g her back with him. Is that clear?"

"I--"

"You're to go up there. That old gray gelding we saw in Lukin the day of
the race. I'll finance you to the sky. Ride it to the gates of the
Garden of Eden. Tell the guards that you've got to have another horse
because the one you own is old. Insist on seeing David. Smile at 'em;
win 'em over. Make them let you see David. And the minute you see him,
he's ours! You understand? I don't mean marriage. One smile will knock
him stiff. Then play him. Get him to follow you out of the valley. Tell
him you have to go back home. He'll follow you. Once we have him outside
you can keep him from going back and you can make him bring out his
horses, too. Easy? It's a sure thing! We don't rob him, you see? We
simply use his horses. I race them and play them. I split the winnings
with you and David. Millions, I tell you; millions. Don't answer. Gimme
a chance to talk!"

There was a rickety old box leaning against the wall; he made her sit on
it, and dropping upon one knee, he poured out plan, reason, hopes,
ambitions in fierce confusion. It ended logically enough. David was
under what he considered a divine order to marry, and he would be clay
in the hands of the first girl who met him. She would be a fool indeed
if she were not able to lead him out of the valley.

"Think it over for one minute before you answer," concluded Connor, and
then rose and folded his arms. He controlled his very breathing for fear
of breaking in on the dream which he saw forming in her eyes.

Then she shook herself clear of the temptation.

"Ben, it's crooked! I'm to lie to him--live a lie until we have what we
want!"

"God A'mighty, girl! Don't you see that we'd be doing the poor fathead a
good turn by getting him out of his hermitage and letting him live in
the world? A lie? Call it that if you want. Aren't there such things as
white lies? If there are, this is one of 'em or I'm not Ben Connor."

His voice softened. "Why, Ruth, you know damned well that I wouldn't put
the thing up to you if I didn't figure that in the end it would be the
best thing in the world for you? I'm giving you your chance. To save
Dave Eden from being a fossil. To earn your own freedom. To get
everything you've longed for. Think!"

"I'm trying to think--but I only keep feeling, inside, 'It's wrong! It's
wrong! It's wrong!' I'm not a moralizer, but--tell me about David Eden!"

Connor saw his opening.

"Think of a horse that's f