes. But she dropped them again with aglad cry. Far across the lake, in the leaf-checkered sunshine, ThaineAydelot stood smiling at her. 

"Shall I stay here and spoil your landscape or come around and shakehands?" he called across to her. 

"Oh, come over here and tell me how you happened, " Leigh cried eagerly. 

Grass River people blamed the two years of the University life forbreaking Thaine Aydelot's interest in Jo Bennington. Not that Jo lackedfor admirers without him. Life had been made so pleasant for her that shehad not gone away to any school, even after her father's election tooffice. And down at the University the pretty girls considered Thaineperfectly heartless, for now in his second year they were still baffled byhis general admiration and undivided indifference toward all of them. Hiseager face as he came striding up the driveway to meet Leigh Shirley wouldhave been a revelation to them. 

"I 'happened' last night, too late to-wake up the dog, " Thaine exclaimed. "I happened to run against Dr. Carey, who had a hurry-up call down thisway, and he happened to drop me at the Sunflower Inn. He's coming by forbreakfast at my urgent demand. This country night practice is enough tokill a doctor. His hair is whiter than ever, young as he is. He said he isgoing to take a trip out West and have a vacation right soon. I told himall my plans. You can tell him anything, you know. And, besides, I'mhoping he will beat me to the house this morning and will tell the folksI'm here. "

"Doesn't your mother know you are here?" Leigh asked. 

"Not yet. I wanted to come down early and tell the lake good-by. I have toleave again in a few hours. "

The old impenetrable expression had dropped over his face with the words. And nobody knows why the sunshine grew dull and the birds' songs droppedto busy twittering about unimportant things. 

"Do you always tell it good-by?" Leigh asked, because she could think ofnothing else to say. 

"Not always, but this time it's different. I'm so glad I found you. Ishould have gone down to Cloverdale, of course, if you hadn't been here, but this saves time. "

A pink wave swept Leigh's cheek, but she smiled a pleasant recognition ofhis thoughtfulness. 

"I've come home to say good-by because I'm going to enlist in the firstKansas regiment that goes to Cuba to fight the Spaniards. And I must hurryback to Lawrence. "

"Oh, Thaine! What do you mean?"

Leigh's face was very white. 

"Be careful!"

Thaine caught her arm in time to save the light easel from being thrownover. 

"Don't look at me that way, Leigh. Don't you know that President McKinleyhas declared war and has called for one hundred and twenty-five thousandvolunteers? Four or five thousand from old Kansas. Do you reckon weJayhawkers will wait till one hundred and twenty thousand have enlistedand trail in on the last five thousand? It would be against all traditionsof the rude forefathers of the Sunflower State. "

"Has war really been declared? We haven't had the papers for nearly aweek. Everybody is so busy with farm work right now. "

Leigh stood looking anxiously at Thaine. 

"Declared! The first gun has been fired. The call for volunteers has comefrom Washington, and the Governor has said he will make Fred FunstonColonel of the first regiment of Kansas volunteers, and he sent out hisappeal for loyal Kansas men to offer themselves. I tell you again, LeighShirley, I'll not be the one hundred and twenty-five thousandth man in theline. I'm going to be right close up to little Fred Funston, our Kansasboy, who is to be our Colonel. I have a notion that University studentswill make the right kind of soldiers. There will be plenty of ignoranceand disloyalty and drafting into line on the Spanish side. America mustsend an intelligent private if the war is to be fought out quickly. I'mthat intelligent gentleman. "

"But why must we fight at all, Thaine? Spain has her islands in every sea. We are almost an inland country. Spain is a naval power. Who ever heard ofthe United States being a naval power? I don't understand what is back ofall this fuss. " Leigh asked the questions eagerly. 

"We fight because we remember the Maine, " Thaine said a little boastfully. "We are keeping in mind the two hundred and sixty-six American sailorswho perished when our good ship was sunk in the harbor at Havana lastFebruary. If we aren't a naval power now we may develop some sinews ofstrength before we are through. Your Uncle Sam is a nervy citizen, and itwas a sorry day for proud old Spain when she lighted the fuse to blow upour good warship. It was a fool's trick that we'll make Spain pay dearlyfor yet. "

"So it's just for revenge, then, for the Maine horror. Thaine, think howmany times worse than that this war might be. Isn't there any way topunish Spain except by sending more Americans to be killed by her fusesand her guns?" Leigh insisted. 

"There is more than the _Maine_ affair, " Thaine assured her. "You know, just off our coast, almost in sight of our guns, Spain has held Cuba forall these centuries in a bondage of degradation and ignorance and crueloppression. You know there has been an awful warfare going on there forthree years between the Spanish government and the rebels against it. Andthat for a year and a half the atrocities of Weyler, the Captain Generalof the Spanish forces, make an unprintable record. The United States hasdeclared war, not to retaliate for the loss of the _Maine_ alone, awful asit was, but to right wrongs too long neglected, to put a twentieth centurycivilization instead of a sixteenth century barbarity in Cuba. "

Thaine was reciting his lesson glibly, but Leigh broke in. 

"But why must you go? You, an only child?"

She had never seen a soldier. Her knowledge of warfare had been given herby the stories Jim Shirley and Dr. Carey had told to her in her childhood. 

"It's really not my fault that I'm an only child. It's an inheritance. Myfather was an only child, too. He went to war at the mature age offifteen. I'll be twenty-one betimes. " Thaine stood up with militarystiffness. 

"Your father fought to save his country. You just want gold lace and alark. War is no frolic, Thaine Aydelot, " Leigh insisted. 

"I'm not counting on a frolic, Miss Shirley, and I don't want any goldlace till I have earned it, " Thaine declared proudly. 

"Then why do you go?" Leigh queried. 

"I go in the name of patriotism. Wars don't just happen. At least, that iswhat the professor at the University tells us. Back of this Spanish fussis a bigger turn waiting than has been foretold. Watch and see if I am nota prophet. This is a war to right human wrongs. That's why we are goinginto it. "

"But your father wants you here. The Sunflower Ranch is waiting for you, "Leigh urged. 

"His father wanted him to stay in Ohio, so our family history runs. ButMr. Asher heard the calling of the prairies. His wilderness lay on theKansas plains, and he came out and drove back the frontier line and prettynear won it. At least, he's got a wheat crop in this year that looks somelike success. "

Thaine smiled, but Leigh's face was grave. 

"Leighlie, my frontier is where the Spanish yoke hangs heavy on the necksof slaves. I must go and win it. I must drive back my frontier line whereI find it, not where my grandfather found it. I must do a man's part inthe world's work. "

His voice was full of earnestness and his dark eyes were glowing with thefire of inspiration. By the patriotism and enthusiasm of the youth oftwenty-one has victory come to many a battlefield. 

"But I don't want you to go away to war, " Leigh pleaded. 

"You don't want me here. "

Thaine let his hand rest gently on hers for a moment as it lay on top ofthe easel; then hastily withdrew it. 

"Has your alfalfa struck root deep enough to begin to pull up thatmortgage yet?" he inquired, as if to drop the unpleasant subject. 

"Not yet, " Leigh answered. "We make every acre help to seed more acres. It's an uphill pull. It's my war with Spain, you know. But I'm doingsomething with these little daubs of mine. I have sold a few pieces. Theprice wasn't large, but it was something to put against a hungry interestaccount. Some day I want to paint--"she hesitated. 

"What?" Thaine asked. 

Leigh was bending over her brushes and paints, and did not look up as shesaid with an effort at indifference:

"Oh, the Purple Notches. It is so beautiful over there. "

Thaine bit his lips to hold back the words, and Leigh went on:

"Dr. Carey says Uncle Jim couldn't have held out long at general farming. But the Coburn book was right. The alfalfa is the silent subsoiler, andwhen the whole quarter is seeded we'll pull that mortgage up by the roots, all right. "

She looked up with shining eyes, and Thaine took both of her hands in his, saying:

"I must tell you good-by now. Mother will know I am here and will bedragging the lake for me. This isn't like other good-bys. Of course, I maycome back a Brigadier General and make you very proud of me, or I mightnot come at all, but I won't say that. Oh, Leigh, Leigh, may I tell youonce more how dear you are to me? Will you promise again to send me thesame message you sent to Prince Quippi when you want me to come back?"

"I will, " Leigh replied in a low voice, and for that moment the grovebecame for them a holy sanctuary, wherein their words were sacred vows. 

When Thaine reached home again, Dr. Carey was just leaving, and the waywas prepared for the purpose of his own coming, as he had hoped it wouldbe. 

"I've a call to make across the river. I'll be back in time to take you upto catch the train. There's a feast of a breakfast waiting in there foryou. I know, for I had my share of it. Good-by for an hour or two. "

The doctor waved his hand to Thaine and drove away. 

"So the wanderlust and spirit of adventure in the Aydelot blood got youafter all, " Asher Aydelot said as he looked across the breakfast table athis son. "It seems such a little while ago that I was a boy in Ohio, afoolish fifteen-year-old, crazy to see and be into what I've wished sooften since that I could forget. "

"But you don't object, Father?" Thaine asked eagerly. 

Asher did not reply at once. A rush of boyhood memories flooded his mind, and as he looked at Virginia he recalled how his mother had looked at himon the day he left home to join the Third Ohio regiment nearly fortyyears ago. And then he remembered the moonlit night and his mother'sblessing when he told of his longing for the open West, where opportunityhunts the man. 

"No, Thaine, " he answered gently at last. "All I ask is that you try toforesee what is coming in hardship and responsibility. Young men go to warfor adventure mostly. The army life may make a hero of you, not by brevetnor always by official record, but a hero nevertheless in bravery wherecourage is needed, and in a sense of duty done. Or it can make a low-gradescoundrel of you almost before you know it, if you do not put yourself onguard duty over yourself twenty-four hours out of every twenty-four. Warmeans real hardship. It is in everything the opposite of peace. And thiswar foreshadows big events. It may lead you to Cuba or to the Orient. OurAsiatic squadron is ordered from Hong Kong. Dr. Carey tells me it is goingto meet the Spanish navy in the Philippines. I thought I fixed the Westwhen I came here as a scout and later a settler, and drove the frontierback with my rifle and my hoe. Is it possible your frontier is furtherwestward still? Even across the Pacific Ocean, where another kind ofwilderness lies?"

Into Asher's clear gray eyes, that for all the years had held the visionof the wide, pathless prairies redeemed to fruitfulness, there was avision now of the big things with which the twentieth century must cope. The work of a generation younger than his own. 

"Don't forget two things, Thaine, when you are fairly started in thiscampaign. First, that wars do not last forever. They jar the frontier lineback by leaps, but after war is over the good old prairie soil is waitingstill for you--acres and acres yet unredeemed. And secondly, while you area soldier don't waste energy with memories. Fight when you wear a uniform, and dream and remember when the guns are cold. You have my blessing, Thaine, only remember the blessing of Moses to Asher of old, 'As your dayso will your strength be. ' But you must have your mother's approval too. "

Thaine looked lovingly at his mother, and the picture of her fine facelighted by eyes full of mother love staid with him through all the monthsthat followed. And all the old family pride of the Thaines of Virginia, all the old sense of control and daring was in her tone as she answered:

"You have come to a man's estate. You must choose for yourself. But big asthe world is, it is too little for mothers to be lost in. You cannot finda frontier so far that a mother's love has not outrun you to it. Go outand win. "

"You are a Trojan, mother. I hope I'll always be worthy of your love, wherever I am, " her son murmured. 

Two hours later, when Dr. Carey stopped for Thaine, Virginia Aydelot camedown to his buggy. Her face was very white and her eyes were shining withheroic resolve to be brave to the last. 

"Horace, you may be glad you have no children, " she said, as they waitedfor Thaine and his father to come out. 

"My life has had many opportunities for service that must make up for thelack of other blessings. It may have further opportunity soon. May I ask afavor of you?"

Virginia was not to blame that her heart was too full to catch theundertone of sorrow in Horace Carey's words as she replied graciously:

"Anything that I can grant. "

"Life is rather uncertain--even with a good doctor in the community--"Dr. Carey's smile was always winning. "I have hoarded less than I should havedone if there had been a Carey to follow me. There will be nobody but BoPeep to miss me, especially after awhile. I want you to give him a home ifhe ever needs one. He has some earnings to keep him from want. But you andI are the only Virginians in the valley. Promise me!"

"Of course I will, always, Horace. Be sure of that. "

"Thank you, Virginia. I am planning to start to California in a few days. I may be gone for several months. I'll tell you good-by now, for I may notbe down this way again before I go. "

Virginia remembered afterward the doctor's strong handclasp and the steadygaze of his dark eyes and the pathos of his voice as he bade her good-by. But she did not note these then, for at that moment Thaine came down thewalk with his father, and in the sorrow of parting with her son she had nomind for other things. 

Dreary rains filled up the first days of May. At Camp Leedy, where theKansas volunteers mobilized on the old Fair Ground on the outskirts ofTopeka, Thaine Aydelot sat under the shelter of his tent watching thewater pouring down the canvas walls of other tents and overflowing thedeep ruts that cut the grassy sod with long muddy gashes. Camp Leedy wasmade up mostly of muddy gashes crossed by streams of semi-liquid mudsupposed to be roads. Thaine sat on a pile of sodden straw. His clothingwas muddy, his feet were wet, and the chill of the cold rain made himshiver. 

"Noble warfare, this!" he said to himself. "Asher Aydelot knew his bearingwhen he told me that war was no ways like peace. I wonder what's going onright now down at the Sunflower Ranch. The rain ought to fill that oldspillway draw from the lake down in the woods. It's nearly time for thewater lilies to bloom, too. "

The memory of the May night two years before with Leigh Shirley, all pinkand white and sweet and modest, came surging across his mind as a heavydash of rain deluged the tent walls about him. 

"Look here, Private Thaine Aydelot, Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, if youare going to be a soldier stop that memory business right here, except toremember what Private Asher Aydelot, of the Third Ohio Infantry, told youabout guard duty twenty-six hours out of twenty-four. Heigh ho!"

Thaine ended with a sigh, then he shut his teeth grimly and stared at theunceasing downpour with unseeing eyes. 

A noisy demonstration in the camp roused him, and in a minute more youngTodd Stewart lay stretched at full length in the mud before his tent. 

"Welcome to our city, whose beauties have overcome others also, " Thainesaid, as he helped Todd to rise from the mud. 

"Well, you look good to me, whether I do to you or not, " Todd declared, ashe scraped at the muddy plaster on his clothing. 

"Enter!" Thaine exclaimed dramatically, holding back the tent flaps. "Ihope you are not wounded. "

Todd limped inside and sat down on the wet straw. 

"No, my company just got to camp. I was so crazy to see anybody from theshort grass country that I made a slide your way too swiftly. I don't mindthese clothes, for I'll be getting my soldier's togs in a minute anyhow, but I did twist that ankle in my zeal. Where's your uniform?" Todd asked, staring at Thaine's clothes. 

"With yours, still. Make a minute of it when you get it, won't you?"Thaine replied. "Our common Uncle wants soldiers. He has no time to giveto their clothes. A ragged shirt or naked breast will stop a Spanishbullet as well as a khaki suit. "

"Do you mean to say you haven't your soldier uniform yet?" Todd broke in. 

"A few of us have, but most of us haven't. They cost something, " Thainesaid with a shiver, for the May afternoon was chilly. 

"Then I'll not stay here and risk my precious life for a government sodarned little and stingy. "

Todd sprang up with the words, but fell down again, clasping his ankle. 

"Oh, yes, you will. You've enlisted already, and you have a bad anklealready. Let me see it. "

Thaine examined the sprained limb carefully. He had something of hisfather's ability for such things combined with his mother's gentle touch. 

"Let me bind it up a little while you tell me about Grass River. Then hiethee to a hospital, " he said. 

"There's nothing new, except that Dr. Carey has gone West for avacation and John Jacobs is raising cain over at Wykerton because a hiredhand, just a waif of an orphan boy, got drunk in Hans Wyker's jointand fell into Big Wolf and was drowned. Funny thing about it was thatDarley Champers came out against Wyker for the first time. It may gohard with the old Dutchman yet. Jim Shirley isn't very well, but he nevercomplains, you know. Jo Bennington was wild to have me enlist. Isuppose some pretty University girl was backing you all the time, " Toddsaid enthusiastically. 

"The only pretty girl I care for didn't want me to go to the war at all, "Thaine replied, staring gloomily out at the rain. 

"Well, why do you go, then?" Todd inquired. 

"Oh, she doesn't specially care for me here, either, " Thaine replied. "Girls don't control this game for me. But we have some princes of menhere all right. "

"As for instance?" Todd queried. 

"My captain, Adna Clarke, and his lieutenants, Krause and Alford. Theywere first to enlist in our company down in the old rink at Lawrence. Captain Clarke is the kind of a man who makes you feel like straighteningright up to duty when you see him coming, and he is so genial in hisdiscipline it is not like discipline. Lieutenant Krause fits in withhim--hand and glove. But, Todd, " Thaine went on enthusiastically, "if youmeet a man on this campground with the face of a gentleman, the manners ofa soldier, a smile like sunshine after a dull day in February, and a, wella sort of air about him that makes you feel he's your friend and thatdoing a kind act is the only thing a fellow should ever think ofdoing--that's Lieutenant Alford. There are some fine University boys hereand we have all packed up our old Kansas University yell, 'Rock Chalk!Jay Hawk! K U!' to use on the Spanish. We'll make them learn to runwhenever they hear that yell. The whole regiment is a credit to Kansas, ifwe haven't the clothes right now. You are rather a disreputable lookingold mudball yourself. Let's try to get to the hospital tent. "

Thaine lifted Todd Stewart to his feet, and as they started up the slushyway to the hospital tent, he said:

"Yonder is Lieutenant Alford now. "

A young man with a face as genial as his manner was dignified respondedpleasantly to the private's salute, and the rainfall seemed less drearyand all the camp more cheerful for this lieutenant's presence. No wonderhe seemed a prince to the enthusiastic young soldier whose admirationdeepened into an abiding love he was never to lose out of his life in allthe years to come. In the months that followed Thaine came to know CaptainClarke and his two lieutenants, Krause and Alford, as soldier knowssoldier. Nor did ever Trojan nor Roman military hero have truer homagefrom the common private than the boy from the Grass River Valley paid tothese young men commanding his company. 

The hardships of soldier life began for Thaine Aydelot and his regimentwith the day of enlistment. The privations at Camp Leedy were many. Thevolunteers had come in meagerly clothed because they expected to be fullysupplied by the government they were to serve. The camp equipments wereinsufficient. The food was poor, and day after day the rain pouredmercilessly down on the muddy campground, where the volunteers slept onwet straw piled on the wet earth. Sore throats, colds, and pneumoniaresulted, and many a homesick boy who learned to wade the rice swamps andto face the Mauser's bullets fearlessly had his first hard lesson ofendurance taught to him before he left Camp Leedy on the old Topeka FairGround. 

Wonderful history-making filled up the May days. While the fleets and landforces were moving against Cuba, the deep sea cable brought the briefstory from Commodore Dewey in the harbor of Manila, "Eleven Spanishwarships destroyed and no Americans killed. "

And suddenly the center of interest shifted from the Cuban Island near athand to the Philippines on the other side of the world. The front door ofAmerica that for four centuries had opened on the Atlantic ocean openedonce and forever on Pacific waters. A new frontier receding ever beforethe footprint of the Anglo-American flung itself about the far-off islandof the Orient with its old alluring call:

 Something lost behind the Ranges! Over Yonder! Go you there!

