your hand."

It recalled Connor to his senses, that challenge, and feeling that his
mind had been snatched away from him for a moment, almost that he had
been betrayed, he looked at David with a pale face.

"He is too far away," he said. "Bring him closer."

There was one of those pauses which often come before crises, and Connor
knew that by the outcome of this test he would be judged either a man
or a cheap boaster.

"I shall do this thing," said the master of the Garden of Eden. "If you
bring Glani to your hand I shall give him to you to ride while you stay
in the valley. Listen! No other man had so much as laid a hand on the
withers of Glani, but if you can make him come to you of his own free
will--"

"No," said Connor calmly. "I shall make him come because my will is
stronger than his."

"Impossible!" burst out David.

He controlled himself and looked at Connor with an almost wistful
defiance.

"I hold to this," he said. "If you can bring Glani to your hand, he is
yours while you stay in the Garden--for my part, I shall find another
mount."

Connor slipped his right hand into his pocket and crushed the little
root against the palm.

"Come hither, Glani," commanded the master. The stallion came up behind
David's chair, looking fearlessly at the stranger.

"Now," said David with scorn. "This is your time."

"I accept it," replied Connor.

He drew his hand from his pocket, and leaning over the table, he looked
straight into the eye of the stallion. But in reality, it was only to
bring that right hand closer; the wind was stirring behind him, and he
knew that it wafted the scent of the mysterious root straight to Glani.

"That is impossible," said David, following the glance of Connor with a
frown. "A horse has no reasoning brain. Silence cannot make him come to
you."

"However," said Connor carelessly, "I shall not speak."

The master set his teeth over unuttered words, and glancing up to
reassure himself, his face altered swiftly, and he whispered:

"Now, you four dead masters, bear witness to this marvel! Glani feels
the influence!"

For the head of Glani had raised as he scented the wind. Then he circled
the table and came straight toward Connor. Within a pace, the scent of
strange humanity must have drowned the perfume of the root; he sprang
away, catlike and snorted his suspicion.

David heaved a great sigh of relief.

"You fail!" he cried, and snatching up a bottle of wine, he poured