ad nothing to do with
his going or loving, and take this opportunity to proclaim my innocence
of all such responsibility. He came, he stayed till Tuesday, and was
conquered. He came again two weeks later, and again, and still again. He
saw, but did he conquer? That is the great question this history is to
answer. Meantime Dic was leading a drove of untamed horses all day long,
and was sleeping sometimes at a wretched inn, sometimes in the pitiless
storm, and sometimes he was chasing stampeded horses for forty-eight
hours at a stretch without sleeping or eating. But when awake he thought
of Rita, and when he slept he dreamed of her, though in his dreams there
was no handsome city man, possessed of a fine house, servants, and
carriages, sitting by her side. Had that fact been revealed to him in a
dream, the horses might have stampeded to Jericho for all he would have
cared, and he would have stampeded home to look after more important
interests.

But to return to Fisher's visits. After supper, Saturday evening, the
question of the new store came up.

Fisher said: "If you can raise three thousand dollars, Tom, you may have
a half-interest in the business. I have three thousand dollars now
invested, and have credit for an additional three thousand with Mr.
Williams. If we had six thousand dollars, we may have credit for six
thousand more, twelve thousand in all, and we can easily turn our stock
twice a year. Tom, it's the chance of your life. Don't you think it is,
Margarita?"

"It looks that way, Jim," said Mrs. Bays; "but we haven't the three
thousand dollars, and we must think it over carefully and prayerfully."

"Can't you sell the farm or mortgage it?" suggested Fisher. Tom, Jr.,
gazed intently into the tree-tops, and, in so doing, led the others to
ask what he was seeking. There was nothing unusual to be seen among the
trees, and Mrs. Bays inquired:--

"What on earth are you looking for, Tom?"

"I was looking to see if there was anybody roosting up there, waiting to
buy this half-cleared old stump field."

"Tom's right," said his father. "I fear a purchaser will be hard to
find, and I don't know any one who would loan me three thousand dollars.
If we can find the money, we'll try it. What do you say, Margarita?"
Mrs. Bays was still inclined to be careful and prayerful.

Since Rita had expressed to Billy Little her desire to remove to
Indianapolis (on the day she bought the writing paper, which, by the
way, s