and the rags, and I will scatter to the
four winds of the earth the ashes of a king, a slave, a fool, and an
Irishman--truly!"

"Bedad, ye'll have more earth in yer hands then, Pierre, than ye'll ever
earn, and more heaven than ye'll ever shtand in."

Half an hour later they were in Freddy Tarlton's office on the banks of
the Little Big Swan, which tumbled past, swelled by the first rain of
the early autumn. Freddy Tarlton, who had a gift of humour, entered into
the spirit of the thing, and treated it seriously; but in vain did
he protest that the large red seal with Her Majesty's head on it was
unnecessary; Macavoy insisted, and wrote his name across it with a large
indistinctness worthy of a king. Before the night was over everybody at
Guidon Hill, save Hilton and Ida, knew what gift would come from Macavoy
to the wedded pair.

II

The next morning was almost painfully beautiful, so delicate in its
clearness, so exalted by the glory of the hills, so grand in the
limitless stretch of the green-brown prairie north and south. It was
a day for God's creatures to meet in, and speed away, and having flown
round the boundaries of that spacious domain, to return again to
the nest of home on the large plateau between the sea and the stars.
Gathered about Ida's home was everybody who lived within a radius of a
hundred miles. In the large front room all the presents were set: rich
furs from the far north, cunningly carved bowls, rocking-chairs made
by hand, knives, cooking utensils, a copy of Shakespeare in six volumes
from the Protestant missionary who performed the ceremony, a nugget of
gold from the Long Light River; and outside the door, a horse, Hilton's
own present to his wife, on which was put Pierre's saddle, with its
silver mounting and Ida's name branded deep on pommel and flap. When
Macavoy arrived, a cheer went up, which was carried on waves of laughter
into the house to Hilton and Ida, who even then were listening to the
first words of the brief service which begins, "I charge you both if you
do know any just cause or impediment--" and so on.

They did not turn to see what it was, for just at that moment they
themselves were the very centre of the universe. Ida being deaf and
dumb, it was necessary to interpret to her the words of the service by
signs, as the missionary read it, and this was done by Pierre himself,
the half-breed Catholic, the man who had brought Hilton and Ida
together, for he and Ida ha