^  Then  in  my  own  office  I  undid  the  bundle.    It  was  the

old  scarlet  blanket  with  the  white  circular  centre,  the
I  pattern  Jean  Pahusca  always  wore.  This  one  was  dirty
I  and  frayed  and  splotched.  I  turned  from  it  with  loathing.
I      In  the  folds  of  the  cloth  a  sealed  letter  was  securely

fastened.    Some  soldier  had  written  it  for  Hard  Rope,

and  the  penmanship  and  language  were  more  than  average

fine.     But  the  story  it  told  I  could  not  exult  over,  although
31  481


THE    PRICE    OF    THE    PRAIRIE

a  sense  of  lifted  pressure  in  some  comer  of  my  mind
came  with  the  reading.
