Part 4 (1/2)

She holly unable to guess whatthat she found it hard to believe ranged in these northern woods She felt certain that he had missed the first three shots, but she waited with considerable interest the result of the fourth And soon he pushed through the thickets to her side

In his hand he held a queer, gray, shapeless bundle that at first she could not recognize Then she saw that they were gray grouse, almost the color of a Plymouth Rock hen, and there was not one, but four! He started to stuff the ”Pretty lucky that tih the neck That leaves the meat clean----”

He seeinia continued to stare at him in open-mouthed astonishment ”Four of them?”

she cried

”One apiece There was five in the flock, but the other looked like a tough old hen But don't look so arouse--and that means that they'll set all day and let you pepper at 'eet the into the saddle, and they started forth upon the last hour of their day's journey And Vosper

”When I was in Saskatchewan last year,” he began in a thin, far-carrying voice, ”I rouse and didn't o back and shake him

V

Now that they were upon the last hour of the day's ride Virginia began to be aware of the full ue She was strained and tired from the saddle, her knees ached, her face burned from the scratch of the spruce needles Ever she found it hs, she was less careful in the control of her horse From sheer exhaustion Lounsbury had stopped his coht had come, like mist, over the distant hills; but the peaks were still bathed in the sunset's glow She began to have a real and overwhel for camp and rest And in the midst of her dejection the dark oes hard at first,” he told her gently ”But we'll soon be in caht away”

It had not been Virginia's way--or the way of Virginia's class--to depend upon their irl felt only grateful

She was hungry, chilled through by the icy breath of the falling night, half-sick with fatigue The lastherself off the horse when they cae of a fast-flowing trout stream, Bill had built a cabin,--one of the ca by eight wide; it had no floor and but slabs for a roof, noand no paneled interior; only the great logs, lifted one upon another; yet no luxurious hotel that had been her lodging for the night on previous journeys had ever seemed to her such a haven; none had ever been such a comfort to her tired spirit Her heart flooded with joy at the sight of it Bill smiled and held the door open wide

”Sit down on that busted old chair,” he advised ”I'll have a fire for you in a minute”

A rusted camp stove had been erected in the cabin and she watched, fascinated, his quick actions as he built a fire With astonishi+ngly few strokes he cut down a pitch-laden spruce, tri into cath of the trunk across his brawny back, grunting like a buffalo the while This he split and cut into lengths suitable for the stove With his hunting knife he cut curling shavings, and in a irl's body welcomed it, it stole into her tissues and buoyed up her spirits She opened her hands to it as to a beloved friend

It was only warmth,--the exhalation froinia it was dear beyond all na In one little day on that dreadful trail she had, in soot down to essentials; the ancient love of the fire, ierm plasm, akened and recalled It was not a love that she had to learn The warp and woof of her being was iotten what an ancient friend and coinia had never known the real er

Her meals were inadvertent; she had them more fro But curiously, for the last hour her thought had dwelt on food,--the simple, material substance with no adornment The dainty salads and ices and relishes that had been her greatest delight in her city home hadn't even come into her mind, but she did remember, with unlooked-for fondness, potatoes and meat And now she watched Vosper's supper preparations with an eagerness never known before

Although Vosper had been hired for cook, Virginia noticed that Bill kept a watchful eye over the preparation of the food; and she felt distinctly grateful She saw the grouse in the process of cleaning, and the red stains on Vosper's hands did not repel her at all She beheld the s water, her own hand opened a can of dehydrated vegetables that was to give flavor to the dish She gave no particular thought to the fact that the hour was revealing her not as an exquisite creature of a higher plane, but siht did cory as she had never dreamed she could be in all her days

The white flesh of the grouse was put with the rice, one bird after another, until it sees could consuetables, and not even Lounsbury railed at the little handful of ashes that floated on top the inia exulted from head to toes when Bill passed the tin plates

It ell for Virginia's peace of mind that no one told her how much she ate In her particular set it wasn't a rouse, at least two cups of the stew and several inch-thick slices of bread with enerous meal even for a harvest-hand

As soon as the meal was done she felt ready for bed Bill ventured into the darkness with an ax over his shoulder, but not until his return did she understand his hs These he laid on the cot in the cabin, spreading the blankets he had provided for her over them He placed the pillow and turned down the blanket corners

”Any ti up the linen tent for we three men, and I'll build a fire in front of it to keep us hile we smoke You must be tired”

She smiled wanly ”I am tired, Bronson,” she confessed ”And thank you, very much”