THE SUPERB MOMENT
for the prodigious performances of men. Oftener their plans are dashed to pieces against her immovable system. So Carron thought, staring up at the cloud. By that he had two days. He calculated hours and events.
The first, most important, was a thing quite outside the business in hand, but it was a precaution, and necessary. He felt a vague distaste for what he was about to do without knowing why. His momentous affair took all his mind. Every person and thing about him was absorbed into that interest. Ferrier no longer existed to him as an individual. Ferrier was simply the factotum of the camp, and had no connection in Carron's thoughts with any other place or moment. He explained to Ferrier what was expected of him: to take the pony waiting at the foot of the Sphinx, get in to Beckwith as fast as possible, meet the vaquero coming up on the morning train, bring him down to the place where the trail passed Ferrier's house, and direct him along the way. "That will be all I want of you," he concluded; "we will be on the lookout for him on the other side. You need not come back." He added that Ferrier would better stop in at the Raders' and tell them that Carron would not return to-night as he had expected, but probably the day after to-morrow. He ended with a feeling of triumph that at last
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