t for
himself.

The heat had been intense that day, and the atmosphere seemed peculiarly
oppressive. The sun was sinking amid light clouds of gorgeous tints, and
as Darrell watched their changing outlines they seemed fit emblems of
the thoughts at that moment baffling his weary brain,--elusive,
intangible, presenting themselves in numberless forms, yet always beyond
his grasp.

Standing erect, with arms folded, his pose indicated conscious strength,
and the face lifted to the evening sky was one which would have
commanded attention amid a sea of human faces. Two years had wrought
wondrous changes in it. Strength and firmness were there still, but
sweetness was mingled with the strength, and the old, indomitable will
was tempered with gentleness. All the finer susceptibilities had been
awakened and had left their impress there. Introspection had done its
work. It was the face of a man who knew himself and had conquered
himself. The sculptor's work was almost complete.

Not a breath stirred the air, which moment by moment grew more
oppressive, presaging a coming storm. Darrell was suddenly filled with a
strange unrest--a presentiment of some impending catastrophe. For a
while he walked restlessly up and down the narrow plateau; then, seating
himself in front of the cabin, he bowed his head upon his hands,
shutting out all sight and thought of the present, for his mind seemed
teeming with vague, shadowy forms of the past. Duke came near and laid
his head against his master's shoulder, and the twilight deepened around
them both.

Far up the neighboring mountain a mighty engine loomed out from the
gathering darkness--a fiery-headed monster--and with its long train of
coaches crawled serpent-like around the rocky height, then vanished as
it came. The clouds which had been roving indolently across the western
horizon suddenly formed in line and moved steadily--a solid
battalion--upward towards the zenith, while from the east another
phalanx, black and threatening, advanced with low, wrathful mutterings.

Unmindful of the approaching storm Darrell sat, silent and motionless,
till a sudden peal of thunder--the first note of the impending
battle--roused him from his revery. Springing to his feet he watched the
rapidly advancing armies marshalling their forces upon the
battle-ground. Another roll of thunder, and the conflict began. Up and
down the mountain passes the winds rushed wildly, shrieking like demons.
Around the lo