y
noticed, however, that while she made them barley-water, and all kinds
of soft drinks from citric acid, sarsaparilla and the like, and had one
special drink of her own invention, which she called cream-nectar, no
spirits were to be had. They also noticed that Jim never drank a drop
of liquor, and by and by, one way or another, they got a glimmer of the
real truth, before it became known who he really was or anything of his
story. And the interest in the two, and in Jim's reformation, spread
through the country, while Jim gained reputation as the smartest man in
the force.

They were on the outskirts of civilisation; as Jim used to say, "One
step ahead of the procession." Jim's duty was to guard the columns of
settlement and progress, and to see that every man got his own rights
and not more than his rights; that justice should be the plumb-line of
march and settlement. His principle was embodied in certain words which
he quoted once to Sally from the prophet Amos: "And the Lord said unto
me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline."

On the day that Jim became a lieutenant his family increased by one. It
was a girl, and they called her Nancy, after Jim's mother. It was the
anniversary of their marriage, and, so far, Jim had won, with what
fightings and strugglings and wrestlings of the spirit only Sally and
himself knew. And she knew as well as he, and always saw the storm
coming before it broke--a restlessness, then a moodiness, then a hungry,
eager, helpless look, and afterwards an agony of longing, a feverish
desire to break away and get the thrilling thing which would still the
demon within him.

There had been moments when his doom seemed certain--he knew and she
knew that if he once got drunk again he would fall never to rise. On one
occasion, after a hard, long, hungry ride, he was half-mad with desire,
but even as he seized the flask that was offered to him by his only
enemy, the captain of B Troop, at the next station eastward, there
came a sudden call to duty, two hundred Indians having gone upon the
war-path. It saved him; it broke the spell. He had to mount and away,
with the antidote and stimulant of responsibility driving him on.

Another occasion was equally perilous to his safety. They had been idle
for days in a hot week in summer, waiting for orders to return from
the rail-head where they had gone to quell a riot, and where drink and
hilarity were common. Suddenly--more suddenly than it ha