e order to the young men. No
Indian ever disobeyed her father.

And the more Smoke learned from her, the more the mystery of Snass
deepened.

"And tell me if it is true," the girl was saying, "that there was a man
and a woman whose names were Paolo and Francesca and who greatly loved
each other?"

Smoke nodded.

"Four Eyes told me all about it," she beamed happily. "And so he did not
make it up, after all. You see, I was not sure. I asked father, but,
oh, he was angry. The Indians told me he gave poor Four Eyes an awful
talking to. Then there were Tristan and Iseult--two Iseults. It was very
sad. But I should like to love that way. Do all the young men and women
in the world do that? They do not here. They just get married. They
do not seem to have time. I am English, and I will never marry an
Indian--would you? That is why I have not lighted my maiden's fire. Some
of the young men are bothering father to make me do it. Libash is one of
them. He is a great hunter. And Mahkook comes around singing songs. He
is funny. To-night, if you come by my tent after dark, you will hear him
singing out in the cold. But father says I can do as I please, and so I
shall not light my fire. You see, when a girl makes up her mind to get
married, that is the way she lets young men know. Four Eyes always said
it was a fine custom. But I noticed he never took a wife. Maybe he was
too old. He did not have much hair, but I do not think he was really
very old. And how do you know when you are in love?--like Paolo and
Francesca, I mean."

Smoke was disconcerted by the clear gaze of her blue eyes. "Why, they
say," he stammered, "those who are in love say it, that love is dearer
than life. When one finds out that he or she likes somebody better than
everybody else in the world--why, then, they know they are in love.
That's the way it goes, but it's awfully hard to explain. You just know
it, that's all."

She looked off across the camp-smoke, sighed, and resumed work on the
fur mitten she was sewing. "Well," she announced with finality, "I shall
never get married anyway."

"Once we hit out we'll sure have some tall runnin'," Shorty said
dismally.

"The place is a big trap," Smoke agreed.

From the crest of a bald knob they gazed out over Snass's snowy domain.
East, west, and south they were hemmed in by the high peaks and jumbled
ranges. Northward, the rolling country seemed interminable; yet they
knew, even in that direction, that h