o Wagon Wheel and saw the princess, who
has a big pull. She said she'd write you. Kintuck is well but
getting lazy."

Mrs. Raimon wrote excitedly:

"DEAR FRIEND: Here is work for you to do. The agent at Sand
Lake has asked to be relieved and I have written Senator
Miller to have you appointed. He thought the idea
excellent. We both believe your presence will quiet the
cattlemen as well as Talfeather and his band. Will you
accept?"

As Harold read, his body uplifted and his eyes grew stern. "See here,
Mary, what do you think of this?" and he read the letter and explained
the situation. She, too, became tense with interest, but, being a woman
who thought before she spoke, she remained silent.

Harold, after a moment, arose from his chair, gaunt and unsteady as he
was. "That's what I'm fitted for, Mary. That solves my problem. I know
these cattlemen, they know me. I am the white chief of Talfeather's
people. If you can stand it to live there with me, Mary, I will go. We
can do good; the women need some one like you to teach 'em to do
things."

Mary's altruistic nature began to glow. "Do you think so, Harold? Could
I be of use?"

"Of use? Why, Mary, those poor squaws and their children need you worse
than they need a God. I know, for I've lived among 'em."

"Then I will go," she said, and out of the gray cloud the sun broke and
shone from the west across the great lonely plains.

Again "Black Mose" rode up the almost invisible ascent toward the Rocky
Mountains. Again he saw the mighty snow peaks loom over the faintly
green swells of the plain, but this time he left nothing behind. The
aching hunger was gone out of his heart for beside him Mary sat, eager
as he to see the wondrous mountain land whose trails to her were script
of epic tales, and whose peaks were monuments to great dead beasts and
mysterious peoples long since swept away by the ruthless march of the
white men.

If she had doubts or hesitations she concealed them, for hers was a
nature fitted for such sacrifice as this--and besides, each day
increased her love for the singular and daring soul of Harold Excell.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eagle's Heart, by Hamlin Garland

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