nd not an American; she was that, too,
an Alaskan first of all, and for Alaska she would go on fighting with
him, hand in hand, until the very end. His heart throbbed until it
seemed it would break, and all the time she was whispering her hopes and
secrets to him he stroked her silken hair, until it lay spread over his
breast, and against his lips, and for the first time in years a hot
flood of tears filled his eyes.

So happiness came to them; and only strange voices outside raised Mary's
head from where it lay, and took her quickly to the window where she
stood a vision of sweet loveliness, radiant in the tumbled confusion and
glory of her hair. Then she turned with a little cry, and her eyes were
shining like stars as she looked at Alan.

"It is Amuk Toolik," she said. "He has returned."

"And--is he alone?" Alan asked, and his heart stood still while he
waited for her answer.

Demurely she came to his side, and smoothed his pillow, and stroked back
his hair. "I must go and do up my hair, Alan," she said then. "It would
never do for them to find me like this."

And suddenly, in a moment, their fingers entwined and tightened, for on
the roof of Sokwenna's cabin the little gray-cheeked thrush was
singing again.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALASKAN***

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