" he burst out. Then, suddenly, he sank into a chair
and, putting his head in his hands, sobbed aloud.

"My God, but I'm proud of you--speak to me, Jim. You've broken me up." He
was ashamed of his tears, but he could not wipe them away.

"Father, dear old man!" said Jim, and put his hands on the broad
shoulders.

Sally knelt down beside him, took both the great hands from the
tear-stained face, and laid them against her cheek. But presently she put
Nancy on his knees.

"I don't like you to cry," the child said, softly; "but to-day I cried
too, 'cause my Indian man is dead."

The old man could not speak, but he put his cheek down to hers. After a
minute, "Oh, but she's worth ten times that!" he said, as Sally came close
to him with the bundle he had thrust into her hands.

"What is it?" said Jim.

"It's five million dollars--for Nancy," she said.

"Five--million--what--?"

"The stake, Jim," said Sally. "If you did not drink for four years--never
touched a drop--we were to have five million dollars."

"You never told him, then--you never told him that?" asked the old man.

"I wanted him to win without it," she said. "If he won, he would be the
stronger; if he lost, it would not be so hard for him to bear."

The old man drew her down and kissed her cheek. He chuckled, though the
tears were still in his eyes.

"You are a wonder--the tenth wonder of the world!" he blurted.

Jim stood staring at the bundle in Nancy's hands. "Five millions--five
million dollars!" he kept saying to himself.

"I said Nancy's worth ten times that, Jim." The old man caught his hand
and pressed it. "But it was a damned near thing, I tell you," he added.
"They tried to break me and my railways and my bank. I had to fight the
combination, and there was one day when I hadn't that five million dollars
there, nor five. Jim, they tried to break the old man! And if they'd
broken me, they'd have made me out a scoundrel to her--to this wife of
yours who risked everything for both of us--for both of us, Jim; for she'd
given up the world to save you, and she was playing like a soul in hell
for heaven. If they'd broken me, I'd never have lifted my head again. When
things were at their worst I played to save that five millions--her stake
and mine; I played for that. I fought for it as a man fights his way out
of a burning house. And I won--I won. And it was by fighting for that five
millions I saved fifty--fifty millions, son. They didn't break