and ruin on which he looked. At least his face bore no trace
of sorrow, no expression of sincere regret. The same dull sneer was in
his eyes, the same defiant air was in even the poise of his body and the
heel that, with a certain viciousness, he dug into the dry earth.

Lewis Grandall's start in life had been attended by bright prospects.
If only he had been found out the first time he yielded to temptation
in scheming to get money by dishonest means, he might still have made
his life a success by turning at once to the right road; but not being
detected, he became bolder. From mere trickery and deceit it is but a
step to out-and-out thievery. Grandall took that step and more. Yet he
managed for long to cover his tracks sufficiently that few suspected and
no one publicly accused.

One would have supposed that, being accustomed to the handling of other
people's money in his banking work, he would not easily have been tempted
when he found himself with a large sum of the Longknives' funds in his
possession. Neither had he any pressing need of this money at the time he
laid his plan to appropriate to his own use the cash intended for Nels
Anderson's army of road builders. He merely thought he might some day be
glad to have at his command a secret reserve large enough to maintain him
indefinitely.

So did he plan the pretended robbery by which a former woodsman he had
long known made off with the suit-case wherein he carried the money for
Anderson's long overdue payroll. His original purpose had been to make
some sort of division of the cash with Murky; but there was not anywhere
in the Grandall code either honor or honesty. It was a particularly
bright idea, indeed, so Grandall himself considered when the thought came
to him that he might have the unsuspecting Murky relieved of the suit-case
before the fellow had so much as seen what was in it.

The plan was put into effect. Slider, weak of morals, but strong of arm,
was chosen for the work. To him Grandall told as much of his whole scheme
as he thought necessary, but told him nothing whatever that was wholly
true, with the possible exception of the statement that Murky was not to
be trusted because he talked too much.

Having been a beneficiary in a small but largely crooked lumber deal
Grandall had once managed, Slider entered into the robbery scheme most
willingly. With the general result the reader is familiar; but in detail
it may be added that, in keeping with t