And the Twentieth Kansas, under Colonel Fred Funston, broke camp andhurried to San Francisco to be ready to answer that call. 

Thaine Aydelot had never been outside of Kansas before. Small wonder thatthe mountains, the desert, the vinelands, and orchard-lands, androse-lands of California, the half-orientalism of San Francisco and thePacific Ocean with its world-old mystery of untamed immensity should filleach day with a newer interest; or that the conditions of soldier life atCamp Merritt beside the Golden Gate, to which the eager-hearted, untrainedyoung student from the Kansas prairie brought all his youthful enthusiasmand patriotism and love of adventure, should wound his spirit and test hispower of self-control. Small wonder, too, that the Twentieth KansasRegiment, poorly equipped, undrilled, and non-uniformed still, should makeonly a sorry showing among the splendid regiments mobilized there; or thatto the big, rich City of San Francisco the ragged fellows from theprairies, who were dubbed the "Kansas Scarecrows, " should become thebyword and laughing stock among things military. 

One neglect followed another for the Kansas Twentieth. The poorest campingspot was their portion. The chill of the nights, the heat of the daysoppressed them. The filth of their unsanitary grounds bred discomfort anddisease. 

But no military favors were shown them, and the same old stupid jests andjibes of the ignorant citizen of the other states were repeated on thePacific seaboard. When the thirtieth of May called forth the militaryforces in one grand parade the Twentieth Kansas was not invited to takepart. 

For Thaine Aydelot, to whom Decoration Day was a sacred Sabbath always, this greatest of all indignities cut deep where a man's soul feelskeenest. And when transport after transport sailed out of the SanFrancisco harbor, loaded with regiments for the Philippines, and still theTwentieth Kansas was left in idle waiting on the dreary sand lots of CampMerritt and the Presidio reservation, the silent campaign that reallymakes a soldier was waged daily in Thaine and his comrades. 

"Don't complain, boys, " Captain Clarke admonished his company. "We'll beready when we are called, and that's what really counts. "

Other commanders of the regiment gave the same encouragement. So the dailydrilling went on. The sons of the indomitable men and women who hadconquered the border ruffian, the hostile Plains Indian, and theunfriendly prairie sod, these sons kept their faith in themselves, theirpride in the old Kansas State that bore them, and their everlasting goodhumor and energy and ability to learn. Such men are the salt of theearth. 

Todd Stewart made a brave struggle, but his slide on the muddy ground atCamp Leedy was his military undoing, and his discharge followed. 

"I'm going to start back to old Grass River tomorrow, " he said to ThaineAydelot, who had called to see him with face aglow. "I've made the bestfight I could, but the doctor says the infantry needs two legs, andneither one wooden. But best of all, Thaine, Jo has written that she wantsme to come home. It's not so bad if there's a welcome like that waiting. She is slowly overcoming her dislike for country life. But I can't helpenvying you. "

"Oh, you'll stand on both feet all right when you get them both on theshort grass of the prairie again, and, as you say, the welcome makes upfor a good many losses. "

Something impenetrable came into his eyes for the moment only and then thefire of enthusiasm burned again in them, for Thaine's nerves were a-tinglewith the ambition and anticipation of the young soldier waiting immediateorders, and he changed the subject eagerly. 

"I came to tell you something, Todd. We are to sail the seas on the nexttransport to Manila, sure. And we'll see service yet, all right. "

Thaine threw his cap in air and danced about the bed in his enthusiasm. 

"Glory be! Won't Fred Funston do things when he hits the Orient? Bestcolonel that ever had the U. S. Military engines to buck against. "

Todd rejoiced, even in his own disappointment. 

"But see here, Thaine, me child, I also have a bit of news that mayinterest you plumb through. My surgeon isn't equal to the Philippineseither, nor the Ephesians, nor Colossians, and he's going back to somefort in the mountains. Who do you s'pose will take his place? Now, who?"

"How should I know? Seeing I've got to get this regiment off, I have toleave the hospital corps to you. Who is it?" Thaine asked. 

"Dr. Horace Carey, M. D. !" Todd replied. 

"You don't mean it!" Thaine gasped. 

"Yes, he does, Thaine. " It was Horace Carey who spoke, as he entered thehospital quarter, and, as everywhere else, the same engaging smile andmagnetic charm of personality filled the place. 

Thaine turned and gathered him in close embrace. 

"Oh, Dr. Carey, are you really going?" He whistled, and shouted, andexecuted jigs in his joy. "Why do you go? Can you leave Kansas? You and meboth? Oh, hurry home, Todd, and show Governor Leedy how to run thingswithout us. " And much more to like effect. 

"I've a notion I'm the right man to go, " Horace Carey answered. "I hadexperience in the late Civil War, which seems trifling to you fellows atthe Presidio. I rode the Plains for some years more when rattlesnakes andIndian arrows--poisoned at that--and cholera and mountain fever called fora surgeon's aid. I have diplomas and things from the best schools in theEast. I have also some good military friends in authority to back me ingetting a surgeon's place in the army--and, lastly, I haven't a soul tomiss me, nor home to leave dreary, if I get between you and the enemy;nobody but Boanerges Peeperville to care personally, and Mrs. Aydelot, asthe only other aristocrat in the Grass River Valley, has promised to givehim a home. He has always adored Virginia, Thaine, since he could rememberanything. "

Thaine Aydelot was only twenty-one, with little need hitherto forexperience in reading human nature. Moreover, he was alert in everytingling nerve with the anticipation of an ocean voyage and of strange newsights and daring deeds half a world away. Yet something in Dr. Carey'sstrong face seemed to imply a deeper purpose than his words suggested. Afaint sense of the nobility of the man gripped him and grew upon him, andnever in the years that followed was separate from the memory of thedoctor he had loved from babyhood. 

 * * * * *

When the Ohio woodlands were gorgeous with the frost-fired splendor ofOctober word came to Miss Jane Aydelot, of the old Aydelot farmhousebeside the National pike road, that one Thaine Aydelot had sailed from SanFrancisco with the Twentieth Kansas Regiment to see service in thePhilippine Islands. On board the same transport was Dr. Horace Carey, ofthe military medical staff. That winter Jane Aydelot's hair turned white, but the pink bloom of her cheeks and the light of her clear gray eyes madeher a sweet-faced woman still, whose loveliness grew with the years. 

The kiss of the same October breezes was on the Kansas prairie with thehazy horizon and the infinite beauty of wide, level landscapes, overhungby the infinite beauty of blue, tender skies. Boanerges Peeperville, established as cook in the Sunflower Inn, was at home in his cosy littlequarter beside the grape arbor of the rear dooryard. 

"Tell me, Bo Peep, why Dr. Carey should enter the army again and go to thePhilippines?" Virginia Aydelot asked on the day the news reached theSunflower Ranch. 

Bo Peep did not answer at once. Virginia was busy arranging some bigyellow chrysanthemums in a tall cut-glass vase that Dr. Carey had left tobe sent down to her when Bo Peep should come to the Aydelots to make hishome. 

"See, Bo Peep, aren't they pretty? Set them in the middle of the tablethere, carefully. The first bouquet we ever had on our table was a fewlittle sunflowers in an old peach can wrapped round with a newspaper. Youdidn't answer my question. Why did Horace go so far away?"

The servant took the vase carefully and placed it as commanded. Then heturned to Virginia with a face full of intense feeling. 

"Miss Virgie, I done carry messages for him all my days. " The pathos ofthe soft voice was touching. "I wasn't to give this las' one to you less'nhe neveh come back. An Mis' Virgie, Doctoh Carey won't neveh come back nomo'. But I kaint tell you yet jus' why he done taken hisself to theFillippians, not yet. "

"Why do you think he will never come back? You think Thaine will come homeagain, don't you?" Virginia queried. 

"Oh, yas'm! yas'm! Misteh Thaine, he'll come back all right. But hit'sdone fo'casted in my bones that Doctoh Horace won't neveh come. An' whenhe don't, I'll tell you why he leff'n Grass Riveh, Kansas, for theFillippians. "

CHAPTER XIX

THE "FIGHTING TWENTIETH"

 Malolos and Bocaue's trenches know the Kansas yell; San Fernando and San Tomas the Kansas story swell; At Guiguinto's fiercest battle yon flag in honor flew; What roaring rifles kept it, all Luna's army knew; And high it swung o'er Caloocan, Bagbag and Marilao-- "Those raggedy Pops from Kansas" 'fore God they're heroes now. --Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Little. 

Night had fallen on the city of Manila. Before it lay the bay whose waterslapped softly against pier and shipping. Behind it in the great arc of acircle stretched the American line of military outposts, guarded bysentinels. Beyond that line, north, east, and south, there radiated atangle of roads and trails through little villages of nipa huts, past ricefields and jungles, marshes and rivers, into the very heart of Luzon. Manila was under American military government, but Luzon was ininsurrection against all government, and a network of rebellious lines ofenemies fretted every jungle, hid in every village, intrenched itself inevery rice field, and banked its earthworks beyond every river. WhileEmilio Aguinaldo, the shrewd leader of an ignorant, half-savage peasantry, plotted craftily with his associates for the seizure of the rich capitalof Luzon and dreamed of the autocratic power and heaps of looted treasurethat he should soon control. For weeks in sight of the American outposts, the Filipinos had strengthened their trenches, and established theirfortifications, the while they bided the hour of outbreak and slaughterof the despised Americanos, and the seizing of the rich booty afterward. 

Upon the Tondo road, running north from Manila to Caloocan, ThaineAydelot, with a Kansas University comrade, was doing silent sentinel duty. The outpost was nearly a mile away from a bridge on the outskirts ofManila. In the attack imminent, this bridge would be one of the keys tothe city, and the command had been given to hold it against all invadersat any cost. 

Between Thaine and the bridge was a stretch of dusty road, flanked on oneside by nipa huts. On the other side were scattered dwellings, tallshrubbery, and low-lying rice fields, beyond which lay the jungle. 

Before the young sentinel the road made a sharp bend, cutting off the viewand giving no hint to the enemy around this bend of how strong a forcemight be filling the road toward the bridge. 

Thaine knew that around that bend and behind the rice dykes and in thenearby trenches were Filipino insurgents with finger on the trigger readyto begin an assault. But until the first gun of the first battle is fired, battle seems impossible to the young soldier. 

As Thaine turned from the dim road, he caught the glint of starlight onthe edge of a rice swamp. He wanted to fight Filipinos tonight, notmemories. But the memory of the Aydelot grove and the water lilies openingtheir creamy hearts to the moonlight, and Leigh Shirley in her white dresswith her cheeks faintly pink in the clear shadows, all swept his mind andchallenged him to forget everything else. 

The same grip on a principle, coupled with a daring spirit and love ofadventure that had brought old Jean Aydelot to the Virginia colony longago, and had pushed Francis Aydelot across the Alleghanies into theforests of the Ohio frontier, and had called Asher Aydelot to theunconquered prairies of the big West--the same love of adventure anddaring spirit and belief in a cause bigger than his own interests hadlured Thaine Aydelot on to the islands of Oriental seas. With the militaryschooling and unschooling where discipline tends to make a soldier, andabsence of home influence tends to make the careless rowdy, the sterlinguprightness of the Aydelots and the inborn gentility of the Thaines keptthe boy from the Kansas prairies a fearless gentleman. Withal, he wasexuberantly pleased with life, as a young man of twenty-one should be. Helived mostly in the company of Kansas University men, and with the oldUniversity yell of "Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U!" for their slogan, theystood shoulder to shoulder in every conflict. 

Lastly, he was a hero-worshiper at the shrine of his colonel, FredFunston, and his captain, Adna Clarke; while in all the regiment, the fairface of young Lieutenant Alford seemed to him most gracious. Alford washis soldier ideal, type of the best the battlefield may know. And, even ifall this admiration did have in it much of youthful sentimentalism, ittook nothing from his efficiency when he came to his place on the firingline. 

"I wonder where Doctor Carey is tonight, " Thaine's comrade said in a lowvoice, as the two came together in the road. 

"What's made you think of him?" Thaine asked. 

"I haven't seen him since Christmas day. A young Filipino and I got intoa scrap with a drunken Chinaman who was beating a boy, and the Chinkslashed us both. Carey stitched us up, but the other fellow keeps a scaracross his face, all right. "

"I know that Filipino, " Thaine said. "He seems like a fine young man. Thescar was a marker for him. I'd know him by it anywhere. "

"So should I, and by his peculiar gait. I saw a man slipping along beyondthe lines just now who made me think of that fellow, and that made methink of Doctor Carey, " the sentinel said, and turned away. 

It was after nine o'clock, and the hours were already beginning to stretchwearily for sentinels, when a faint sound of guns away to the eastwardbroke on the air. Again and again it came, intermittently at first, butincreasing to a steady roar. Down in Manila there was dead quiet, butalong the American line of outposts the ripping of Mauser bullets and longstreaks of light flashed the Filipino challenge to war in steady volleys. 

As Thaine listened, the firing seemed to be creeping gradually toward thenorth, and he knew the insurgents were swinging toward the Tondo road, down which they would rush to storm the bridge. In that moment civil lifedropped off like a garment, and he stood up a soldier. He crept cautiouslytoward the bend to see what lay beyond, and dropped on his face in thedusty way as a whirl of bullets split the air above his head. 

As he sprang back to his place beside his comrade, other sentinels joinedthem, and behind them loomed the tall form of Captain Clarke. 

"What's around there, Aydelot?" Clarke asked. 

"Didn't you hear?"

Thaine's reply was lost in a roar of rifles, followed by increased firingalong the entire line, massing to the north before the Twentieth's front. 

"There are ten more men on the way up here. We'll hold this place untilreinforcements come, " Captain Clarke declared. 

It was such a strategic point as sometimes turns the history of war. Butthe odds are heavy for sixteen men to stand against swarms of insurgentsarmed with Mausers and Remingtons. In the thrill of that moment, ThaineAydelot would have died by inches had this tall, cool-headed captain ofhis demanded it. Clarke arranged his men on either side of the way, andthe return fire began. Suddenly up the road a lantern gleamed. An instantlater a cannon shot plowed the dust between the two lines of men. 

"They've turned a cannon loose. Watch out, " Clarke called through thedarkness. 

A second time and a third the lantern glowed, and each time a cannon ballcrashed through a nipa hut beside the little company, or threw a shower ofdust about the place. 

"They have to load that gun by the light of a lantern. Let's fix thelantern, " Thaine cried, as the dust cloud settled down. 

"Good! Watch your aim, boys, " Captain Clarke replied. 

The bullets were falling thick about them. They whizzed through thebushes, they cut into the thatched huts, they flung swirls of dust on thelittle line of brave soldiers, they poured like stinging sweeps of hail, volley after volley, along the Tondo road. When the lantern flashed again, sixteen bullets riddled it, and without its help the big gun wasuseless. 

"Poor lantern! It fell on the firing line, brave to the last, " Thainedeclared as the smoke lifted. 

But the loss of the cannon only doubled the insurgents' efforts, and theythreshed at the invincible little band with smoking lead. On the one sidewas a host of Filipino rebels, believing by the incessant firing of theKansans that it was facing an equal host. On the other side were sixteenmen who, knowing the odds against them, dared the game of war to thelimit. 

"How many rounds have you left?" Captain Clarke asked. 

"Only one, " came the answer. 

"Give it to them when I give the word. We won't run till our guns areempty, " the captain declared grimly. 

The last shot was ready to fly, when a wild yell burst from the darknessbehind them, the shouts to "remember the _Maine_, " mingled with the olduniversity yell of "Rock Chalk, Jay Hawk, K. U. Oo!" and reinforcementscharged to the relief of the invincible sixteen. 

What disaster might have followed the capture of the Tondo road and theattack upon the bridge is only conjecture. What did happen ishistory--type henceforth of that line of history every company of theTwentieth Kansas was to help to build. When daylight came, Thaine Aydelotsaw the frontier line that he had proudly felt himself called hither topush back, and the reality of it was awful. He had pictured capturedtrenches, but he had not put in their decoration--the prone forms of deadFilipinos with staring eyes, seeing nothing earthly any more forever. 

Beyond that line, however, lay the new wilderness that the Anglo-Americanmust conquer, and he flung himself upon the firing line, as if the safetyand honor of the American nation rested on his shoulders alone; while allhis dreams of glorious warfare, where Greek meets Greek in splendidgallantry, faded out before the actual warfare of the days and nights thatfollowed. 

Thaine's regiment, not the "Kansas Scarecrows, " but the "FightingTwentieth" now, was one of the regiments on which rested the brunt ofdriving back and subduing the rebellious Filipinos. Swiftly the Kansasboys pushed into the unknown country north of Manila. They rushed acrossthe rice fields, whose low dykes gave little protection from the enemy. They plunged through marshes, waist deep in water. They lay for hoursbehind their earthworks, half buried in muddy slime. They slept in holes, drenched to the skin. With the University yell for their battle cry offreedom, they tore through tropical jungles with the bullets of the enemycutting the branches overhead or spattering the dirt about their feet. 

The American regiments were six days in reaching Caloocan, a prosperoustown only six miles north of Manila; a mile a day, every foot stubbornlycontested. 

On Sabbath morning in the first day's struggle, Thaine was running in aline of soldiery toward the Filipino fortification, when he was haltedbeside a thatched hut that stood between the guns of both armies and wasriddled with bullets. 

"Help the corporal here, Aydelot, then double quick it ahead, " LieutenantKrause commanded. 

Thaine followed the corporal inside the hut where, shot to pieces, laythe mangled forms of women and children who had caught the storm ofbullets from both firing lines. Through a gaping hole in the wall beyond, he saw a shallow pit where wounded and dead men and women were huddledtogether. 

"Help me get out the live ones and send them back to Manila, and we'llcover the others right here, " the corporal declared. 

It was the neighborhood custom of the Grass River Valley for young men toassist at every funeral. Thaine had jokingly dubbed himself "officialneighborhood pall-bearer, " and had served at so many funerals that theservice had become merely one of silent dignity which he forgot the nexthour. He knew just how to place the flowers effectively, when to stepaside and wait, and when to come forward and take hold. And these were theonly kinds of services he had known for the dead. 

As he bent over the blood-smeared bodies to take up the wounded and dyingnow, the horror of war burst upon him, and no dead face could be more ashygray than the young soldier's face as he lifted it above a dying Filipinowoman whom he stretched tenderly beside the hut. The next victim was aboy, a deserter from Manila, whom Thaine recognized by a scar across hischeek as the young Filipino whose wound Doctor Carey had dressed. 

"You poor fellow!" Thaine said softly. 

The boy's eyes opened in recognition. 

"For liberty, " he murmured in Spanish, with a scowling face. Then thescowl faded to a smile, and in a moment more he had entered eternalliberty. 

A detachment of the Red Cross with a white-haired surgeon just thenrelieved the corporal of the wounded, and Thaine saw Dr. Horace Careycoming toward him. 

"I know what you are thinking. Maybe your gun did a good deal of it. Thisis war, Thaine. "

The young man's dark eyes burned with agony at the thought. 

