t go to meet McGurk.

The very thought of the man sent the old chill through his blood, yet
he must go and face him and end the thing.

It came over him with a pang that he was very young; that life was
barely a taste in his mouth, whether bitter or sweet he could not tell.
He picked a flaming stick from the fire and went before a little round
mirror on the wall.

Back at him stared the face of a boy. He had seen so much of the grim
six in the last day that the contrast startled him. They were men,
hardened to life and filled with knowledge of it. They were books
written full and ready to be ended. But he? He was a blank page with
a scribbled word here and there. Nevertheless, he was chosen and he
must go.

Having reached that decision he closed his mind on what would happen.
There was a vague fear that when he faced McGurk he would be unmanned
again and frozen with fear; that his spirit would be broken and he
would become a thing too despicable for a man to kill.

One thing was certain: if he was to act a man's part and die a man's
death he must not stand long before McGurk. It seemed to him then that
he would die happy if he had the strength to fire one shot before the
end.

Then he tiptoed from the house and went over the snow to the barn and
saddled the horse of Hal Boone. It was already morning, and as he led
the horse to the door of the barn a shadow, a faint shadow in that
early light, fell across the snow before him.

He looked up and saw Jacqueline. She stepped close, and the horse
nosed her shoulder affectionately.

She said: "Isn't there anything that will keep you from going?"

"It's just a little ride before breakfast. I'll be back in an hour."

It was foolish to try to blind her, as he saw by her wan, unchildish
smile.

"Is there no other way, Pierre?"

"I don't know of any, do you?"

"You have to leave us, and never come back?"

"Is he as sure as that, Jack?"

"Sure? Who?"

She had not known, after all; she thought that he was merely riding
away from the region where McGurk was king. Now she caught his wrists
and shook them.

"Pierre, you are not going to face McGurk? Pierre!"

It was sweet and bitter-sweet that the child should wish him to stay,
and it made the heart of Pierre old and stern to look down on her.

"If you were a man, you would understand."

"I know; because of your father. I do understand, but oh, Pierre, it
makes me so unhappy--so terribly sad, Pie