Homer Conrad, sitting beside Lucy, his attention fixed upon some small damage to her fan which he was trying to repair, did not see what was going on until a sudden stiffening of her attitude and a sharp, indrawn breath made him look up. She was leaning forward, with face white and eyes staring and hands clenched against her breast. He followed her gaze and saw the knife flash from José's hand. His heart went sick and he sat powerless to move as his eyes marked the long blade, dark against the sunshine, but with little sparkles on its edge, through what seemed an interminable flight. Then Curtis sprang lightly aside as the knife struck deep into the tree at the level of his throat, pulled the weapon out, waved it at Gonzalez, and called out triumphantly, "Try again, José; and be quicker next time!" Ned Castleton sprang forward, with Turner close behind, and grasped his arm. "Are you crazy, Curt?" he exclaimed. "This is fool's play! We don't want any more of it!" "There's no danger," Conrad replied jauntily. "I knew I could jump quicker than he could throw, and I wanted to prove it to him. There's not a bit of danger; I can do it every time. But if you don't like it we'll have something else. Hello, kid!" he said as Homer rushed up and seized his arm; the young man's face was pale and tears stood in his eyes. "You've no reason to be frightened," Curtis went on easily. "All I had to do was to watch his eyes. If there had been any real danger I wouldn't have tried it." Lucy Bancroft sat quite still for a few moments, her eyes on the ground, but presently she started toward the house, contriving to pass Conrad when there was no one beside him. She touched his arm and he wheeled toward her as if he had felt an electric shock. "It was a most foolish thing to do," she said in a low voice, "but--you are the bravest man I ever saw," and hastened on without giving him time to reply. At night there were fireworks and dancing. After the knife-throwing episode Curtis tried again and again to have speech with Lucy, but whenever he came near she seemed not to see him, and was so interested in conversation with her admirer of the moment that he could find no opportunity. Homer attended her like her own shadow. The hours hurried past, and still, piqued and wilful, she postponed making the opportunity for her revelation. Conrad was master of the fireworks; while he was busy setting off sky-rockets and mines Lucy and Homer called to him that they were going to the top of the hill beyond the alfalfa field to see how the display looked from there. It was the very walk Curtis had intended to ask her to take with him, and he glanced after them, keenly disappointed. But he said to himself that as soon as he could get the fireworks out of the way there would be nothing to demand his attention for the rest of the evening, and then he could surely get a little time with her.