"Forget it, " Carey added hurriedly. "It is the lost cause here. I workedthat line myself for four years long ago. I know the feeling. But this isthe only medicine to give the islands here. They can't manage liberty forthemselves. You are giving them more freedom with your rifle today thanthey could get for themselves in a century. Don't wet your powder withyour tears. You may need it for the devil that's after you now. Wait tillyou see a Kansas boy brought in and count the cost again. Good-by. "

The doctor hastened away with the wounded, and Thaine helped to straightenout the forms about him and to fill the pit where they were placed in onecommon grave. 

"Wait till you see a Kansas boy brought in and then count the cost. "

Somehow, the words, ringing again and again down his mind, could not takeaway the picture of the thing he had just witnessed. And the dying gasp, "For liberty!" seemed to stab his soul, as he ran forward. 

Two days later his company had orders to hold the trenches before a junglefilled with sharpshooters. All day the sun had blazed down upon them andthe humid atmosphere had scalded them. All day the murderous "ping! ping!"of the hidden Mauser in the jungle had stung the air about them. 

Late in the afternoon Thaine lay crouched behind his low defense with acollege comrade on either side. Colonel Funston had just given the commandto rid the woods of the sharpshooters, and the force ordered to the attackcame racing by. Captain Clarke stood near Thaine's post, and as thesoldiers rushed forward, Lieutenant Alford halted beside him. Even in thethrill of the hour, the private down in the trenches felt a sense ofbigger manhood as he looked at the young officer, for Alford was everyinch a king; his soldier uniform became him like a robe of royalty. Hisfine face was aglow now with the enthusiasm of the battle and theassurance of victory. 

Thaine did not hear the words of the two officers, for the jungle wasbeginning to roar with battle cries and bursting fire from many guns. Buthe knew the two had been boyhood friends, university chums, and militarycomrades, and the love of man for man shone in their faces. 

Alford tarried but a moment with Clarke. As he spied Thaine and hiscomrades, he gave an instant's glance of kindly recognition to theadmiring young privates, and was gone. The three involuntarily rose totheir feet, as if to follow him, and from three lusty throats they sentafter him the beloved battle yell of the regiment, "Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk!K. U. !" then dropped to their places again and hugged the earth as therifle balls whizzed about them. 

"I'm glad I'm alive and I'm glad I know that man, " Thaine said to hisneighbors. 

"Alford's a prince. I'll bet he'll clean that woods before he's through. His work is always well done. Would you listen to that?" his comradereplied. 

A tremendous crash of rifle shots seemed to split the jungle as the Kansastroops charged into it. The men in the trenches lay flat to the earthwhile the balls fell about them or sang a long whining note through theair over them. Fiercer grew the fray, and louder roared the guns, andwilder the bullets flew, as the fighting lines swept over the enemy'searthworks and struck with deadly force into the heart of its woodedcover. 

Then came a lull for shifting the fighting grip. A relief force washurried to the front and the first companies retired for a brief rest. They fell back in order, while the aids came trooping out of the brush ingroups, bearing the wounded to places of shelter. Thaine Aydelot and hiscomrades lifted their heads above the earthworks for an instant. CaptainClarke sat near on a little knoll staring hard at a stretcher borne towardhim by the aids. The manner of covering indicated a dead body on it. 

"How different the captain's face is from what it was before the attack, "Thaine thought, as he recalled the moment when Clarke had talked withLieutenant Alford. And then the image of the young lieutenant's face, sofull of life and hope and power and gentleness, swept vividly across hismind. 

"Who is it, boys?" Clarke called to the soldiers with the stretcher. 

"Lieutenant Alford, " they answered. 

Something black dropped before Thaine Aydelot's eyes and Doctor Carey'swords stung like powder burns in his memory. 

"Wait till you see a Kansas boy brought in, and count the cost again. "

In civil life character builds slowly up to higher levels. In war, itleaps upward in an instant. Thaine sprang to his feet and stood up to hisfull height in the blaze of the tropical sunshine. He did not see hiscaptain, who had dropped to the ground like a wounded thing, stabbed tothe soul with an agony of sorrow. He did not see the still form of theyoung lieutenant outlined under the cover of the stretcher. He did not seethe trenches nor the lines of khaki-clad, sun-browned soldiery plungingforward to rid the jungle of its deadly peril. In that one moment helooked down the years with clear vision, as his father, Asher Aydelot, hadlearned to look before him, and he saw manhood and a new worth in humandeeds. He had been a sentimental dreamer, ambitious for honors fairlyearned, and eager for adventure. The first shots in the night attack onthe Tondo road made him a soldier. The martyrdom of Lieutenant Alford madehim a patriot. Humanity must be worth much, it seemed to him, if, in theprovidence of God, such blood must be spilled to redeem it to noblercivilization. 

Six weeks after the death of Alford before Caloocan, Dr. Horace Carey cameup from the hospital in Manila to the American line to see Thaine Aydelot. The Kansas boys had been on duty in the trenches north of Caloocan forforty days, living beside the breastworks under the rude shelter of bamboopoles, watching a sleepless enemy--a life as full of wearing monotony andhardship as it was full of constant peril. 

"Well, Thaine, how goes the game?" Carey asked, as he sat beside the youngsoldier from the Grass River Valley. "I helped you into this world. I'mglad I haven't had to help you out yet. "

Carey had never before seen any resemblance to Asher Aydelot in his son'sface. It was purely a type of the old Thaine family of Virginia. Buttoday, the pose of the head, the expression of the mouth, the far-seeinggaze of the dark eyes, bespoke the heritage of the house of Aydelot. 

"I hope not to have any more help from you, either. You got me into thescrape; I'll see to the rest, " Thaine replied. "Don't I look all right? Ihaven't had a bath, except in swamp mud, since the first of February. Today is the twenty-third of March. Neither have I seen a razor. Notice mysilky beard. Nor a dress suit, nor a--anything else civilized. Six weeksin one hole, killing Filipinos for our amusement and dodging their oldRemingtons for theirs, living on army rations and respect for the flag ofmy country, may not improve my appearance, but it hasn't started me to thesick-shack yet. Any news from home?" Thaine ended with the question put socarelessly, with a face so impenetrable that Doctor Carey took notice atonce. 

"Homesick!" was his mental diagnosis, but he answered with equalcarelessness. 

"Yes, I had a letter from Leigh Shirley. "

Thaine's eyes were too full of unspeakable things now for him to holdout. 

"She says the alfalfa is doing well. She and Jim have kept up all theinterest, and are beginning to reduce the principal. That's why shewrote. "

"Brave little soldier, " Thaine muttered. 

"Yes, civil life has its heroes, too, " the doctor responded. "She alsosays, " he continued, "that John Jacobs has had Hans Wyker convicted ofrunning a joint and Hans had to pay a fine and stick in the Careyvillejail thirty days. Hans won't love John for that when he gets out. "

"What a hater of whisky John Jacobs is. He's always on the firing line andnever misses his aim, bless him!" Thaine declared. 

"Yes, Jacobs' battle is a steady one. He told me just before I left Kansashow his mother was killed in a saloon in Cincinnati when she was trying toget his father out of it. John wouldn't live in a state that had noprohibitory law, " the doctor commented. 

"Did Leigh write anything else?" Thaine asked. 

"Yes. Jo Bennington and Todd Stewart are married. Pryor Gaines is inPekin, and he writes that there are rumblings of trouble over there. Shallwe go over and settle it when we finish the Filipino fuss?"

"Might as well. I'd like to see old Pryor. I'm glad Todd and Jo had senseenough to take each other. I suppose Jo overcame her notions of livingonly in the city. What else?" Thaine replied. 

"Nothing else. That's your message. " Carey's black eyes held a shrewdtwinkle. 

"Why mine?" The impenetrable face was on Thaine again. 

"See here, boy, don't think I haven't read her story, page by page. IfLeigh had sent you a single line, I'd have begun to doubt. "

Thaine threw one arm about the doctor's shoulder and said not a word. ThenCarey read his story also. 

"I nearly forgot to tell you that Leigh is doing well with her drawings. She sent me this, for which she had a good price paid her. "

Doctor Carey unfolded the paper back of a magazine having a bit of prairielandscape for a cover design. In the distance, three headlands swam inthe golden haze of a Kansas October sunset, and their long purple shadowsfell wide across the brown prairie and fields of garnered harvests. 

Thaine studied it carefully, but offered no comment. 

"Doctor Carey, what brought you to the Philippines?" he asked suddenly. 

"To look after you, " Carey replied frankly. 

"Me! Do I need it?"

"You may. In that case I'll be first aid to the injured, " Carey answered. "I'm to go with the 'Fighting Twentieth' when it starts out of these hogwallows toward the insurgents' capital. I must get back to Manila and packfor it. I have my orders to be ready in twenty-four hours. "

In twenty-four hours the "Fighting Twentieth" left its six-weeks'habitation in the trenches and began its campaign northward, and theyoung-hearted, white-haired physician with magnetic smile and skillfuljudgment found a work in army service so broad and useful that he loved itfor its opportunity. 

Fortunately, Thaine had no need for "first aid" from Doctor Carey, and hesaw the doctor only rarely in the sixty days that followed. When the twohad time for each other again, Colonel Fred Funston's name had beenwritten round the world in the annals of military achievement, theresourceful, courageous, beloved leader of a band of fighters from theKansas prairies who were never defeated, never driven back, never dauntedby circumstances. Great were the pen of that historian that couldfittingly set forth all the deeds of daring and acts of humanity of everycompany under every brave captain, for they "all made history, and leftrecords of unfading glory. "

The regiment had reached the Rio Grande, leaving no unconquered postbehind it. Under fire, it had forded the Tulijan, shoulder-deep to theshorter men. Under fire, it had forged a way through Guiguinto andMalolos. Under fire, it had swam the Marilao and the Bagbag. And now, beyond Calumpit, the flower of Aguinaldo's army was massed under GeneralLuna, north of the Rio Grande. A network of strong fortifications laybetween it and the river, and it commanded all the wide water-front. 

As the soldiers waited orders on the south side of the river, DoctorHorace Carey left his work and sought out Thaine's company, impelled bythe same instinct that once turned him from the old Sunflower Trail tofind Virginia Aydelot lost on the solitary snow-covered prairie beyondLittle Wolf Creek. 

"What's before you now?" the doctor asked, as he and Thaine sat on theground together. 

"The Rio Grande now. We must be nearly to the end if we rout General Lunahere, " Thaine replied. 

"You've stood it well. I guess you don't need me after all, " Careyremarked. 

"I always need you, Doctor Carey, " Thaine said earnestly. "Never more thannow. When I saw Captain Clarke wounded and carried away on the other sideof the Tulijan, and could only say 'Captain, my captain, ' I needed you. When Captain Elliot was killed, I needed you; and when Captain WilliamWatson was shot and wouldn't stay dead because we need him so, and whenMetcalf, Bishop, Agnew, Glasgow, Ramsey, and Martin, and all the otherbig-brained fellows do big things, I need you again. Life is a great game;I'm glad I'm in it. "

Horace Carey had never before seen Thaine's bright face so alert withmanly power and beauty and thoughtfulness. War had hardened him. Dangerhad tried him. Human needs, larger than battle lines alone can know, hadstrengthened him. Vision of large purposes had uplifted him. As he stoodbefore the white-haired physician whom he had loved from earliest memory, Carey murmured to himself:

"Can the world find grander soldiers to fight its battles than thesesun-browned boys from our old Kansas prairies?"

"We are going across to Luna's stronghold in a few minutes. Watch him gointo eclipse before Fred Funston. If you stand right here, you'll see mehelping at the job. Good-by, " Thaine declared, and, at the bugle call, fell into his place. 

Beyond the river a steady fire was opened on the American forces, and nobridge nor boat was there by which to cross. Doctor Carey stood watchingthe situation with a strange sense of unrest in his mind. 

"There must be rafts, " declared Colonel Funston. 

And there were rafts, hastily made of bamboo poles. 

"Somebody must swim across and fasten a cable over there by which to towthe rafts across. Who will volunteer? You see what's before you, " Funstonasserted. 

Horace Carey saw two soldiers, Corporal Trembly and Private Edward White, seize the cable, plunge into the river, and strike out directly toward thefarther side filled with Filipino forces. Rifle balls split the waterabout them. Bullet after bullet cut the air above them. Shot after shotfrom the ambushed enemy hurtled toward them. The two young men surgedsteadily ahead, bent only on reaching the bank and fastening the cable. They knew only one word, duty, and they did the thing they had agreed todo. Once across the river, they ran nimbly up the bank and made fast therope's end, while cheer after cheer rose from their comrades watchingthem, and the battle cry of the Fighting Twentieth, "Rock Chalk, Jay Hawk, K. U. , " went pulsing out across the waters of the Rio Grande as full andstrong as in the days when it rolled out on the university campus onfar-away Mount Oread, beside the Kaw. 

The rafts sped along the cable, and squad after squad went pell mell intoGeneral Luna's stronghold, under stubborn fire from the frantic rebels. 

Thaine Aydelot was on the last raft to cross the river. Doctor Careywatched with eager gaze as the last men reached the farther bank. He sawthem scrambling up from the water's edge. He saw Thaine turn back to liftup a comrade blinded, but not injured, by the smoke of a gun. He saw thetwo start forward. Then the faint "ping" of a Mauser came to his ears, andThaine threw up his hands and fell backward into the water and sank fromsight, while the other soldiers, unknowing, rushed forward into battle. 

For a moment, Horace Carey stood like a statue, then he sprang into theriver and swam against the fire of the hidden foe to where Thaine Aydelothad disappeared. Ten minutes later, while Luna's forces were trying vainlyto resist the daring Americans, Thaine Aydelot lay on a raft which Carey, with a Red Cross aid, was pulling toward the south bank. 

 * * * * *

When the Fighting Twentieth soldiers were relieved from service, andturned their faces gladly toward the Kansas prairies, whither hundreds ofproud fathers and mothers and wives and sweethearts were waiting to giveeager, happy welcome, Thaine Aydelot lay hovering between life and deathin the hospital at Manila. The white-haired doctor who had saved him fromthe waters of the Rio Grande watched hourly beside him, relying not somuch on the ministrations of his calling as in his trust in an InfiniteFather, through whom at last the sick may be made whole. 

CHAPTER XX

THE CROOKED TRAIL

 Life may be given in many ways, And loyalty to truth be sealed As bravely in the closet as the field. --Lowell. 

"Here's yo' letter from the Fillippians, Mis' Virginia; Mr. Champers donebring hit for you all. " Boanerges Peeperville fairly danced into theliving room of the Sunflower Inn. "They ain't no black mournin' aidgebindin' it round nuthah, thank the good Lawd foh that. "

Virginia Aydelot opened the letter with trembling fingers. It was only abrief page, but the message on it was big with comfort for her. 

"It is from Horace, " she said, as her eyes followed the lines. "He waswith Thaine when he wrote it. Thaine is perfectly well again and busy asever. He and Horace seem to be needed over there yet awhile. Isn't itwonderful how Thaine ever lived through that dreadful bullet wound andfever?"

"I jus' wondeh how you all stand up undeh such 'flictions. Seems to me amotheh done wilt down, but they don't. Mothehs is the bravest things theyis, " Bo Peep declared with a broad grin of admiration. 

"Oh, we get schooled to it. Asher's mother waited through six years whilehe was in army service; and remember how long I waited in Virginia for himto come back to me! I wondered at the test of my endurance then. I knownow it was to prepare me for Thaine's time of service for his country. "

"I done remember, all right, 'bout that time in ol' Virginia, an' the dayI taken you the letteh up in the little glen behind the ol' mansion housewhah hit wah so cool and the watah's so cleah. Misteh Horace wah home thatday, too. Say, Mis' Virginia, did--did he done mention my name anywhar inthat letteh?"

The pathos of the dark face was pitiful. 

"'My best love to Bo Peep. '" Virginia pointed to the line as she read. 

"Kin I please have this huh envelope?" Bo Peep pleaded, and, clutching itas a sacred treasure, he said: "Mis' Virginia, didn't I done tellen youMisteh Thaine would come back?"

"How did you know?" Virginia asked with shining eyes. 

"Becuz of what Doctoh Horace lef for me to tell you. It cain't do no hahmto tell hit thus fah. "

Bo Peep hesitated, and Virginia looked curiously at him. 

"Doctor Horace won't never come back. I tol' you that sufficiency times. When he lef, he say, 'Tel Mis' Virginia, if I don't come back, I'se donegoin' to be with Misteh Thaine an' take care of him, 'cause I love theboy, --hit cain't do no hahm to tell you that while Misteh Horace stillwriten to us. An' didn't he tak' care of Misteh Thaine? Didn't he lef hisplace an' go down to that Rigrand Riveh, an' didn't he see Misteh Thainefall back with a bullet pushin' him right into the watah? Yes, an' bedrownded if Doctoh Horace hadn't done swum right then and fish him out. An' didn't he stay night time an' day time right by the blessed boy, tillhe's pullin' him out of dangeh of death's wing? Oh, yo' son done comin'back 'cause Misteh Horace say he sho' goin' jus' tak' care of him. "

"But, Bo Peep, why do you not believe we'll have Horace here again?"Virginia asked. 

The black man only shook his head mournfully as he answered determinedly, "Ef yo' saves a life, you has to give one for hit, mos' eveh time, an' mo'specially in the Fillippians whah they's so murderful and slaughterous. "

"Oh, you ought not think that way, " Virginia urged. "Run quick, now, andtake the news to Asher. I don't know where he is this morning. "

"He's talkin' to Mr. Dabley Champehs out to the barn, " Bo Peep said as hehurried away. 

Asher Aydelot was standing before the big barn doors when Darley Champersturned from the main road and drove into the barnyard. It was a deliciousApril morning, with all the level prairie lands smiling back at the skiesabove them, and every breath of the morning breeze bearing new vigor andinspiration in its caressing touch. 

"Good morning, Champers; fine morning to live, " Asher called outcheerily. 

"Mornin', Aydelot; fine day, fine! Miss Shirley told me last fall she gother first inspiration for buyin' a quarter of land with nothin' and faith, and makin' it pay for itself, out of one of Coburn's Agricultural Reports. I reckon if a book like that could inspire a woman, they's plenty in amornin' like this to inspire old Satan to a more uprighteous line of goodsthan he generally carries. I never see the country look better. Your wheatis tremendous. How's the country look to you?" Champers responded. 

"I can remember when it looked a good deal worse, " Asher replied. "TheCoburn Reports must have helped to turn bare prairie and weedy boom lotsinto harvest fields. "

The two men had seated themselves on the sloping driveway before the barndoors. Asher was chewing the tender joint of a spear of foxtail grass, andChampers had lighted a heavy cigar. 

"You don't smoke, I believe, " he said cordially, "or I'd insist onoffering the mate. "

"No, I just chew, " Asher replied, as he bent the foxtail thoughtfully inhis fingers and looked out toward the wheat fields already rippling likewaves under the morning breeze. 

"Say, Aydelot, do you remember the day I come down this valley and triedmy danged best to get you to sell out for a song? I've done some prettyscaly things, all inside the letter of the law, since then, but neveranything that's stuck in my craw like that. I guess you ain't forgot it, neither?"

