hilip saw that she was making a tremendous effort to
appear brave and cheerful.

"Perhaps you are right," laughed Philip, "but I swear that I don't know
what you mean. I suppose you picked that lingo up among the Indians."

He caught the faintest gleam of Jeanne's white teeth again as she bent
her head.

"I have a tutor at home," she explained, softly. "You shall meet him
when we reach Fort o' God. He is the most wonderful man in the world."

Her words sent a strange chill through Philip. They were filled with an
exquisite tenderness, a pride that sent her eyes back to his, glowing.
The questions that he had meant to ask died and faded away. He thought
of her words of a few minutes before, when he had asked about Fort o'
God. She had said, "My father, Pierre, and I, WITH ONE OTHER, live
there alone." The OTHER was the tutor, the man who had come from
civilization to teach this beautiful girl those things which had amazed
him, and this man was THE MOST WONDERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD. He had no
excuse for the feelings which were aroused in him. Only he knew, as he
rose to his feet, that a part of his old burden seemed suddenly to have
returned to his shoulders, and the old loneliness was beating at the
door of his heart. He rearranged the pack in silence, and the strength
and joy of life were gone from his arms when he helped Jeanne back to
her place among the bear-skins. He did not notice that her eyes were
watching him curiously, or that her lips trembled once or twice, as if
about to speak words which never came. Jeanne, as well as he, seemed to
have discovered something which neither dared to reveal in that last
five minutes on the shore.

"There is one thing that I must know," said Philip, when they were
about to start, "and that is where to find Fort o' God? Is it on the
Churchill?"

"It is on the Little Churchill, M'sieur, near Waskiaowaka Lake."

Darkness concealed the effect of her words upon Philip. For a moment he
stared like one struck dumb. He stifled the exclamation that rose to
his lips. He felt himself trembling. He knew that if he spoke his voice
would betray him.

NEAR WASKIAOWAKA LAKE! And Waskiaowaka was within thirty miles of his
own camp on the Blind Indian! If a bomb had burst under his feet he
could not have been more amazed than at this information, given to him
in Jeanne's quiet voice. Fort o' God--within thirty miles of the scene
where very soon he was to fight the great battle of his life!