d handed it to
Hendricks, "Here they are, sir--and every one from a soldier or a
soldier's widow, every one a homestead, sir."

Hendricks walked to the window, and stood looking out with his eyes
cast down. He fumbled his Masonic watch-charm a moment, and then
glancing at it, caught the colonel's eye and smiled as he said: "I'm
on the square, Colonel, in this matter. I'll protect you." He went to
the elder man and put his hands on his shoulder as he said: "You go to
your comrades and tell them this, Colonel, that between now and
snowfall every man will have his land clear. But," he added, picking
up the list of the colonel's contracts, "don't mention me in the
matter." He paused and continued, "It might hurt the bank. Just tell
them you'll see that it's taken care of."

The colonel put out his hand as he rose. When their hands met he was
saying: "Blood tells, Robert Hendricks, blood tells. Wasn't your
sainted father a Democrat, boy, a Democrat like me, sir,--a Union
Democrat in point of fact?" The colonel squeezed the younger man's
hand as he cried: "A Union Democrat, sir, who could shoot at his
party, sir, but never could bring himself to vote against it--not
once, sir--not once. And Robert Hendricks, when I see you acting as
you've acted just now, sir, this very minute in point of fact, I may
say, sir, that you're almost honest enough to be a Democrat,
sir--like your sainted father." The colonel held the young man's hand
affectionately for a time and then dropped it, sighing, "Ah, sir--if
it wasn't for your damned Yankee free schools and your damned Yankee
surroundings, what a Democrat you would have made, Robert--what a
grand Democrat!" The colonel waved his silver tobacco box proudly and
made for the door and left Hendricks sitting at his desk, drumming on
the board with one hand, and resting his head in the other, looking
longingly into the abyss from which he had escaped; for the lure of
the danger still fluttered his soul.

Strength had come to him in that hour to resist the temptation. But
the temptation still was there. For he was a young man, giving up for
an intangible thing called justice the dearest thing in his life. He
had opened the door of his life's despair and had walked in, as much
like a man as he could, but he kept looking back with a heavy heart,
hungering with his whole body and most of his soul for all that he had
renounced. And so, staring at the light of other days, and across the
shadow o