The Barrier

is long ill-luck was common gossip now, and men praised him for his courage. He

ddin' me?" he inquired, c

Wat yo

makin' a speech about

he

e says I'm another Dan'l Boom, lea

nice, f

s good, but is i

ss so," adm

gnation. "Then, why in hell didn

n him for his tips, bribing him with newspapers, worth a dollar each, or with cigars, which he wrapped up carefully and placed in his mackinaw till every pocket of the rusty garment bulged so that

tended by a disproportionate growth of the trader's cash receipts. Cautiously, at first he let out his wit, which was logy from long disuse, and as heavy on its feet as the Jumping Frog of Calaveras, but when they laughed at its labored leaps and sallies his confidence grew. With the regularity of a clock he planted cigars and ordered "a little more hard stuff," while his roving eye rejoiced in lachrymose profusion, its over-burden losing itself in the tangle of h

fourth step?" he demand

s," said th

is. You moved it

put back," la

and thing to be

w, I ain' n

oin' to change my ways complete. No more extra

jaculated Dore

jailer, I am, from now, henceforth, world 'thout end, amen! No busted miner

much money in the past and, like others, regarded him not merely as a bad risk

digal habits and put on the tin vest. I'll run the solderin'-iron up my seams so they can't get to me without a can-opener. I'm air-tight for life, I am."

of yours is mak' you purt

t. I've got a bad d

plaintee riche man die on dat

bedded him on a pile of flour sacks, but he had hardly returned to the bar when Lee cam

flour is that?

t plain w'

tion. "It's full of yeast powders. Why, it's r'arin' and risin' like a

goin'?" a

he darkness boldly, and stepped off with confidence-this time too soon. Poleon heard hi

n whistling blithely, if somewhat out of tune, he steered fo

hat used to venture forth from Juneau on the spring snows, disappearing into the uncharted valley of the Yukon, to return when the river clogged and grew sluggish, and, like Gale, he had lived these many years ahead of the law where each man was his own court of appeals and where crime was unknown. He had helped to build camps like Forty Mile and Circle; he knew by heart the by-laws

, and we may not wear our handk'chiefs in our shirt cuffs, but there ain't no widders and orphans doin'

ned in the discussion. "There's too many new p

'long with John Gale, and they stip'lates that any person caught robbin' a cache is to be publicly whipped in front of the tradin'-post, then

eath," said a stranger. "Frost i

depends on his grub up here, and I'd be in favor of enforcin

ow I stand, I've put Runnion on guard over my pile of stuff, and I'll be glad when it's under cover

moment, as if his words had been a challenge, the flaps of the great tent were thr

you," he panted. "Well

hed, terror-stricken, in the trampled mud and moss, while those pl

ng the sweat from his brow. "I caug

my c

run, but I dropped him." He held his Colt in his right hand, and a

half arose and broke into excited denials of his guilt. Runnion kic

way through the others. Fixing his one ey

nright thief I ever s

feet, who had evidently arrived on the boat with

f up against the bar, fa

ee, tearfully. "This black party is goin' to furnish an exampl

bar for a weapon. His eyes were cruel, and he had the angry

" expostulated Lee. "

echoed the crowd, ben

im to do?" wh

guilty, as you certainly are goin' to be, you'll be flogged. After which perd

e mosqu

hem before. Let's get at this,

error as it set about to try him. A miners' meeting was called on the spot, and a messenger sent hurrying to the post for the book in which was recorded the laws of the men who had made the camp. The crowd was determined that this should be done legally and as prescribed by ancient custom up and down the river. So, to make itself doubly sure, it gave Runnion's evidence a hearing; then, taking lanterns, went down to the big tarpaulin-covered pile beside the river, where it found the crate of h

ity, and he showed no trace of drink in his bearing. Beneath a lamp one was binding four-foot lengths of cotton tent-rope to a broomstick for a knout, while others, whom Lee had appointed, were drawing lots to see upon whom would devolve the unpleasant d

