; "if I had gone on to
the Big Cheyenne that time, I would have built a fire as soon as I had
the chance and burnt all these to ashes; and then what--God only knows,
for these were the vessels of my sanctuary; this was the ark of my
covenant, with the rod that budded, the tables of the law, and the
precious incense." She laid her hand on his in silent comprehension and
he went on. "All my life I have had two natures struggling within me;
and the destroyer would have won, and had won, when you turned the rout.
If you had not come to me in Deadwood I would surely have burnt these
relics. Now you understand. I couldn't speak about it down there; but up
here it is easy. Some time I may be missing for a couple of days. Do not
worry then; it will only mean I have gone up into my mountain. I am
seeking the light that comes from prayer and fasting and vigil in a high
place."

"I know those things as words," she said. "Just as we all learned them
in Sunday-school; but you make them as real as this mountain, a part of
my very life."

He replaced the relics in their cedar box and she realized that for the
first time she had had a glimpse of the deep and spiritual quality of
his soul.

BOOK III

THE HORSE PREACHER

CHAPTER XXIII

Blazing Star

The Angel of Destiny who had special charge of Jim had listed and
measured his failings and had numbered them for drastic treatment. The
brawling spirit of his early days, the proneness to drink, the bigoted
intolerance of any other mode of thought than his own, the strange
mistake of thinking physical courage the only courage, a curious
disregard for the things of the understanding--each was the cause of
bitter suffering. Each in its kind was alloy, dross, and for each the
metal had to pass through the fires and, purified, come forth.

Hartigan's love of sport was rooted deep in his nature and Fate gave it
a long fling. It took no cruel or destructive form, nor did it possess
him as a hate; but certain things held him in passionate allegiance, so
deep and so reckless that when their fever was upon him nothing else
seemed worth a thought. And the chiefest of these was his love of
horses. A noble thing in itself, a necessary vent, perhaps, for the
untamed spirit's love of untrammelled motion but it was inwrought with
dangers. Most men in the West in Hartigan's day--as now--were by nature
horse-lovers; but never, so far as Cedar Mountain knew, had there been a
man so h