t of the prairie
night--a sensation, a conception of infinite vastness, of unassailable
serenity--stole over and took possession of the men. The ambitious and
manifold artificial needs for which men barter their happiness, their
sense of humanity, even life itself, seemed beyond belief out there
alone with the stars, with the prairie night-wind singing in the ears;
seemed so puny that they elicited only a smile. The lust of show, of
extravagance, follies, wisdoms, man's loves and hates--how their true
proportions stand revealed against the eternal background of
immeasurable distance, in nature's vast scheme!

Scotty cleared his throat. "I used to think, when I first came here,
that I'd been a fool; but now, somehow, at times like this, I wonder if
I didn't blunder into the wisest act of my life." The prairie spirit
had taken hold of him. "And the longer I stay the more it grows upon me
that such a life as this, where one's success is not the measure of
another's failure, is the only one to live. It is the only life," he
added after a pause.

Rankin said nothing.

Scotty was silent for a moment, but the mood was too strong for him to
remain so, and he went on.

"I know the ordinary person would laugh if I said it, but really, I
believe I'm developing a distaste for money. It's simply another term
for caste; and that word, with the unreasoning superiority it implies,
has somehow become hateful to me." He looked up into the night.

"I used to think I was happy back in England. I had my home and my
associates; born so, because their fathers were friends of my father,
their grandfathers of my grandfather's class. As a small landlord I had
my gentlemanly leisure; but as well as I know my name, I realize now
that I could never return to that life again. Looking back, I see its
intolerable narrowness, its petty smugness. By comparison it's like the
relative clearness of the atmosphere there and here. There, perhaps I
could see a few miles: here, I look away over leagues and leagues of
distance. It's symbolic." The voice paused; the face, turned directly
toward his companion's, tried in the half-darkness to read its
expression. "I've been in this prairie country long enough now to
realize that financially I've made a mistake. I can earn a living, and
that's all; but nevertheless I'm happy--happier than I ever realized it
was possible for me to be. I've got enough--more would be a burden to
me. If I have a trouble in the wo