cramped, but he persisted, and, with it loose,
tossed the rope away. Glover already was free
from his trailing rope, having taken the time at
the outset hurriedly to cast it off. And he was
still in the lead, the sorrel carrying him without
seeming effort, and moving steadily away from
the others, each long stride gaining half as much
ground again as the swinging gait of Pat or the
quick and nervous reaching of the little gray.
But all were moving at top speed, racing desperately
across the desert, leaping sand-dunes,
dipping into hollows, mounting eagerly over larger
dunes, on and on like the wind, sending up with
each fling of hoof swirling clouds of dust and
gravel. It was a grim effort.

Such a time comes to but few men. And such
a crisis tests the mettle of men and shows the differences.
Gripped in a primal emotion, fear for
life, weak men show strength, and strong men
weakness. Harmless men murder, murderous
men weep, blasphemous men pray, praying men
curse. Yet under such a stress strong men often
reveal greater strength, rising to physical and
spiritual heights of reserve that mock a following
fate, even as praying men often pray harder and
more fervently than ever they prayed in times
of calm. Individual in peace, mankind is individual
in war. It is the way of man.

And thus it was with these three hurtling forward
in the shadow of doom. Glover, ever weak,
ever apprehensive, yet always considerate of
others, now revealed unexpected strength and ap-

[[201]]

p200 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p201w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p202

v?