I Conquered""

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It recedes, returns stronger; struggles, bursts from the pall of darkness, and blots out the stars before it. And

He thrust both arms from the covers and reached above his head, up and up and-up! until he ended with a satis

badly-was well down over the brow, and the skin beneath those locks was damp. One

or son of a gun! He's in a jack-pot, all right

as Danny opened his eyes and

t him, evidencing no recognit

you, Mr

straight before him, "Mr. Avery's in a

ed at him

py. Fancy wrappin's is for boxes of candy an' playin'

all rig

him at the freshnes

s? If yesterday's was a bad job he can start right in on this one an' make it a winner! Now, if th

ine to have more ch

silent a

hiftless. Mebby we'd keep puttin' off tryin' hard until next time. As 'tis, we have to make every chance ou

s, think it's

a boot and dec

eps us onery human bein's on

which to marvel, and Danny divided his thoughts between wonder at them and recalling the events of the night befo

he sun mounted and the breeze did not rise, the heat became too intense for a coat, and Danny

a fine piece of goods

arment with a mingled feeling of amu

o, too, when

o men from those ancestors who paraded in their finest skins and paints befor

ilderment and wonder at the life about him, J

feller. I like it an' can make a livin' at it, so why should I go into cattle? Those horses are out there in th' hills, runnin' wild,

b to catch the

s so!" Jed's

ever see. Eight years old, an' all his life he's been chased an' never touched. He's big-not so big in weight; big like this here man Napoleon, I mean. He rules th' range. He has th' best mares on th'

lashed until Danny, gazing on him, caught some of

to shoot a stallion that'll run wild so long an' drive off bunches of gentle mares an' make 'em crazy wild. But no. Nobody on Red Mountain or nobody who ever chased th' Captain has wanted to harm him; yet I've heard men swear until it would make your hair curl when they was runnin' him! He's that kind. He

n that declaration,

he'll just keep right on running f

repocketed the plug, shifted i

sayin', 'There, we've gone an' done it; that'll last forever!' an' then watchin' a wind or a rain carry off what we've thought was so strong. Either that, I say, or else we've been fallin' down on our knees an' prayin' for help to stop somethin' new an' powerful that's showed up. An' when prayin' didn't do no good up pops somebo

rawl back to bed an' quit tryin'; then we stop to think that nothin' has ever been so great or so strong that it

ventin' an' makin' a reg'lar hunt for that one thing. So 'tis with th' Captain. He's fooled us a

h' sand, but th' combination ain't been struck yet. We ain't men enough. Th' feller who catches that horse has got to be all man, just like th' feller who beats out anyt

young chap who rode beside him. Danny's head was down, facing the dust which rose from the feet of the horses ahead. The biting particles irritate

rt, miserable and lonely, missed the close, reckless friendships of those days so shortly removed, in spite of his realization of what those relations

is ears, its truth ringing clearly. The incentive to forge ahead, to stop the wasting, grew bigger, and his will stood stanch in

still thought of his theme: "Yes, sir, us men can do any old thing if we only think so! Nothin' has ever been

the worried brow and about the tight mouth approached the breaking point. With keen intuition he went down into the young fellow and found the vibrating chord, the one that had be

ead across the narrow valley. Again they slept under th

was agony, but Jed

when it hurts is what counts, is what gets a feller well

s though aside, bu

. Living resolved itself into three things. First and second: the thundering demands and the stubborn resistance of his will. When Jed spoke and roused him the remaining element come to the fore

nd, was a bit of glowing warmth-his newly

when they rea

home!" cried Jed, slapping Da

rt. When he dismounted he slumped to one

w and then, rubbing his palms together; nor of how, when he turned toward the candle on the table, burning steadily and bright

did not try to remember where he was or what had gone before. He lay on his back, mantled in a strange peace, wonderfully content. Torture seemed to have left him, bodily tor

ed slightly, scarcely knowing that he did so. Cooking! It was unlike other sm

a center of misery, as though it were shot full of needles, as though it had been stretched on a rack, th

it had ever been before. Setting each foot before the other gingerly, as if in ex

oth hands. "I allowed you'd be up about now. Just step outside an' wash an' it'll be about r

, I judge so,

air, too, and Jed lifted eggs from a battered pail to drop them into a steaming kettle. The table, its plain top scrubbed to whiteness, was set for two

oved toward the outer doorway. When he gained it he pause

scarred and split, with cedars clinging in the interstices, their forms dark green against the saffron of the rocks. Up abo

n sharp affection for the old man who, with an indulgence that was close to motherly, had let him sleep. It mad

ak. Above, on the ridges, a breeze might be blowing; but no

ush shelter and made off across the gulch with the jerky lightness of a stone skipping on water. As he bobbed the grass and bushes

ed his head against the crude doorway. He was sore and weak and felt