72 THE STRIKE AT SHANE' 8. 



mind. The wife who has confided her life to your 

 keeping should be the first in yonv thoughts." 



"I really had not thought about her being over- 

 worked," said Shane. 



' ' You have a false idea of the powers of endurance 

 of both man and beast. There is a limit to the ph^^si- 

 cal endurance of both, which can be and often is 

 exceeded. You have the proof of that statement 

 before 3'ou. Y(^ur wife is down sick from overwork, 

 and your horses are disabled from the same cause." 



"There, I don't agree with you," said Shane. "It's 

 just a streak of bad luck I have struck, and I couldn't 

 help it." 



"If you would just stop and reason about the mat- 

 ter you would see it in a different light. I don't want 

 to intrude upon your private affairs, but I feel that it 

 is my duty to present some things to you in the light 

 that I see them, for I think that you are blinded, and 

 do not see things that are to your interest. You have 

 sacrificed your own happiness and that of your family 

 to get money, and what have you got in return? Why, 

 nothing ; while I, who have followed the other rule of 

 seeking happiness, have more of this world's wealth 

 than you have, and I do not want to say it with any 

 thought of boasting." 



"You always was lucky," said Shane. 



"There is no luck about it," said Tracy. "The 

 word of God is true, and if a man tries to follow its 

 teachings I believe he will be prospered." 



Edith had come in and sat down by Shane's bed- 

 side, and taken his hand in hers. 