"I remember more of those first years than of these later ones, and Ihaven't forgotten when you came to the Grass River schoolhouse one hotSunday about grasshopper time, but I don't believe anybody holds itagainst you. You were out for business just as we were, " Asher repliedwith a genial smile. 

"Say! D'recollect what you said to me when I invited you to cast yourglims over this very country, a burnt-up old prairie that day, so scorchedit was too dry and hot to cut up into town lots for an addition to Hades?"

Asher laughed now. 

"No, I don't remember anything about that. It was just the general line ofevents that stayed with me, " he said. 

"Well, I do; and I'll never forget the look in your eyes when you said it, neither. I'd told you, as I say, just to look at this God-forsaken oldplain and tell me what you see. And you looked, like you was glimpsin'heaven a'most, and just said sorter solemn like an' prophetic: 'I see aland fair as the Garden of Eden, with grazing herds on broad meadows, andfields on fields of wheat, and groves and little lakes and rivers--a landof comfortable homes and schoolhouses and churches, and no saloons norbreweries. ' And then I broke in and told you I see a danged fool, and yousays, 'Come down here in twenty-five year and make a hunt for me then. 'And, by golly, Aydelot, here I am. You've everlastingly conquered theprairies for sure, and you are a young man, not fifty-five yet. "

"Well, you can see most of those things that I saw that day out yonder, can't you?"

Asher's eyes followed the waving young wheat and the blossoming orchards, the grove, full of birds' songs, and the line of Grass River runningdeeper year by year. Then he looked at his hard, brown hands and thoughtof the toil and faith and hope that had gone into the conquest. 

"Yes, I'm still among the middle-aged, " he said, straightening with hishabitual military dignity of bearing. "But I don't know about thiseverlasting conquest of the prairies. There's still some of it waitingover beyond those headlands in the open range where John Jacobs has a bigholding. I'll never feel that I have conquered until my boy proves himselfin civil life as well as on the battlefield. If I can bring him back whenhe is through with the Orient, then, Darley Champers, I will have donesomething beside subdue the soil. Through him, I'll keep the wildernessfrom ever getting hold again. If we live so narrowly that our childrenhate the lines we follow and will not go on and do still bigger thingsthan we have done, do we really make a success of life?"

At that moment Bo Peep appeared with Doctor Carey's letter, and thesubject shifted to the problems of the far East. 

"We aren't the only people who are having trouble, " Asher said. "I read inthe papers that the Boxer uprising that began in southern China last yearis spreading northward and making no end of disturbance. "

"What's them Boxers wantin'? Are they a band of prize ring fellers?"Darley Champers asked. 

"Pryor Gaines writes Jim Shirley that they are a secret order of fanaticsbent on stamping out all Christianity and all western ideas of advancementin the Orient. Things begin to look ugly in China, even from thisdistance. When a band of religious fanatics like the Boxers go on thewarpath, their atrocities make a Cheyenne raid or a Kiowa massacre looklike a football game. I hope Pryor will not be in their line of march. "

"Pryor Gaines'd better stayed right here. It's what's likely to happen toa man who goes missionarying too far, and we could 'a used him here. "

It was an unusual concession for Darley Champers to make regarding thechurch, and Asher looked keenly at him. 

"Say, Aydelot, " Champers said suddenly, "you have more influence with JohnJacobs 'n anybody else, I know. If you see the Jew, pass it on to himthat Wyker's at his old cut-ups again over in Wykerton, and he's dangedbitter against Jacobs. I can help him on the side like I did before, butthe Jew's got hold of enough over there now to run things, with ownin'land all round and holdin' mortgages on town property just to keep jointsout of 'em. I do no end of business for Jacobs now. Never had dealin'swith a straighter man. But he'd better look out for Wyker. The Dutchman'sinsides is all green with poison, he's hated Jacobs so many years. "

"I guess John will make it hard on him if they come to blows again. Thejail sentence and fine Jacobs fastened on him let Wyker down easy. JohnJacobs is one of the state's big men, " Asher responded. 

"We lost another big man when we let Doc Carey go, " Champers went on. "Iused to set up nights and rest myself hatin' him. He done the biggestmissionary work in me the two weeks I stayed at his house ever was donefor a benighted heathen. I hated to see him go. " The sadness of the tonewas genuine. "But I mustn't be hangin' round here all the mornin'; I'vegot other things to do. Hope your boy'll keep a-goin' till his term's out. Goodday!" And Champers was gone. 

"Till his term's out!" Asher repeated with a smile. "Wouldn't thatsix-footer of a soldier boy, whose patriotism burns like a furnace, seethe joke to that! Till he gets his stripes off and forgets the lock-step!My Thaine, who is giving a young man's strength of body and inspiration ofsoul to his country's service! But Carey did do a missionary work inChampers. The fellow was crooked enough 'inside the law always, ' as hesaid, but no more out of line than scores of reputable business men aretoday. And the fact that he's Jacobs' agent now measures the degree oftrustworthiness Carey has helped to waken in him. "

Darley Champers' business took him down the river to the Cloverdale Ranch, where he found Leigh Shirley training the young vines up the trellis bythe west porch. 

"You got a mighty pretty place here; just looks like Jim Shirley, "Champers declared as he greeted the young gardener. 

"Yes, Uncle Jim is never so happy as when he is puttering about the lawnand garden, " Leigh answered. 

"How's your alfalfa doin'?" Champers asked as he turned toward the levelstretch of rich green alfalfa fields. "Danged money-maker for you, " headded jovially. 

"We'll clear the place with the first cutting this year. It's just thething for Uncle Jim, " Leigh asserted. 

"Yep, Jim's in clover--alfalfa, ruther. You had a good business head whenyou run your bluff some years ago, an' you wan't only nineteen then. Youwalked into my place an' jest bought that land on sheer bluff. " Champerslaughed uproariously, but he grew sober in the next minute. 

"Miss Shirley, " he said gravely, "I ain't got much style nor sentiment inmy makin's, but I've honestly tried to be humane by widders an' orphans. I've done men to keep 'em from doin' me, or jest 'cause they was dangedeasy, but I never wronged no woman, not even my wife, who divorced meyears ago back East 'cause I wouldn't turn my old mother out o' doors, butkep' her and provided for her long as she lived. "

Nobody in Kansas had ever heard Darley Champers mention his home relationsbefore. Leigh looked at him gravely, and the sympathy in her deep blueeyes was grateful to the uncultured man before her. 

"Miss Shirley, I ain't wantin' to meddle none, but I come down here to askyou if you know anything about your father?"

Leigh gave a start and stared at her questioner, but her woman's instincttold her that only kindly purpose lay back of his question. 

He had sat down on the edge of the porch and Leigh stood leaning againstthe trellis, clutching the narrow slats, as she looked at him. 

"I think he is dead, " she answered slowly. "Uncle Jim says he must be. Hewas a bad man, made bad not by blood but by selfishness. The Shirleys area fine family. "

"Excuse me for sayin' it, Miss, but you took every good trait of thatfamily, an' Nature jest shied every bad trait as far from you as it tookthe sins of our old savage Anglo-Saxon ancestors off of our heads; themthat used to kill an' eat their neighborin' tribes, like the Filipinos, they was. Don't never forget that you're a Shirley an' not a Tank. Yourgrandma's name was Tank, I've been told. "

Leigh made no response, but something in her face and in the poise of herfigure bespoke the truth of Darley Champers' words. 

"I jest come down to tell you, " he continued, "that the man I representedwhen I sold you this quarter, he represented your father, Tank Shirley, and Tank got it through this man away from Jim out of pure hate. I soldit back to you out of pure spite to Tank's agent, who was naggin' me. Ifyour father is dead, there'd ought to be somethin' comin' back, as themoney you paid for the land would help you some if we could get it back. Icome as a friend. I'm kinder in Doc Carey's shoes while he's gone, yousee. You've got the land as good as paid for. It will be clear, you say, by June. Buyin' it of your own father, if there's any estate left of him, you'd ought to have it. Money's always a handy commodity, an' I'd like tosee you git what's your'n after your plucky bluff and winnin'. You coulduse it, I reckon?"

"We need it very much, " Leigh assured him. 

"Say, would you mind tellin' me if you find out anything about yourfather's whereabouts or anything?" Champers queried. 

"Yes, I will, " Leigh replied, "but will you tell me what you know abouthim; you must know something?"

It was Champers' turn to start now. "N-not much; not as much as I'm goin'to know, and it's not for my profit, neither. I don't make money out ofwomen's needs. I never made a cent on this sale to you, but it was worthit to get to do that agent once, " Champers declared. 

Leigh waited quietly. 

"I'll be in better shape inside of two days to tell you somethingdefinite. I wish Carey was here. Do you know where he got the money heloaned you?"

"I never asked him, " Leigh answered. 

"He borrowed it of Miss Jane Aydelot of Cloverdale, Ohio. "

Champers did not mean to be brutal, but the sharp cry of pain and thelook of anguish on Leigh Shirley's face told how grievous was the woundhis words had made. 

"Why, you paid it all back; she ain't lost nothin'. Besides, I heard withmy own ears folks sayin' she'd always loved you and it was a pity Jim evertook you away from her. She might 'a done well by you, they said. You gotno wrong due. Lord knows you've paid it conscientiously enough, " DarleyChampers insisted. 

"Mr. Champers, will you be sure to tell me all you know as soon aspossible? Meantime, I'll try to find out something to tell you. "

"I sure will. Goodday to you. "

When Champers rose to leave, Leigh put out her hand to him, and thewinning smile that made all Grass River folk love her as they loved heruncle Jim now touched the best spot in the heart of the man before her. 

"God knows it's a lot better to do for folks than to do 'em, and in theend I believe you prosper more at it. My business, except the infernalboom days, never was so good as it's been since I had that time withCarey, and it's all clean business, too, not a smirch on it. Wish I couldforget a few things I've did, though. " So Darley Champers thought, as hedrove up the old Grass River trail in the glory of the April morning. 

That morning, Leigh Shirley wrote a long letter to Jane Aydelot ofCloverdale, Ohio. Leigh had written many letters to her before, but neverone with a plea like this. Miss Jane had mentally grown up with Leigh andhad built many a romance about her, which was only hinted at in theletters she received. 

In the letter of this morning, Leigh begged for all the information MissJane could give concerning her father, and further, she pleaded boldly forthe reconciliation of the Aydelot family, a thing she had never written ofbefore. Five days later her letter came back "unclaimed" with a briefstatement from the Cloverdale postmaster that Miss Jane Aydelot had passedaway on the day the letter was written, much beloved, etc. 

John Jacobs had no need to be warned by Asher Aydelot of Hans Wyker'sdoings. He knew all of Wyker's movements through Rosie Gimpke. Jacobs hadbeen kind to Rosie, whose bare, loveless life knew few kindnesses, and sheharbored the memory of a good deed as her grandfather harbored his hatred. Moreover, the Wyker joint had played havoc with the Gimpke family. Herfather had died from a fall received in a drunken brawl there. Twobrothers, too drunk to know better, had driven into Little Wolf in aspring flood and been drowned. A sister had married a drinking man whoregularly beat her in his regular sprees. For a heavy-footed, heavy-brained, fat German girl, Rosie Gimpke could get into action withsurprising alacrity for the safety of one who had shown her a kindness. 

And it was Rosie Gimpke, whom John Jacobs called the Wykerton W. C. T. U. , who swiftly put the word to him that her grandfather was again defying thelaw and menacing the public welfare. 

Unfortunately, the messenger who served Rosie in this emergency wasovertaken by Hans and forced to divulge his mission, threatened with direevils if he said a word to Rosie about Hans having halted him, and urgedto go with all haste on his errand, and to be sure of the reward, aticket to the coming circus and two dishes of ice cream from the Wykereating house, as per Rosie's promise. 

The boy hastened from the grinning Hans and did his errand, and afterwardheld his peace, so far as Rosie was concerned. But he stupidly unloadedhis message and Hans' interference and threats to John Jacobs as anoutsider whom the Wyker family rows could not touch, and had another dishof ice cream at Jacobs' expense. 

This messenger was able, for he brought the word to Rosie that John Jacobswould come to his Little Wolf ranch the next day, and late in the eveningdrop into Wykerton unexpectedly, where he knew Rosie would give him easyaccess to the "blind tiger" of the Wyker House. The boy carried a messagealso to Darley Champers to meet Jacobs at the top of the hill above LittleWolf where the trail with the scary little twist wound down by the openingto the creek, beyond which the Gimpke home was hidden. Then Hans Wyker, with threats of withholding the circus ticket and the ice cream, was toldboth messages just as they had been given to him for Rosie and Champers. Hans, for reasons of his own, hurried out of Wykerton and took the firsttrain to Kansas City. 

All this happened on the day that Darley Champers had made his trip to theCloverdale Ranch. The fine spring weather of the morning leaped to summerheat in the afternoon, as often happens in the plains country. On the nextday the heat continued, till late in the afternoon a vicious black stormcloud swirled suddenly up over the edge of the horizon, defying therestraining call of the three headlands to sheer off to the south, asstorms usually sheered, and burst in fury on the Grass River Valley, extending east and north until the whole basin drained by Big Wolf wasthreshed with a cyclone's anger. 

Darley Champers sat half asleep in his office on the afternoon of thisday. His coat and vest were flung on a chair, his collar was on the floorunder the desk, his sleeves were rolled above his elbows. The heataffected his big bulky frame grievously. The front door was closed to keepout the afternoon glare, but the rear door, showing the roomy back yard, was wide open, letting in whatever cool air might wander that way. 

Darley was half conscious of somebody's presence as he dozed. He dreamed aminute or two, then suddenly his eyes snapped open just in time to seeThomas Smith entering through the rear doorway. 

"How do you do?" The voice was between a whine and a snarl. 

Champers stared and said nothing. 

"It's too hot to be comfortable, " Smith said, seating himself oppositeChampers, "but you're looking well. "

"You're not, " Champers thought. 

Thomas Smith was not looking well. Every mark of the down-hill road was onhim, to the last and surest mark of poverty. The hang-dog expression ofthe face with its close-set eyes and crooked scar above them showed howfar the evil life had robbed the man of power. 

"I got in here yesterday morning, and you went out of town right away, "Smith began. 

"Yes, I seen you, and left immediately, " Champers replied. 

"Why do you dodge me? Is it because you know I can throw you? Or is itbecause I got full here once and beat you up a bit over in Wyker'splace?" Smith asked smoothly, but with something cruel leaping up in hiseyes. 

"I didn't dodge you. I had business to see to and I hurried to it, so Iwouldn't miss you this afternoon, " Champers declared. "What do you wantnow?"

"Money, and I'm going to have it, " Smith declared. 

"Go get it, then!" Champers said coolly. 

"You go get it for me, and go quick, " Smith responded. "I'm in a bad fix, I needn't tell you. I've got to have money; it's what I live for. "

"I believe you. It's all you ever did live for, and it's brought you whereit'll bring any man danged soon enough who lives for it that way, "Champers asserted. 

"Since when did you join the Young Men's Christian Association?" Smithasked blandly. 

"Since day before yesterday. "

In spite of himself, Darley Champers felt his face flush deeply. He hadjust responded to a solicitation from that organization, assuring thesolicitors that he "done it as a business man and not that he was anyprayer meetin' exhorter, but the dollars was all cleaner'n amillionaire's, anyhow. "

"I thought so, " Smith went on. "Well, briefly, you have a good many thingsto keep covered, you know, and, likewise, so have your friends, theShirleys. The girl paid about all the mortgage on that ranch, I find. "

Darley Champers threw up his big hand. 

"Don't bring her name in here, " he demanded savagely. 

"Oh, are you soft that way?" The sneer in the allusion was contemptible. "All the better; you will get me some money right away. Why, I haven't letyou favor me in a long time. You'll be glad to do it now. Let me show youexactly how. "

He paused a moment and the two looked steadily at each other, each seemingsure of his ground. 

"You will go to these Shirleys, " Smith continued, all the hate of yearsmaking the name bitter to him, "and you'll arrange that they mortgage upagain right away, and you bring me the money. They can easy get threethousand on that ranch now, it's so well set to alfalfa. Nothing else willdo but just that. "

"And if I don't go?" Darley Champers asked. 

"Oh, you'll go. You don't want this Y. M. C. A. Crowd to know all I cantell. No, you don't. And Jim Shirley and that girl Leigh don't want me topublish all I know about the father and brother, Tank. It might be hard onboth of 'em. Oh, I've got you all there. You can't get away from me andthink because I'm hard up I have lost my grip on you. _I'll never dothat. _ I can disgrace you all so Grass River wouldn't wash your namesclean again. So run along. You and the Shirleys will do as I say. Youdon't _dare_ not to. And this pretty Leigh, such a gross old creature asyou are fond of, she can work herself to skin and bone to pay off anothermortgage to help Jim. Poor fellow can't work like most men, big as he is. I remember when he got started wrong in his lungs back in Ohio when he wasa boy. He blamed Tank for shutting him out in the cold one night, orsomething like it. That give him his start. He always blamed Tank foreverything. Why, he and Tank had a fight the last time they were together, and he nearly broke his brother's arm off--"

"Oh, shut up, " Champers snapped out. 

"Well, be active. I'll give you till tomorrow night; that's ample, " Smithsnapped back. "Hans and you are all the people in town who know I'm herenow except the fat woman who waits on the table at Wyker's. I'm lying lowright now, but I won't stay hid long; Wyker'll keep me over one more day, I reckon. Even he's turned against me when I've got no money to loan him, but I'll be on my feet again. "

"Say, Smith, come in tomorrow night, but don't hurry away now. " The bigman's tone was too level to show which way his meaning ran. "I'd like togo into matters a little with you. "

Smith settled back in his chair and waited with the air of one not to becoaxed. 

"You are right in sayin' I'd like to hide some transactions. Not many realestate men went through the boom days here who don't need to feel thatway. We was all property mad, and you and me and Wyker run our bluff sameas any of 'em, an' we busted the spirit of the law to flinders. And ourgivin' and gettin' deeds and our buyin' tax titles an' forty things wedone, was so irregular it might or mightn't stand in court now, dependin'altogether on how good a lawyer for technicalities we was able to employ. We know'd the game we was playin', too, and excused ourselves, thinkin'the Lord wouldn't find us special among so many qualified for the samegame. Smith, I know danged well I'm not so 'shamed of that as I should be. The thing that hurts me wouldn't be cards for you at all. It's the brutal, inhumane things no law can touch me for; it's trying to do honest menout'n their freeholds; it's holdin' back them grasshopper sufferersupplies, an' havin' the very men I robbed treatin' me like a gentlemannow, that's cutting my rhinoceros hide into strips and hangin' it on thefence. But you can't capitalize a thing like that in your business. "

"Well, I know what I can do. "

"As to what you can do to me, you've run that bluff till it's slick on thetrack. And I've know'd it just as long as you have, anyhow. Here's myparticular stunt with you. I had business East in '96, time of the big Mayflood, and I run down to Cloverdale, Ohio, for a day. The waters was uphigher'n they'd been know'd for some years. "

Thomas Smith had stiffened in his chair and sat rigidly gripping the arms. But Champers seemed not to notice this as he continued:

"The fill where the railroad cuts acrost the old Aydelot farm was washedout and kep' down the back water from floodin' the low ground. Butnaturally it washed out considerable right there. "

Smith's face was deadly pale now, with the crooked scar a livid streakacross his forehead. Champers deliberated before he went on. All hisblustering method disappeared and he kept to the even tone and unruffleddemeanor. 

