r midnight
when the dull roar of the mill announced the proximity of their goal. As
silently as they had followed the tortuous trail, so silently each
wrapped himself in his blankets and lay down to sleep.

CHAPTER XXIV

_The Gathering to its Own_

Had Firmstone known of Hartwell's move, which was to bring affairs to an
immediate and definite crisis, his actions would have been shaped along
different lines.

But the only one who could have given this knowledge blindly withheld it
until it was beyond his power to give. At the mill Firmstone noticed a
decided change in Luna. The foreman was sullen in look and act. He
answered Firmstone's questions almost insolently, but not with open
defiance. His courage was not equal to giving full voice to his sullen
hatred. Firmstone paid little heed to the man's behaviour, thinking it
only a passing mood. After a thorough inspection of the mill, he
returned to the office.

"Mr. Hartwell said, if you inquired for him, that I was to tell you he
had gone for a drive." The man anticipated his duty before Firmstone
inquired.

"Very well," Firmstone replied, as he entered the office.

He busied himself at his desk for a long time. Toward night he ordered
his horse to be saddled. He had determined to go to the mine. He had
decided to move with a strong hand, to force his authority on the
rebellious, as if it had not been questioned, as if he himself had no
question as to whether it would be sustained. Hartwell had refused to
indicate his position; he would force him to act, if not to speak. His
after course events would decide; but half-way measures were no longer
to be tolerated.

As he rode by the Falls, he met Zephyr on his way down. Zephyr was the
first to speak.

"A weather-cock," he remarked, "has a reputation for instability of
character which it does not deserve. It simply pays impartial attention
to a breeze or a hurricane. In fact, it's alive to anything that's going
in the wind line. We call a weather-cock fickle and a man wide-awake for
doing the same thing." He paused, looking inquiringly at Firmstone.

Firmstone was in anything but an allegorical mood, yet he knew that
Zephyr had something of interest to communicate, and so restrained any
manifestation of impatience which he might have felt.

"Well?" he answered.

"Say, Goggles"--Zephyr continued his allegory--"I've studied
weather-cocks. I take note that when one of them so-called fickle-minded
inanim