They practically carried him to a fire that had been built
in a sheltered place in one of those grottoes of the region, locally
called "Rock-houses." Its cavernous portal gave upon a dark interior,
and not until they had turned a corner in a tunnel-like passage was
revealed an arched space in a rayonnant suffusion of light, the fire
itself obscured by the figures about it. His eyes were caught first by
the aspect of a youthful mother with a golden-haired babe on her
breast; close by showed the head and horns of a cow; the mule was
mercifully sheltered too, and stood near, munching his fodder; a cluster
of sheep pressed after the steps of half a dozen men, that somehow in
the clare-obscure reminded him of the shepherds of old summoned by good
tidings of great joy.

A sudden figure started up with streaming white hair and patriarchal
beard.

"Will ye deny ez ye hev hed a sign from the heavens, Jubal Kennedy?" the
old circuit-rider straitly demanded. "How could ye hev strengthened yer
heart fur sech a deed onless the grace o' God prevailed mightily within
ye? Inasmuch as ye hev done it unto one o' the least o' these my
brethern, ye hev done it unto me."

"That ain't the _kind_ o' sign, parson," Kennedy faltered. "I be lookin'
fur a meracle in the yearth or in the air, that I kin view or hear."

"The kingdom o' Christ is a spiritual kingdom," said the parson
solemnly. "The kingdom o' Christ is a _spiritual_ kingdom, an' great are
the wonders that are wrought therein."

By CAROLINE LOCKHART

_A NOVEL OF THE REAL WEST_

"ME--SMITH"

Miss Lockhart is a true daughter of the West, her father being a large
ranch-owner and she has had much experience in the saddle and among the
people who figure in her novel. "Smith" is one type of Western "Bad
Man," an unusually powerful and appealing character who grips and holds
the reader through all his deeds, whether good or bad. It is a story
with red blood in it. There is the cry of the coyote, the deadly thirst
for revenge as it exists in the wronged Indian toward the white man, the
thrill of the gaming table, and the gentlenesss of pure, true love. To
the very end the tense dramatism of the tale is maintained without
relaxation.

"Gripping, vigorous story."--_Chicago Record-Herald._

"This is a real novel, a big novel."--_Indianapolis News._

"Not since the publication of 'The Virginian' has so powerful a cowboy
story been told."--_Philadelphia Public Ledger._

"A