hastily loading their pack
animals; at every gathering place there were knots of excited men
talking and gesticulating.

Ford was puzzled. At another time he would quickly have put the obvious
two and two together to make the equally obvious four. But now he merely
said: "That's curious; mighty curious. Where do you suppose all those
people came from?"

Alicia's rejoinder was not an answer to the half-mechanical query.

"Mr. Ford, a little while ago I told you I must have time to consider:
I--I have considered. You must fight for your life and your good name.
You must make Uncle Sidney see things as they are--that they are not as
he thinks they are."

"I can't," he said stubbornly. "Your condition reverses your decision.
If I am to fight with any hope of winning, after what has transpired
to-day, Mr. Colbrith will have to be eliminated."

He had pulled the broncos down to a walk. There was a soft thudding of
hoofs on the yielding earth of the grade behind, but neither of them
heard.

"You are disappointing me," she protested, and now the hesitation was
all gone. "A few minutes ago, before this miserable thing happened, you
were telling me of your ideal ... a woman may have an ideal, too, Mr.
Ford."

"Yes?" he said eagerly.

"My ideal is the knight without fear and without reproach--and also
without limitations. He will never say, 'I can not.' He will say, 'I
will,' and not for my sake, but because his own sense of justice and
mercy and loving-kindness will go hand in hand with his ambition."

"One word," he broke in passionately; and now the soft thudding of hoofs
had drawn so near that the presence of the overtaking horseman might
have been felt. "My little allegory didn't deceive you; you are the one
woman, Alicia, dear. I didn't mean to tell you yet, though I think you
have known it all along: I had an idea that I wanted to do something
worthy--something big enough to be worth while--before I spoke. But you
have given me leave; don't say you haven't given me leave!"

"You have taken it," she said softly, adding: "And that is what a woman
likes, I think. But you mustn't spoil my ideal, Stuart--indeed, you
mustn't. You are young, strong, invincible, as my knight should be. But
when you strike you must also spare. You say there is no way save the
one you have indicated; you must find a way."

He smiled ruefully.

"You give the cup of water only to take it away again. I'd rather build
ten railroads than