e eyes that were looking at him.
He had never seen such eyes. They were like violet amethysts. Her face
was dead white. It was beautiful. And she was young. She was not over
twenty, it flashed upon him--but she had gone through a hell.

"Don't let me alarm you," he said, speaking gently. "I am Philip Raine
of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police."

It did not surprise him that she made no answer. As plainly as if she
had spoken it he had in those few swift moments read the story in her
face. His heart choked him as he waited for her lips to move. It was a
mystery to him afterward why he accepted the situation so utterly as he
stood there. He had no question to ask, and there was no doubt in his
mind. He knew that he would kill Bram Johnson when the moment arrived.

The girl had not seemed to breathe, but now she drew in her breath in a
great gasp. He could see the sudden throb of her breast under her hair,
but the frightened light did not leave her eyes even when he repeated
the words he had spoken. Suddenly she ran to the window, and Philip saw
the grip of her hands at the sill as she looked out. Through the gate
Bram was driving his wolves. When she faced him again, her eyes had in
them the look of a creature threatened by a whip. It amazed and
startled him. As he advanced a step she cringed back from him. It
struck him then that her face was like the face of an angel--filled
with a mad horror. She reached out her bare arms to hold him back, and
a strange pleading cry came from her lips.

The cry stopped him like a shot. He knew that she had spoken to him.
And yet he had not understood! He tore open his coat and the sunlight
fell on his bronze insignia of the Service. Its effect on her amazed
him even more than had her sudden fear of him. It occurred to him
suddenly that with a two weeks' ragged growth of beard on his face he
must look something like a beast himself. She had feared him, as she
feared Bram, until she saw the badge.

"I am Philip Raine, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police," he repeated
again. "I have come up here especially to help you, if you need help. I
could have got Bram farther back, but there was a reason why I didn't
want him until I found his cabin. That reason was you. Why are you here
with a madman and a murderer?"

She was watching him intently. Her eyes were on his lips, and into her
face--white a few moments before--had risen swiftly a flush of color.
He saw the dread die out of her