From the Sea's low rim to the glaciers high,
_Ai y-u-u--yu--yu-u-u-u!_
I live the better that others die.
_Ai yu-u-u-u-u-u!_

"Oh! sweet is the scent in the evening gale,
Of the dun deer wending adown the trail
Where I lie, grim ambushed, with bated breath,
A gray lance couched in the hand of Death!
At that maddening tang
White-bared each fang,
Dripping anon with ambrosia red;
_Ai y-u-u--yu--yu-u-u-u!_
Haste, sweetheart, to the feast outspread!
_Ai yu-u-u-u-u-u!_

"But sweeter even than Life's rich wine,
As, hot from the kill--ah-h! draught divine!--
It trickles adown my ravished throat,
Is my gaunt mate's deep-toned, chesty note.
As o'er hill and plain
She calls amain
Till the welkin quivers with ecstasy:
_Ai y-u-u--yu--yu-u-u-u!_
'Oh come, Beloved, to Love and me!'
_Ai yu-u-u-u-u-u!_

"Manlings spawned in the cities' slime.
Weaklings, withered before your prime.
What ken ye of the joys there be
Of Life and of Love and of Liberty!
Better hill and dell
As free Ishmael
Than the shackles of pomp and pageantry:
_Ai yu-u-u--yu--yu-u-u-u!_
Come out, oh! faint hearts, and howl with me!
_Ai yu-u-u-u-u-u!_"

In the storm of applause that rewarded his unique performance he rose
and went over to the fireplace.

"If you are still disposed to the purchase of the Vaughan holdings I
will accept your offer," he said to Brevoort. "But I must be free to
come and go at will. I am one of the wolves, you know!"

Brevoort nodded a brisk acquiescence. "That is perfectly satisfactory to
me. We will arrange the details."

McVey was genuinely pleased and said so; Carter rather grudgingly
extended his congratulations; he would rather Douglass were the manager
of his own estate. His grievance was still fresh and rankling.

Constance Brevoort, toying with the ivory chessmen, smiled
commiseratingly at the soft irradiation of Grace's face.

CHAPTER XVII

THE FROWNING GODDESS SMILES

It was arranged that the transfer of the VN interests should be made at
the last day of the year. The weather was still open and the days very
delightful, and Brevoort evincing a lively interest in Douglass's mining
venture, his wife proposed a junket over to the claims on the head of
the Roaring Fork, something