If Eleanor could have known it, he was saying at that moment:
"Matthews, you can fight the world, the flesh, and the devil; but you can't fight against the stars."
The old frontiersman didn't answer for a little. When he spoke, it was very soberly:
"No, when it's that, you'll work for the stars spite o' y'rself! Why, A contrived the meetin' myself this vera afternoon; wha' d' y' think o' that for an old fool? A'll be goin' back empty handed, an' all m' own doin'!"
"And I'll have built plans for twenty years on,—on the sands," and
MacDonald flicked the bronchos up with his whip.
There was a long silence but for the crunch of the wheels through the road dust.
"MacDonald," said Matthews abruptly, "A'm goin' t' see this thing thro'. A don't mean y'r daughter's love; th' angels o' Heaven have that in their own charge! A'm referrin' t' this mine thing! There's evil brewin'! A'm goin' t' see this thing thro'; an' A make no doubt y'r goin' to do th' same! A'm no wantin' t' pry into y'r affairs, MacDonald; but—is y'r will made an' secure?"
The sheep rancher flicked his whip at the bronchos and took firmer hold of the reins.
"Copper rivetted," he said.
We call It clairvoyance; and we call It intuition; and we call It instinct; and we might as well call it x, y, z for all these terms mean. We do not know what they mean. Neither do we know what It is. We hear It and obey It; and It brings blessedness. In the din of life's insistent noise, we sometimes do not hear It. That is, we do not hear It until afterwards when the curse has come. Then, we remember that we did hear It, though we did not heed it.