that the fire in the stove
was maintained at the lowest state possible; but when the western light
quickly vanished from the window, the glowing coals gave homely cheer
to the crude room.

In answer to their questioner, Wilfred told of his experiences on his
quarter-section: how he had broken the prairie land, put in his crops,
watched them wither away in the terrible dry months, roughed it through
the winters, tried again, fought through another drought, staked all on
the next spring's planting, raised a half-crop, paid off his chattel
mortgage, tried again,--succeeded.

"I've stayed right with it," he said gravely, looking from one to the
other as they smoked in silence, their eyes on his animated face. "Of
course, they required me to stay on the land only during certain
months, every year. But I stayed with it all the time; and I studied
it; and when I failed, as I did year after year, I failed each time in
a different way, because I learned my lesson. And when I'd walled off
the cause of each failure, one by one, seemed like there opened before
me a broad clear way that led right into the goal I'd been seeking from
the first day. Then I closed out all my deals, and looked and saw that
everything was trim and ready for winter--and got my horse and started
for Greer County."

"And glad we are!" cried Bill Atkins. "I hope you can stay a long
time."

"That depends ... Lahoma is well, I suppose?"

"The picture of health--when she left," Brick declared admiringly, "and
the prettiest little gal this side of the angels. When the early
sunlight peeps over the mountain and laughs at the cove that's sulking
from thinking it's about to be left out in the day's doings--that's
like Lahoma's smile. And when you get down sick as I done once from
causes incidental to being made of flesh and blood, and she come and
laid her hand on my burning forehead, her touch always made me think of
an angel's wing, somehow, although I ain't never set up to be
religious, and I think of such things as little as may be--except when
Bill draws me to the subject from seeing him so puny, at times."

"Lahoma's not here?" Wilfred asked anxiously.

"Not now, nor for some time," answered Brick.

"I wish," interposed Bill glumly, "that when you're going to talk about
me, Brick, you'd begin with Bill and not be dragging me in at the
tail-end of what concerns other people. I reckon, Wilfred, you just
traveled here to take a look at the cou