hod whereby--"

"Gentlemen--" Colonel Butler had risen from his chair and was pacing
angrily up and down the room. His face was flushed and his fingers
were working nervously. "Gentlemen--" he interrupted--"my fortune is
at your disposal. Purchase the tree where you will; on the hills of
Maine, in the swamps of Georgia, on the plains of California. But do
not suggest to me, gentlemen; do not dare to suggest to me that I
yield to the outrageous demand of this person who has made you the
bearers of his impertinent ultimatum."

Mr. Morrissey rose in his turn, followed by Mr. Campbell.

"Very well, colonel," said the spokesman. "We will try to procure the
tree elsewhere. We thought it no more than right to report to you
first what we had done. That is the situation is it not, Mr.
Campbell?"

"That is the situation, exactly," assented Mr. Campbell.

The colonel had reached the window in his round of the room, and had
stopped there.

"That was quite the thing to do, gentlemen," he replied.
"A--quite--the thing--to do."

He stood gazing intently out through the window at the banks of snow
settling and wasting under the bright March sunshine. Not that his
eyes had been attracted to anything in particular on his lawn, but
that a thought had entered his mind which demanded, for the moment,
his undivided attention.

His two visitors stood waiting, somewhat awkwardly, for him to turn
again toward them, but he did not do so. At last Mr. Morrissey plucked
up courage to break in on his host's reverie.

"I--I think we understand you now, colonel," he said. "We'll go
elsewhere and do the best we can."

Colonel Butler faced away from the window and came back into the room.

"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said. "My mind was temporarily occupied by
a thought that has come to me in this matter. Upon further
consideration it occurs to me that it may be expedient for me to yield
on this occasion to Mr. Walker's request, and visit him in person. In
the meantime you may suspend operations. I will advise you later of
the outcome of my plans."

"You are undoubtedly wise, colonel," replied Mr. Morrissey, "to make a
further effort to secure this particular tree. Wouldn't you say so,
Mr. Campbell?"

"Undoubtedly!" replied Mr. Campbell with some warmth.

So the matter was left in that way. Colonel Butler was to inform his
agents what, if anything, he had been able to accomplish by means of a
personal interview with Mr. Walker, always a