"Nonsense! tell the truth; say that all the money you could have saved you have put in whiskey; and now when a great opportunity has come, a great opportunity to make fortunes, you have no money to put away that you can invest. This is the truth, and you know it!" becoming more excited as he went on, "and all that you have to find fault with to-day is that another man has looked ahead, and has provided himself with money that he can double-double and treble if he will; aye, he can possess this whole country!

"God made the lan' for all," was called out angrily from the crowd, "an' you said so yerself."

"And why have you been too lazy to take it?" Jerry retorted; "did you expect the Almighty to fence it in for you, and write your names on the fences? is this what you expected? You could have bought this land for fifty cents an acre; but fifty cents would buy three drinks of whiskey, and you wanted the whiskey, and the land would keep.

"An' so it would," was called out. "And so it did," Jerry cried sharply, "kept until two months ago. I am not going back from anything I have written in your paper: I said there that it was wrong to speculate in land-as wrong as to speculate in water, or air, or sunshine, if such a thing could be, for all these things are necessary to life, and are meant alike for all! Speculating in land is in my eyes a sin, and I consider it every man's duty to warn every other man against a thing that seems wrong, and so I warned you. You had no money to invest, for, as I have said, you have saved nothing; but if you had had bags of gold, I should have done my best to keep you from speculating in land"-and there came a little catch in his voice as he remembered his desertion of his higher principles at the beginning of his speech; and yet, these people were so low!

"But now," he went on, his excitement increasing unreasonably as he realized that already he had taken the position of champion to these low creatures. And as this realization became more clear to him, his words became more harsh-"But now you are not troubled because you think the doctor

has done a wicked thing in buying this land; you are troubled only that he has done a thing you were unable to do! You are angry because this man who has been your friend for all these years who has given you time, and money, and help in every way-you are angry because he has now the opportunity to better himself. You let any smooth-tongued villain turn you against him-you refused to work for himyou take all my words and apply them to him, for whom, God knows, they were never meant!

"My words were meant to warn you against the miserable land-sharpers, not meant for this man, too high and too noble to be for one moment doubted! The doctor has bought in a great tract of land; we do not know yet what he will do with it; but I say, and I mean every word that I utter, that if he had bought the United States, I would be sure that it was for some good purpose-I would be sure that it was for the benefit of the many, and not for his own benefit "-and as Jerry spoke his own full confidence came back to him, and with a great shame that he had for one moment doubted this man.

"Now," he went on, while his voice grew raspingly clear-"if any man has anything to say against the doctor, let him remember that he has Jerry Wilkerson to fight," and taking out one pistol he laid it on the low, flat rail that went round the little porch, and put his hand on the second, that was still in his belt.

The crowd swayed a little, and backed away from the evil-looking weapon, and from the shining eyes of the young man, looking very dangerous as he stood in the level rays of the morning sun, holding his fast-cooling audience at a dreadful disadvantage. It was no rare thing in Eureka for men to be shot on much less provocation than this, and the day was not yet far spent enough for any excitement to have culminated, or for the men to have recovered from the drinking of the past night; their nerves were still tremulous, and they moved away from the platform.

"We never meant no harm to you, Mr. Wilkerson," they said, "but all the same it's durned hard lines!"

Then the door of the next house opened, and the workmen came out in a solid body; and Paul Henley was with them. They stopped a moment on the steps as if awaiting some advance from the mob gathered at the school-house; and in that moment the doctor rode up. He stopped between the two crowds and looked about him: on the one side Paul, and the clean, respectable workmen; on the other the wretched mobdirty, thriftless, malignant-people he had worked for but had not bettered; and in the midst, standing high on the platform, with the sun shining full on the pistol he had placed in front of him, Jerry, the one whom for so many years he had carefully trained and taught!

Only for a second the doctor paused, then nodded to Jerry, and rode on to the workmen.

He knew that the feeling of the community was all against him-he knew that at any moment a bullet might find him; but that was nothing. He had held his life with a loose grasp for so many years, that he scarcely remembered to heed any danger that threatened it. If one weighed possible results always, or always feared death, life became only a burden, he said; so that life or death meant very little to him, and he stood in the morning sunlight a ready mark for any man who thought himself wronged or defrauded.

