of doubt.

A map on the wall, lined with red, caught his eye, and he seized upon it
for diversion.

"What is this?" he asked.

"That's my trail-map," replied Lawson. "The red lines represent my
wanderings."

Curtis studied it with expert eyes. "You have ploughed the Arizona
deserts pretty thoroughly."

"Yes, I've spent three summers down in that country studying
cliff-dwellings. It's a mighty alluring region. Last summer I broke away
and got back into the north, but I am greatly taken with the hot
sunshine and loneliness of the desert."

Curtis turned sharply. "What I can't understand, Lawson, is this: How
can you pull up and leave such a home?"--he indicated the room with a
sweep of his hand--"and go out on the painted desert or down the Chaco
and swelter in the heat like a horned toad?"

Lawson smiled. "It _is_ absurd, isn't it? Man's an unaccountable beast.
But come! Breakfast is waiting, and I hope you're hungry."

The dining-room was built on a scale with the library, and the mahogany
table, sparsely covered with dishes, looked small and lonely in the
midst of the shining floor. This feature of the beautiful room impressed
Curtis, and as they took seats opposite each other he remarked, "If I
were not here you would be alone?"

"Yes, quite generally I breakfast alone. I entertain less than you would
think. I'm a busy man when at home."

"Well, the waste of room is criminal, Lawson, that's all I have to
say--criminal. You'll be called upon to answer for it some time."

"I've begun to think so myself," replied the host, significantly.

They talked mountain ranges and Pueblo dwellers, and the theoretical
relation of the mound-builders to the small, brown races of the Rio
Grande Valley, touching also on the future of the redman; and all the
while Curtis was struggling with a benumbing sense of his hopeless
weakness in the face of a rival like Lawson. He gave up all thought of
seeing Elsie again, and resolutely set himself to do the work before
him, eager to return to his duties in the Western foot-hills.

Lawson accompanied him to the Interior Department and introduced him to
the Secretary, who had the preoccupied air of a business man rather than
the assumed leisure of the politician. He shook hands warmly, and asked
his visitors to be seated while he finished a paper in hand. At last he
turned and pleasantly began:

"I'm glad to meet you, Captain. Yours is a distinguished name with us.
We fully recog