us eyes, flung
himself into the air and hovered over a nearby eddy with an irregular
flapping of quick, blue wings. Then, like a bullet, he dived into the
flashing stream immediately at Clark's feet, and emerged with diamond
drops flying from his brilliant plumage and a small, silver fish
curving in his sharp, serrated beak, till, a second later, he darted
into the covert with his prey. The bird had dared the rapids and found
that which he sought. Clark's gray eyes had seen it all, and he smiled
understandingly.

The mayor, after the departure of his visitor, stood thoughtfully in
front of the store, while his eye followed the stranger's figure
dreamily up the street, and stood like one who has that whereof to
ponder. It is true that he had offered to accompany the new comer on
his pilgrimage, but equally true that Clark had politely but definitely
declined, and it was something new for the mayor to have his suggestion
thus put aside. In this case, however, he felt no resentment, and
presently strolled to the house of Worden, the magistrate, where he
found Worden, a large man with a small, kindly face, sitting in his
study which immediately faced the lawn. On the other side was the
river. Worden was apparently dividing his time between an unfinished
judgment, for which there seemed no pressing demand, and a satisfying
contemplation of the great stream which here was flecked with foam from
the tumult above.

The mayor sat for some time talking to him, surrounded by tiers of
homemade shelves packed with law books, along whose tattered, leather
backs Worden had a habit of running a tobacco-stained forefinger while
he relighted a pipe which seemed in continual need of attention. The
talk was long and earnest. The mayor's cigar went out with a smell of
varnish where it lay on the edge of the judge's desk, but the two were
so interested that they did not notice it.

Presently Filmer got up and Worden followed him to the porch expressing
entire approval of all that had been discussed, and, as Filmer struck
across to the street, he returned to his study and gazed at the
judgment with apparent contempt.

From Worden's, the mayor walked across to the jail and sought out
Manson. The latter was in his small office which seemed crowded with
its single occupant's bulk, and adjoined the high forbidding walls of
the jail itself. In St. Marys the chief constable was a man of place,
and the jail an edifice that at times t