"The danged little crick t'other side of town got rampageous late in theafternoon, and the whole crowd that had watched Clover Crick all day wentpellmellin' off to see new sights, leavin' me entirely alone by thewashout. I remember what you said about pretendin' to commit yourself toyour Maker there in an agreement between you as cashier an' Tank Shirley, an' the place interested me a lot. "

A finer-fibred man could hardly have resisted the agonized face of ThomasSmith. A cowardly nature would have feared the anger back of it. 

"It was gettin' late and pretty cloudy still, and nobody by, an' I staidround, an' staid round, when just at the right place the bank broke awayand I see the body of a man--just the skeleton mainly, right where youdidn't commit your pretended suicide. Somebody committed it there for youevidently. There was only a few marks of identification, a big set ringwith a jagged break in the set that swiped too swift acrost a man's facemight leave a ugly scar for life, and if the fellow tried too hard todrown hisself he might wrench a man's right arm so out o' plum he couldn'tnever do much signin' his name again. I disposed of the remains decent asI could, for Doc Carey was leisurely coming down National pike from JaneAydelot's, an' it was gettin' late, an' no cheerful plate nor job in acrowd in sunshiny weather, let alone there in the dusk of the evening. Wow! I dreamt of that there gruesome thing two weeks. I throwed the shovelin the crick. Would you like me to show you where to go to dig, so's youcan be sure your plan with Tank Shirley worked and you didn't drown, afterall? And are you sure you ain't been misrepresenting things to me a littleas agent for Tank Shirley? Are you right sure you ain't Tank Shirleyhimself? I've kep' still for four years, not to save you nor myself, butto keep Leigh Shirley's name from bein' dragged into court 'longside aname like yours or mine. I never misuse the women, no matter how tricky Iam with men. "

Then, as an afterthought, Champers added:

"It's so danged hot this afternoon I can't get over to Grass River; and Igot word to meet Jacobs over at the Little Wolf Ranch later, so I thinkI'll take the crooked trail up to that place; it's a lot the coolest road, and I'll wait till the sun's most down. I guess that three thousand dollarmortgage can wait over a day now, less you feel too cramped. "

Thomas Smith rose from his chair. His face was ashy and his small blackeyes burned with a wicked fire. He gave one long, steady look intoChampers' face and slipped from the rear door like a shadow. 

Darley Champers knew he had won the day, and no sense of personal dangerhad ever troubled him. He settled back in his chair, drew a long sigh ofrelief, and soon snored comfortably through his afternoon's nap. 

When he awoke it was quite dark, for the storm cloud covered the sky andthe hot breath from the west was like the air from a furnace mouth. 

"It's not late, but it's danged hot. I wonder why that Jew wanted me tomeet him over there. Couldn't he have come here? I'm wet with sweat now. How'll I be by the time I get out to that ranch?" Champers stretched hislimbs and mopped his hot neck with his handkerchief. "I reckon I'd bettergo, though. Jacobs always knows why he wants a thing. And he's the finestman ever came out of Jewey. With him in town and Asher Aydelot on a farm, no city nor rural communities could be more blessed. "

Then he remembered Thomas Smith and a cold shiver seized his big, perspiring body. 

"I wonder why I dread to go, " he said, half aloud. "The creek trail willbe cool, but, golly, I'm danged cold right now. "

Again his mind ran to Smith's face as he had seen it last. He put on hishat and started to take his long raincoat off the hook behind the reardoor. 

"Reckon I'd better take it. It looks like storming, " he muttered. "Hello!What the devil!"

For Rosie Gimpke, with blazing cheeks and hair dripping with perspiration, was hidden behind the coat. 

"Oh, Mr. Champers, go queek and find Yon Yacob, but don't go the creekroat. I coom slippin' to tell you to go sure, and I hit when that strangeman coom slippin' in. I hear all you say, an' I see him troo der crackhere, an' he stant out there a long time looking back in here. So I halfto wait an' you go nappin' an' I still wait. I wait to say, hurry, butdon't go oop nor down der creek trail. I do anything for Miss Shirley, an'I like you for takin' care off her goot name; goot names iss hardt to getback if dey gets avay. Hurry. "

"Heaven bless your good soul!" Champers said heartily. "But why not takethe cool road? I've overslept and I've got to hurry and the storm'shustling in. "

"Don't, please don't take it, " Rosie begged. 

The next minute she was gone and as Champers closed and locked his doorshe said to himself, "She does her work like a hero and never will have anycredit for it, 'cause she's not a pioneer nor a soldier. But she has savedmore than one poor fellow snared into that joint I winked at for years. "

Then, obedient to her urging, he followed the longer, hotter road towardthe Jacobs' stock ranch bordering on Little Wolf Creek. 

Meantime, John Jacobs inspected his property, forgetful of the intenseheat and the coming storm, his mind full of a strange foreboding. At thetop of the hill above where the road wound down through deep shadows hesat a long while on his horse. "I wonder what makes me so lonely thisevening, " he mused. "I'm not of a lonely nature, nor morose, thank theLord! There's no telling why we do or don't want to do things. I wonderwhere Champers is. He ought to be coming up pretty soon. I wonder if Ihadn't had that dream two nights ago about that picture I saw in a book, when I was a little chap, if I'd had this fool's cowardice about being outhere alone today. And what was it that made me look over all those papersin my vault box last night? I have helped Careyville some, and the libraryI built will have a good endowment when I'm gone, and so will thechildren's park, and the Temperance Societies. Maybe I've not lived invain, if I have been an exacting Jew. I never asked for the blood in mypound of flesh, anyhow. I wonder where Champers can be. "

He listened intently and thought he heard someone coming around the benddown the darkening way. 

"That's he, I guess, now, " he said. 

Then he turned his face toward the wide prairie unrolling to the westward. Overhanging it were writhing clouds, hurled hither and thither, twisted, frayed, and burst asunder by the titanic forces of the upper air, and allconverging with centripetal violence toward one vast maelstrom. Its long, funnel-shaped form dipped and lifted, trailing back and forth like somesensate thing. With it came an increasing roar from the clashing of timberup the valley. The vivid shafts of lightning and the blackness thatfollowed them made the scene terrific with Nature's majestic madness. 

"I must get shelter somewhere, " Jacobs said. "I am sorry Champers failedme. I wanted his counsel before I slipped up on Wyker tonight. I thought Iheard him coming just now. Maybe he's waiting for me under cover. I'll godown and see. "

The roar of the cyclone grew louder and the long swinging funnel liftedand dipped and lifted again, as the awful forces of the air hurled itonward. 

Down at the sharp bend in the road Thomas Smith was crouching, just wherethe rift in the bank opened to the creek, and the face of the man was notgood to look upon nor to remember. 

"I'll show Darley Champers how well my left hand works. There'll be notelltale scar left on his face when I'm through, and he can tumble rightstraight down to the water from here and on to hell, and Wyker's joint maybear the blame. Damned old Dutchman, to turn me out now. I set him up inbusiness when I had money. Here comes Champers now. "

The storm-cloud burst upon the hill at that moment. John Jacobs' horseleaped forward on the steep slope, slid, and fell to its knees. As itsprang up again the two men could not see each other, for a flash oflightning blinded them and in the crash of thunder that burst at the sameinstant, filling the valley with deafening roar, the sharp report of adouble pistol-shot was swallowed up. 

 * * * * *

An hour later Darley Champers, drenched with rain, stumbled down thecrooked trail in the semi-darkness. The cool air came fanning out of thewest and a faint rift along the horizon line gave promise of a gloriousApril sunset. 

As Darley reached the twist in the trail which John Jacobs alwaysdreaded, the place Thaine Aydelot and Leigh Shirley had invested withsweet memories, he suddenly drew his rein and stared in horror. 

Lying in the rift with his head toward the deep waters of Little WolfCreek lay Thomas Smith, scowling with unseeing eyes at the fast clearingsky. While on the farther side of the road lay the still form of JohnJacobs, rain-beaten and smeared with mud, as if he had struggled backwardin his death-throes. 

As Champers bent tenderly over him, the smile on his lips took away theawfulness of the sight, and the serenity of the rain-drenched face restedas visible token of an abundant entrance into eternal peace. 

Grass River and Big Wolf settlements had never before known a tragedy soappalling as the assassination of John Jacobs at the hands of an "unknown"man. Hans Wyker had gone to Kansas City on the day before the event andWykerton never saw his face again. Rosie Gimpke, who did not know thestranger's name, and Darley Champers, who thought he did, believed nothingcould be gained by talking, so they held their peace. And Thomas Smithwent "unknown" back to the dust of the prairie in the Grass Rivergraveyard. 

The coroner tried faithfully to locate the blame. But as Jacobs wasunarmed and was shot from the front, and the stranger had only one bulletin his revolver and was shot from behind, and as nobody lost nor gained bynot untangling the mystery, the affair after a nine days' completethreshing, went into local history, the place of sepulchre. 

CHAPTER XXI

JANE AYDELOT'S WILL

 Impulsive, earnest, prompt to act, And make her generous thought a fact, Keeping with many a light disguise The secret of self-sacrifice, O heart sore-tried! thou hast the best That Heaven itself could give thee--rest. --Snow Bound. 

Darley CHAMPERS sat in his little office absorbed in business. The Maymorning was ideal. Through the front door the sounds of the street driftedin. Through the rear door the roomy backyard, which was Champers' onedomestic pleasure, sent in an odor of white lilac. By all the rulesChampers should have preferred hollyhocks and red peonies, if he had caredfor flowers at all. It was for the memory of the old mother, whom he wouldnot turn adrift to please a frivolous wife, that he grew the whiteblossoms she had loved. But as he never spoke of her, nor seemed to seeany other flowers, nobody noticed the peculiarity. 

"I wonder how I missed that mail?" he mused, as he turned a foreignenvelope in his hands. "I reckon the sight of that poor devil, Smith, dropping into town so suddenly five days ago upset me so I forgot my mailand went to see the Shirleys. And the hot afternoon and Smith's coming inhere, and--"Darley leaned back in his chair and sighed. 

"Poor Jacobs! Why should he be taken? Smith was gunning for me and mistookhis man. Lord knows I wasn't fit to go. "

He leaned his elbow heavily on the table, resting his head on his hand. 

"If Jacobs went on in my place, sacrificed for my sins, so help me God, I'll carry on his work here. I'll fight the liquor business to the end ofmy days. There shan't no joint nor doggery never open a door on Big Wolfno more. I'll do a man's part for the world I've been doin' for my ownprofit most of my life. "

His brow cleared, and a new expression came to the bluff countenance. Thehumaneness within him was doing its perfect work. 

"But about this mail, now. " He took up the letter again. "Carey says heain't coming back. Him and young Aydelot's dead sure to go to China soon. An' I'm to handle his business as per previous directions. This is thefirst of it. Somebody puttin' on mournin' style, I reckon. "

Champers took up a black-edged envelope, whose contents told him as Dr. Horace Carey's representative that Miss Jane Aydelot of Cloverdale was nolonger living and much more as unnecessary to the business of the momentas a black-bordered envelope is unnecessary to the business of life. Thenhe opened a drawer in his small office safe and took out a bundle ofletters. 

"Here's a copy of her will. That's to go to Miss Shirley to read. An' acopy of old Francis Aydelot's will. What's the value of that, d' youreckon? Also to be showed to Miss Leigh Shirley. An' here's--what?"

Darley Champers opened the last envelope and began to read. He stoppedsuddenly and gave a long surprised whistle. 

Beautiful as the morning was, the man laid down the papers, carefullylocked both doors and drew down the front blinds. He took up the envelopeand read its contents. He read them a second time. Then he put down theneatly written pages and sat staring at nothing for a long time. He tookthem up at length for a third reading. 

"Everything comes out at last, " he murmured. "Oh, Lord, I'm glad Doc Careygot hold of me when he did. "

Slowly he ran his eyes down the lines as he read in a half whisper:

I was walking down the National pike road toward Cloverdale with littleLeigh in the twilight. Where the railroad crosses Clover Creek on the highfill we saw Tank Shirley and the young cashier, Terrence Smalley, who haddisappeared after the bank failure. It seems Tank had promised to paySmalley to stay away and to find Jim and get his property away from him. Evidently Tank had not kept his word, for they were quarreling and came toblows until the cashier's face was cut and bleeding above the eye. Therewas a struggle, and one pushed the other over the bank into the deep waterthere. Little as Leigh was, she knew one of the men was her father, and wethought he had pushed Smalley into the creek. He had a sort of paralyzedarm and could not swim. I tried to make her forget all about it. Ipromised her my home and farm some day if she would never tell what shehad seen. She shut her lips, but if she forgot, I cannot tell. 

That night I went alone to the fill and found Terrence Smalley with a cutface and a twisted shoulder lying above the place where Tank went down. Ihelped him to my home and dressed his wounds. I may have done wrong not todeliver him to the authorities, but he had a bad story to tell of Tank'sbank record that would have disgraced the Shirley family in Ohio, so wemade an agreement. He would never make himself known to Leigh, nor in anyway disturb her life nor reveal anything of her father's life to disgraceher name, if I let him go. And I agreed not to report what I had seen, norto tell what I knew to his hurt. He promised me also never to show hisface in Cloverdale again. He was a selfish, dishonest man, who used TankShirley's hatred of his brother and his other sins to hide his ownwrongdoing. But I tried to do my duty by the innocent ones who mustsuffer, when I turned him loose with his conscience. I do not know whathas become of him, but, so far as I do know, he has kept the secret ofTank Shirley's crooked dealing with the Cloverdale bank, and he has neverannoyed Leigh, nor brought any disgrace to her name. This statement dulywitnessed, etc. 

Slowly Darley Champers read. Then, laying down the pages, he said asslowly: "'Unknown' in the Grass River graveyard. 'Unknown' to Jim Shirleyand Asher Aydelot, whose eyes he'd never let see him. I understand now, why. Known to me as Thomas Smith, an escaped defaultin' bank cashier whodidn't commit suicide. Known to the late Miss Aydelot as Tank Shirley'smurderer. If the devil knows where to git on the track of that scoundrelan' locate him properly in hell, he'll do it without my help. By the LordAlmighty, I'll never tell what I know. An' this paper goes to ashes here. Oh, Caesar! If I could only burn up the recollection that I was everlow-down an' money-grubbin' enough to collute with such as him forbusiness. I'm danged glad I had that quarter kep' in Leigh's name 'steadof Jim's. That's why Thomas Smith threatened and didn't act. He didn'tdare to go against Leigh as long as Jane Aydelot was livin'. "

He stuck a blazing match to the letter and watched it crumple to ashes onthe rusty stove-hearth. Then he carefully swept the ashes on a newspaper, and, opening his doors again, he scattered them in the dusty main streetof Wykerton. 

That afternoon Champers went again to the Cloverdale Ranch. Leigh wasalone, busy with her brushes and paint-board in the seat on the lawn whereThaine Aydelot had found her on the summer day painting sunflowers. Thefirst little sunflower was blooming now by the meadow fence. 

"Don't git up, Miss Shirley. Keep your seat, mom. I dropped in on a littlebusiness. I'm glad to set out here. "

Champers took off his hat and fanned his red face as he sat on the groundand looked out at the winding river bordered by alfalfa fields. 

"Nice stand you got out there. " He pointed with his hat toward the fields. "Where's Jim?"

"He and Asher Aydelot have gone to Careyville to settle some of JohnJacobs' affairs. They and Todd Stewart are named as trustees in the will, "Leigh replied. 

She had laid aside her brushes and sat with her hands folded in her lap. Champers pulled up a spear of blue-grass and chewed it thoughtfully. Atlength he said:

"Yes, I knew that. Jacobs left no end of things in the way of property forme to look after. I'll report to them now. I seem to be general handy man. Doc Carey left matters with me, too. "

"Yes?" Leigh said courteously. 

"Well, referrin' to that matter regardin' your father we spoke of theother day, I find, through Doc Carey's helpin' an' some other ways, thatyour father, Mr. Tank Shirley, was accidentally drowned in Clover Creek, Ohio, some years ago. So far as I can find out, he died insolvent. If Idiscover anything further, I'll let you know. "

Leigh sat very still, her eyes on the far-away headlands that seemed likeblue cloud banks at the moment. 

"Had you heard of Miss Jane Aydelot's demise? I reckon you had, of course. But do you know what her intentions were?"

Leigh looked steadily at her questioner. All her life she had had a way ofkeeping her own counsel, nor was it ever easy to know what her thoughtsmight be. 

"Miss Shirley, the late Miss Jane Aydelot trusted Doc Carey to look afterher affairs. Doc Carey, he trusted me to take his place. Can you trust meto be the last link of the chain in doin' her business? My grammar's poor, but my hands is clean now, thank the Lord!"

"Yes, Mr. Champers, I am sure of your uprightness. "

Leigh did not dream how grateful these words were to the man before her, honestly trying to beat back to better ideals of life. 

"When I was a very little girl, " Leigh went on, "Miss Jane told me I wasto be her heir. "

Darley gave a start, but as Leigh's face was calm, he could only wonderhow much she had remembered. 

"All the years since I've lived in Kansas I've been kept in mind in manyways of her favor toward me. I came to know long ago that she wasdetermined to leave me all the old Aydelot estate. And I knew also that itshould have been Asher's, not mine. "

Darley thought of Thaine, and, dull as he was, he read in a flash aromance that many a finer mind might have missed. 

"Well, sufferin' catfish!" he said to himself. "Danged plucky girl; forgesalong an' bucks me into sellin' her this ranch an' sets it into alfalfyan' sets up Jim Shirley for life, 'cause putterin' in the garden an' bein'kind to the neighbors is the limit to that big man's endurance. An' thispretty girl, knowin' that Aydelot property ought to be Thaine Aydelot's, just turns it down, an', by golly, I'll bet she turns him down, too, fearin' he wouldn't feel like takin' it. An' he's clear hiked to the edgesof Chiny. Well, it's a danged queer world. I'm glad I've only got DarleyChampers to look out for. The day I see them two drivin' out of Wykertontowards Little Wolf, the time she'd closed the Cloverdale ranch deal, Iknowed the white lilac mother used to love was sweeter in my back lot. "

"I could not take Miss Jane's property and be happy, " Leigh went on. "Besides, I can earn a living. See what my brushes can do, and see thesecret I learned in the Coburn book. "

Leigh held up the sketch she was finishing, then pointed to the broadalfalfa acres, refreshingly green in the May sunlight. 

"Well, I brought down a copy of the late Miss Aydelot's will that she leftwith Doc Carey, who is goin' to Chiny in a few days, him an' ThaineAydelot, Doc writes me. An' you can look over it. I've got to go toCloverdale next week an' settle things there, an' see that the probatin'sare straight. Lemme hear from you before I go. I must be gettin' on. Danged fine country, this Grass River Valley. Who'd a' thought it back inthe seventies when Jim Shirley an' Asher Aydelot squatted here? Goodday. "

Left alone, Leigh Shirley opened the big envelope holding the will ofFrancis Aydelot and read in it the stern decree that no child of VirginiaThaine should inherit the Aydelot estate in Ohio. 

