d at his friend in amazement. He knew that the discovery
was Longstreet's by right; to his way of thinking the simplest thing in
the world was to hold and to fight for the property of his friends. He
would have said that John Carr would have done the same thing were Carr
in his boots. He had taken another man's quarrel upon his own
shoulders to-night, and asked no questions; he had plunged into a fight
against odds and had gotten away with it and no help asked; the
fighting heat was still in his blood, and it seemed to him that his old
friend John Carr was finding fault with him.

They had all dismounted by now. Longstreet had slid to the ground, let
go his horse's reins and was fidgeting up and down, back and forth, in
an access of nervous excitement. Now he began talking quickly, failing
to understand in the least what effect his rushing words would have on
the man who had taken up his fight.

'The thing is of no consequence, not the least in the world. Come, let
them have it. It is only a gold mine, and haven't I told you all the
time that for me there is no difficulty in locating gold? I am sorry
all of this has happened. They're here first; they have filed on it;
let them have it.'

Howard's face no longer showed amazement. In the flickering light his
mouth was hard and bitter, set in the implacable lines of stern
resentment. Between Carr and Longstreet they made it seem that he had
merely made a fool of himself. Well, maybe he had. He shrugged his
shoulders and turned away.

'I know you did it for me,' Longstreet began, having a glimpse of the
bitterness in Alan's heart.

'And you mustn't think----'

Howard wheeled on him.

'I didn't do it for you.' he snapped irritably. 'I tried the only way
I knew to help save the mine for Helen. We'd do it yet if you weren't
a pack of damned rabbits.'

He pushed by and laid his hand on the mane of the horse Dave Terril
rode.

'Give me your horse, Dave,' he said quietly. 'I'm on my way home.
You'll find Barbee's down under the cliff.'

Dave Terril was quick to obey. But before his spurred boot-heel had
struck the turf Helen had came running through the men about Howard,
her two hands out, her voice thrilling and vibrant as she cried:

'There is only one man among you, one real man, and that is Alan
Howard! He was not wrong; he was right! And no matter what happens to
the gold, I had rather have a man like Alan Howard do a thing like that
for me