another of soft, yellow buckskin. At her throat
she wore a fluffy mass of crimson stuff which seemed to reflect a
richer rose-flush in her cheeks. A curious thought came to Philip as he
looked at her. Like a flash the memory of a certain night came to
him--when it had taken Miss Brokaw and her maid two hours to make a
toilet for a ball. And Jeanne, in the heart of a wilderness, had made
herself more beautiful than Eileen. He imagined, as she stood before
him, a little embarrassed by the admiration in his eyes, the sensation
Jeanne would create in a ballroom at home. And then he laughed--laughed
joyously at thoughts which he could not reveal to Jeanne, and which
she, by some quick intuition, knew that she should not ask him to
express.

Twice again Philip made the portage, accompanied the second time by
Jeanne, who insisted on carrying a small pack and two paddles. In spite
of his determination and splendid physique, Philip began to feel the
effects of the tremendous strain which he had been under for so long.
He counted back and found that he had slept but six hours in the last
forty-eight. There was a warning ache in his shoulders and a gnawing
pain in the bones of his forearms. But he knew that he had not yet made
sufficient headway up the Churchill. It would not be difficult for him
to make a camp far enough back in the bush to avoid discovery; but, at
the same time, if he and Jeanne were pursued, the stop would give their
enemies a chance to get ahead of them. This danger he wished to escape.

He flattered himself that Jeanne saw no signs of his weakening. He did
not know that Jeanne put more and more effort into her paddle, until
her arms and body ached, because she saw the truth.

The Churchill narrowed and its current became swifter as they
progressed. Five portages were made between sunrise and eleven o'clock.
They ate dinner at the fifth, and rested for two hours. Then the
journey was resumed. It was three o'clock when Jeanne dropped her
paddle and turned to Philip. There were deep lines in his face. He
smiled, but there was more of haggard misery than cheer in the smile.
There was an unnatural flush in his cheeks, and he began to feel a
burning pain where the blow had fallen upon his head before. For a full
half-minute Jeanne looked at him without speaking. "Philip," she
said--and it was the first time she had spoken his name in this way, "I
insist upon going ashore immediately. If you do not land--now--in