"That's why Miss Jane couldn't leave it to Asher's son, " she murmured. 

Then she read the will of the late Jane Aydelot. When she lifted her facefrom its pages, her fair cheeks were pink with excitement, her deepviolet eyes were shining, her lips were parted in a glad smile. She wentdown to the meadow fence and plucked the first little golden sunflowerfrom its stem, and stood holding it as she looked away to where the threeheadlands stood up clear and shimmering in the light of the May afternoon. That night two letters were hurried to the postoffice. One went no fartherthan Wykerton to tell Darley Champers that Leigh would heartily approve ofany action he might take in the business that was taking him to Ohio. 

CHAPTER XXII

THE FARTHER WILDERNESS

 And beyond the baths of sunset found new worlds. --London. 

Dr. Carey and Thaine Aydelot sat watching the play of a fountain in amoonlit garden of tropical loveliness. In the Manila hospital Thaine hadgone far down the Valley of the Shadow of Death before he reached aturning point. But youth, good blood, a constitution seasoned by camp andfield, the watchful care of his physician, and the blessing of the GreatPhysician, from whom is all health, at last prevailed, and he came backsturdily to life and strength. 

As the two men sat enjoying the hour Dr. Carey suddenly asked:

"After this hospital service, what next?"

"How soon does this involuntary servitude end?" Thaine inquired. 

"A fortnight will do all that is possible for us, " Carey answered. 

"Then I'll enlist with the regulars, " Thaine declared. 

"Do you mean to follow a military life?" Carey inquired, bending forwardto watch the play of light on the silvery waters, unconscious of the playof moonbeams on his silvery hair. 

"No, not always, " Thaine responded. 

"Then why don't you go home now?" Carey went on. 

Thaine sat silent for some minutes. Then he rose to his full height, thestrong, muscular, agile embodiment of military requirement. On his facethe firing line had graven a nobility the old brown Kansas prairies hadnever seen. 

He did not know how to tell Dr. Carey, because he did not yet fullyunderstand himself, that war to him must be a means, not an end, to hiscareer; nor that in the long quiet hours in the hospital the call of theKansas prairies, half a world away, was beginning to reach his ears, thebelief that the man behind the plow may be no less a patriot than the manbehind the gun; that the lifelong influence of his farmer father andmother was unconsciously winning him back to the peaceful struggle withthe soil. At length he said slowly:

"Dr. Carey, when I saw Lieutenant Alford brought in I counted the costagain. Only American ideals of government and civilization can win thiswilderness. For this Alford's blood was shed. He wrote to his mother onChristmas day that he was studying here to get his Master's Degree fromthe Kansas University. I saw him just after he had received his diplomafor that Degree. I was a fairly law-abiding civilian. The first shot ofthe campaign last February began in me what Alford's sacrifice completed. I am waiting to see what next. But I have one thing firmly fixed now. Warfare only opens the way for the wilderness winners to come in and makea kingdom. The Remington rifle runs back the frontier line; the plowshareholds the land at last. I want, when my service here is done, to go backto the wheatfields and the cornfields. I want to smell the alfalfa and seethe prairie windbreaks and be king of a Kansas farm. I've lost my ambitionfor gold lace. I want a bigger mental ring of growth every year, and Ibelieve the biggest place for me to get this will be with my feet on theprairie sod. Meantime, I shall reenlist, as I said. "

"Sit down, Thaine, and let me ask you one question, " Dr. Carey said. 

The young man dropped to his seat again. 

"When your service is done is there anything to hold you from goingstraight to the Grass River Valley again?"

Thaine leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his headwhile he looked steadily at the splashing waters before him as he saidfrankly:

"Yes, there is. When I go back I want Leigh Shirley--and it's no usewanting. "

"Thaine, you were a law-abiding civilian at home. The university made youa student. You came out here a fearless soldier to fight your country'senemies. Alford's death made you a patriot who would plant American idealsin these islands. May I tell you that there is still one more lesson tolearn?"

Thaine looked up inquiringly. 

"You must learn to be a Christian. You must know what service for humanitymeans. Then the call to duty will be a bugle note of victory wherever thatduty may be. You needn't hunt for opportunity to prove this. Theopportunity is hurrying toward you now from out of the Unknown. "

The fine head with the heavy masses of white hair seemed halo-crowned atthat moment. It was as he appeared that night that Thaine Aydelot alwaysremembers him. Two weeks later Thaine enlisted in the Fourteenth UnitedStates Infantry, stationed in Luzon. Dr. Carey was also enrolled in itshospital staff. In July the regiment was ordered from the Philippines tojoin the allied armies of the World Powers at Tien-Tsin in a northernChinese province, where the Boxer forces were massing about Peking. AndThaine's opportunity for learning his greatest lesson came hurrying towardhim from out of the Unknown. 

This notorious Boxer uprising, gone now into military annals, had reachedthe high tide of its power. Beginning in the southern province of China, it spread northward, menacing the entire Empire. A secret sect at first, it was augmented by the riffraff that feeds on any new, and especiallylawless, body; by deserters disloyal to the imperial government; by theignorant and the unthinking; by the intimidated and the intimidating. Itenrolled an armed force of one hundred and seventy-five thousand soldiers. Its purposes were fanatical. It aimed by the crudest means to root outevery idea of modern life and thought in China; every occidentalinvention, every progressive method of society, every scientific discoveryfor the betterment of humanity. And especially did it aim to put to deathevery native Chinese Christian, to massacre every missionary of theChrist, and to drive out or destroy every foreign citizen in China. Itsresources were abundant, its equipment was ample, its methods unspeakablyatrocious. Month after month the published record of this rebellion wassickening--its unwritten history beyond human imagining. Impenetrable wereits walled cities, countless in numbers, unknown the scenes of its vastplains and rivers and barren fields and mountain fastnesses. Fifteenthousand native Christians and hundreds of foreigners were brutallymassacred. At last it centered its strength about the great city ofPeking. And a faint, smothered wail for deliverance came from the ForeignLegation shut in behind beleaguered walls inside that city to starve orperish at the hands of the bloody Boxers. 

Very patiently the World Powers waited and warned the Chinese leaders of aday of retribution. Fanatics are fanatics because they cannot learn. Theconditions only whetted the Boxers to greater barbarity. They believedthemselves invincible and they laughed to scorn all thought of foreigninterference. Then came the sword of the Lord and of Gideon to the battlelines at Tien-Tsin on the Peiho River, as it came once long ago to thevalley of Jezreel. 

In the mid-afternoon of an August day Thaine Aydelot heard the bugle notecalling the troops to marching order. Thaine was fond of the bugler, alittle fifteen-year-old Kansas boy named Kemper, because he rememberedthat Asher Aydelot had been a drummer boy once when he was no older than"Little Kemper, " as the regiment called him. 

"I wish you were where my father is now, Kemper, " Thaine said as the boyskipped by him. 

"Where's that? It can't be hell or he'd be with us, " Little Kemperreplied. 

"No, he's in Kansas, " Thaine said. 

"Oh, that's right next door to heaven, but I can't go just yet. There'stoo much doing here, " the little bugler declared as he hurried away. 

Young as he was, Little Kemper was the busiest member of the regiment. Life with him was a continual "doing" and he did it joyously and well. 

"There's something doing here. " Thaine hardly had time to think it as thearmies came into their places. It was the third day after the regiment hadreached Tien-Tsin. Along the Peiho river lay a sandy plain with scanttillage and great stretches of barren lands. Here and there were squalidvillages with now and then a few more pretentious structures with adobebrick walls and tiled roofs. Everywhere was the desolation of ignoranceand fear, saddening enough, without the Boxer rebellion to intensify itwith months of dreadful warfare. 

As Thaine fell into his place he thought of the Aydelot wheatfields and ofthe alfalfa that Leigh Shirley's patient judgment had helped to spreadover the Cloverdale Ranch. And even in the face of such big things as hewas on his way to meet the conquest of the prairie soil seemed wonderful. 

Big things were waiting him now, and his heart throbbed with their bignessas his regiment took its place. It was a wonderful company that fell intoline and swung up the Peiho river that August afternoon. The world neversaw its like before, and may never see it again. Not wonderful in numbers, for there were only sixteen thousand of the allied armies, all told, topit themselves against an armed force able to line up one hundred andsixteen thousand against them. Not numbers, but varying nationalities, varying races, strange confusion of tongues, with one common purposebinding all into one body, made the company forming on the banks of thePeiho a wonderful one. 

Thaine's regiment was drawn up at an angle with the line, ready to fallinto its place among the reserves, and the young Kansan watched the flowerof the world's soldiery file along the way. 

In the front were the little brown Japanese Cavalry, Artillery, andInfantry--men who in battle make dying as much their business as living. Beside these were the English forces, the Scotch Highlanders, the WelshFusiliers, the Royal Artillery, all in best array. Behind them the IndianEmpire troops, the Sikh Infantry with a sprinkling of Sepoys and theMounted Bengalese Lancers. Then followed, each in its place, the Italianmarines and foot soldiery, the well-groomed French troops from allbranches of the military; the stalwart, fair-haired Germans, soldiers to afinish in weight and training; the Siberian Cossacks and the RussianInfantry and Cavalry, big, brutal looking men whom women of any nationmight fear. In reserve at the last of the line were the American forces, the Ninth and Fourteenth Regiments of Infantry, the Sixth Cavalry, and FBattery of the Fifth Artillery. 

So marched the host from Tien-Tsin along the sandy plains, led on by onepurpose, to reach the old city of Peking and save the lives of the foreigncitizens shut up inside their compound--whether massacred, or living, starved, and tortured, this allied army then could not know. 

The August day was intensely hot, with its hours made grievous by a heavy, humid air, and the sand and thick dust ground and flung up in clouds bysixteen thousand troops, with all the cavalry hoofs and artillery wheels. It was only a type of the ten days that followed, wherein heat and dustand humid air, and thirst--burning, maddening thirst--joined togetheragainst the brave soldiery fighting not for fortune, nor glory, norpatriotism, but for humanity. 

As they tramped away in military order, Thaine Aydelot said to his nearestcomrade:

"Goodrich, I saw a familiar German face up in the line. "

"Friend of yours the Emperor sent out to keep you company?" Goodrichinquired with a smile. 

"No, a Kansas joint-keeper named Hans Wyker. What do you suppose put himagainst the Boxers?"

"Oh, the army is the last resort for some men. It's society's clearinghouse, " Goodrich replied. 

The speaker was a Harvard man, a cultured gentleman, in civil life aUniversity Professor. The same high purpose was in his service thatcontrolled Thaine Aydelot now. 

"I don't like being at the tail-end of this procession, " a big German fromthe Pennsylvania foundries declared, as he trudged sturdily along underthe blazing sun. The courage in his determined face and his huge strengthwould warrant him a place in the front line anywhere. 

"Nor I, Schwoebel, " Thaine declared. "I came out with Funston's 'FightingTwentieth. ' I'm used to being called back, not tolled along after therear. "

"Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U!" roared Schwoebel in a tremendous bellow. 

"Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U!" a Pennsylvania University man named McLearnfollowed Schwoebel. 

"Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U!" went down the whole line of infantry. 

The old Kansas University yell, taken to the Philippines by college men, became the battle cry of the Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, who when theyreturned to civil life, left it there for the American, army--and "RockChalk! Jay Hawk! K U!" became the American watchword and cry of all that"far flung battle line" marching on through dust and heat to rescue theimperiled Christians in a beleagured fortress inside the impregnable cityof Peking. 

"You needn't worry about the rear, Aydelot. One engagement may whip thisline about, end to end, or it may scale off all that's in front of us andleave nothing but the rear. All this before we have time to change collarsagain. We'll let you or Tasker here lead into Peking, " an IndianaUniversity man declared. 

"That's good of you, Binford. Some Kansas man will be first to carry theflag into Peking. It might as well be Aydelot. "

This from Tasker, a slender young fellow from a Kansas railroad office. 

So they joked as they tramped along. It was nearly midnight when theypitched camp before the little village of Peit-Tsang beside the Peiho. 

In the dim dawning of the August morning Little Kemper's bugle sounded themorning reveille. Thaine was just dreaming of home and he thought thefirst bugle note was the call for him up the stairway of the SunflowerInn. His windows looked out on the Aydelot wheatfields and the grovebeyond, and every morning the sunrise across the level eastern prairiemade a picture only the hand of the Infinite could paint. This morning heopened his eyes on a far different scene. The reveille became a call toarms and the troops fell into line ready for battle. 

Before the sun had reached the zenith the line was whipped end to end, asBinford of Indiana had said it might be. In this engagement on the sandyplain about the little village of Peit-Tsang, Thaine with his comradessaw what it meant to lead that battle line. He saw the brave littleJapanese mowed down like standing grain before the reaper's sickle. He sawthe ranks move swiftly up to take the places of the fallen, never waveringnor retreating, rushing to certain death as to places of vantage in acoronal pageantry. The Filipino's Mauser was as deadly as the older stylegun of the Boxer. A bullet aimed true does a bullet's work. But in thisbattle that raged about Peit-Tsang Thaine quickly discovered that this wasno fight in a Filipino jungle. Here was real war, as big and terribleabove the campaigns he had known in Luzon as the purpose in it was bigabove loyalty to the flag and extension of American dominion and ideals. 

When the thing was ended with the routing of the Boxer forces, of thesixteen thousand that went into battle a tithe of one-tenth of theirnumber lay dead on the plains--sixteen hundred men, the cost of conquestin a far wilderness. The heaviest toll fell on the brave Japanese who hadled in the attack. 

Thaine Aydelot did not dream of home that night. He slept on his arms theheavy sleep of utter weariness, which Little Kemper's bugle call broke atthree o'clock the next morning. Before the August sun had crawled over theeastern horizon the armies were swinging up the Peiho river toward Peking. The American troops were leading the column now, as Thaine Aydelot hadwished they might, and in all that followed after the day at Peit-Tsangthe Stars and Stripes, brave token of a brave people, floated above thefront lines of soldiery, even to the end of the struggle. 

It was high noon above the Orient, where the Peiho flows beside thepopulous town of Yang-Tsun. The Boxer army routed by the battle ofPeit-Tsang had massed its front before the town, a formidable array innumbers, equipment, and frenzied eagerness to halt here and forever thepoor little line of foreign soldiers creeping in upon it from the sea. TheBoxers knew that they could match the fighting strength of this line withquadruple force. The troops coming toward them had marched twelve milesunder the August heat of a hundred degrees, through sand and alkali dust, in the heavy humid air saturated with evil odors. They had had no foodsince the night before, nor a drink of water since daydawn. Joyful wouldit be to slaughter here the entire band and then rush back to the hoaryold City of Peking with the triumphant message that the Allied Armies ofthe World had fallen before China. Then the death of every foreigner inthe Empire would be certain. 

At noon the battle lines were formed. In the swinging into place as ThaineAydelot stood beside Tasker, surrounded by his comrades, Little Kemperdashed by him. 

"Here's where the corn-fed Kansans do their work, " he said gaily to theKansas men. 

"With a few bean-eaters from Boston to help, " Goodrich responded. 

"And a Hoosier to give them culture, " Binford added. 

"Yes, yes, with the William Penn Quakers and the Pennsylvania Dutch, "Schwoebel roared, striking McLearn on the shoulder. 

Men think of many things as the battle breaks, but never do they fightless bravely because they have laughed the moment before. 

Thaine was in the very front of the battle lines. In the pause before thefirst onslaught he thought of many things confusedly and a few mostvividly. He thought of Leigh Shirley and her childish dream of PrinceQuippi in China--the China just beyond the purple notches. He thought ofhis mother as she had looked that spring morning when he talked ofenlisting for the Spanish War. He thought of his father, who had neverknown fear in his life. Of his last words:

"As thy days so shall thy strength be. "

And keenly he remembered Dr. Carey, somewhere among the troops behind him. The fine head crowned with white hair, caressed by the moonbeams, as hehad seen it in the Manila garden, and his earnest words:

"You must learn to be a Christian. You must know what service for humanitymeans. You need not hunt for the opportunity to prove this. Theopportunity is hurrying toward you now out of the Unknown. "

"It is here, the opportunity, " he murmured. "Oh, God, make me a fitsoldier for Thy service. "

He did not pray for safety from danger and death; he asked for fitness toserve and in that moment his great lesson was learned. There came aninstant's longing for Dr. Carey; then the battle storm burst and he didnot think any more, he fought. It were useless to picture that struggle. 

Nothing counts in warfare till the results are shown. For six hours thefighting did not cease, and not at Valley Forge, nor Brandywine, LakeErie, nor Buena Vista, Gettysburg, nor Shiloh, San Juan Hill, nor in anyjungle in Luzon did the American flag stream out over greater heroes thanit led today on the plains beside the Peiho river before Yang-Tsun. 

At last the firing ceased, the smoke lifted above the field; the Boxers, gathering their shattered forces together, retreated again before thelittle line of Allied Troops invading this big strange land. And the lasthours of that long hot day waned to eventide. 

There were only a few of its events that Thaine could comprehend. He knewLittle Kemper had received his death wound, blowing his bugle calls againand again after he had been stricken, till the last reveille sounded forhim. The plucky little body with the big soul, who had found his brieffifteen years of life so full of "doing. "

Thaine knew that in the thick of the fight the native Indian Infantry, theSikhs and Sepoys, had fallen in cowardly fear before the Boxer fire. Heremembered how big Schwoebel, and Tasker, and Binford, Goodrich, andMcLearn, with himself and another man whom he recalled afterward asBoehringer, a Kansas man, had clubbed self-respect into a few of them andkicked the other whining cowards from their way. He knew that Schwoebelhad been grievously wounded and was being taken back to Tien-Tsin withmany other brave fellows who had been stricken that day. He knew that nearthe last of the fray a man whom he had admired and loved second toLieutenant Alford, big Clint Graham, of a royally fine old family of statebuilders in far-away Kansas, had fallen by the mistaken shot of Russiancannon, and the weight of that loss hung heavy about the edge of hisconsciousness wherever he turned. But what followed the battle ThaineAydelot will never forget. 

Twelve hundred men rose no more from that bloody field before Yang-Tsun. The fighting force, sixteen thousand strong, was wearing off at the rateof almost a regiment and a half a day, and it was yet a hundred miles toPeking. 

All about Thaine were men with faces grimy as his own; their lips, likehis, split and purple from the alkali dust. They had had no water to drinkin all that long day's twelve miles of marching and six hours of fighting. Fearful is the price paid out when the wilderness goes forth to war! Andheroic, sublimely heroic, may be the Christianity of the battlefield. 

"We must help these fellows, " Thaine said to his comrades as the wail forwater went up from wounded men. 

"The river is this way, " McLearn declared. "Hurry! the boys are dying. "

So over countless forms they hurried to the river's brink for water. Thaine and Tasker and Boehringer were accustomed to muddy streams, for theprairie waters are never clear. But Goodrich from Boston had a memory ofmountain brooks. The Pennsylvania man, McLearn, the cold springs of theAlleghanies, and for Binford there was old Broad Ripple out beyondIndianapolis. All these men came down with dry canteens to the Peiho byYang-Tsun. The river was choked with dead Chinamen and dead dogs andhorses. They must push aside the bodies to find room to dip in theircanteens. 

