Part 43 (1/2)

The weather had moderated a good deal, but the trail was a protected forest one. The two teams now going down had come up, so that the path was packed fairly hard and smooth. Holt lay propped on his own sled against the sleeping-bags. Sheba mushed behind Gordon. She chatted with them both, but ignored entirely the existence of Macdonald, who followed with his prize-winning Siberian dogs.

Though she tried not to let her lover know it, Sheba was troubled at heart. Gordon was practically the prisoner of a man who hated him bitterly, who believed him guilty of murder, and who would go through fire to bring punishment home to him. She knew the power of Macdonald.

With the money back of him, he had for two years fought against and almost prevailed over a strong public opinion in the United States. He was as masterful in his hatred as in his love. The dominant, fighting figure in the Northwest, he trod his st.u.r.dy way through opposition like a Colossus.

Nor did she any longer have any illusions about him. He could be both ruthless and unscrupulous when it suited his purpose. As the day wore toward noon, her spirits drooped. She was tired physically, and this reacted upon her courage.

The warmer weather was spoiling the trail. It became so soft and mushy that though snowshoes were needed, they could not be worn on account of the heavy snow which clung to them every time a foot was lifted. They wore mukluks, but Sheba was wet to the knees. The spring had gone from her step. Her shoulders began to sag.

For some time Gordon's eye had been seeking a good place for a day camp.

He found it in a bit of open timber above the trail, and without a word he swung his team from the path.

”Where are you going?” demanded Macdonald.

”Going to rest for an hour,” was Elliot's curt answer.

Macdonald's jaw clamped. He strode forward through the snow beside the trail. ”We'll see about that.”

The younger man faced him angrily. ”Can't you see she is done, man?

There is not another mile of travel in her until she has rested.”

The hard, gray eyes of the Alaskan took in the slender, weary figure leaning against the sled. On a soft and mushy trail like this, where every footstep punched a hole in the loose snow, the dogs could not travel with any extra weight. A few miles farther down they would come to a main-traveled road and the going would be better. But till then she must walk. Macdonald gave way with a gesture of his hand and turned on his heel.

At the camp-fire Sheba dried her mukluks, stockings, caribou mitts, and short skirts. Too tired to eat, she forced herself to swallow a few bites and drank eagerly some tea. Gordon had brought blankets from the sled and he persuaded her to lie down for a few minutes.

”You'll call me soon if I should sleep,” she said drowsily, and her eyes were closed almost before the words were off her lips.

When Macdonald came to order the start half an hour later, she was still asleep. ”Give her another thirty minutes,” he said gruffly.

Youth is resilient. Sheba awoke rested and ready for work.

While Gordon was untangling the dogs she was left alone for a minute with the mine-owner.

The hungry look in his eyes touched her. Impulsively she held out her hand.

”You're going to be fair, aren't you, Mr. Macdonald? Because you--don't like him--you won't--?”

He looked straight into the dark, appealing eyes. ”I'm going to be fair to Robert Milton,” he told her harshly. ”I'm going to see his murderers hanged if it costs me every dollar I have in the world.”

”None of us object to justice,” she told him proudly. ”Gordon has nothing to fear if only the truth is told.”

”Then why come to me?” he demanded.

She hesitated; then with a wistful little smile, spoke what was in her heart. ”I'm afraid you won't do justice to yourself. You're good--and brave--and strong. But you're very willful and set. I don't want to lose my friend. I want to know that he is all I have believed him--a great man who stands for the things that are fine and clean and just.”

”Then it is for my sake and not for his that you want me to drop the case against Elliot?” he asked ironically.

”For yours and for his, too. You can't hurt him. n.o.body can really be hurt from outside--not unless he is a traitor to himself. And Gordon Elliot isn't that. He couldn't do such a thing as this with which you charge him. It is not in his nature. He can explain everything.”

”I don't doubt that. He and his friend Holt are great little explainers.”