be the old one of the mouse
gnawing the lion out of the net. If I've done anything for you, that's
what I've done."

Leaver turned in his seat. "Red," said he--and his voice had a deep ring
in it as he spoke--"you're about the biggest sized mouse I ever saw. I
want to tell you this: Since I've been watching your work up here I've
conceived a tremendous admiration for your standards. There are none
finer, anywhere. I've come to feel that you couldn't do anything bigger
or better in the largest place you could find. Indeed, this, for you, is
the largest place, for you fill it as another man couldn't."

"The frog, in the marsh, where he lived, was king," Burns quoted, in an
effort at lightness, for he was deeply touched.

"That's not the sort of king you are. You would be king anywhere. But
you're willing to rule over a kingdom that may look small to some, but
looks big as an empire to me, now that I understand. I've reached this
point: I am almost--and sometime I expect to be entirely--glad that the
thing happened to me which brought me here to you. You have done more for
me than any man ever did. And there's one thing I think I owe to you to
tell you. The greatest thing I've learned from you, though you haven't
said much about it, is faith in the God above us. I'd about let go of
that when I came here. Thanks to you, I've got hold of it again, and I
mean never to let go. No man can afford to let go of that--permanently."

Burns was silent for a moment, in answer to this most unexpected tribute,
silent because he could find no words. When he did speak there was a
trace of huskiness in his voice. "I'm mighty glad to know that, Jack," he
said simply.

Then, presently, for they had flown fast over the smooth road, they
were entering the city limits, traversing a crowded thoroughfare, and
approaching the great station on whose tower the illuminated face of the
clock warned them there was little time to spare. Arrived there, every
moment was consumed in a rush for tickets and in checking baggage.
Leaver secured his sleeper reservation with some difficulty, owing to a
misunderstanding in the telegram engaging it, and at the last the two men
had to run for the train. At the gate there was only space for a hasty
grip of two warm hands, a smile of understanding and affection, and an
exchange of arm-wavings at a distance as Leaver reached his car, already
on the verge of moving out.

As Burns drove away he was feeling a sens