men raised the body of the
miner; he was dead. The people pressed round, and one glance at the set
face told them. A momentary awe spread amongst them, and the men who had
raised the body carried it to a bench and laid it there. Stephen, pallid
as the dead man himself, looked round in desperation on the staring
crowd.

"Is there a surgeon or a doctor here?" he asked.

Katrine heard him, and raised herself a little in Talbot's arms; he was
standing against the wall now. She turned her eyes towards Stephen and
stretched out her hand.

"It's no use, Steve, dear," she said; "I'm done for. Don't worry with a
doctor. I shall be gone in five minutes."

Stephen dropped on his knees and seized the little soft brown hand
extended to him, covering it with kisses.

"Oh no, no, don't say it," he said in a voice suffocated with anguish,
heedless of the staring faces around. Some of the mob looked on with
interest, some turned back to their own tables, others went down on
their hands and knees to scrape up the scattered gold dust that had
mixed in the trampled sawdust.

"Lay me a little flatter," she murmured to Talbot, and he sank on one
knee and so supported her, her head resting on his arm.

"If we could get her to the air," Stephen exclaimed.

"No, the moving pains me; let me be," she replied. "I tell you I'm
dying."

Stephen groaned.

"Pray then, pray now. Oh, Katie dear, pray before it is too late. Aren't
you afraid to die like this, in this place?"

Katrine shook her head wearily. "No, I don't think I've ever been
afraid," she murmured.

"Did I kill him?" she asked a second later, opening her eyes.

Talbot looked down and nodded. Stephen's voice was too choked for
utterance.

"I'm glad of that," she murmured, letting her eyes close again; "I never
missed a shot yet."

"Oh, Katie, Katie," moaned Stephen. The room was black to him; it seemed
as if he saw hell opening to swallow up for ever his beloved one.

Katrine opened her eyes at his agonised cry.

"Now, Steve, it can't be helped; I'm dying, and it's all right. I only
don't want you to worry over it. Nothing is worth worrying for in this
world. And I guess we'll all meet again very soon in a warmer place than
Alaska."

Stephen, utterly broken down, could only sob upon her hand.

Talbot felt a sort of rigor passing through the form he held, and
thought she was dying. He was stirred to the innermost depths of his
being by her act. She had stepped so c