Not long he talked to the men; then Paul's horse was brought, and the party moved off quietly, steadily, almost like drilled men, and everyone completely armed, as could be seen plainly.

The crowd about the school-house was very still; they were deeply impressed by these orderly, strong-looking new-comers; nor had they forgotten Jerry's words, nor the menacing pistol that still glittered under their eyes.

It was not safe to trouble Mr. Wilkerson, they thought, for in no position had he shown any fear. In their eyes he had defied and bitterly criticised the doctor, whatever he might affirm to the contrary; and now he had not only defied and criticised them, but had abused and threatened them also; had stood there one to many, and had not flinched.

But besides all these considerations for

keeping quiet, they were also interested in watching a reporter, who stood in the shade scribbling busily.

There was much of deep mystery to them in this man, and it was something far beyond their comprehension that any man should spend his time in writing down everything that was done in the town, and take the trouble to send it away to be put in a newspaper!

And so intent did they become in watching him, that they did not know when Jerry went into the school-house; and realized no more than he did that this retreat was a great boon to the reporter.

"The school-master finding the mob unwilling to make any assault, retired into the school-house."

So the reporter wrote while the dirty crowd watched him; and Jerry, hurt and angry, tried to find peace in his room.

"But it is thought that Eureka will soon see exciting times"-the reporter went on; and Jerry, thinking these same thoughts, but wholly unconscious of his position as a mob leader, determined to wait after school, and warn the doctor: for the doctor could not know, as well as he did, all that was threatened against him.

To the days of his youth: To the fair dewy dawn of his fresh young lifeE'er his soul had been stained by the hardening strife

Through which he had won."

JERRY waited very patiently on the school-house steps, with his warning on his lips. Sat there alone, watching the evening light that drifted slowly across the plains; while behind him the mountains loomed black and gloomy, with the patient shadows huddling together about their feet waiting until their hour should come to possess the land. Before him stretched the road that formed the one street of Eureka, where in front of the wretched shop the men squatted in groups and rows, chewing, and hold

ing what might be termed "silent converse" with each other; while the women sat in the doorways of the miserable shanties, and up and down the road the children and hogs disported themselves indiscriminately. A wretched, squalid scene; and made more so by the contrast with the few houses which the speculators had been able to buy and repair, and which shone out here and there like the "whited sepulchres" they were. A hopeless scene; yet all about it was the exquisite glow of the evening light; a cloud of light that reached to the black hollows of the mountains. God had not forgotten these creatures, and the place was not so wretched that his glory could not rest there? So Jerry thought-but also-"they heed no light nor beauty, what use to strive with them and destroy one's self for their benefit?"

Alas! All the 66 warmed over enthusiasm of the morning had deserted him, and he covered his face with his hands. He would not think of these people; instead, he would think what he should say to the doctor; he tried faithfully, but in spite of all his efforts could only think-" What will the doctor say to me?"

His conscience was clear, and the doctor, if he thought about it at all, must know this; and the old answer that came to all his reasoning on this matter, came once more the only thing to be explained was the doctor's course toward him"- and there had been many opportunities for this if the doctor had willed it.

Still, he would wait and warn the doctor: it was all he could do, and however painful the interview might prove, he would do this service; a service the doctor would scarcely value because he did not realize the extent of the danger that threatened not only himself, but his workmen.

So Jerry waited, and, in spite of all reasoning, hoped that his warning might clear the cloud that had come between them.

All was very still save the idle clatter of the children in the street, and the occasional calling of one woman to another-all was very still, when as the sun vanished the fine, clear tone of a

VOL. VIII.-28

horn sounded through the evening, and Eureka stopped to listen! Clear and sharp, almost imperative, yet sweet; a tone Eureka had never heard before!

Once more it sounded, while Jerry watched the shadows stealing slowly from their dens in the mountains; then the usual noises of the time and place resumed their sway. But it was not long, for they ceased again when the doctor's workmen came walking down the street, and behind them the doctor riding slowly.

