"Ye've got ter hasten, Brother Fulkerson," he hurriedly urged. "Jerry Henderson's done come back ter give his name ter Blossom afore he dies an' death hain't far off." The old evangelist was bending over a medicine chest. It was a thing which a visiting surgeon had once given him and in the use of which he had developed an inborn skill that had before now saved lives and ameliorated suffering. He straightened up dubiously and faced the younger man. "Turney," he said grimly, "ef they don't wed, folks hyarabouts'll always look askance at my little gal with a suspicion thet I'm confi_dent_ is as false as hell hitself--but God made ther state of matrimony holy--an' I'm his servant--onlessen they both enters inter hit free-minded hit wouldn't be nothin' but a blasphemy. _Air_ they both of one mind?" Turner stiffened to a ramrod straightness. His hands clenched themselves into hard fists and his nostrils quivered. "Brother Fulkerson, ye're a godly man," he declared with suppressed passion, "an' I hain't never sought ter dispute ye ner defy ye afore now--but thar hain't no time ter argyfy. Willin'ly or unwillin'ly ye're a-goin' ter wed them two--right hyar--an' now! He plighted his troth ter her. He's got a mighty brief chanct ter fulfill his pledge an' leave her thinkin' she gave her love ter a true man. He's come acrost hyar, shot like a bob-white--jest fer thet. I've fought off death my own self ter-night--jest fer thet! Ef God has spared both of us this long, I reckon He done hit--jest fer thet! I'll answer ter Him at ther jedgment-seat, ef so be I'm wrong." For an irresolute moment the father hesitated, then he said briefly, "Come on." Turner wheeled, bracing himself for the bitterest ordeal of all. He must be the spokesman for a rival whom he hated beyond superlatives--and in order that Blossom might keep her dream, which was all she could now hope to salvage out of life, he meant to tell a lie which would for all time enshrine that detestable traitor. None the less, when he had drawn her aside, he spoke with great gentleness, perjuring himself with knightly self-effacement. He took both her hands in his own and looked with a tender consideration into her forlorn eyes, gulping down the choke that rose in his throat and threatened his power of speech. Though her gaze was fixed on his face she seemed hardly to see him, so stiff and trance-like was her posture and so tight-drawn and expressionless her features. If he could soften that paralysis of grief it was worth a self-sacrificing lie. "Blossom," he began softly, "Mr. Henderson fell inter a murder trap an' I got thar too late ... ter fotch him out unharmed. Betwixt us we _did_ come through, though, with ther breath still in our bodies ... an' he made me pledge myself ter git him hyar in time ... ter wed with ye afore he died."