ntly. "We will, as I say, shelter Mrs. Leslie,
and, since you insist, will you ask your assistant to accompany me?"

Geoffrey, raising his hat a moment, swung round upon his heel, and blew
a silver whistle.

"Tom," he said to the man who came running up, "tell John to get some
coffee and the nicest things he can in a hurry for Miss Savine.
Straighten up my office room, and lay them out there. English Jim is
to ride back with Miss Savine when she is ready. Send a mounted man to
Allerton's to bring Black in, see that no man you wouldn't trust your
last dollar to lay's hand on a machine. That would stop half the work
in camp? It wouldn't--confound you--you know what I mean. Call in all
explosives from the shot-firing gang. Nobody's to slip for a moment
out of sight of his section foreman."

Helen heard the crisp sharp orders as she rode up the hill, and glanced
once over her shoulder. She had often noticed how the whole strength
of Geoffrey's character could rise to face a crisis. Still,
appearances were terribly against him.

Geoffrey, taking breath for a moment, scowled savagely at the river.

"If ever there was an unfortunate devil--but I suppose it can't be
helped. Damn the luck that dogs me!" he ejaculated as he turned to
issue more specific commands.

CHAPTER XXVII

MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND

Millicent slept brokenly while Helen carried her message, and awakening
feverish, felt relieved to discover that the girl was still absent.
Miss Savine was younger than herself, and of much less varied
experience, but the look in the girl's eyes hurt her, nevertheless.

"I am ashamed to force myself upon you," she said to Mrs. Savine, who
had shown her many small courtesies, "but I am afraid I cannot manage
the journey back to the railroad to-day. I must also see Mr. Thurston
before I leave for England, and it would be a great favor if I could
have the interview here."

"We are glad to have you with us," said Mrs. Savine, who was of kindly
nature and fancied she saw her opportunity. "Yes, I just mean it. The
journey has tried you so much that you are not fit for another now.
Besides, I have heard so much about you, that I want a talk with you."

"You have probably heard nothing that makes this visit particularly
welcome," answered Millicent, bitterly, and the elder lady smiled.

"I guess folks are apt to make the most of the worst points in all of
us," she observed. "But that is not what we ar