Master of Men

Transcriber’s Note:
This transcription into digital form attempts to remain true to the original except for punctuation marks that have been supplied where missing.
The cover image has been produced by the submitter for the e-reader editions of this e-text. It is released into the public domain.
BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM
AUTHOR OF
“THE MISCHIEF-MAKER” “BERENICE” “HAVOC”
“THE LOST LEADER” “THE MALEFACTOR”
VOLUME ONE
NEW YORK P. F. COLLIER & SON
Copyright 1908 By C. H. Doscher & Co. Copyright 1912 By P. F. Collier & Son
Upward in long sinuous bends the road wound its way into the heart of the hills. The man, steadily climbing to the summit, changed hands upon the bicycle he was pushing, and wiped the sweat from his grimy forehead. It had been a gray morning when he had left, with no promise of this burst of streaming sunshine. Yet the steep hill troubled him but little—he stepped blithely forward with little sign of fatigue.
His workman’s clothes, open at the throat, showed him the possessor of a magnificent pair of shoulders; the suggestion of great physical strength was carried out also in his hard, clean-cut features and deep-set, piercing gray eyes. He passed a grove where the ground was blue with budding hyacinths, and he loitered for a moment, leaning upon the saddle of his bicycle, and gazing up the sunlit glade. A line or two of Keats sprang to his lips. As he uttered them a transfiguring change swept across his face, still black in patches, as though from grimy labor. His hard, straight mouth relaxed into a very pleasant curve, a softer light flashed in his steely eyes.