nant," said Gale, in a low vo

a man for stea

ole; it's the idea, and it's

enough, witho

" declared Poleon. "Mebbe dose ha

Lieutenant, indignantly,

ung man did not wait to reply. Quickly he elbowed his way towards the centre of the scene with that air of

s going to be trouble." They sto

e ashen-gray wretch, and facing the tentful of m

is eyes blazing, and touched t

take a hand in a

his is what I was sent here for, and it's my particular b

ff, and he'll ta

y he

scovered nerves, which nothing else can conjure up, and which once lived leaves an incessant hunger. But the biggest game of all is man, and the fiercest sensation is hate. Stark had been a killer, and his brain had been seared with the flame till the scar was ineradicable. He had lived those lurid seconds when a man gambles his life against his enemy's, and, having felt the

mastered their surprise at the interruption, and then began to babble

an't do it. I'll hold him till the next boat come

set and eyes watchful and alert, knowing that a hair's weight mig

at as to strangle expostulation for a moment, till he saw the soldier a

miner, in his blind fury forgetting his exalted position, took a step too near the edge of the bar, and fell off into the body of the

dinge for stealing," and another: "Sure

l some one shouted a motion to adjourn, and there arose a chorus of seconders. A few dissenting voices opposed them, but in t

home, the Frenchman said,

d the other continued, "Stark

d Gale, "unless someb

ed heavens, remarked, as if concluding some train of thought, "If that boy has got the nerve to take a nigger thief ou

other, "mebbe dat wou

it was-

t no men lak' d

ered his house to find Alluna waiting for

rong?" he

Necia has b

ed for the girl's door,

e she is sick. I went to her, but she grew angry, and said I had a black s

s sick in her heart, all right, and

hour

e is

er in the shadows. It is best for h

d that a white soul doesn't count with white people; they never go below the skin." Then he told

she s

at she knows she hasn't go

man, stubbornly. "If he loves her, he wi

impossibility of her comprehending him made him desist, and he f

t. "Don't tell her the truth! No

t to have a fair show at it. This has been on my mind for weeks, and I've put it away, hoping I wouldn't have to do it;

e you," said the woma

I wonder if she would doub

ur life. A good man's life is a great pr

lay the string out; but-I wonder if she would doubt-" He paused for a long moment. "Well, I'll have to

rk?" sai

and

r it is men who have always lived with the halter of the law tight upon their necks who run wildest when it is removed. Men grown old on the frontier adhere more closely to a rigid code than do tenderfeet who feel for the fir

e length he was sure to go, and finally drifted into the same story he had told Necia. Burrell at last sensed the meaning of the crafty old soldier's strategy and dismissed him, but not before his work had been accomplished. If a coarse-fibred, calloused old campaigner like Corporal Thomas could recognize the impossibility of a union between Necia and himself, then the young man must have been blind indeed not to have seen it for himself. The Kentuckian was a man of strong and virile passions, but he was also well balanced, and had ever followed his head rather than his heart, holding

d then, when he had justified his love and persuaded himself that he was right in seeking this union, there would rise again the picture of his people, their chagrin, and what would result from such a marriage. He knew how they would take it; he knew what his friends would say, and how he would be treated as the husband of a half-breed Indian; for in his country one drop of colored blood

new it would be hard to give her up; but he had irrevocably decided, and his path began to unfold itself so clear and straight that he marvelled how he could have failed to see it. He was glad he had conquered

w away the fears and forebodings that would not let her sleep. It was late, and the hush of a summer midnight lay upon the distant hills. Burrell had almost

and something inside him snapped and broke. Without a word he took her in his arms, meeting her lips in a long kiss, w

e had craved. He knew what had made her sad, and she knew that he knew. There was no need for words; the anguish of this long d

dor of a lover, she lost herself in the bliss of a woman's surrender, and forgot all her terrifying doubts and fears. What were qu

love and disappeared; his hesitation and infirmity seemed childish now-yes, more than that, cowardly. He realized all in a moment that he had been supremely selfish, that his love was a covenant, a

t I can't get free," si

d up at him piteously, her eyes swimming, and said,

l sighed gladly to himself. Again his course ran clear and straight before him though wholly at variance with the one