 * * * * *

"You have one more lesson. You must learn to be a Christian. "

Somehow the words seemed to ring round and round just out of Thaine'smental sight. 

"Vasser! Vasser!" cried a big German soldier before him. 

Thaine stooped to give him a drink, and as he lifted up the man's head hesaw the stained face of Hans Wyker. 

"It's very goot, " Hans murmured, licking his lips for more. "Wisky not sogoot as vasser, " and then he trailed off into a delirium. "Don't tell. Don't tell, " he pleaded. "I neffer mean to get Schmitt. I not know hewould be der yet. I hide for Yacob, an' I get Schmitt in der back and Ionly want Yacob. He send me to der pen for sure yet next time. I hate YonYacob. "

A little silence, then Hans murmured:

"I didn't go to Kansas City. I coom back to Gretchen's home by LittleWolf. I hide where I watch for Yacob. I shoot twice to be sure of Yacob, an' Schmitt, hidin' in der crack by der roat, get one shot. So I coom toYermany and enlist. Gretchen, she coom too an' she stay der. Vell! I helpfight Boxer some. Mine Gott, forgif me. I do once some goot for der worlddis day. "

And that was the last of Wyker. 

The twilight hour was near. The wounded had been borne away by busy RedCross angels of mercy. Wide away across the Chinese plain the big red sunslipped down the amber summer sky into a bath of molten flame. Then out ofsight behind the edge of the world it turned all the west into onemagnificent surge of scarlet glory, touching to beauty the tiny gray cloudflecks far away to the eastward; while long rivers of golden light byrivers of roseate glow mingled at last along the zenith in one vast sweepof mother-of-pearl. A cool breeze came singing in from the sea--fanningthe fevered faces of the weary soldiers. The desolate places were hiddenby the deepening shadows, and the serenity of the twilight hour fell onthe battlefield. 

Then the men of each nationality went out to bury their dead. Swiftly thelittle brown Japanese digged and filled up the graves into which theircomrades were deftly heaped. The Russian and Siberian Cossack lunged theirfallen ones in heavily and unfeelingly. The Bengalese and Sikhs thrusttheir own out of sight as they were planting for an uncertain harvest. Each soldier from France who lost his life on that battlefield fell on hisown grave and there his countrymen covered him over, an unmarked spot in aforeign land. 

Thaine straightened a minute above his spade. The cool breezes weregrateful to his heated brow. The after-sunset glow seemed like thebenediction of the Infinite on the closing act of the day. He saw thehurried and unfeeling dumping of bodies into the holes awaiting them. Thenhis heart grew big with something unspeakable as he noted how in all thatirreverent and unsympathetic action the American and English soldieryalone were serving as brother for brother. In the long trenches preparedfor them their dead were laid with reverent dignity and gentleness. Eachone's place was carefully marked with a numbered slab that in a future daythe sacred dust might be carried back to the soil of the homeland. As thesunset deepened to richer coloring and the battlefield grew still andstill, far along the lines the bands of the English Royal Artillery andthe Welsh Fusiliers, with the bagpipes of the Scottish Highlanders, mingled their music with the music of the splendid band of the FourteenthAmerican Infantry in the sweet and sacred strains of the beloved oldhymn:

 Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee. E'en though it be a cross That raiseth me. Still all my song shall be Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee. 

And Thaine Aydelot knew that his last and biggest lesson was learned. 

CHAPTER XXIII

THE END OF THE WILDERNESS

 Have I named one single river? Have I claimed one single acre? Have I kept one single nugget (barring samples)? No, not I. Because my price was paid me ten times over by my Maker. But you wouldn't understand it. You go up and occupy. --The Explorer. 

The victory at Yang-Tsun had come with a tremendous loss of life. To go onnow promised the cutting to pieces of the entire army. To stay here andawait reinforcements would mean the slaughter of all the foreigners inPeking. In a council of war the next day English and Indian, Russian, German, Japanese, Italian, and French, general after general declared forthe wisdom of waiting at Yang-Tsun for reinforcements. 

Up spoke then General Chaffee of the American command:

"I will not wait while the Boxers massacre the helpless Christians. Stayhere or go back to your own countries, as you please. My army will go onto Peking, if it must go alone. "

And his will prevailed. 

Followed then a memorable march, with the Stars and Stripes ever leadingthe line. The strength of the force was thirteen thousand now and onethousand of these fell by the way before the end of the journey. 

After Yang-Tsun, for the only time in this ten days' campaign, thesoldiers undressed and bathed themselves like Christians in theunchristian Peiho, and on the next day, which was the Sabbath, theylistened to the military chapel service. Six days they forged onward withthe same cruel heat, and scalding air, and alkali dust, and poison water, over dreary plains, through deserted villages, twenty, twenty-five, andeven thirty miles a day, they pushed on toward the Chinese capital. 

And ever before them the Boxers slowly receded, stinging grievously asthey moved. Sure were they that at last only dire calamity could awaitthat slender column moving across the plains, led under a flag of red, white, and blue, with bands ever playing _The Star-Spangled Banner_, whilefrom line on line rolled out that weird battle cry of "Rock Chalk! JayHawk! K U!" Sure were they that this stubborn little bands of soldiersfoolishly following the receding Boxer must at last crush itself likedead-ripe fruit against the ancient and invincible walls of Peking. 

On the evening of the sixth day from Yang-Tsun the twelve thousand men ofthe Allied Armies, flower of the world's soldiery, stumbled into camp withtheir outposts in sight of the great walls of the City of Peking. This hadbeen the longest and hottest of all the days, with the weariest length ofmarch. A great storm cloud was rising in the west and the air hung hot andstill before it. 

Thaine Aydelot and his comrades threw themselves down, too exhausted tocare for what might happen next. 

"This is the hottest day I ever knew, " declared McLearn wearily, as he layprone on the ground looking up at the hot sky with unblinking eyes. 

"I reckon you never hit the National pike on an August day, out betweenGreen Castle and Terre Haute down in Indianny, " Binford suggested. 

"Nor St. Marys-by-the-Kaw, " Boehringer, a Kansas man, added. "There'swhere you get real summery weather. "

"Oh, kill him, Aydelot, he's worse than a Boxer. Don't you know I'm fromBoston originally, which is only a State of Mind?" Goodrich urged. 

"No matter what state you are from originally, you are in China now, whichis in a state of insurrection that we must get ready for a state ofresurrection tomorrow. What are you thinking about, T. Aydelot? You looklike Moses and the prophets. " McLearn half turned over with the question. 

Thaine, who was lying on his side, supporting his head on his hand, quotedsoftly:

 "'Oh, the prairies' air so quiet, an' there's allers lots of room In the golden fields of Kansas, when the Sun Flowers Bloom. '"

A low boom of thunder rolled across the western sky; a twilight darknessfell on the earth, and a long night of storm and stress began for the armyof deliverance encamped before Peking. 

Outside the city the Boxers massed in numbers. Inside more than a hundredthousand waited the coming of hardly more than one-tenth of their number. No wonder they felt secure behind their centuries-old walls. 

Thaine Aydelot was accustomed to sleeping tentless on the ground and tobeing beaten by rains. He was a sound sleeper and he was very weary. Buttonight he could not sleep. The morrow would see world movements thatshould change all future history; in which movements he was a tiny unit, as every furrow that his father, Asher Aydelot, had run across the face ofthe prairie had by so much won it from wilderness to fruitfulness. 

All night long the rain poured in torrents upon the camp. A terrificcannonade of thunder shook the earth. The lightning tore through theclouds in jagged tongues of flame. Where Thaine lay he could see withevery flash the great frowning black walls of Peking looming up only a fewmiles away. In the lull of the thunder a more dreadful cannonading couldbe heard, hour after hour. Thaine knew that inside the walls the Boxerswere besieging the Compound. And inside that Compound, if he were yetalive, was his old teacher, Pryor Gaines. He wondered if the God ofBattles that had led the armies all this long hard way would fail them nowwhen one more blow might bring deliverance to His children. He rememberedagain the blessing with which his father had sent him forth:

"As thy day so shall thy strength be. The Eternal God is thy refuge, andunderneath are the everlasting arms. "

The memory brought peace, and at length, wrapped round in the blessing ofan absolute trust, he fell asleep. 

Inside of the City of Peking on that dreadful night the madness of theBoxer forces was comparable to nothing human. Nor jungle beasts starvingfor food and drink, frenzied with the smell of blood and the sight ofwater, could have raged in more maniac fury than the fury possessing thedemon minds of these fanatics in their supreme struggle to flood thestreets of Peking with rivers of Christian blood. For such as these theChrist died on the Cross of Calvary. For such as these the missionary isoffered up. A human jungle, untamed and waiting, to whose wilderness thesoldier became a light-bearer, albeit he brought the gospel of gunpowderto aid him. 

The great walls about Peking enclose an area some fourteen miles in lengthand twelve miles in width. Within these walls lie several cities, separated from each other by walls of lesser strength, intended, with oneexception, in the opening of the twentieth century, not so much fordefense as for boundary lines. 

The exception is the Imperial City, inside whose sacred precincts it wasfirmly believed a foreigner might not set foot and not be stricken dead bythe gods. This City within a city had defenses the allied armies were yetto come against. It lies on the north, inside the great wall. Just east ofit, along the north wall, was the Foreign Legation, whose south and eastbounds were lesser structures of brick and earth. Here all the foreignersand many native Christians had been shut in for six long weeks, with theinfuriated Boxers hammering daily at their gates, mad for massacre. 

Here they had barricaded themselves with all the meager means available. They had fortified every gate with whatever might stop a bullet or check acannon ball. They filled up the broken places in the walls with piles ofearth; they dug deep trenches inside these walls, and inside thesetrenches they had built up heaps of earthworks. Daily they strengthenedthe weaker places and watched and prayed. No word from the big worldoutside seemingly could come to them--a little handful of the Lord'schildren, forgotten of Him, and locked dungeon deep from human aid. Theyhad sent out a cry for help and had sent up prayers for deliverance. Howfar that cry had gone they could not know. Frowning walls besieged byenemies lay all around them. They could only look up and lift up helplesshands in prayer to the hot, unpitying August skies above them. Sicknessstalked in over the walls. Hunger tore its way through the gates. Deathswooped down, and sorrow seeped up, and despair lay in wait. But hope, andtrust, and faith, and love failed not. 

They ate dogs and horses. They went half naked that they might make sandbags of their clothes for greater defense. They exhausted every means forprotection and life, but they forgot not to pray. 

On this August night, while unknown to the besieged the Allied Armiesencamped only six miles away, the reign of terror reached its height forthe little Christian stronghold. 

The storm beat pitilessly on the starved and ragged captives. The rainsoftened the earthworks and the rivers of water in the trenches threatenedto undermine the walls. Across these walls the incessant attack of cannonand roar of rifles was beyond anything the six weeks' siege had known, andonly the power of Omnipotence could stay the bloody hands. So the longhours of the dreadful night dragged on. 

At length came daydawn. The storm had rolled away. A lull in the besiegingguns gave the Legation a little rest of mind. Hungry and helpless, itwaited the passing of another day. A silence seemed to fill the city andthe wiser ones wondered anxiously what it might portend. 

Suddenly, in the midst of it, a great gun boomed out to the northeast. Another gun, and another. Then came a pause and the besieged listenedeagerly, for their own walls felt no shock. Again came the bellow ofcannon, nearer and heavier, repeated and repeated, and the roll of smokeand the rattling fusillade of bullet shots told that a battle was on. Outside the gates! An army come against Peking! The Army of Deliverance!They were here fighting for the Christians! Oh, the music of birds' song, of rippling waters, of gently pulsing zephyrs, the music of old cathedralchimes, of grandest orchestras--nothing of them all could sound so like tothe music that the morning stars sang together as this deafening peal ofcannon, this rippling rhythm of Krag rifles. 

With bursting hearts they waited and watched the great wall to the north. It is sixty feet high and fully as wide at its base, tapering totwenty-five feet across the top. Could the gates be stormed? Could thiswall be shaken? From the highest points inside the Compound eager eyesscanned the northeast as the battle raged on with crash of shells and whirof bullets. Then down to the waiting ones came a message that seemed tofly to every ear in the besieged city, making men and women drop to theground in a very ecstasy of joy. 

"They've run up the Stars and Stripes on the northeast wall!"

The sword of the Lord and of Gideon was come again to Peking, as it cameonce long ago to the Valley of Jezreel. 

The Allied Armies broke camp early on the morning of August fourteen inthe year of nineteen hundred. Six miles away stood the most impassabledefense an army of the West might ever storm. Yet the twelve thousand mendid not hesitate. With General Chaffee's troops in the front of the linethey fought through fiercely skirmishing forces up to the hoary old city'sgates, the Fourteenth United States Infantry leading the way. The Americanguns cleared the Chinese soldiery from the top of the walls, and theAmerican cannon were in line ready to blow open the huge gates. 

"I want to know what's on the other side before I open up the gates, "General Chaffee declared. 

So the command was given for a volunteer to scale the wall, to stand up atarget for the Chinese rifles! To be blown to pieces by Chinese cannon!Yet the armies must know what awaited them. There must be no debouchinginto a death-trap for a wholesale massacre. 

Thaine Aydelot had cherished one hope since the twilight hour on thebattlefield at Yang-Tsun--that when this day should come the Americanmight lead the way through the Peking gates and be first to enter thestrange old city. Not merely because he was an American patriot, butbecause to him the American soldiers with all their sins and follies ofyouth and military life were yet world missionaries. 

Thaine knew his comrades shared his hope, whether for the same highpurpose he could not have asked. He had no longer dreams of military gloryfor himself. His joy was in achievement, no matter by whose hand. 

"There's an order for somebody to go up on the wall. "

The word was passed along the line. Before it reached Thaine and hiscomrades a young soldier had leaped forward to obey the order. 

"Glory be, America first!" Goodrich said fervently. 

"And a Kansan. A Jayhawker!"

Thaine did not know who said it. He saw the soldier, young Calvin Titus, aKansas boy, leap after the Japanese coolies who ran forward toward thewall with the long bamboo scaling ladders. And for one instant's flash oftime the old level prairies came sweeping into view, the winding line ofGrass River with the sand dunes beyond; the wheat fields, the windbreaks, the sunflowers beside the trail, and far away the three headlands veiledin the golden haze of an August morning. A Kansas boy the hero of theday--first of all that army to stand on top of that hoary old wall! Theprairies had grown another name for the annals of history. 

Before him were the little brown coolies holding the ladder, and up itsslender swaying height, round by round, went young Titus nimbly as asquirrel up a cottonwood limb. 

The Kansas men went wild. 

"Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U! oo!" they shouted again and again, ending inthe long quavering wail as the University yell must always end. 

Up and up went Titus, sixty feet, to the top of the wall. Then as he stoodabove the strange old Oriental city, rilled now with frenzied fighters;above the poor starving Christians in their Compound--saved as by amiracle; above the twelve thousand soldiers sent hither from the farhomelands beyond the seas to rescue human beings from deadly peril. As hestood over all these, a target for a hundred guns, the khaki-clad youngKansan lifted his right hand high above his head and swung out the Starsand Stripes to all the breezes of that August morning. 

Then came the belching of cannon, the bursting of huge timbers, thegroaning of twisting iron, and through the splintered gates the AlliedArmies had entered the city. 

Inside the walls the hundred thousand Boxers renewed the strife. The wallsand gates of the Foreign Legation were as stubbornly defended by theChinese fanatics on the outside now as the besieged Christians haddefended them against the Chinese on the inside. Entrance was made at lastthrough the sluiceway, or open sewer, draining out under the city walls. 

It was a strange looking line of creatures who came crawling, waist-deepin filth, through the sewer's channel. The old Aydelot sense of humor hadsaved Thaine many a time. And he wondered afterward if he had not seen bychance the ludicrous picture of himself in a huge mirror, if his heartwould not have burst with grief when Pryor Gaines came toward him, muteand pallid, with outstretched hands. 

The little group of soldiers who had fought and marched together had nothad off their clothes for seven days. A stubby two weeks' beard was oneach face. Their feet were raw from hard marching. Rain and dust and mudand powder smoke had trimmed their uniforms, and now the baptism byimmersion in the Compound sewer had given them the finishing touches. Butthe gaunt-faced men and women, the pitiful, big-eyed children, whoseemaciated forms told the tale of the six weeks' imprisonment, made themforget themselves as these poor rescued Christians hugged and kissed theirbrave rescuers. 

Thaine hadn't kissed any woman except his mother since the evening when heand Leigh Shirley had lingered on the Purple Notches in a sad-sweet momentof separation. It lifted the pressure crushing round his heart when he sawGoodrich, with shining eyes, bending to let a poor little missionarystroke his grimy cheek. 

The Boxers retired by degrees before the superior force, entrenchingthemselves inside the Imperial City. Never in its history, centuries oncenturies old, had this Imperial City's sacred precincts been defiled byforeign feet. Here the Boxer felt himself secure. Here the gods of hisfathers would permit no foreigner to enter. On these hoary old walls noChristian would dare to stand. On three sides of the Imperial City thesewalls were invincible. The fourth was equipped with six heavy gates. 

In a council of the powers the impossibility of storming these gateswas fully made clear. The number of soldiers was carefullyestimated--American, Japanese, Russian, German, French, and Italian, Sikh and Sepoy, Bengalese, Scotchman, Welsh, and Royal Englishmen. Allhad suffered heavily in this campaign. None more grievously than theAmerican. 

The decision of the council was overwhelming that the Imperial City couldnot be taken by this little force outside its battlements. Only GeneralChaffee protested against giving up the attempt. 

"Can your men take those walls?" The query came from the leaders. 

"My men can take hell, " General Chaffee replied, with less of profanitythan of truth in his terms. And the attempt was given over to theAmericans. 

One of the six gates stood wide open, a death-trap laid by the wily Boxer, believing that the foreign forces would rush through it to be shot downlike rats in a hole. Beyond it was a paved court some five hundred yardswide, reaching up to a second wall, equipped likewise with six greatgates. 

Thaine's company was singled out to go inside the open gate and draw theBoxer fire toward themselves while the American army stormed the closedgates. The little group of men lay flat on the pavement, defendingthemselves and harassing the enemy. They knew why they had been sent in, but they were seasoned soldiers. Thaine looked down the line of less thana hundred men, McLearn, and Boehringer, Tasker, Goodrich, and Binford, allwere in that line. He felt a thrill of soldier pride as he said tohimself:

"We are fit. They have chosen us for the sacrifice. We'll proveourselves. " Then he thought of nothing else but duty all that day. 

The capture of the first wall opened the way to a second with a pavedcourt beyond it, and beyond that lay a third, and a fourth, and a fifth;wall and court, wall and court, through which, and across which theAmerican army forced its way by heaviest bombarding under heaviest fire, leaving a clean rear for the other armies to follow in. Only the sixth andlast wall remained. General Chaffee's men had not failed. The flag of red, white, and blue had led steadily on 'mid a storm of shells and a deluge ofbullets. 

One more onslaught and the last gates would burst wide open. Eagerly theAmerican soldiers waited the command to finish the task. But it was notgiven. The leaders of the other armies had counseled together andprevailed against further advance, whether moved by military prudence orgoverned by jealousy of the ability of General Chaffee and the magnificentrecord of the American soldiers in the Orient, the privates could notknow. 

