The Valley of Silent Men

n, his surgeon friend, and Cardigan had told him that what was left of his life would be measured out in hours-perhaps in minutes or seconds. It was an unusual case. There was one

thing, as far as medical and surgical s

n were clear. He felt no pain, and only at infrequent intervals was his

nt by Cardigan which did not sound especially wicked or convincing to him. "Aorta" and "aneurism" held about as much significance for him as his perichondrium or the process of his stylomastoid. But Kent possessed an unswerv

cking it the bullet had so weakened its outer wall that it bulged out in the form of a sack, just

an had explained, "you'll go like that!" He snapp

he was contributing as a final legacy to the world at large, or at least to that part of it which knew him or was interested. The tragedy of the thing did not oppress him. A thousand times in his life he had dis

imsical and trickful sort of thing played by the Great Arbiter on humanity at large; and this last count in his own life, as it was solemnly and tragically ticking itself off, was the greatest joke of all. The amazed faces that stared at him, their pa

ix years of life appalled him. Those years, because he had spent a sufficient number of them in the raw places of the earth, had given him a philosophy and viewpoint of his own, both of whic

ll things could be measured, and stood up, and catalogued-except life itself. "Given time," he would say, "a single pair of humans can populate all creat

e treasured life a whit less than the man in another room, who, a day or so before, had fought like a lunatic before goin

was an optimist, a lover of the sun and the moon and the stars, a worshiper of the forests and of the mountains, a man who loved

e tanning of wind and sun and campfire was still there. His blue eyes were perhaps dulled somewhat by the nearness of death. One would not have judged him to be thirty-six, even though over one temple there was a streak of gra

the Arctic Ocean. The sun was shining, and he saw the cool, thick masses of the spruce and cedar forests beyond, the rising undulations of wilderness rid

, "and when this nice little thing you're promising hap

was close t

whose presence as a witness Kent had requested, sat with his thin fingers tightly interlaced, silently placing this among all the other strange tragedies that the wilderness had given up to him. They had all been Kent's friends, his intimate friends, with the exception of the girl, whom Inspector Kedsty had borrowed for the occasion. With the little missioner he had spent many an evening, exchanging in mutual confidence the strange and mysterious happenin

he commander of N Division was an unusual man. He was sixty, with iron-gray hair, cold, almost colorless eyes in which one would search long for a gleam of either mercy or fear, and a nerve that Kent had never seen even slightly disturbed. It took such a man, an iron man, to run N Division according to law, for N Division covered an area of six hundred and twenty thousand square miles

t had detected a broken note in his voice. He had seen his hands grip at the arms of the chair he sa

by the Crees. The armor that no shaft had ever penetrated seemed to have dropped from him. He had ceased to be Kedsty, t

eans to the Service," he said i

illed John Barkley. The man you've got in the guard-house, condemned to be hanged by the neck until he is dead, is innocent. I unders

e crime was deliberate-horrible and inexcusable to its last detail. You were

true,"

d, and he observed the red lights in her hair. His eyes swept to O'Connor, and in that moment the commander of N Division bent ove

-YOU

true," re

ain wiping the moist

t went on. "It was my desire that he should suffer. The one thing which I

t through the shoulders of the girl wh

se to confess

he had wronged me in a w

nfession knowing that

He looked at O'Connor and for an instant saw in

let the man in the guard-house hang. It's simply that

ad her notes, and after that Kent wrote his name

shed, gentlem

ty who closed the door, and as he closed it he looked back, and for a flash Kent met his eyes squarely. In that moment he received an impression which he had not caught while the Inspector was in the room. It was like an electrical shock in its unexpectedness, and

ficer to guard his door. The fact that he was ready to pop off at any moment would make no difference in the regulations of the law. And Kedsty was a stickler for the law as it was written. Through t

, and sat down close to Kent, and took one of his hands and held it closely in both of his own. They were not the soft, smooth hands of the priestly hierarchy, but were hard with the callosity of toil, yet gentle with the gentl

ad," he said.

ce morning. His fingers returned the pressure of the little missioner's hands. Then h

talk about it. I'm not afraid of it. And why be unhappy because one has only a little while to l

gone swiftly,

only yeste

y yesterd

, Father. There is only a yesterday, a today, and a tomorrow in the longest of our lives. Looking back from seventy years isn't much differ

atements have been accepted

stead of Kent, was betra

matters-which you will want attend

u m

once you told me there was no one. Bu

. For ten years those forests out there h

airs, affairs which you would l

pieces of land here. Now that the railroad has almost reached us from Edmonton, they've jumped up from the seven or eight hundred dollars I gave for them to about ten thousand. I want you to sell the lots and

said, using the intimate name by which he had known him. "And I think He is

looking out through the window.

not press the service which he would otherwise have rendered. After a moment he rose to his feet, and it was

y friends left, I want them to come in and see me, and talk, and crack jokes. I want to smoke my pipe. I'll appreciate a box of cigars if you'll send 'em u

ercame him to have the soul speak out, that his God might be more merciful, a

e done. And please don't forget

said the little miss

d even as he wiped another of the telltale stains of blood from his lips. He had played the game. And the