's.

"But this is a warm wind, Harold," she objected. "If the crust is
melted Bill can't possibly get through to his Twenty-three Mile cabin
to-night. What will he do?"

"He'll make it through. The crust won't melt that fast, if it melts at
all. He may have a long, hard tramp, though. Don't worry, Virginia,
he'll be coming in to-morrow night--with his back loaded with food."

"I only wish I hadn't let him go." The girl's tone was heavy and dull.

"But we have to have supplies----"

"We could have gone out on that grizzly meat. It was so foolish to risk
his life, and I had a presentiment too."

He was glad that she had had a presentiment. It tended to verify his
fondest dreams. But he laughed at her, and falling into one of his most
brilliant moods, tried to entertain her. Her interest was hard to hold
to-day. Her mind kept dwelling on Bill, mushing on through the
softening snow, and her eyes kept seeking the window.

She cooked lunch and burned every dish. Then, no longer able to deny
her own fears, she ventured out in the snow to test its crust. She put
on her snowshoes, starting a little way down Bill's trail. She was
white-faced and sick of heart when she returned.

"Harold, I'm worried," she cried. "I tried to walk in this snow--and
you can talk about Bill making it through all you want, but I won't
believe you. A hundred steps has tired me out."

He was beginning to be a little angry with her fears. And he made the
mistake of answering rather impatiently.

"Well, what can you do about it? he's gone, hasn't he, and we can't
call him back."

"I suppose not. But if I--we--were out there in that soft snow, and
he was here, he'd find something to do about it! He'd come racing out
there to us--bringing food an blankets----"

"Oh, he'd be a hero!" Harold scorned. "Listen, Virginia--there's
nothing in the world to fear. The Chinook sprang up at nine----"

"Oh, it was much later than that."

"I looked at my watch," the man lied. "He was only well started then;
he's woodsman enough to turn around and come back if there's danger.
You may see him before dark."

"I pray that I will! And if--if--anything has happened to him----"

All at once the tears leaped to her eyes. She couldn't restrain them
any more than the earth can constrain the rain. She turned into her own
curtained-off portion of the cabin so that Harold could not see.

The afternoon that followed was endlessly long, and