from us. Think of
the houses, the shows, the railroads. The street cars. The sleighs.
The automobiles. The hotels. The dance halls. The--the--oh, gee, it
makes me sick to think of all I've missed and you've seen. I can't--I
just can't stand for it much longer."

Murray nodded.

"Guess I--understand." Then, in a moment, his eyes became serious, as
though some feeling stirred them that prompted a warning he was
powerless to withhold. "It's an elegant picture, the way you see it.
But it's not the only picture. The other picture comes later in life,
and if I tried to paint it for you I don't reckon you'd be able to see
it--till later in life. Anyway, a man needs to make his own
experience. Guess the world's all you see in it, sure. But there's a
whole heap in it you don't see--now. Say, and those things you don't
see are darn ugly. So ugly the time'll come you can't stand for 'em
any more than you can stand for the dozy life around here now. Those
folk you see in your dandy picture are wage slaves worshiping the gods
of this darned wilderness just as we are right here. Just as are all
the folks who come around this country, and I'd say there's many folks
hating all the things you fancy, as bad as you hate the life you've
been raised to right here. Still, I guess it's up to you."

"I'd give a heap to have mother think that way," Alec responded with a
shade of moodiness.

"She does think that way."

The youngster sprang from his chair. His eyes were shining, and a
joyous flush mounted to his handsome brow. There was no mistaking the
reckless youth in him.

"She does? Then--say, it's you who've persuaded her. There hasn't
been a day she hasn't tried to keep me right here, like--like some darn
kid. She figgers it's up to me to choose what I'll do?" he cried
incredulously.

Murray nodded. His eyes were studying the youth closely.

"Then I'll tell her right away." Alec laughed a whole-hearted,
care-free laugh. "I'll ask her for a stake, and then for Leaping
Horse. Maybe Seattle, and 'Frisco--New York! Murray, if you've done
this for me, I'm your slave for life. Say, I'd come near washing your
clothes for you, and I can't think of a thing lower. You'll back me
when I put it to her?"

"There's no need. She'll do just as you say."

Murray's moment of serious regard had passed. He was smiling his
inscrutable smile again.

"When? When?"

The eagerness of it. It was almost tragic.

"