t back anyway."

"No." An-ina sighed. For a moment her smile died out, and her wistful
gaze was unconsciously turned towards the North. It only encountered the
crude interior of the storage sheds where the canoes and trail gear
were usually kept. One of the sheds was standing empty.

Presently her eyes came back to the man's face, and they were smiling
confidently again.

"He come--bimeby. Yes."

Even in the midst of his own troubles Marcel could never be forgetful of
this devoted creature.

"He certainly will," he said, in no doubtful fashion. "He'll be along
before the Sleepers wake. Say, An-ina, I'm not wise to many things. But
there's one I know, like--like nothing else. The North can't beat Uncle
Steve."

The dark eyes lit with a feeling which even Marcel realized.

"Marcel good. But An-ina, too, know he come--sure."

The woman paused with her gaze again turned upon the sheds, and after a
moment she looked deeply, earnestly into the eyes of the man who held
her mother love.

"That why An-ina say to Marcel now," she went on. "She think much. Oh,
yes. An-ina think much--this white girl who mak' Marcel all much happy.
She far away. Long, long by the trail. Maybe she come where Marcel say
when the river all break up. It all long piece 'way. Marcel wait while
river him break, then long-piece 'way river break too. So. This Keeko
girl she come by river. No? She mak' trail. She think Marcel not come.
He no more care find Keeko. So. Marcel go all heap sick. No Keeko--no
nothing."

The woman's halting words lost nothing of their purpose in their
limitations. Marcel's brows drew sharply together in alarm at the
prospect she painted for him. Then, after a moment, he passed a hand
across his forehead as though to brush his fears aside.

"But Uncle Steve's not back yet," he said, as though the fact clinched
all argument finally.

An-ina, however, had no intention of accepting any such finality. She
shook her head.

"That all so. Oh, yes," she said. "Uncle Steve not come back long
whiles. But he come back. When him come An-ina say: 'Good. Much good.'
Then An-ina say: 'Marcel lose all up white girl, Keeko. Bad. Much bad.
No good--nothing.'" She shook her head. "Marcel go now. Take plenty dog.
Sled. Canoe. Oh, yes. Take all thing. Reindeer. Everything plenty. So.
When river all break Marcel find white girl, Keeko. He bring Keeko to
An-ina. An-ina much happy. Uncle Steve happy--too."

The woman drove straight to t