to be hordes of the pursuers.

"However, with the remnant of his followers, he set out for
the final ride to the valley that night. Hard on his heels
came the pursuers. Then came the tragedy. Daylight showed
them the elusive pine still far away on the horizon, and his
men and horses were exhausted. He was too great a warrior
not to realize what this meant. There were his pursuers
making ready for the attack, seemingly hundreds of them.
Disaster was hard upon him.

"So, before the battle began, he took his paramour, and,
before all eyes, he slew her so that his enemy should not
wholly triumph, and incidentally torture her. Then he rose
up, and, in a loud voice, cursed the pine and the valley of
the pine. He called down his gods and spirits to witness
that never, so long as the pine stood, should there be peace
in the valley. Forever it should be the emblem of crime and
disaster beneath its shadow. There should be no happiness,
no prosperity, no peace. So, too, with its final fall should
go the lives of many of those who lived beneath its shadow,
and only with their blood should the valley be purified and
its people washed clean.

"By the time his curse was finished his enemies had
performed a great enveloping movement. When the circle was
duly completed, then, like vultures swooping down upon their
prey, the attacking Indians fell upon their victims and
completed the massacre.

"There!" Kate exclaimed. "That's about as I remember it. And a pretty
parlor story it is, isn't it?"

"I like that feller," declared Bill, with wholesome appreciation. "He
was good grit. A bit of a mean cuss--but good grit."

But Helen promptly crushed him.

"I don't think he was at all nice," she cried scornfully. "He deserved
all he got, and--and the woman, too. And anyway, I don't think his
curse amounts to small peas. A man like that--not even his heathen
gods would take any notice of."

Kate rose from her chair laughing.

"Tell the boys of this village that. Ask them what they think of the
pine."

"I've heard Dirty O'Brien say he loves it," protested Helen
obstinately. "Doesn't know how he could get on without it."

"There, Mr. Bryant, didn't I tell you she kept bad company? Dirty
O'Brien! What a name." Kate looked at the clock. "Good gracious, it's
nearly eight o'clock, and I have--to go out."

Bill w