ing to him she knocked on it lightly, and then opened it.
David entered close behind her. It was a rather large room--his one
impression as he crossed the threshold. In the centre of it was a table,
and over the table hung an oil lamp with a tin reflector. In the light
of this lamp sat two men. In his first glance he made up his mind which
was Hauck and which was Brokaw. It was Brokaw, he thought, who was
facing them as they entered--a man he could hate even if he had never
heard of him before. Big. Loose-shouldered. A carnivorous-looking giant
with a mottled, reddish face and bleary eyes that had an amazed and
watery stare in them. Apparently the girl's knock had not been heard,
for it was a moment before the other man swung slowly about in his chair
so that he could see them. That was Hauck. David knew it. He was almost
a half smaller than the other, with round, bullish shoulders, a thick
neck, and eyes wherein might lurk an incredible cruelty. He popped half
out of his seat when he saw the girl, and a stranger. His jaws seemed to
tighten with a snap. A snap that could almost be heard. But it was
Brokaw's face that held David's eyes. He was two thirds drunk. There
was no doubt about it, if he was any sort of judge of that kind of
imbecility. One of his thick, huge hands was gripping a bottle. Hauck
had evidently been reading him something out of a ledger, a Post ledger,
which he held now in one hand. David was surprised at the quiet and
unemotional way in which the girl began speaking. She said that she had
wandered over into the other valley and was lost when this stranger
found her. He had been good to her, and was on his way to the settlement
on the coast. His name was....

She got no further than that. Brokaw had taken his devouring gaze from
her and was staring at David. He lurched suddenly to his feet and leaned
over the table, a new sort of surprise in his heavy countenance. He
stretched out a hand. His voice was a bellow.

"McKenna!"

He was speaking directly at David--calling him by name. There was as
little doubt of that as of his drunkenness. There was also an
unmistakable note of fellowship in his voice. McKenna! David opened his
mouth to correct him when a second thought occurred to him in a mildly
inspirational way. Why not McKenna? The girl was looking at him, a bit
surprised, questioning him in the directness of her gaze. He nodded, and
smiled at Brokaw. The giant came around the table, still holding