of
Egypt. You can't no more help commendin' his prayer-meetin' moods than
you can help cussin' his lickin' the flesh pots. He ain't changed a bit
out here. He'll just look at you with his eyes wide open an' you'll feel
like a man that's just got religion an' you won't suspect that he's
picked your pocket till you put your hand in to pay your grocer's bill."

Ralph smiled grimly.

"There's not much profit in talking about this. But--well, you know
'Lige all right."

"Wait a minute, I ain't through." Uncle Sid's eyes were fixed on Ralph
like a steel needle pointing to a magnet. "Money's the root of evil, but
there's a power of good in the roots if they're used right. I've got
quite a bunch of the roots handy. You're goin' to need them, an' young
man, they're at your call when you say so, an' if I ain't mistaken, it
won't be long either."

"Thank you." Ralph answered briefly. "I'll remember."

The Captain did not drop his eyes, but they softened.

"You've known Helen Lonsdale for a long time, haven't you?"

"Ever since she was a little girl."

"An' you're a friend of hers?"

"Yes." Ralph did not say how much more than a friend she was coming to
be to him.

Uncle Sid felt the repellent air of Ralph's changed mood more than his
rather curt reply, but he held doggedly to his point.

"Smallpox is a mighty mean disease an' you don't always know that you're
a catchin' it till it breaks out."

Ralph rose to his feet. Uncle Sid was breaking ground that he had
thought about, but which he had not yet brought himself to touch.

"Helen has always been able to take care of herself and I don't think
she will allow any one to suggest that she can't do it now."

Uncle Sid was on his feet too, his hand on Ralph's shoulder.

"Helen's a woman, Ralph. I don't know much about women, but I do know
that a man like 'Lige Berl and a woman like Helen Lonsdale is a mighty
dangerous mixture, an' the woman's bound to get the worst of it. Helen's
goin' to need friends who'll stand by her, an' I guess when you think it
over, you'll agree with me."

Ralph made no reply, but he did as the Captain had said he would do. He
thought it over and the seed did not fall on stony or barren ground.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The coming of Mrs. MacGregor was a turning point in Elijah's life. In
the New England community where he had been born and reared, the family
of Eunice MacGregor had stood first, and now in California,
circumstances had