ative American the respect
for a duly accredited leader, which discipline has further impressed upon
the Teuton. Still, those who watched from the window felt that this was
the crisis, and tightened their numbed fingers on the rifles, knowing that
if the horseman failed they would shortly need them again. None of them,
however, made any other movement, and Miss Schuyler, who, grasping Hetty's
hand, saw the dim figures standing rigid and intent, could only hear the
snapping of the stove.

"Hetty," she gasped, "I shall do something silly in another moment."

The tension only lasted a moment or two. A man sprang up on the pole of
the wagon, and a truss of hay went down. Another followed, and then, men
who had also felt the strain and now felt it a relief to do anything,
clustered about the wagon. In a few minutes it was empty, and the men who
had been a mob turned to the one who had changed them into an organized
body.

"What do you want now?" asked one of them.

"Run that wagon back where you got it from," said Larry.

It was done, and when the clustering figures vanished amidst a rattle of
wheels Torrance laid aside his rifle and sat down on the table.

"I guess there'll be no more trouble, boys. That's a thing there's not
many men could have done," he added.

His daughter also sat down in the nearest chair, with Flora Schuyler's
hand still within her own. She had been very still while the suspense
lasted, but she was trembling now, and her voice had a little quiver in it
as she said, "Wasn't he splendid, Flo?"

It was some minutes before Grant and the other men came back again, and
fragments of what he said were audible. "Then, you can pick out four men,
and we'll hear them at the committee. I have two or three questions to ask
you by and by. Half a dozen of you keep a look-out. The rest can get into
the stable out of the frost."

The men dispersed, and Grant turned towards the house. "I don't think you
need have any further anxiety, and you can shut that window if you want
to, Mr. Torrance."

Torrance laughed. "I don't know that I've shown any yet."

"I hope you haven't felt it," said Grant. "It is cold out here, and I'm
willing to come in and talk to you."

Somebody had moved the box away from the lamp, and Clavering's face showed
up against the wavering shadow as he turned towards his leader. Flora
Schuyler saw a little unpleasant smile on his lips as he pointed
suggestively to the men with rifles he ha