d of as if he owned it
himself and had the right to do with it as he pleased."

"I do not say," answered the man, "that I own my life. I say rather that
I do not own it. I owe it. There are debts you cannot pay by life. The
laws of the whole world recognize this; nor do we do by living the
greatest service. He who dies to uphold a righteous principle fulfils
all righteousness. He who gives away a life in atonement for a life
taken makes all life more sacred; and so he serves the living beyond all
other service he might do. She looks at individuals; I observe
principles. She contemplates only the present; I forecast the future
needs of man. Moreover, the highest service one can do man is to serve
himself in the highest manner. He who ministers to his own sense of
justice strengthens the judicial sense of the world. Men overvalue life
when they suppose that there is nothing better. To teach them that there
is something better, to impress them by some signal event that there is
something higher and nobler than mere living, is to fulfill all
benevolence to their souls. How many the Saviour could feed and heal and
bless by avoiding Calvary! And yet he did not avoid it. He showed the
object of life, which is service. I trust I have not wholly failed to
show men that. He then showed the highest object of dying, which is
service. Why should I not imitate him? Why should I not be a law unto
myself and bear the penalty voluntarily?"

The man rose to his feet as he concluded, and looking at the trapper and
Herbert, said:

"Gentlemen, I thank you for your hospitality and courtesy," and turning
to the girl he said, "Mary, we will talk this matter over more fully by
ourselves."

And then he bowed to the group and turned away.

IV

Long after the man and the girl had departed, the trapper and Herbert
sat by their campfire discussing the question which their guest had
propounded. Their conversation was grave and deliberate, as became the
theme; and they united in the opinion that if the deed had been done in
anger elicited by a provocation, the man should give himself the favor
which the law even would allow under similar circumstances.

"I tell ye, Herbert," said the trapper, "the girl said the man had
cause; leastwise, that the man whom he struck worried him to it and that
the blow was given in anger. Now, hot blood is hot blood, and cold blood
is cold blood, and ef a man kill another man in cold blood it be
murder,--the l