He laughed loudly at his own sally, but Hans's face was frozen into a sullen ghastliness that nothing less than the trump of doom could have broken. Also, Hans was feeling very sick. He had not realized the enormousness of the task of putting a fellow-man out of the world. Edith, on the other hand, had realized; but the realization did not make the task any easier. She was filled with doubt as to whether she could hold herself together long enough to finish it. She felt incessant impulses to scream, to shriek, to collapse into the snow, to put her hands over her eyes and turn and run blindly away, into the forest, anywhere, away. It was only by a supreme effort of soul that she was able to keep upright and go on and do what she had to do. And in the midst of it all she was grateful to Dennin for the way he helped her. "Lind me a hand," he said to Hans, with whose assistance he managed to mount the barrel. He bent over so that Edith could adjust the rope about his neck. Then he stood upright while Hans drew the rope taut across the overhead branch. "Michael Dennin, have you anything to say?" Edith asked in a clear voice that shook in spite of her. Dennin shuffled his feet on the barrel, looked down bashfully like a man making his maiden speech, and cleared his throat. "I'm glad it's over with," he said. "You've treated me like a Christian, an' I'm thankin' you hearty for your kindness." "Then may God receive you, a repentant sinner," she said. "Ay," he answered, his deep voice as a response to her thin one, "may God receive me, a repentant sinner." "Good-by, Michael," she cried, and her voice sounded desperate. She threw her weight against the barrel, but it did not overturn. "Hans! Quick! Help me!" she cried faintly. She could feel her last strength going, and the barrel resisted her. Hans hurried to her, and the barrel went out from under Michael Dennin. She turned her back, thrusting her fingers into her ears. Then she began to laugh, harshly, sharply, metallically; and Hans was shocked as he had not been shocked through the whole tragedy. Edith Nelson's break-down had come. Even in her hysteria she knew it, and she was glad that she had been able to hold up under the strain until everything had been accomplished. She reeled toward Hans. "Take me to the cabin, Hans," she managed to articulate. "And let me rest," she added. "Just let me rest, and rest, and rest." With Hans's arm around her, supporting her weight and directing her helpless steps, she went off across the snow. But the Indians remained solemnly to watch the working of the white man's law that compelled a man to dance upon the air. BROWN WOLF She had delayed, because of the dew-wet grass, in order to put on her overshoes, and when she emerged from the house found her waiting husband absorbed in the wonder of a bursting almond-bud. She sent a questing glance across the tall grass and in and out among the orchard trees. "Where's Wolf?" she asked.