h were not his own, they would not taste.
He took hold of himself with a rough hand, for the moonlight was upon
her trembling lips; it stood imprisoned in the undried tears which lay
upon her cheeks.

The invitation was there, and the time, such as the lines of a man's
life are plotted to lead up to from the beginning. But there was lacking
too much on his part for an honest man to stoop and gather what
presented. He might have folded his arms about her and drawn her to his
breast, as the yearning of his soul desired; he might have kissed her
lips and dispelled the moonlight from her trembling tears--and spoiled
it all for both.

For that would have been a trespass without mitigation, a sacrilege
beyond excuse. When a man took a woman like that in his arms and kissed
her, according to his old-fashioned belief, he took from every other man
the right to do so, ever. In such case he must have a refuge to offer
her from the world's encroachments, and a security to requite her in all
that she yielded for his sake.

Such he had not. There was no hearthstone, there was no roof-tree, there
was no corner of refuge in all the vast, gray world. He had no right to
take where he could not give, although it wrenched his heart to give it
up.

He took the soft, warm hand which had bestowed its benediction on his
cheek, and held it in childish attitude, swinging at his side. No word
was said as they faced back to the unstable city, their shadows trailing
them, long and grotesque, like the sins of men which come after them,
and gambol and grimace for all the world to see but those who believe
them hidden.

CHAPTER VII

A MIDNIGHT EXTRA

Dr. Slavens sat on the edge of his cot, counting his money. He hadn't a
great deal, so the job was not long. When he finished he tucked it all
away in his instrument-case except the few coins which he retained in
his palm.

It would not last much longer, thought he. A turn would have to be made
soon, or he must hunt a job on the railroad or a ranch. Walker had
talked a lot about having Dr. Slavens come in on the new sheep venture
with him, on the supposition, of course, that the physician had money.
Walker had told him also a great deal about men who had started in that
country as herders, "running a band of sheep" on shares, receiving so
much of the increase of the flock year by year. Many of the richest
sheepmen in that country had started that way only a few years before,
so Walker