ults in this case."

Hypocrite that she was! Had she not that very week denounced the
opportunist doctrine that the end justifies the means? But in her
delighted eyes and glowing interest Jim found a vast reward.

Dr. Jebb was human and discreet. He smiled and said little about the
energetic methods of his assistant; and when next Sunday Charlie Bylow
and his wife appeared in church and later joined the group on the
anxious seat, he felt that the matter was happily ended as it had oddly
begun.

Exactly four weeks after the strenuous prayer meeting word reached the
Preacher in a rather pointed way that a keg of the "pizen juice" had
arrived on the evening train and was to be carried at once to Pat
Bylow's. Hartigan mounted his racer and sped thitherward at nightfall. A
half mile from Pat's house was Charlie's, and at the door was the owner,
apparently expecting to see him--though this circumstance did not
impress Hartigan.

"Can I do anything to help?" he asked.

Hartigan shook his head, laughed lightly, and rode on. At Pat's shanty
he tied his horse to the fence, stepped to the door, knocked, and,
without waiting, went in. A woman's voice shrilled:

"Pat, here's that ---- preacher again."

There were other voices, male and female, in the lean-to kitchen. Pat
came in and glared at the intruder. There was a rising fury in his
manner, but no evidence of drink.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Well, to be frank with you," said Hartigan, "I have reason for
suspecting an unhelpful indulgence is planned here for to-night, and I
was hoping that I might persuade you to reconsider it beforehand. And
sure we don't want to get agitated, and I don't want to use language
that might sound like disapproval."

He glanced around. There was no sight of any spree in prospect. A
glimpse of the kitchen showed only the preparations for an ordinary
meal, and Hartigan wondered whether or not there had been a mistake.
Could it be that he was the butt of a practical joke?

Pat was sulkily waiting, not knowing just what to say, when voices were
heard outside and heavy steps; then the door opened and in came three
men, the first carrying under his arm a barrel-shaped bundle. The
presence of the Preacher was obviously disconcerting to the new-comers.

"Gimme that," growled Pat. He seized the keg and was marching off with
it when Hartigan strode over in front of him.

"Hold on, Pat, let me see that."

Bylow exploded into a torrent o