ep into a position demanding more than ordinary ability.

The first panic in his experience had unsettled values, trade was at a
standstill, confidence was lacking, men hoarded their wealth and the
wheels of many mills ceased to turn, while mill hands idly walked the
streets or sought labor in distant parts of the globe. The great
electoral dispute of "eight to seven" still rankled in the minds of
many, while those who cared not for that controversy found themselves
unable to entertain the problems of manufacture until the changes
anticipated in the tariff should be made by congress. Realizing that the
east gave little promise or opportunity for a young man, Jack concluded,
soon after his vacation ended, to resign his position and cast his lot
with the pioneer on the frontier, or, at least that he would visit
Denver and see what the chances were there.

The breaking off of fast friendships was keenly felt; business and
social acquaintances admired his "grit," as they called it, but were
skeptical as to the ultimate results. Hazel had become a frequent
visitor at the Sheppard mansion and made it her "home-in-law," as she
called it, whenever fancy took her cityward. She happened to be there
when Jack declared himself.

"I've resigned my job and am going to Colorado within a month."

"Jack Sheppard! What? Going to Colorado? Going to leave Boston? Indians!
You'll come home without any scalp!"

Such was the chorus which greeted his simple announcement. Hazel cried,
his mother cried, his sisters moped around, and his father patted him on
the back. "Go and see the world, broaden out, the experience will be
worth the cost, even if you don't stay," he said, with lots of emphasis
on the experience.

Five days from Boston to Denver. Everything was the old, old story of
farms, villages and small cities until the train left Kansas City, then
the arid plains opened wider and wider, the towns grew farther and
farther apart, less and less in size until what was marked a station on
the trip ticket given him by the conductor proved on arrival to be a
platform, a water tank and a cowboy straddle of a "buckskin," white-eyed
broncho. These scenes in truth were new and Jack's experience had
commenced. Occasionally the water tank was supplemented by a saloon.
Great herds of cattle grazed along the unfenced right of way of the
railroad, and the treeless expanse of never ending brown, sun-burned,
alkali-spotted plains wearied the eye, the