"Thornton did not shuffle toward us and look down as he usually does,"

observed Donald to his father when they were alone. "He is different, somehow. What is it?"

"I am not sure, son, but I cannot help feeling that Thornton has come to his best self. The best is in all of us. It is not, however, always uppermost. Perhaps it is going to triumph in Thornton."

There unquestionably was a change in the big rough man.

That evening he got out the books and went over all the accounts with Mr. Clark, telling him just what supplies he had ordered; what they had cost; and how much he had paid out in wages. In dealing with financial matters Mr. Clark was on his native heath. He studied the columns of figures critically. The accounts were correct to a cent, and he could readily see that every reasonable economy had been practiced in the management of the ranch.

"You have done well, Thornton," he said after he had finished looking over the bills and papers. "I am greatly obliged to you for your faithful work."

Donald saw a flush of pleasure rise to the man"s cheek.

"My work has not always been faithful, Mr. Clark," Thornton declared with sudden determination. "I want to tell you, sir, that I was not setting out to be faithful to you at all. I wanted to get Johnson"s place, and then I meant to run Crescent Ranch to please myself. I am going to confess the whole thing; I want to confess it because your confidence in me has made me ashamed of myself. You must have known somehow that I was not running things as they ought to be run, else you would never have come out here. Sandy knew it--so did all the old herders. Yet, save about the permits, you never have spoken a word of reproof, but have gone on trusting me. When you looked me so kindly in the eye and went away leaving me in care of the whole home ranch I somehow felt that you expected me to do the square thing."

His voice faltered.

Donald, who had been an uncomfortable listener, now rose and tried to steal out of the room unnoticed, but Thornton called him back.

"Do not go, lad. You may be owning Crescent Ranch some day, and I want you to hear what I have to say. There is not much more to tell. After you and your father had gone to the range with Sandy I sat down and thought it all over. Here I was, alone! There was no getting away from myself. I reviewed all the plans I had made--how I was going to stock some of my friends at Glen City with provisions and charge it up to Clark & Sons; how I was going to pad the accounts and keep the money--I went over the whole thing, and I felt mean as a cur. It came to me that it was a pretty poor game. Then another plan came into my mind. You were giving me a chance to be decent--why didn"t I take it? I did. I have been absolutely honest about running the ranch while you have been gone, Mr. Clark. I can look you and Donald in the eye just as Sandy, Jose, Bernardo, and the other men do who have been working for your interest all these years."

Mr. Clark put out his hand.

"I am glad you told me this, Thornton," he said quietly, "and I believe you. See, here is a sheet of paper; it is scrawled over with letters and figures of every sort. Turn it over."

Wonderingly the man obeyed. Nothing was written on the other side. It was a blank page.

"You see there is nothing on that side," went on Donald"s father. "We can there write what we will. Turn your own page the same way. Let us forget the past. Now for the future! Will you take the position as manager of Crescent Ranch?"

Thornton was aghast.

"I, sir! I? After all that has happened?" he contrived to stammer.

"Why not?"

"I couldn"t do it, Mr. Clark. Not one of the men would believe in me.

No, I am going to leave this place after the shearing is over, and go somewhere where no one knows me; there I can make a fresh start. And anyway, even if all this had not happened, I am not the man to be manager here. I have neither the confidence of the herders, nor the necessary knowledge about the flocks. But there is a man on Crescent Ranch who knows everything there is to know about sheep-raising--a man honest as the day, and who loves the place as if it was his own--Sandy McCulloch, sir. He is the only man for the position--there never has been any one else. Put him in as manager and you will never regret it."

Donald sprang up.

"Oh, father, do put Sandy in," he cried. "I never thought of Sandy as manager--he seems so young!"

"I have thought of him all along," Thornton continued. "That is why I was so ready with a word against him every chance I got. I have been afraid of him--afraid of his honesty and his goodness. It was not that he would tell tales about me; Sandy is too big-natured a man to do that. He would scorn to use a mean weapon. No, it was just because he was what he was that I feared him."

Mr. Clark was silent.

"You owe it to Old Angus, Sandy"s father, to give the lad the place, sir," pleaded Thornton.

"And if I did what is to become of you, Thornton?" asked the owner slowly.

"Oh, I don"t know. It does not matter. I will stay here until after the shearing, for it is a busy time and I might be of help. Then I can go and look up something else."

Donald watched his father as he bent forward and stirred the fire. The well-known little wrinkle had come in his forehead and the boy knew that his mind was busy.

"Thornton," said Mr. Clark at last, "have you relatives here in the West?"

"No, sir."

"Are you alone in the world?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to go East with Donald and me when we return to Boston after the shearing?"

Thornton regarded him blankly.

"I need another man in my office," explained the wool-broker. "You have proved yourself a good accountant. Furthermore it would be greatly to our advantage to have a reliable helper who is familiar with ranch affairs and knows Sandy, the new manager. Then if I wanted some one, as I often have in the past, to make the trip out here and attend to business for me, you could do it."

Thornton got up and walked to the window. They could not see his face.

He stood with his back toward them, looking out into the darkness.

Then suddenly he wheeled and came to Mr. Clark"s side.

"You took me by surprise, sir," he said unsteadily. "I cannot thank you.

I know well it is another chance you are giving me. I will take it and go East, and there I will prove to you that in the future you can trust me."

"You have proved that already, Thornton," replied Donald"s father, as he smiled up into the face of the ranchman and gripped his coa.r.s.e brown hand.

After Thornton had left the room Donald and his father were silent.

At last the boy said:

"You were right about Thornton, father. He was honest with you, just as you predicted he would be."

"I believe if you expect the best of a man you will usually get it,"

replied Mr. Clark. "There is something big and honest in each of us which springs to meet the big and honest in somebody else. Appeal to that best side of people and it will respond. I have seldom known the rule to fail. Now just one thing more. Do not forget that this man has given us his confidence. It is a thing we must hold sacred. Never repeat what you have heard. And above all remember that Thornton deserves both admiration and respect, for it is only great natures that admit they have done wrong."

Donald nodded.

"I like Thornton better than I did before father," he said softly.

"So do I, son!"

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI