might do?
By this time she was stranded high and dry among breakers innumerable,
with never the slightest outlook towards safety. The few dollars in
her pockets offered no possibility of return. This man might give her
enough to get back, if she asked him. It was the least he could do.
But she would rather have torn out her tongue than ask him for money.
And it would only be going back to that dreadful city in which she had
suffered so much. No, it was unthinkable! Better by far for her to lie
down somewhere in that great forest and die. And now she was about to
see more strangers and remain over night in new surroundings. Where
would she drift to after that?

She made a gesture of despair. Her down-hanging arms straightened
rigidly at her side, with the fists clenched as when one seeks to be
brave in the face of impending agony. Her head was thrown back and her
eyes nearly closed. In that position she remained for a moment, her
brain whirling, her head on fire with a burning pain. Then the tension
relaxed a little and she cast another look about her, without seeing
anything, after which she pushed the door open and stepped out upon
the crunching snow.

Hugo rose at once, albeit somewhat stiffly, and spoke to the dog who
stood up, with head turned to watch the proceedings.

"I don't think I'd better take the trunk on this trip," he explained.
"It would make a rather heavy load for just one dog. We'll take your
bag, of course, and I can bring the trunk over to-morrow morning. It
will be perfectly safe there by the road. We haven't any thieves in
this country, that I know of. Now will you please sit down there, in
the middle. Maigan will pull you all right. I'll get the blankets."

"But--couldn't I walk? You said it was only a mile. I--I think I could
manage that," ventured Madge, dully.

"I don't think you could," he answered. "I'm sure you're quite played
out. In some places the snow is bound to be soft. I could give you a
pair of snowshoes but you wouldn't know how to use them and they'd
tire you to death. You've already had a pretty hard day, I know.
Maigan won't mind it in the least. He'd take the trunk, too, readily
enough, but that would make slow going."

She obeyed. What did she care? What difference could it make? He
wrapped the blankets over her, after she had sat down on an old
wolfskin he had covered the sled with. After this he took a long line
attached to the toboggan and passed it over his right sh