bigness of the heavens, and the things I dimly got from books are
here about me, big, living, actual."

He was himself so much, could he be also a part of this wonder-world? It
seemed impossible, so wholly new was everything it held.

CHAPTER XI

A New Force Enters His Life

Back at the railway station, Hartigan looked for his bag where he had
dropped it, but it was gone. The agent, glancing across and divining his
quandary, said stolidly:

"I guess Dr. Jebb took it. Ain't you the party he's looking for? He said
'J. H.' was the initials. You'll find him at that white house with the
flowers just where the boardwalk ends."

Jim went down the road with alert and curious eyes and presented himself
at the white cottage. He found a grave and kindly welcome from Mrs.
Jebb--a stout, middle-aged, motherly person--and from the Rev. Josiah
Jebb, D.D., M.A., etc., pastor of the Methodist Church and his principal
to be for the coming year.

A gentle, kindly man and a deep scholar, Dr. Jebb had no more knowledge
of the world than a novice in a convent. His wife was his shield and
buckler in all things that concerned the battle with men and affairs;
all his thoughts and energies were for his pulpit and his books.

Failing health rather than personal fitness had to do with Dr. Jebb's
being sent to the hills. But the vast extent of territory in his charge,
the occasional meetings in places separated by long hard rides, together
with the crude, blunt ranch and farmer folk who were his flock--all
called for a minister with the fullest strength of youth and mental
power. It was to meet this need that the trustees of the church had sent
James Hartigan to supplement the labours of the Rev. Dr. Jebb. Thus
these two, diverse in every particular of bodily and mental equipment,
were chosen to meet the same religious problem.

The evening meal was spread by Mrs. Jebb herself, for their meagre
stipend did not admit of a helper; and Jim, with his hearty, rollicking
ways, soon won his accustomed place, a high place in their hearts. That
night he was invited to stay with them; but it was understood that next
day he would find permanent lodgings in the town. Not a complex task,
since, to quote Mrs. Jebb, "his hat covered his family, and three
hundred a year simplified the number of rooms."

Jim rose at six in the morning, lighted a fire in the kitchen stove--for
this is etiquette in the simple regions where servants are not and the