ith my love, that I've left her in your charge."

XX

DENNIS

The odd thing was that his name was really Dennis. In the West, Dennis
stands genetically for the under dog, for the man who is left. His
name is--Dennis! Why? The man in this story was christened Dennis,
and, being a native son of the Golden West, he took particular pains
to keep the fact a secret from the "boys." When he punched cattle on
our range he was known as "Kingdom Come" Brown, because, even in those
days, it was plain to tenderfeet that physically and intellectually D.
Brown, cowboy, was not likely to inherit the kingdoms of the earth.

Ever since he had been breeched ill-fortune had marked him for her
own. Nevertheless, he was rich in the possession of a temperament
which soared like a lark above suffering and disappointment. He
believed steadfastly that his "turn" would come. "It ain't goin' to be
like this yere--always," was a phrase familiar to us. To this we
replied, "Not much!"

In our hearts we, too, believed that the turn would come, but that,
humanly speaking, it would occur in the sweet by-and-by. Hence the
nickname. The hardest nuts admitted that Brown was travelling upon the
rough road which leads upwards. His golden slippers were waiting for
him--sure! He set an example which none followed, but which all, in
sober moments, commended. He neither drank nor swore. He remained
faithful to the memory of a woman who had married somebody else. For
her sake he sold his horse and saddle, and became a lumber-man. The
losing of his Mamie was, of course, the heaviest of his many
bludgeonings. She was a simple soul, like D. Brown, inured to hard
work, and at the mercy of a drunken father, who had perilously escaped
by the very skin of his teeth from the clutches of Judge Lynch. To
give to Mamie a home had been the consuming desire of poor Dennis. For
this he pinched and saved till, at last, the needful sum lay snug in a
San Lorenzo bank. Then the bank "bust"!

Without a word to Mamie, Dennis drifted away to some distant range,
and before he was seen again Tom Barker had appeared. Why Tom, a big,
brutal lumberman, desired to marry Mamie, no longer young, never
pretty, penniless, and admittedly fond of Dennis, must remain a
mystery. Why Mamie married Tom is a question easily answered. Tom was
"boss" of a logging-camp, and none had ever denied his Caesarean
attributes. He had the qualities and vices conspicuously absent in
Dennis. He w