The judge laughed quietly. "That is an unfair question," he equivocated, narrowing his eyes whimsically. "If I were heir to the property and felt that I did not care to assume the danger of managing it I should sell, without doubt. If, on the other hand, I had decided to continue my father's fight against an unscrupulous company, I would stay no matter what the consequences. But"--He puffed slowly at his pipe, his voice filling with unmistakable sarcasm--"it would be so much easier to sell and return at once to a more peaceful atmosphere. With ten thousand dollars you could go back East and go on with your newspaper work, well equipped, with a chance of realizing your ambition--and not be troubled with continuing a fight in which, no doubt, there would be many blows to be taken." "Thank you," returned Hollis quietly. He looked steadily into the judge's eyes, his own glinting with a grim humor. "You have succeeded in making it very plain," he continued slowly. "But I am not going to run--I have decided on that. Of course I feel properly resentful over the way my father has been treated by this man Dunlavey and his association." His eyes flashed with a peculiar hardness. "And I would stay here and fight Dunlavey and his parcel of ruffians if for no other reason than to secure revenge on personal grounds. "But there is one other reason. There is a principle at stake. I don't care very much about the personal side of the question; little as I knew my father, I believe he would have ignored personalities were he confronted with the condition that confronts me. It is my belief that as an American citizen he chafed under conditions that prevented him from enjoying that freedom to which we are all entitled under the Constitution. Judging from your conversation you are in entire sympathy with that sentiment." He smiled at the judge. "Of course I am not mistaken?" he added. The tobacco in the bowl of the judge's pipe spluttered; he brought his right fist heavily down upon the table, rattling the pens and ink bottles that littered its top. "No, young man; you are not mistaken--you have hit the nail squarely on the head. If you are going to stay here and fight Dunlavey and his crew, Blackstone Graney is with you until----" "Until the Law comes," suggested Hollis. "Yes, by thunder!" declared the judge. "You can go further than that and say: 'until the Law rules!'" CHAPTER III NORTON MAKES A DISCOVERY Judge Graney rose and leaned over the table, taking the young man's hand and holding it tightly. Then he sat down again and resumed smoking. Neither man said a word during the hand-clasp and yet both knew that their hearts and minds were united in a common cause. Words would have been unnecessary and futile.