friendship, never more than an impersonal interest. But now that she
knew something of the real nature of this expedition, affairs had taken
a new turn. She suddenly realized that her whole happiness, her
comfort, perhaps even life itself depended upon him. He was their
protector, their source of supplies, their refuge and their strength as
well.

The change did not mean that she was willing to enter upon a basis of
comradeship with him--yet. But she did find a singular satisfaction
in the mere fact of his presence. Here was one who could build a fire
in the snow if need be, whose strong arms could cut fuel, who could
manage the horses and bring them safe to the journey's end. His rifle
swung in his saddle scabbard, his pistol belt encircled his waist; he
knew how to adjust the packs, to peg the tent fast in a storm, to find
bread and meat in the wilderness. She began to notice his lithe, strong
figure as he sat in his saddle, the ease with which he controlled his
horse and avoided the pitfalls in the trail. When the moose tracks were
too dim for her eyes to see, he followed them with ease. When the
horses bolted from some unfamiliar smell in the thicket, he was quick to
round them up. The animals were swift in obedience when he spoke to
them, but they were only terrified by Lounsbury's shrill shouts. He was
cool of nerve, self-possessed, wholly self-reliant. She listened with
an eager gladness to his soft whistling: simple classics that she
herself loved but which came strangely from the lips of this son of the
forest.

His eyes were bright and music was in his heart,--in spite of the dark
menace of these northern woodlands. He was not afraid: rather he seemed
to be getting a keen enjoyment out of the afternoon's ride. And the
great truth suddenly came to her that in his strength lay hers, that she
had entrusted her welfare to him and for the present, at least, it was
secure. And she put her own cares away.

She would not have admitted that she had simply followed the example of
the uncounted millions of women that had preceded her through the long
reaches of the centuries that had found strength and peace in the
shelter of a strong man's arm. She only knew that her mind no longer
dwelt on danger, but it had marvelously opened to receive the image of
the grim but ineffable beauty of this wild land through which she rode.
She felt secure, and she began to have an intangible but ever-increasing
deligh