How!"
V
On the evening of the day that Arrowhead made his journey to "the well at
the root of the tree" a stranger knocked at the door of Captain
Templeton's cottage; then, without awaiting admittance, entered.
Jim was sitting with Nancy on his knee, her head against his shoulder,
Sally at his side, her face alight with some inner joy. Before the knock
came to the door Jim had just said, "Why do your eyes shine so, Sally?
What's in your mind?" She had been about to answer, to say to him what
had been swelling her heart with pride, though she had not meant to tell
him what he had forgotten--not till midnight. But the figure that entered
the room, a big man with deep-set eyes, a man of power who had carried
everything before him in the battle of life, answered for her.
"You have won the stake, Jim," he said in a hoarse voice. "You and she
have won the stake, and I've brought it--brought it."
Before they could speak he placed in Sally's hands bonds for five million
dollars.
"Jim--Jim, my son!" he burst out. Then, suddenly, he sank into a chair
and, putting his head in his hands, sobbed aloud.
"My God, but I'm proud of you--speak to me, Jim. You've broken me up." He
was ashamed of his tears, but he could not wipe them away.
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