s fighting for his life he was witness of the
complete shattering of all that for which he had striven. His trial
revealed to the world the secret which his every effort had sought to
keep inviolate, and the horde of vultures from the gold city were
breaking the trail in their surging lust. Word flashed down the
boulevards. It flew through the slums. It sung on the wires to the
rail-heads at the coast. It reached the wealthy headquarters at
Seattle. Thence it journeyed on the wings of cable and wire to every
corner of the world. And the message only told the fabulous stories of
the new strike on Bell River. The world was left all unconcerned with
the crimes it had inspired.

The scenes of the early days were renewed. Nor was there any great
difference from them. It was a pell-mell rush. Incompetent, harpy,
"sharp" and the gold seeker of substance. It was a train of the
northland flotsam, moving again without scruple or mercy. Kars watched
its beginning. He understood. None could understand this sort of
thing better. All his life had been spent in the midst of such
conditions. The thing had been bound to come, and he was frankly glad
that those who had served him so well were already in possession of all
they required in the new Eldorado.

How the "rush" ultimately fared he neither knew nor seriously cared.
It had no concern for him. The lust of gold had completely passed from
him. All he cared was that it had left Fort Mowbray untouched. The
overland route had suited the needs of these folk best. It was
shorter, and therein lay its claim. The waterways which would have
brought pandemonium to the doors of the folk he loved were circuitous,
and the double burden of water and land transport would have been a
hindrance in the crazy haste of the reckless souls seeking fortune in a
whirlwind of desire.

So the girl he loved was saved the contamination from which he desired
to shield her. So the pristine calm of the Mission of St. Agatha was
left unbroken. Father Jose was left to his snuff-box and his mission
of mercy. And Kars was glad.

His work was done. And now, on this day of days, as he watched its
splendid birth, he thanked his God that the contamination of the gold
world which had so long overshadowed would no longer threaten the life
of the girl who was to be given into his keeping before its close.

The sun cleared the sky-line, a molten, magnificent spectacle. And as
it rose the mult