"He has sent Paul home for fear of danger," Jerry thought, and the loneliness about his life seemed to enlarge and to join hands with the creeping shadows on whose edge he stood, waiting to warn this man he loved so well. Quietly the men moved, seeming to pay no heed to the sights and sounds about them; talking among themselves, and to their leader who had a horn slung about his shoulder. They did not look like common workmen, now that he saw them more nearly, and he wondered what was their station in life.

He waited patiently while the doctor gave directions, and talked with the men, then as he turned to ride away raised his voice :

"Doctor!"

"Well, Jerry "-how sweet that name sounded on his lips!

"I wish to tell you, sir, that there is more danger in the threatenings of these people than you may suspect"- his words came quickly enough at first, then more slowly as the doctor watched him with a look as if only politeness made him listen "they mean some of the things they say."

"I have no doubt of it," was answered quietly.

"And you will be careful, Doctor?" almost pleadingly.

"I am never very rash, Jerry," drawing his hat on more securely, preparing to start, "but I am very much obliged to you for your warning; good evening"-then Jerry stepped back and said no farewell, because he could not.

However much we may think ourselves prepared for a great sorrow, or a great pain, when the blow falls there is in it always a keener cruelty than we expected. There seems to be always

some additional refinement of the agony that we had not looked for, and that makes us say "If it had been done without this, I could have borne it." No matter how widely we may have spread our lines of defence in order that the poor heart hiding in the centre might be somewhat protected, the blow when it falls seems to break through every guard. For who can measure the force of a stroke which another is to deal us?

And so, though for a long time Jerry had been conscious of the fact that he represented to the doctor only a part of his duty, he now found to his hurt that all along he had had in his heart an unrecognized hope that he was something more. A hope that he knew only when he looked on its dead face as the doctor rode away. Mechanically he took up his dinner-bucket and books, and began his homeward journey. He could not realize all at once what had happened to him-he was not sure that anything had happened. Only he seemed again to be the lonely little child, cast loose from all his moorings. Had he read the doctor's actions aright, and did they say"You are old enough to take your own path--my duty by you is done?'

For years he had listened to and learned from this man; for years he had looked up to him and been guided by his counsels - had made him his ideal and hero had loved him with that strongest love that man gives to manand now all was done. Either by the vile insinuations of enemies, or by idle reports-by a simple misunderstanding, or through indifference. this man he thought so strong had been turned from him.

His life seemed shattered; for he was young and trustful still, and had grown up to this love and influence as the flowers grow up to the sun. He had had no great sorrows since his childhood to take the edge from his feelings-no betrayals to loosen his faith in mankind; on the contrary, all had so fallen out in his life as to make him trust implicitly and love unquestioningly, and this revelation of the mutability of all he clung to was very bitter. He had been taught the most liberal views; had been encouraged to tell fearlessly his opinions;

had been told that the truth must be spoken at all costs, and adhered to; had learned from watching the highest life that had come within his experience, that all lives are lost that are not lived for others. And now on his first essaying to champion the right; to teach what he thought were the highest, purest principles-his teacher and exemplar turned from him!

He could not understand it nor realize it all at once, and had no feeling save a great sorrow that was deepening down into a corroding bitterness.

He hated himself for being so sorely smitten by the loss of this friend who could so easily cast him aside; and he determined that no eye should see his sorrow or realize his humiliation.

He did his evening's work quietly, almost mechanically; told Joe, whose keen old eyes watched him questioningly, of the gathering at the schoolhouse; of his speech; of the fact that he feared a real difficulty, and had warned the doctor. Told even of the horn that had sounded so "thin and clear" to call the workmen home.

He seemed to hear it now, sounding through the beautiful tinted air-sounding all to rest-sounding the last hour of his love and trust!

It seemed as if he would hear those high, clear tones through all the coming years.

And he hastily opened a paper Joe had bought from Dan Burk—a large, important paper from the far away outside world. He paused a moment, for facing him, in huge type-heading the telegraphic column, was his own name.

