Part 14 (2/2)

The man's hands stirred, ever so little, and the rifle moved on his knees ”You don't own this whole country” Then he seee from Bill's impassive face He remembered his stanch allies--Pete and Joe ”And what if I did?”

”You knew I trapped here You brought up Joe Robinson and a breed with you You meant to clean up this winter--all the furs in the country”

Harold's face drew in a scowl ”And what are you goin' to do about it?”

”The queer thing is----” and Bill spoke quietly, slowly, ”I' about it--now”

Harold's crafty eyes searched his face He wondered if Bill was afraid--some way it didn't fit into the stories that he had heard of hio on that supposition as any other ”Maybe it's a good thing,” he said And for an instant, so of his lost suavity of speech came back to him

”Then to what--do I owe the honor of this visit?”

Bill sighed and straightened The struggle within hied more furiously than ever Why should he not leave this inia know of their ? He wondered if such had been his secret plan, concealed in the further recesses of his mind, when he had told her to-day's expedition concerned his mine,--so that he could withdraw if he wished In this course irl's ultimate happiness, certainly his own He could steal back; no one would ever know the truth The man had sunk beneath her; even he, Bill, was enerate son of cities and culture

Yet as he to dare to take into his own hands the question of Virginia's destiny? He had pro her lost lover back to her; the fact that he was no longer the e to quiet his own conscience Besides, the last sentence that the ularly portentous For the instant he had fallen into his own native speech, and the fact offered tremendous possibilities Could it be that the old days were not entirely forgotten, that soinia had loved in hiain? He had heard ofredeemed And all at once he knew his course

So intent was he upon his thoughts that he scarcely heard the sound of steps in the snow outside the cabin door, then the noise of so snowshoes

The task that confronted him noas that, no more and no less, to which he had consecrated his life,--to bring happiness to the girl he loved

There ork to do with this ht be redeeht return to hie of his life stretched lonely and drear before him, yet he could not turn aside

”I didn't coinia Tremont”

His eyes were on Harold's face, and he saw the otten the name Just for an instant his face was stark pale and devoid of expression ”Virginia!” he cried ”My God, what do you know about her?”

But he didn't wait the answer All at once he looked, with an annoyance and anxiety that at first Bill could not understand, toward the door of the cabin The door knob slightly turned

Bill wheeled, with a sense of vast and ihed nervously An Indian squaw--for all her filth an untidiness a fair representative of her breed--pushed through the door and came stolidly inside She walked to the back of the cabin and began upon soray cliffs of the Selkirks when he turned again to Harold ”Is that your woman?” he asked simply

Harold did not reply He had not wished this man, emissary from his old acquaintances of his native city, to know about Sindy He retained that much pride, at least But the answer to Bill's question was too self-evident for hi his shoulders

Bill waited an instant; and his voice when he spoke again was singularly low and flat ”Did you ain ”One doesn't marry squaws,” he replied

Once nant in the wretched cabin ”I caentlee, flat voice, ”and I find--a squaw man”

Bill realized at once that this new development did not in the least affect his own duty His job had been to find Harold and return hiirl's destiny For all he had spent his days in the great solitudes of nature he knew enough of life to know that woels

Rather they love their men as much for their weaknesses as for their virtues This smirch in Harold's life was a question for the two of them to settle between theeneration Bill had known squaw enerated Usually they were men that could not stand the test of existence by their own toil: either from failure or weakness they took this sordid line of least resistance Frole down the trap line in the bitter winter days They laid comfortably in their cabins and their squaws tended to such small matters It was true that the squaore out quickly; so, and at about forty they withered and died, or else the blizzard caught them unprotected in the forest,--and then it became necessary to select another This was an annoyance, but not a tragedy One was usually as faithful and as industrious as another

It was perfectly evident that Sindy had been at work setting out traps