The Valley of Silent Men

ainst exhaustion and the inevitable end. A strange spirit seemed whirling Kent back through the years he had lived, even to the days of his boyhood, leaping f

were riotous with life and pulsating with the red blood of reality. He was a boy again, playing three-old-cat in fron

r hour, he was trading some of his mother's cucumber pickles for some of Skinny's onions-two onions for a pickle, and never a change in the price. And he played old-fashioned casino with his mother, and they

a little white stone in the country cemetery a thousand miles away, with his father close beside her. But it gave him a passi

oe; he was on the Big River, O'Connor with him again-and then, suddenly, he was holding a blazing gun in his hand, and he and O'Connor stood with their backs to a rack, facing the bloodthirsty rage of McCaw and his free-traders. The roar of the guns half roused him, and after that came pleasanter things-the droning of wind in the spruce tops, the singing of swollen streams in Springtime, the songs of birds, the sweet smells of life, the glory of life as he

his head. There was something in his face which he tried to conceal, but Kent caught it before it was gone. There were dark hollows under his eyes. He was a bit ha

swept through his chest. It was like a knife. He opened his mouth to breathe in the

ook cheerful. "Too much of the night air, Ke

new how unpleasant for Cardigan the answer to it would be. He fumbled under his pillow for his watch. It was nine o'clock. Cardigan was moving about uneasily, arr

Kent-a wash-up and bre

ike soap and water just now. Who's t

r. It's

soap and water! Do you m

I was still in pajamas, and has been waiting ever since. I told her to come back again, but sh

young woman?" he demanded eagerly. "Wonderful black hair, blue eyes, wear

"I even noticed the shoes, Jimmy

last night, and I feel fairly fit. She'll forgive this be

said she just looked at him for a moment and he froze. She is reading a volume of m

ss it was to thank him for the confession that had given Sandy McTrigger his freedom? O'Connor was right. She was deeply concerned in McTrigger and had come to express her gratitude. He listened. Distant footsteps sounded in the hall. They approached quickly and