"J. P. Wilkerson-" then, on the next line-" Great and continued excitement in Eureka! Townspeople in Arms! Mass Meetings held by Wilkerson, the schoolmaster, and leading man of the town! Dark threats against the imported workmen! Notwithstanding his immense interests, which may be seriously involved, Mr. Paul Henley and his guardian, supported by Engineer Mills of the Eureka Mines, keep a firm front! Grand article from the Eureka Star written by Wilkerson ! ingratitude of the latter's position!” Then followed a garbled version of one of Jerry's articles.

Steadily he read it all through while Joe watched him-steadily to the end; then he laid the paper down without a word, and sat quite still, looking into the fire.

So this was what was being said of him; this vile caricature was what had turned the doctor from him. It could not be possible; it was so absurd that even in the midst of his anger it made him laugh almost. The people were armed, but that was a custom; who would think of going unarmed in that wild country? And there were threats against the workmen ; but the enormous falseness of his position as ungrateful and a mob-leader, was manifest-must be manifest to the doctor. Then his face grew darker; Paul held up as a model of manly firmness-Paul, who on every occasion quietly stood behind the doctor! "Notwithstanding his immense interests"-ah, that was the keynote! Paul owned all that vast tract of land; Paul would be master of immense wealththis was the keynote; this was what made people call him manly, and brave, and calm! Money bought all these golden opinions-money threw a halo around his boyhood's enemy-ah, the power of this pitiful gold!

For a long time they sat silent; Joe smoking slowly, and Jerry gazing into the fire with the bitterest of bitter thoughts surging through his brain, and a mass of hatred and anger gathering in his heart that would suffice to wreck his life.

At last Paul had gotten the better of him. It made no difference that he had followed with unfaltering zeal every suggestion that the doctor had ever made to him; it made no difference that he had studied and worked beyond his strength sometimes; it made no difference that he had admired and loved so faithfully; all this made no difference; Paul had won the day.

There was some freemasonry among these well-born people; a birth - mark that made them understand each other; a class - brotherhood that made them stand by each other. He was one of the "common herd" and must stand back; a duty had been done by him; a life-long obligation laid on him that held him fast-bound him hand and foot.

They could push him to one side and go on their way; but forever he must watch that no act of his crossed their paths or wishes.

He hated himself-he hated his position-almost he hated Joe because he had not left him to die on the roadside.

"Well," Joe said, as he carefully picked out a suitable coal to light his pipe, "how does it suit youuns?

"It is all a stupid lie," Jerry answered, with deliberate slowness, as if afraid to say too much.

"Dan Burk says it's orl true," Joe went on, "an' thet orl the country jest swars by youuns," rubbing his hands with much satisfaction, "an' he says as youuns could make the people do anything youuns likes."

Jerry sat silent; he was sore and hurt, and did not wish Joe to see how much he had been humiliated.

"An' it beats me," Joe went on, "why youuns don't jest tuck the people an' make things go youuns' way. I'd jest tuck aholt of Durden's an' play the devil alonger Eureky an' thet Paul Henley;" then with a chuckle-"Dan allers names him 'Polly,' he do."

Still Jerry sat silent, and Joe could not read him; but Joe's suggestion took hold of him with a sweeping grasp: why not take this power offered himthe power of the people-and match it against the power of money? why not take hold of the opportunity now before him, and make the first bold stroke for his fortune? why not take the lead and be the 'people's man'?

So he sat and brooded, while Joe smoked diligently and spoke occasionally of the brilliant future that might be before Jerry.

"An' Durden's Mine is jest fuller gole"-he said at last, as if to himself. There was something in the tone that made Jerry think Joe had unintentionally betrayed himself, and he looked up suddenly into Joe's eyes; but after one little flicker of the eyelids they did not flinch. Steadily the men looked at each other, and many things surged into Jerry's mind-steadily he looked with knowledge growing in his eyes and shining on Joe steadily, until Joe rose restlessly and knocked the ashes out of his pipe.