too had been big enough and strong enough
to forget the past in the exigencies of the moment; that he had aided
where he might have hindered; that he had soothed where a lesser nature
might have stormed. He bowed his head in acknowledgment of her
announcement. Then, side by side, affixing the stout cord that was to
form a bond of safety between two alien souls, they started forth, a
man who had been accused, but who was strong enough to rise above it,
and a woman whose woman-heart had dictated that dislike, distrust, even
physical fear be subjugated to the greater, nobler purpose of human
charity.

CHAPTER XXI

Silence was their portion as they turned toward the mountains. There
was little to say. Now and then as Houston, in the lead, got off the
trail, Medaine jerked on the cord to draw his attention, then pointed,
and Barry obeyed. Thus their pilgrimage progressed.

An hour found them in the hills, plodding steadily upward, following
the smoother mounds of snow which indicated heavy, secure drifts, at
times progressing easily, almost swiftly, at others veering and
tacking, making the precipitous ascent by digging their shoes into the
snow and literally pulling themselves up, step by step. Here, where
the crags rose about them, where sheer granite walls, too steep, too
barren to form a resting place even for the driven snow, rose brown and
gaunt above them, where the wind seemed to shriek at them from a
hundred places at once, Houston dropped slowly back to watch the effect
that it all was having upon the girl, to study her strength and her
ability to go on. But there was no weakening in the sturdy little
step, no evidence of fatigue. As they went higher, and the wind beat
against them with its hail of splintered ice particles, Houston saw her
heavily gloved hands go to her face in sudden pain and remain there.
The man went to her side, and grasping her by the shoulder, stopped
her. Then, without explanation, he brought forth a heavy bandanna
handkerchief and tied it about her features, as high as possible
without shutting off the sight. Her eyes thanked him. They went on.

Higher--higher! the old cracks of Houston's lips, formed in his days of
wandering, opened and began to bleed, the tiny, red drops falling on
his clothing and congealing there. The flying ice cut his skin; he
knew that his eyeballs were becoming red again, the blood-red where
never a speck of white showed, only black pupils sta