Just as the command to retire was sounded Japanese coolies had run withscaling ladders to the last wall. It was the supreme moment for ThaineAydelot. He was only a private, but in that instant all the old dominantCavalier blood of the Thaines, all the old fearless independence of theHuguenot Aydelots, all the calm poise and courage of the QuakerPenningtons throbbed again in his every pulse-beat. He threw aside hissoldier obligation and stood up a man, guided alone by the light withinhim. 

"It is a far cry from the green Kansas prairies to the heart of oldChina, " he declared to himself. "Yet I'll go to the heart of that heartnow, and I'll show it the Stars and Stripes of a free people, so help meGod!"

He turned and sped to the last wall, snatching the flag from acolor-bearer as he ran. At the foot of the ladder the men holding itwavered a little. Thaine threw the flag up to a coolie who was alreadyclimbing. 

"Take it up. If I don't get up, wave it there if you die for it, " he criedas he sprang up the ladder behind the color-bearer. 

The shots were thick about them as up and up they went until at lastThaine stood beside the indomitable little Japanese who had carried theAmerican flag up the ladder. 

Below the Kansas boy lay the holy city of an ancient civilization in allits breadth of ingenuity and narrowness of spirit. Standing there, atarget for every gun, waving the Star-Spangled Banner out over that oldstronghold, he cried:

"This is the end of the wilderness! Look up and see the token of light andhope and love. Other hands than mine will bear them to you, but I haveshown you their symbol. I, Thaine Aydelot, of Kansas, first of all theworld, have dared to stand on your most sacred walls with Old Glory in myhand. Wherever its shadow falls there is life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness. In God's good time they will all come to you in peace as theyhave come to you now in warfare. Mine today has been the soldier service, and mine today the great reward. "

CHAPTER XXIV

THE CALL OF THE SUNFLOWER

 Sons and daughters of the prairie, Dreaming, dreaming, Of the starry nights that vary, Gleaming, gleaming! You may wander o'er your country where the vales and mountains be, You may dwell in lands far distant, out beyond the surging sea. But ah! just a yellow sunflower, though across the world you roam, Will take you back to Kansas and the sun-kissed fields of home. --Nancy Parker. 

Thaine Aydelot sat with Doctor Carey and Pryor Gaines in the latter's homein the Foreign Compound in Peking. 

"I have done my work here, " Pryor was saying. "I have only one wish--to goback to old Grass River in Kansas and spend my days with Jim Shirley. Wetwo will both live to be old because we are useless; and Leigh will bemarrying one of these times, if the Lord ever made a man good enough forher. So Jim and I can chum along down the years together. "

"It is the place for you, Pryor, " Doctor Carey asserted. "And now that theranch is making money while Jim sleeps, you two will be happy and busy asbees. Every neighborhood needs a man or two without family ties. You'll bethe most useful citizens in that corner of the prairies. And think ofeating Jim Shirley's cooking after this. "

"And you, Thaine? What now?" Pryor asked as he looked fondly at the youngbattle-tried soldier. 

"I have done my work here, " Thaine quoted his words. "I've only onewish--to go back to old Grass River in Kansas to take my place on theprairie and win the soil to its best uses; to do as good a work as myfather has done. "

Thaine's dark eyes were luminous with hopefulness, and if a line of pathosfor a loss in his life that nothing could fill had settled about his firmmouth, it took nothing from the manliness of the strong young face. 

"And you, Carey?" Pryor asked. 

Doctor Carey did not reply at once. A strange weariness had crept over hiscountenance, and a far-away look was in his eyes. The man who hadforgotten himself in his service for others was coming swiftly toward hisreward. But neither of his friends noted the change now. At last he said:

"Years ago I loved a girl as I never could care for any other girl. Shewould have loved me sooner or later if something hadn't happened. Amessage from the man she cared for most fell into my hands one day longago: a withered flower and a little card. I could have kept them back andwon her for my wife, but I didn't. I sent the message to her by a servantboy--and she has been happy always in her love. "

Doctor Carey turned his face away for the moment. Thaine Aydelot's eyeswere so much like Virginia Thaine's to him just then. Presently he wenton:

"Sometimes the thing we fail to get helps us to know better how to liveand to live happily. You will not be a coward, Thaine, when you come, year by year, to know the greater wilderness inside yourself. You will goback to the prairies where you belong, as you say, and you will do a man'spart in the big world that's always needing men. "

Thaine recalled the evening hour when he and Leigh were on the PurpleNotches and he had declared in the pride of his nineteen years that hewanted to go out into the big world that is always needing men and do aman's part there. 

"If the big world needs men anywhere, it is on the old prairies, " hedeclared, and the doctor continued: "I have found my future already. Ishall not leave China again. Grass River may miss me as a friend but notas a doctor of medicine. Doctors are too plentiful there. My place is herehenceforth, and I'm still young. I came to the Philippines to be withThaine"--Horace Carey's voice was low, and the same old winning smile wason his face--"because I love the boy and because I wanted to protect himif it should be my fortune to do it. I saved him from the waters of theRio Grande and helped to pull him out of the hospital at Manila. Hedoesn't need me now, for he goes to do a big work, and I stay here to do abig work. "

"Out of love for me alone?" Thaine asked affectionately, throwing one armabout Horace Carey's shoulder. 

"No, not you alone, " Carey answered frankly, "but because something inyour face always reminds me of a face I loved long ago. Of one for whosesake I have cared for you here. You are going home a brave man. I believeyour life will be full of service and of happiness. "

The silence that followed was broken by Pryor Gaines saying:

"All this time--such a tragical time--I have forgotten, Thaine, that Ihave a message for you, a little package that reached here late last May. It was sent to me because the sender thought you were coming to Chinasoon, and I was asked to keep it for you. You didn't come, and mailsceased to leave Peking--and then came the siege, the struggle to keep upthe defenses, the sickness, the starvation, the deaths, the constantattacks, the final sight of Old Glory on the outer walls, and yourtriumphal entry through the sewer. You see why I forgot. "

He took a little package from his writing desk and gave it into ThaineAydelot's hand. 

The young soldier tried to open it with steady fingers, for the addresswas in a handwriting he knew well. Inside a flat little box was a cardbearing the words:

 To Prince Quippi, Beyond the Purple Notches. 

And underneath that lay a withered little yellow sunflower. 

 * * * * *

Two evenings later as the three men sat together, Horace Carey suddenlygripped Thaine's hand in his, then sank back in his chair with eyes thatseemed looking straight into eternal peace; and the same smile that hadwon men to him seemed winning the angels to welcome him heavenward. In themidst of his busy, useful years his big work was done. 

 * * * * *

The sunflowers were just beginning to blossom along the old Grass RiverTrail. The line of timber following every stream was in the full leafageof May. The wheat lay like a yellow-green sea over all the wide prairies. The breeze came singing down the valley, a morning song of gladness. 

Leigh Shirley had come up early to the Sunflower Ranch to spend the dayand night with Virginia Aydelot, while Asher and her uncle Jim took a twodays' business trip to Big Wolf with Darley Champers. Jim had broughtVirginia a big bunch of exquisite roses which nobody but Jim Shirley couldever have grown to such perfection. 

Virginia went into the house to find the tall cut-glass vase Doctor Careyhad sent to her when he started West, while Leigh went to the gate of theside lot to pet a pretty black colt that whinnied to her. 

"You beautiful Juno!" she cried, patting the creature's nose. "Mrs. Aydelot says you are as graceful and well-bred as all your grandmothershave been since the time a Juno long ago followed a prairie schooner downthe old Grass River Trail to a little sod shack on a treeless claim in thewilderness. This is too fine a morning to go indoors, " she added as shecame back to the front lawn to the seat under the fragrant whitehoneysuckle. 

She was as sweet as a blossom herself this morning, with her softbrown-gold hair waving back from her face, and her blue eyes full oflight. 

Somebody had turned from the road and was coming up the walk withspringing step. Leigh turned her head to see who it might be, as shereached for a spray of the fragrant honeysuckle, and found Thaine Aydelotstanding before her. 

With a glad cry, she dropped the blossoms and sprang to her feet. 

"Prince Quippi couldn't come nor write, so he sent me. Will I do for ananswer, Leighlie? I was coming back to the blessed old prairies, anyhow;to my father and mother and the life of a farmer. I have come to see atlast through Asher Aydelot's eyes that wars in any cause are short-lived, and, even with a Christian soldiery, very brutal; that after the wars comethe empire-makers, who really conquer, and that the man who patiently winsfrom the soil its hundredfold of increase may be a king among men. I cansee such big things to be done here, but, oh, Leigh, are you sure you wantme here?"

Thaine was holding her hands in a gentle grip, looking with love-hungryeyes down into her face. 

"I've always been sure I wanted you, " Leigh said softly, "and I've alwayshoped you would come back here to the prairies again. But, Thaine, I'm soproud of you, too, for all the heroic things you have helped to do in thePhilippines and in China. I am glad now you did go for a while. You havebeen a part of a history-making that shall change all the future years. "

Thaine put his arm about her and drew her close to him as he said:

"Then we'll go and build a house on the Purple Notches, a purple velvethouse with gold knobs, and all that yellow prairie away to the west thatwas only grass land four years ago we'll turn to wheat fields like AsherAydelot's here. John Jacobs was holding that ground for somebody like youand me. We'll buy it of his estate. We'll show the fathers what the sonscan do. "

A thrill of happiness lighted Leigh's face for a moment, then a shadowfell over it as she said:

"Thaine, Darley Champers and I have kept a secret for a year. "

"You kept it 'danged' well. What was it?" Thaine asked gaily. 

"Jane Aydelot, who died last year, left me all her property, " Leighbegan. 

"Good for Jennie, " Thaine broke in, but Leigh hurried on. 

"I always knew she meant to do it, and that was one reason why I sent youaway. I wouldn't have your money and I felt if you knew you wouldn't askme for fear I'd think--Oh, money you don't earn or inherit squarely issuch a grief, " Leigh paused. 

"So you wouldn't let me have any hope because of this junk in Ohio thatyou were afraid you'd get and I'd seem to be wanting if I married you, andyou thought I ought to have and you'd seem to be marrying me to get. If Iever have an estate, I'll leave it to foreign missions. I'd like to maketrouble for the cuss that got me at the Rio Grande. Money might do it, "Thaine declared. 

Leigh did not laugh. 

"You are right, Thaine. I was so unhappy about it all. For since I firstcame to Uncle Jim's, I knew I ought not have Miss Jane's love and the farmthat you would have had if she knew you. "

"You've known this all these years and never told even me. You silentlittle subsoiler!" Thaine exclaimed. 

"It grew in my mind from an almost babyhood impression to a woman'sprinciple, " Leigh declared. "I never thought of telling anybody. Butthere was another thing that kept me firm that day on the Purple Notches. Years ago, when I was a baby girl, I remember dimly seeing two men in anawful fight one night just at dusk down on the railroad track by CloverCreek in Ohio. I thought one of them was my father. Miss Jane would nevertell me anything about it, and made me promise never to speak of it. So Igrew up sure that my father had committed some dreadful crime, and, Thaine, until I knew better, I couldn't take the risk of disgracing yourname, the proud name of Aydelot. "

"Oh, Leigh, it is no matter what our forefathers do--they were all a badlot if we go back far enough. It's what we do that counts. It's what I doas Thaine Aydelot, not as Asher Aydelot's son, that I must stand or fallby. It's how far we win our wilderness, little girl, not the wildernessour fathers won or lost. "

Thaine was sitting beside Leigh now, under the perfumy white honeysuckleblossoms. 

"But, Thaine, the bans are all lifted now. "

Leigh sat with face aglow. "Your grandfather wouldn't let his property goto a child of Virginia Aydelot, so Miss Jane couldn't give it to you. Sheleft it to me--all her property, provided, or hoping, I would--youshould--"she hesitated. 

"Yes, we should, and we will, " Thaine finished the sentence. "Bless hergood soul! I've always been rather fond of her, anyhow!"

"And Darley Champers found out that my father was accidentally drownedlong ago in Clover Creek. Uncle Jim says he never could swim, and so thatburden is lifted. But, Thaine, will you want to go back to Ohio to theAydelot homestead? I could sell it for a club house to the CloverdaleCountry Club, but I waited till you should come, to know what to do. "

There was just a little quaver in Leigh's voice. 

"Do you want to go back to Ohio?" Thaine inquired. "Unless you do, thecountry clubbers may have the place. There is no homestead there for me. This is my homestead. I want that open ranch-land beyond the PurpleNotches. But, Leigh, if my father as administrator and trustee for JohnJacobs' estate can sell me the ground and your inheritance from JaneAydelot pays for it, what is there left for me to do after all? I can'ttake favors and give none. I'll run away and enlist with the Regularsfirst. "

A rueful look came over his face now, and behind the words Leigh read adetermined will. 

"The real thing is left to you, " she replied, "the biggest work of all. You must go out and tame the soil. Your father bought his first quarterwith money his father had left him by will, but he had no inheritance tobuy all the other quarters that make the big Aydelot wheat fields of theSunflower Ranch. If every acre of the prairie was covered with a layer ofeastern capital, borrowed or inherited, it would not make one stalk ofwheat grow nor ripen one ear of corn. But you may turn up the soil withyour plow and find silver dollars in the furrow. You may herd cattle onthe plains, and their dun hides will bring you cloth-of-gold. You may seedthe brown fields with alfalfa, and it will take away the fear of protestor over-draft, as the Coburn book says it will. I know, because I've triedand proved it. Oh, Thaine, with all your grand battles in the East whichis always our West, Luzon is still a jungle and China isn't yet in thelight. You have only prepared the way for the big things that are tofollow. I never hear the old Civil War veterans telling of theirachievements in a Grand Army meeting without wishing that, after theirgreat story is told, the Grand Army of the Prairies would tell their taleof how the men and women fought out the battles here with no music ofdrums nor roar of cannon, nor bugle calls, nor shoulder straps, norcomradeship, nor inspiring heroic climaxes, and straight, fierce campaignsto victory. But just loneliness, and discouragements, and long waiting, and big, foolish-seeming dreams of what might be, with only the reality ofthe unfriendly land to work upon. I'm so glad you want to stay here and totake that open prairie beyond the Purple Notches for our kingdom. "

The happiness in Leigh Shirley's eyes took from Thaine's mind the memoryof all the hardship and tragedy of his two years on the battlefield. Herpride in his achievements, her joy in his return and her dream of theirfuture together in a work so full of service, filled his soul withrejoicing, as the May morning opened for these two its paradise of Youthand Love. 

 * * * * *

Asher and Virginia Aydelot had come out on the veranda to look for Leigh. A moment they waited, then Asher said softly:

"He has forgotten us, but he has come back to the life we love. "

"And he will come back to us tenfold more ours, because his heart ishere, " Virginia answered, and the two stole softly indoors. 

"See the roses Jim brought; they seem to belong to that beautiful vase, "Virginia said as they stood at the door of the dining room. "I think Jimmust have meant them for Leigh and Thaine. "

"Yes, he brought us sunflowers in an old tin peach-can wrapped with anewspaper, and we had no mahogany dining room set and not so muchcut-glass and china and silver in our cupboard, nor quite such a good rugon our hardwood floor, " Asher replied. 

"But we had each other and the vision to see all these things coming tous, " Virginia said as she looked up into her husband's face withlove-lighted eyes. "I wonder where Jim is. "

"Jim is present. " Jim Shirley came in quietly from the side porch. "Heprepared your wedding supper for you. He buried your first-born, and nowhe comes to give you a daughter, He's been first aid to the Aydelots allalong the line, as he will hope to continue to be, world without end, anda little more. "

 * * * * *

The homestead on the Purple Notches looks out on a level land stretchingaway in an unbroken line to the far westward horizon. Broad fields ofwheat grow golden in the summer sunshine, and acres of dark alfalfaperfume the air above them. With a clearer vision of what reward farm lifemay bring for him who goes forth and earns that reward, the man whom theTondo road made a soldier, Caloocan a patriot, and Yang-Tsun a Christian, has found in the conquest of the soil a life of usefulness and power. 

And the father and mother, Asher and Virginia Aydelot, who, through laborand loneliness and hopes long deferred, won a desert to fruitfulness, awilderness to beauty--these two, in the zenith of their days, have provedtheir service not in vain, for that they have also won the secondgeneration back to the kingdom whose scepter is the hoe. 

Not in vain did the scout of half a century ago drive back the savageIndian from the plains; not in vain did Funston and his "FightingTwentieth" wade the Tulijan and swim the Marilao; not in vain didChaffee's army burst the gates of Peking, nor Calvin Titus fling out OldGlory above its frowning walls. 

Behind the scout came a patient, brave-hearted band of settlers who, against loneliness and distances and drouth and prairie fire and plagueand boom, slowly but gloriously won the wilderness. Into the jungles ofLuzon will go the saw and spade and spelling book. Upon the Chineserepublic has a new light shined. 

Not more to him who drives back the frontier than to him who follows afterand wins that wilderness with sword re-shaped to a plowshare does thepromise to Asher of old stand evermore secure!

"_Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thystrength be. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are theeverlasting arms. _"

THE END

[Illustration: Sunflower]

BOOKS BY MARGARET HILL MCCARTER

WINNING THE WILDERNESS

Illustrated by J. N. Marchand

The latest book from Mrs. McCarter's pen is pronounced by critics the bestwork she has ever done. It is a tale of the soil, of winning the land fromwilderness to fruitfulness. The author has written into it a great humanstory, an epic of the prairies. It is aptly called "The Sunflower Book, "for this flower figures in the glowing romance running through itspages--the golden flower that Kansas chose as its emblem because its faceis ever turned toward the light. 

A MASTER'S DEGREE

Illustrated in color by W. D. Goldbeck

Vivid in its portrayal of fascinating college life, the fine young men andwomen do more than win victories in athletics and in the class-room--theywin out in the battle for character. Vigorous in its practical idealism, this is a story to influence and inspire. 

A WALL OF MEN

Illustrated in color by J. N. Marchand

"With God Almighty backing us, we've got to stand up like a wall of men, "said one of the Free-soilers, and so they stood, the defenders of libertyand home, on the newly-settled prairie lands--where the tragedy of theCivil War was keenly known. The heroic figure of John Brown appears in thestory, and, with all the warring and suffering, young life with itswonderful love moves through the pages of this powerful book. 

THE PEACE OF THE SOLOMON VALLEY

Frontispiece by Clara P. Wilson

In a breezy manner the story is told of a New York City man sending hisrheumatic son to Kansas for a six months' stay on the ranch of an old Yalechum living in the Solomon Valley. The indignation and expectations of theyoung man collapse in the face of the facts, and he falls in love with thelife of the Kansas farm--and with the farmer's daughter. 

THE PRICE OF THE PRAIRIE

Illustrated in color by J. N. Marchand

In this book Mrs. McCarter made her fame secure. It is a great picture ofa thrilling time, and a series of events of historic significance. Itspages are redolent of the sweet air and wide landscapes; the pictures comeand go of idyllic childhood, of growing love, of Indian danger, ofjealousy, of massacre, and of the movement toward the settled life of theplains. It is a poignant and winning record of the price paid for theprairie home. 

A. C. McCLURG & CO. , PublishersCHICAGO