crowd dere, why can't he do it fer me? Didn't de postmaster say all yer
gotter have is faith? Well, I got de faith--an' I got it hard enough to
stake all I got on it. Dis time to-morrow--say, dis time to-morrow I
wouldn't change places wid any man in de United States."

Thornton's tolerant smile deepened.

"I guess you're sincere enough," he said; "and I'm not trying to cut the
ground of hope out from under your feet, as you put it out on the
platform--but it seems to me that it is only the kindly thing to do to
warn you that the more faith you put in a thing like this the worse you
are making it for yourself--you are laying up a bitter disappointment in
store that can only make your present misfortune the more unbearable."

The Flopper shook his head.

"If he's done it fer others, he can do it fer me," he repeated, with
unshaken conviction. "An' dat goes--I can't lose."

Thornton tilted his chair back again, and stared at the Flopper with
pitying incredulity.

There was silence for a moment; then Mrs. Thornton spoke.

"Robert," she said slowly, "I want to stop at Needley."

The front legs of Thornton's chair came down on the heavy carpet with a
dull thud, and he whirled around in his seat to stare at his wife.

"You don't mean to say, Naida," he gasped, "that you've got faith in