desperate, misguided men, riding hither an' thither, searching this wild
and woeful wilderness for hundreds o' head o' cattle lost like needles
in a hayrick, and eat by wolves an' painters by this time?" demanded "X"
derisively.

"I promise, I promise!--and with hearty good will, too!" declared
Emsden. "And I'll tell 'em that we are coming down soon armed to the
teeth to guard our pack-train, and fight our way through any resistance
to its passage through the country on the open trading-path. And I'll
acquaint the commandant of Fort Prince George of the threats of the
herders against the Blue Lick Stationers, and warn him how he attempts
to interfere with the liberties of the king's loyal subjects in their
peaceful vocations."

Thus Emsden gayly volunteered for the mission.

The next morning old Richard Mivane, thinking of it, shook his head over
the fire,--and not only once, but shook it again, which was a great deal
of trouble for him to take. Having thus exerted his altruistic interest
to the utmost, Richard Mivane relapsed into his normal placidity. He
leaned back in his arm-chair, the only one at the station, fingering his
gold-lined silver snuffbox, with its chain and ladle, his eyes dwelling
calmly on the fire, and his thoughts busy with far away and long ago.

He was old enough now to enter into the past as a sort of heritage, a
promised land which memory had glozed with a glamour that can never
shine upon the uncertain aspects of the future. The burning sense of
regret, the anguish of nostalgia, the relinquishment of an accustomed
sphere, its prospects and ideals, the revolt against the uncouth and
rude conditions of the new status, the gradual reluctant naturalization