e queer ways of the Congdons had not been referred to between them
until the third evening, when they took counsel of their tobacco apart
from the other men, sprawling on the grass in a friendly intimacy that
Archie found flattering. A plain, hard-fisted farmer liked him and
showed a preference for his society; the thing was unbelievable.

"I get it through the kitchen that the old man's son's goin' to clear
out tonight. Orders was sent to have a machine ready to take him to town
at eleven o'clock. Guess there was nothing the matter with him nohow--y'
know what these rich young fellas are, and they say the old man's worth
a mint. The idea of a big grown man havin' a nurse take care of him
makes me sick. I ain't seen that fella since he came. Telegram phoned
out this evenin' made 'im jump out o' bed, they say, and he's off for
somewhere tonight. Sees a chance to make a lot of money most likely."

Archie cautiously changed the subject, but he was already planning his
departure. The Governor had bidden him follow Congdon and here were his
marching orders. The prospect of playing the spy upon Congdon had grown
no less disagreeable since the Governor had told him that this was to be
his next duty. The only thing that reconciled him to the unattractive
task was the assurance that Congdon would set out at once for Heart o'
Dreams Camp, where Isabel presumably was now established. To bother
himself further with the Congdons was not to his liking; he had ceased
wishing that he had killed Putney; he wished now that the whole family
were at the other side of the world where they wouldn't so persistently
interfere with his affairs.

Grubbs complained bitterly because upon him fell the duty of getting
Putney into town to catch a west-bound train at midnight.

"You'd think we run a taxi joint here! Where am I goin' to get a night's
rest, I'd like to know!"

With the seven-mile tramp to town before him Archie was unable to
sympathize with Grubbs' longing for slumber. He left the foreman
tinkering the machine in which Putney was to be borne to the station,
changed his hat for his cap and stole out of the sleeping quarters to
the road.

The thought that he was on his way to Isabel lightened his step, and he
trudged along with frequent invocations of the stars. He carried nothing
in his pockets but the sealed address the Governor's sister had given
him; the verse in Isabel's writing, and a roll of bills the Governor had
pressed upo