ed before how
cold it was--roused him from his melancholy contemplation of the
spectacle.

"What're we goin' to do now, Jim?"

"Oh, we'll manage somehow," he declared.

He picked up the lantern, looked down into her face, and his eyes
twinkled momentarily.

"That mule was lazy, anyhow."

But there was no answering twinkle in Mary's eyes as they turned back
toward the house. They left the lot gate open, no need to close it now,
and old Prince followed with subdued mien at their heels; their troubles
were his troubles, and, besides, he had rather liked the mule in a
condescending sort of way.

"How much will a new mule cost?" Mary asked as they went up the steps,
their footfalls sounding loud in the dead silence down there under the
stars.

"Well, two hundred dollars will get one you won't have to prop up
betwixt the traces."

He did not see the sudden eagerness in her face. He pushed the door open
for her.

"Come in, old man," he said to Prince. "You done the best you could."

In the unceiled kitchen he set the lantern down on the table. "Don't you
bother, gal," he said to Mary. "You look all wore out. Go to bed now and
get some sleep. I'll go to Greenville to-morrow and see if I can't
borrow the money."

But next day in town Jim found, as he had been afraid he would find,
that it is not easy for a man known primarily as a hunter and fisherman
to borrow two hundred dollars. He had not even gone to see Thornycroft.
The old man would be glad enough of an opportunity to get the improved
place back; Jim knew that.

But he did call on the banks. They were sorry, cashiers explained
courteously after they had questioned him briefly through barred
windows. But right at this particular time their customers had use for
all the money they could get their hands on, and----

"You think you've got it," he said to Mary that night before the fire,
"till you come out in the street and feel in your pockets. Then you know
you ain't."

"But, Jim--what're you goin' to do now?"

"I'll bait another hook, Mary," he said, trying to conceal the growing
anxiety he felt.

Old Prince went joyfully with him when next morning early he set out on
foot to call on the few farmers he knew who might have money to lend;
Prince always went when Jim was afoot. The sun rose on them when, a mile
up the road, they came in sight of the Northern Hunt Club. It shone
ruddily on the bare oaks and the columned porticos, and the white
stables an