ith the mother. She had insisted on the operation, and the Irishman
had undertaken it. The doctor and Courant would stay by them; Courant
was to hold the leg. He, David, couldn't stand it. It was like an
execution--barbarous--with a hunting knife and a saw.

In a half hour Courant came walking round the back of the wagon and
threw himself on the ground beside them. The leg had been amputated
and the boy was dying. Intense silence fell on the camp, only the
laughter and voices of the children rising clear on the thin air. Then
a wail arose, a penetrating, fearful cry, Rachel mourning for her
child. Courant raised his head and said with an unemotional air of
relief, "he's dead." The Mormon woman dropped her sewing, gave a low
exclamation, and sat listening with bitten lip. Susan leaned against
the wagon wheel full of horror and feeling sick, her eyes on David,
who, drawing up his knees, pressed his forehead on them. He rested
thus, his face hidden, while the keening of the mother, the cries of an
animal in pain, fell through the hot brightness of the morning like the
dropping of agonized tears down blooming cheeks.

When they ceased and the quiet had resettled, the Mormon woman rose and
put away her sewing.

"I don't seem to have no more ambition to work," she said and walked
away.

"She's another of his wives," said Courant.

"She and the woman whose son is dead, wives of the same man?"

He nodded.

"And there's a younger one, about sixteen. She was up there helping
with water and rags--a strong, nervy girl. She had whisky all ready in
a tin cup to give to the mother. When she saw it was all up with him
she went round collecting stones to cover the grave with and keep the
wolves off."

"Before he was dead?"

"Yes. They've got to move on at once. They can't lose any more time.
When we were arguing with that half-crazy woman, I could see the girl
picking up the stones and wiping off her tears with her apron."

"What dreadful people," she breathed.

"Dreadful? What's dreadful in having some sense? Too bad about the
boy. He set his teeth and didn't make a sound when that fool of an
Irishman was sawing at him as if he was a log. I never saw such grit.
If they've got many like him they'll be a great people some day."

David gave a gasping moan, his arms relaxed, and he fell limply
backward on the ground. They sprang toward him and Susan seeing his
peaked white face, the eyes half open, thoug