he sold his first crop.

He resolved to buy the land and set the carpenters to work, but could
not leave the railroad for a month, when it would be rather late to make
a start. Then he had worked without a break for twelve years, for the
most part at camps where no amusement was possible, and resolved to
take a holiday. He would go back to England, where he had a few friends,
although his relatives were dead. This was, of course, an extravagance;
but after the self-denial he had practised there was some satisfaction
in being rash. Lighting another pipe, he abandoned himself to pleasant
dreams of his first holiday.

CHAPTER V

A RASH PROMISE

A few days before he started for England, Festing went over to
Charnock's homestead, which was shortly to be sold. The evenings were
getting light, and although Festing had finished his day's work before
he left the bridge, the glow of sunset flooded Charnock's living-room.
The strong red light searched out the signs of neglect and dilapidation,
the broken boots and harness that needed mending, the dust sticking to
the resin-stains on the cracked walls, and the _gumbo_ soil on the dirty
floor. As Charnock glanced up a level ray touched his face and showed
a certain sensual coarseness that one missed when the light was normal.
Festing, however, knew the look, and although he had not remarked it
when he first met Charnock, thought it had always been there.

The change he had noted in his friend was only on the surface. Charnock
had not really deteriorated in Canada; the qualities that had brought
him down had been overlaid by a spurious grace and charm, but it now
looked as if moral slackness might develop into active vice. On the
whole, he thought Sadie would have trouble with Bob, but this was not
his business.

"I've come to say good-bye," he remarked. "I won't see you again until
my return, and expect you'll be married then."

"Yes," said Charnock, shortly. "I suppose you have made some plans for
your trip. Where are you going to stop in England?"

Festing told him and he looked surprised. "I didn't know you had friends
in that neighborhood. Will you be with them some time?"

"A month, anyway. Then I may come and go."

Charnock pushed his chair back out of the light. "Well, this makes it
easier; there's something I want to ask. We are friends and I've let you
give me good advice, though I haven't always acted on it. I don't know
if this gives me a claim."

"If th