rought again to Grassette's eyes the reddish, sullen look which had made
them, a little while before, like those of some wounded, angered animal at
bay; but it vanished slowly, and there was silence for a moment. The
Sheriff's words had left no vestige of doubt in Grassette's mind. This
Bignold was the man who had taken Marcile away, first to the English
province, then into the States, where he had lost track of them, then over
to England. Marcile--where was Marcile now?

In Keeley's Gulch was the man who could tell him, the man who had ruined
his home and his life. Dead or alive, he was in Keeley's Gulch, the man
who knew where Marcile was; and if he knew where Marcile was, and if she
was alive, and he was outside these prison walls, what would he do to her?
And if he was outside these prison walls, and in the Gulch, and the man
was there alive before him, what would he do?

Outside these prison walls--to be out there in the sun, where life would
be easier to give up, if it had to be given up! An hour ago he had been
drifting on a sea of apathy, and had had his fill of life. An hour ago he
had had but one desire, and that was to die fighting, and he had even
pictured to himself a struggle in this narrow cell where he would compel
them to kill him, and so in any case let him escape the rope. Now he was
suddenly brought face to face with the great central issue of his life,
and the end, whatever that end might be, could not be the same in meaning,
though it might be the same concretely. If he elected to let things be,
then Bignold would die out there in the Gulch, starved, anguished, and
alone. If he went, he could save his own life by saving Bignold, if
Bignold was alive; or he could go--and not save Bignold's life or his own!
What would he do?

The Governor watched him with a face controlled to quietness, but with an
anxiety which made him pale in spite of himself.

"What will you do, Grassette?" he said, at last, in a low voice and with a
step forward to him. "Will you not help to clear your conscience by doing
this thing? You don't want to try and spite the world by not doing it. You
can make a lot of your life yet, if you are set free. Give yourself and
give the world a chance. You haven't used it right. Try again."

Grassette imagined that the Governor did not remember who Bignold was, and
that this was an appeal against his despair, and against revenging himself
on the community which had applauded his sentence