he did not permit it to
show in his voice.

"Some of the fellows from Jumpoff brought a bottle or two. That's no
secret, except that I don't know where they have it cached. The
schoolhouse is your--"

"I heard it was included in the Lorrigan refreshments."

"The schoolhouse is ready for your pleasure Monday morning," Lance
spoke with that perfect impersonal courtesy that is so exasperating to
a person who listens for something to resent. "I knew of it, of
course--dad wanted it kept for a surprise. And he wanted me to tell
you. It's the Lorrigan expression of their appreciation of the need of
a school."

The gawky youth came stumbling up, his outstretched hands carefully
holding two tin cups filled with coffee close to the boiling point.
Being a youth of good intentions, he tried very hard not to spill a
drop. Being gawky, he stubbed his toe as he was rounding the group of
women, and Mrs. Miller shrieked and swung back her hand, cuffing the
gawky one straight into the thickest of the crowd. Other women
screamed.

Lance reached a long arm and plucked the youth out by the slack
of his coat, shook him and propelled him into the darkness, where
he collided violently with Sam Pretty Cow. Some one had been
over-generous with Sam Pretty Cow. A drunken Indian is never quite
safe. Sam Pretty Cow struck out blindly, yelling Piegan curses
hoarsely as he fought. The crowd of men around the camp-fire came
running. For a short space there was confusion, shouting, the shrill
voices of scalded women denouncing the accident as a deliberate
outrage.

Mrs. Miller whirled on Lance. "You pushed him on me! If that ain't a
Lorrigan trick!--"

"Yeah--what yuh mean? Throwin' bilin' hot coffee on--"

"Who says it's a Lorrigan trick?"

"Might 'a' known what to expect--"

"Get back here, away from the crowd. There may be shooting," Lance
muttered to Mary Hope, and pulled her to the rear of the wagon and
around upon the farther side. She could not resist. His strength was
beyond any hope of combating it with her small strength. Mrs. Miller,
whose scalded shoulder led her to wild utterances without thought of
their effect upon others, shouted at him as he hustled Mary Hope
away:

"Yeah--_run!_ You're the one that done it--now run! That's like a
Lorrigan--do your dirty work and then crawl out and let somebody else
take the blame! That kid never--"

"Aw, come back and fight, you big sneak!" A drunken voice bellowed
hoarsely, and a gu