pounded. He forgot everything but that he loved this woman
with a love beyond his power to reason.

"I don't think that I could live without you now, Josephine," he cried
in a low voice. "And I swear to make you love me. It must come. It is
inconceivable that I cannot make you love me--loving you as I do."

She looked at him clearly now. She seemed suddenly to become tense and
vibrant with a new and wonderful strength.

"I must be fair with you," she said. "You are a man whose love most
women would be proud to possess. And yet--it is not in my power to
accept that love, or give myself to you. There is another to whom you
must go."

"And that is--"

"Peter God!"

It was she who leaned forward now, her eyes burning, her bosom rising
and falling with the quickness of her breath.

"You must go to Peter God," she said. "You must take a letter to
him--from me. And it will be for him--for Peter God--to say whether I
am to be your wife. You are honorable. You will be fair with me. You
will take the letter to him. And I will be fair with you. I will be
your wife, I will try hard to care for you--if Peter God--says--"

Her voice broke. She covered her face, and for a moment, too stunned to
speak, Philip looked at her while her slender form trembled with sobs.
She had bowed her head, and for the first time he reached out and laid
his hand upon the soft glory of her hair. Its touch set aflame every
fiber in him. Hope swept through him, crushing his fears like a
juggernaut. It would be a simple task to go to Peter God! He was
tempted to take her in his arms. A moment more, and he would have
caught her to him, but the weight of his hand on her head roused her,
and she raised her face, and drew back. His arms were reaching out. She
saw what was in his eyes.

"Not now," she said. "Not until you have gone to him. Nothing in the
world will be too great a reward for you if you are fair with me, for
you are taking a chance. In the end you may receive nothing. For if
Peter God says that I cannot be your wife, I cannot. He must be the
arbiter. On those conditions, will you go?"

"Yes, I will go," said Philip.

It was early in August when Philip reached Edmonton. From there he took
the new line of rail to Athabasca Landing; it was September when he
arrived at Fort McMurray and found Pierre Gravois, a half-breed, who
was to accompany him by canoe up to Fort MacPherson. Before leaving
this final outpost, whence the real journey in