s they
dictated. He saw subtle possibilities which gave him enjoyment. He
would work, and work hard. And then the manner of the revenge he would
take! He laughed.

Then his laugh died out, for Jim Thorpe wholly occupied his thoughts,
and there was no room for laughter where Jim was concerned. He
remembered Jim was making money--and how. Suddenly he paused in his
walk, and a delighted exclamation broke from him.

"Gee! The very thing I've been looking for. He's got that land from
McLagan. He's going to run a ranch. He's going to play big dog. Gee!
That's the game! Say, master Jim," he went on, apostrophizing the
absent man he had so easily learned to hate, "I'll make you a sick man
before the snow falls. Gee! You'd butt in in my affairs. You're
standing Eve's friend." He laughed. "Go ahead, boy. I'll play up to
you. Eve shall tell you I'm a reformed man, and you'll feel better.
And then----"

And by the time he reached his home there was apparently a complete
transformation in him. The old moody selfishness and brutality toward
his wife seemed to have fallen from him like a hideous cloak. He
played the game he intended with such an appearance of good faith that
the sick woman suddenly experienced the first relief and comfort she
had known for months.

He waited on her, repentant and solicitous, till she could hardly
believe her senses, and she even forgot to ask the result of his
gamble. And the next morning, when necessity forced her to ask him for
money, she was content that he returned to her something under ten
dollars of that which he had stolen from her.

Later in the day he left for the hills, and from that moment an entire
change came over Eve's whole life.

CHAPTER XVII

THE WORKING OF THE PUBLIC MIND

The month following Will's departure from the village saw stirring
times for the citizens of Barnriff.

The exploding of Dan McLagan's bombshell in their midst was only the
beginning; a mere herald of what was to follow. Excitement after
excitement ran riot, until the public mind was dazed, and the only
thing that remained clear to it was that crime and fortune were racing
neck and neck for possession of their community.

The facts were simple enough in themselves, but the complexity of
their possibilities was a difficult problem which troubled Barnriff
not a little.

In the first instance McLagan's alarm set everybody agog. Then a
systematic wave of cattle-stealing set in throughout the di