195
XIX. PRESCOTT'S RETURN 206
XX. MURIEL RELIEVES HER MIND 216
XXI. WANDLE TAKES PRECAUTIONS 227
XXII. JERNYNGHAM MAKES A DISCOVERY 237
XXIII. A NIGHT RIDE 249
XXIV. MURIEL PROVES OBDURATE 261
XXV. A WOMAN'S INFLUENCE 272
XXVI. PRESCOTT MAKES INQUIRIES 284
XXVII. STARTLING NEWS 296
XXVIII. THE END OF THE PURSUIT 306
XXIX. JERNYNGHAM BREAKS DOWN 318
XXX. PRESCOTT'S VINDICATION 332

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PRESCOTT, OF SASKATCHEWAN

CHAPTER I

JERNYNGHAM'S HAPPY THOUGHT

The air was cooling down toward evening at Sebastian, where an
unpicturesque collection of wooden houses stand upon a branch line on the
Canadian prairie. The place is not attractive during the earlier portion
of the short northern summer, when for the greater part of every week it
lies sweltering in heat, in spite of the strong west winds that drive
dust-clouds through its rutted streets. As a rule, during the remaining
day or two the temperature sharply falls, thunder crashes between
downpours of heavy rain, and the wet plank sidewalks provide a
badly-needed refuge from the cement-like "gumbo" mire.

The day, however, had been cloudless and unusually hot. Prescott had
driven in from his wheat farm at some distance from the settlement, and
he now walked toward the hotel. He was twenty-eight years old, of average
height and rather spare figure; his face, which had been deeply bronzed
by frost and sun, was what is called open, his gray eyes were clear and
steady, the set of his lips and mould of chin firm. He looked honest and
good-natured, but one who could, when necessary, sturdily hold his own.
His attire was simple: a wide gray hat, a saffron-colored shirt with
flannel collar, and a light tweed suit, something the worse for wear.

As he passed along the sidewalk he looked about. The small, frame houses
were destitute of paint and any pretense of beauty, a number of them had
raised, square fronts which hid the shingled roofs; but beyond the end of
the street there was the prairie stretching back to the horizon. In the
foreground it was a sweep of fading green and pale ocher; farther off it
was tinged with gray and purple; and where it cut the glow of green and
pink on the skyline a long birch bluff ran in a cold blue smear. To t