CHAPTER XXI

THE BARRIER

Jeff was abroad at daylight. Even Bud, whose habit was sunrise, had not
yet wakened from his heavy slumbers. But Nan was stirring. She heard
Jeff moving, and she saw him beyond her window. She saw him bring his
horse from the barn, saddled and bridled. In a moment he had mounted and
ridden away. Then she dressed, and, for the rest, wondered at the
possible outcome of it all. Half an hour later the sun rose and the
day's work began.

When Jeff reached his home it was still wrapped in the habit of night.
There was no one and nothing stirring, for, as yet, only the golden glow
of the eastern sky promised the coming of day.

His mood was bitter. But his purpose was calculated and deliberate. He
had given his promise in answer to Nan's irresistible pleading. But
otherwise the man was completely unchanged. He moved away down to the
corrals, and leaned against the great lateral rails which closed the
entrance. The beasts within were chewing the cud, and still picking at
the remains of their overnight feed.

They were a goodly sight to eyes that understood the meaning of such
things. It was only one of a number of corrals similarly crowded with
beasts, that were, for various reasons, herded in shelter at night.
These were a few, a very few of the vast numbers which bore the familiar
"O----" brand. There were the outlying stations which harbored their
hundreds. There were the pastures with their complement of breeding
cows. Then there were the herds of two- and three-year-olds roaming the
plains at their will, fattening for the buyers who came at intervals.

Thoughts of these things compelled Jeff now. And he saw what Nan had
saved him from. Wreck had been threatening in the course he had marked
out for himself at first. How could prosperity have maintained under the
conditions he would have imposed? Even now, under the modification which
Nan had appealed for, he failed to see the continuation of that success
he had striven so hard for. The incentive was no longer in him, he told
himself. Where lay the use, the purpose in it all? The future? That
dream future which had come to him could never mature now. It was no
longer a dream. It was nightmare.

He wondered why he had yielded to Nan's entreaty. It all seemed so
purposeless now in the broad light of day. He could force himself to
live with his wife--under the same roof. Perhaps in time he could even
meet her in da