ding the beautiful face before
him. He was gazing into the hazel depths of Nancy's eyes without a sign.
He had noted everything as the girl had come down the gangway. The
height, the graceful carriage in the long plucked-beaver coat which
terminated just above the trim ankles in their silken, almost
transparent, hose. Not even at Captain Hardy's pronouncement of her name
had he yielded a sign. And yet--

"Miss--Nancy McDonald?"

Bat's tone had lost its usual roughness. His mind had leapt back over
many years to a time when he had been concerned for that name in a way
that had stirred him to great warmth. He smiled. It was a baffling,
somewhat derisive smile.

"You're the lady representing the--Skandinavia?" he added.

"Why, yes," Nancy cried, "and I feel I want to thank you for the
privilege of obtaining even an outside view of your wonderful, wonderful
place here."

Bat raked thoughtfully at the stubble on his chin.

"If you feel that way, Miss, it'll hand me pleasure to show you and tell
you about things," he said. "You come right out of what the folks around
here like to call the enemy camp, but it don't matter a little bit. Not
a little bit. The whole of Sachigo's standin' wide open for you to walk
through." Then he dashed his hand across his face to clear the voracious
mosquitoes. "But if we stop around here mor'n ha'f another minute, the
memory you'll mostly carry away with you from Labrador'll be
skitters--an' nothing much else. Will you come right along up to Mr.
Sternford's office? It's quite a piece up the hill, which helps to keep
it clear of skitters an' things?"

Nancy laughed. Her early impression of the super-lumberjack had passed.
The man's smile was beyond words in its kindliness. His deep, twinkling
eyes were full of appeal.

"Why, surely," she assented. "If you'll show me the way I'll be glad.
The flies and things are certainly thick, and as I intend leaving
Sachigo with happy memories, well--"

"Come right along. I'm here for just that purpose."

As they made their way up the woodland trail they talked together with
an easy intimacy. Nancy was young. She was full of the joy of life, full
of real enthusiasm. And this rough creature with his ready smile
appealed to her. His frank, open way was something so far removed from
that which prevailed under the Skandinavia's rule.

For Bat, the walk up from the quayside was one of the many milestones in
his chequered life. He talked readily. He l