ve of duress; above, a grey ribbon of
sky issued a stony comfort, such as prisoners use.... With a shiver,
Every turned away his head. To the north the ground fell sharply, and
the cut of the road vouchsafed a glimpse of what it led to--woods,
woods, woods, swelling, rising, tumbling, bolstering one another up,
shouldering one another aside, some with their limbs still bare, others
laced with the pale pinafore of spring, all of them dense and
orderless, composite regiments of timber, where squire and skip-jack
stood back to back, and the whelps of both thrust and quarrelled for a
place in the bulging ranks.

Every became suddenly conscious of a silence more tense and death-like
than he had ever dreamed of....

Then a wind breathed--miles away ... to the north. He could hear the
breath coming, a mere whimper among the tree-tops. The whimper became
a whine.... Reaching the pinewood, the note slid into a moan, that
rose slowly to a thin wail as the breath fled up the corridor with the
towering walls. The wail fell to a sigh....

With straining ears, the man waited for this to fade....

"Mopping up?" said a quiet voice.

Every started violently and turned right about.

Ten paces distant, within the shadow of the beechwood, was a big
upstanding grey, with ears pricked, vigilant. Square in the saddle sat
a girl, in a habit of dark blue cloth. So dim was the light that Every
could not distinguish her features, but he marked how the eyes burned
out of a pale face and noted the glint of copper beneath the hard felt
hat.

"Mopping up?" she repeated quietly, but this time there was a silkiness
in the tone that put the man on his guard.

"That's one way of puttin' it," he said lightly. "I'm sort of windin'
up the Company."

"The Garden of Eden Limited," flashed the girl. "History repeats
itself." For a moment she hesitated. Then--"Where's Adam?" she said
carelessly.

"Done a bunk," said Every, with no idea of what she meant. "Are you a
creditor?"

Miss Strongi'th'arm regarded him.

"Either," she said coldly, "you are a liar or else a fool."

Every stared at her speechless.... After a moment the girl shrugged
her shoulders. Then a riding-boot flashed, and the grey sprang forward.

As she pulled up beside him--

"By what authority do you dismiss these men?"

Every looked up steadily into the angry eyes. Then he took off his hat.

"Forgive me," he said quietly, "but by what authority do you ask?"