he
wind blew free. In the shelter of the bottom the wind had not stripped
the trees of their loads as it had those along the river. The willows,
maples, and soft woods bent almost to earth with their shining burden;
but the stout, stiffly upstanding trees, the oaks, elms, and
cottonwoods defied the elements to bow their proud heads. While the
three mighty trunks of the great sycamore in the middle looked white as
the snow, and dwarfed its companions as it never had in summer; its
wide-spreading branches were sharply cut against the blue background,
and they tossed their frosted balls in the face of Heaven. The giant of
Rainbow Bottom might be broken, but it never would bend. Every
clambering vine, every weed and dried leaf wore a coat of lace-webbed
frostwork. The wind swept a mist of tiny crystals through the air, and
from the shelter of the deep woods across the river a Cardinal whistled
gayly.

The bird of Good Cheer, whistling no doubt on an empty crop, made
Dannie think of Jimmy, and his unfailing fountain of mirth. Dear Jimmy!
Would he ever take life seriously? How good he was to tramp to town and
back after five miles on the ice. He thought of Mary with almost a
touch of impatience. What did the woman want that was so necessary as
to send a man to town after a day on the ice? Jimmy would be dog tired
when he got home. Dannie decided to hurry, and do the feeding and get
in the wood before he began to skin the rats.

He found walking uncertain. He plunged into unsuspected hollows, and
waded drifts, so that he was panting when he reached the lane. From
there he caught the gray curl of smoke against the sky from one of two
log cabins side by side at the top of the embankment, and he almost ran
toward them. Mary might think they were late at the traps, and be out
doing the feeding, and it would be cold for a woman.

On reaching his own door, he dropped the rat bags inside, and then
hurried to the yard of the other cabin. He gathered a big load of wood
in his arms, and stamping the snow from his feet, called "Open!" at the
door. Dannie stepped inside and filled the empty box. With smiling eyes
he turned to Mary, as he brushed the snow and moss from his sleeves.

"Nothing but luck to-day," he said. "Jimmy took elivin fine skins frae
his traps before he started to town, and I got five more that are his,
and I hae eight o' my own."

Mary looked such a dream to Dannie, standing there all pink and warm
and tidy in her