i-hued escort of cloud fell away. Its duty was done.
It had launched the God of day upon its merciful task for mankind. It
would go, waiting to conduct him to his nightly couch at the other side
of the world.

Kars drew a deep breath. The draught of morning air was nectar to his
widely expanding lungs. Realization of happiness rarely comes till it
is past. Kars was realizing it to the full.

His eyes turned from the splendid vision. The landing was crowded with
craft. But it was not the craft of trade which usually gathered at the
close of summer. It was his own outfit, largely augmented. And it was
deeply laden.

He dwelt upon it for some moments. Its appeal held him fascinated. A
week had been spent upon the lading, a week of unalloyed happiness and
deeply sentimental care. These were canoes laden with the many
household goods and treasures of the feminine hearts who were about to
take their places in his life. Those slight, graceful vessels
contained a hundred memories of happiness and pain carefully taken from
the settings to which they had so long been bound. He knew that they
represented the yielding up of long years of treasured life upon the
altar of sacrifice his coming had set up. He had no other feeling than
thankfulness and tenderness. It stirred every fibre of his manhood to
its depths.

His happy contemplation was suddenly broken. A sound behind him caught
his quick ears. In a moment he had turned, and, in that moment, the
deep happiness of his communing became a living fire of delight.

Jessie was standing in the mouth of the avenue which led down from the
clearing. She stood there framed in the setting of ripe summer
foliage, already tinging with the hues of fall. Her ruddy brown hair
was without covering, and her tall slim figure was wrapped in an ample
fur-lined cloak which reached to her feet. Kars recognized the garment
as something he had dared to purchase for her in Leaping Horse, to keep
her from the night and morning chills on the journey from the Fort. In
his eyes she made a picture beyond all compare. Her soft cheeks were
tinted with a blush of embarrassment, and her smiling eyes were shyly
regarding him.

He strode up to her, his arms outheld. The girl yielded to his embrace
on the instant, and then hastily released herself, and glanced about
her in real apprehension.

Kars smilingly shook his head.

"There's no one around," he comforted her.

"Are you quite