ne to what he was seeking ahead. And
then, a minute later, he drew in a great gasping breath of unbelief and
horror.

For the settlement was no longer in the clearing between him and the
rim-glow of the moon. No living tree raised its head against the sky, no
sign of cabin or mill shadowed the earth, and where the store had been,
and the little church with its white-painted cross, was only a chaos of
empty gloom.

He went down, as he had gone to the tie cutter's cabin, and for many
minutes he stared and listened, while Peter seemed to stand without
breathing. Then making a wide megaphone of his hands, he shouted. It was
an alarming thing to do and Peter started as if struck. For there were
only ghosts to answer back and the hollowness of a shriven pit for the
cry to travel in. Nothing was there. Even the great sawdust piles had
shrunk into black scars under the scourge of the fire.

A groaning agony was in the breath of Jolly Roger's lips as he went back
to the railroad and hurried on Death must have come here, death sudden
and swift. And if it had fallen upon the Finnish settlement, with its
strong women and its stronger men, what might it not have done in the
cabin of the little old gray Missioner--and Nada?

For a long time after that he forgot Peter was with him. He forgot
everything but his desire to reach a living thing. At times, where the
road-bed was smooth, he almost ran, and at others he paused for a little
to gather his breath and listen. And it was Peter, in one of these
intervals, who caught the first message of life. From a long distance
away came faintly the barking of a dog.

Half a mile farther on they came to a clearing where no stubs of trees
stood up like question marks against the sky, and in this clearing was a
cabin, a dark blotch that was without light or sound. But from behind it
the dog barked again, and Jolly Roger made quickly toward it. Here there
was no ash under his feet, and he knew that at last he had found an
oasis of life in the desolation. Loudly he knocked with his fist at the
cabin door and soon there was a response inside, the heavy movement of a
man's body getting out of bed, and after that the questioning voice of
a woman. He knocked again and the flare of a lighted match illumined the
window. Then came the drawing of a bar at the door and a man stood there
in his night attire, a man with a heavy face and bristling beard, and a
lamp in his hand.

"I beg your pardon for wa