ot lying down of late. Last night I see it all--cut and
dried. There ain't nothin' in this blood business--nothin'. If your family
sprang from William the Conqueror I guess mine was there at the time. If
there's anything in that Adam and Eve yarn, I reckon they were my
grandparents as well as yours. What's wrong with me? Am I blind, lame,
consumptive? See here, kid, I know what it is to work. I know what it is
to starve. I've never stolen or lied or murdered.... There's never been a
gal on this earth that had cut any ice with me. I've bin too busy working
to go galivanting after skirts. But this 'ere's different. I--I--wal, I
guess I love her some. Oh, I know she's proud and cold and thinks there
ain't nothin' in trousers good enough for her. But I'm obstinate and I'm
free with my tongue--at times. So we both got our faults. They kinder
equalize. Anyway, I love her, and that's good enough excuse for anyone who
cares a damn about himself. And there ain't no law on this earth, sir,
that says a man can't put a straight proposition to a gal he loves--no, by
God!"

There was something different about him. He had changed in one day. The
old nervousness had gone. He was dogged, determined. There was nothing to
be done with him. He meant to speak to Angela, though she took the
compliment as a dire insult. Claude, fascinated by the ring of his bass
voice and the flash of fire from his amazing eyes, wondered if, after all,
he had not cause for courage--and optimism.

But something strange happened the following morning. Angela, with a
smile, asked Jim to go riding with her. It was the first time she had
expressed the slightest desire for his company, and it sent thrills of
delight running down his spine. They took the best two of the borrowed
horses, and under a perfect July sky rode out into the moors.

Jim was like a boy. The intoxication of her presence sent all the
foreboding from his brain. He did riding tricks, at her request, and set
her marveling at his uncanny control of his mount. He seemed to be on
intimate terms with the latter, stranger though it was. Weird "cluckings"
from his mouth were understood and obeyed without use of spurs.

"It's marvelous!" she said. "He seems to understand all those noises."

"It's horse language," he replied simply.

"Oh, come!"

He made no reply, but dismounted. The horse stood perfectly still.

"You watch out," he said. "I'm going to tell him to walk forrard."

He made a queer