ometimes it is love.
And not unusually it is detestation.

"That little black there--Buster, we call him--is the next best bet.
It's an important choice you're making, and I'll tell you about him. He
threw a man off once, and when I got him he was supposed to be the most
vicious animal in the Northwest. The truth is, he hasn't got a vicious
hair on his head. But he will try to get away, and he will dance a bit
when you first get on and wheel in circles, and he's hard to catch in
the morning. But he's sure-footed and courageous and strong; he'll take
you up hills where the others can't go. The other two horses--Colt
and Scotty--maybe seem safer, but they haven't got the life Buster
has, nor the sense."

Bill reached to pet the black Buster, and the animal shied nervously.
Virginia walked up to him and seized his bridle rein. In an instant she
had vaulted into the saddle.

He wheeled and plunged at first, but soon she quieted him. In none too
good humor, Lounsbury made his selection, and Vosper took what was left.
Bill led his animal to Virginia's side.

"And are there any special instructions--before we start?" he asked.

"I can give you some special instructions," Lounsbury interrupted. "I
didn't come up here to risk my life on a wild mustang in the mountains.
I want you to pick easy trails--you can if you've just got energy
enough to try."

A half-smile lingered a moment at the woodsman's lips. There was no
choice of trails into Clearwater. He might have told Lounsbury that
once they were out of sight of the roofs of the town they were venturing
into the Unknown, a land where the caribou and the moose made trails
through the forest but where men came not, a land of beasts rather than
men, of primeval grandeur but savage might. "Have you any orders to
give?" he asked the girl again.

"None. All I can do is tell you what I have already done--and then
let you do the best you can. As you know, he left six years ago."

"I know. I saw him when he came through."

His eyes were fast upon her, and he saw her start. Her face seemed to
flame. Stranger as he was to the hearts of women, Bill could
understand. It was word of her lover, a message from the dead, and it
moved her to the depths. But he couldn't understand the curious weight
of depression that descended upon him.

"You did?" she answered quickly. "Was he all right--then?"

"All right, but that was just after he came to the North. I was ca