. He would point to the cabin of the Widow, then to the cabin of
the Poet, and gravely shake his head. The man was heard to couple the
two names together. At last Sandy shook this man off, and went on his
way with anything but a satisfied look.

After an open demonstration like that, the camp felt that it was
privileged to speak openly what it had seriously but silently noted
before. It had now three topics to talk about: the departure of the
Parson, the courtship of Sandy, but now above all and chiefly the secret
and frequent visits of the Poet to the Widow's cabin.

CHAPTER XIII.

AN ANNOUNCEMENT.

One day a miner laid his two fingers cross-wise, and twisting his head
to one side as he spirted a stream of tobacco juice across the saloon,
said: "Sandy is a infernal fool." The men winked, and he went on. "He
wants to marry that ere Widow. Wal, now, that ere Widow is in love with
that ere boy. Nobody to blame. You see if the Widow loves the boy that's
the Widow's bizness, not mine; only Sandy mustn't be a fool.
Besides,"--and here the man's voice sank low, and he looked around as if
he feared a Danite might be standing at his elbow--"besides, its my
private opinion that that ere Widow is _the_ Nancy Williams."

It was late in the Fall, and it certainly must have been a cold, frosty
morning, for Sandy's teeth chattered together as if he had an ague, when
he told the Judge.

In fact, he stood around the Howling Wilderness more than half a day,
but he could not, or at least would not drink, though he did very many
foolish things, and seemed ill at ease and troubled in a way that was
new to him.

At last he got the Judge to one side. He took him by the collar with
both hands, he backed him up in a corner, and, as he did so, his teeth
chattered and ground together as if he stood half-naked on the
everlasting snows that surrounded them. He pushed his face down into the
red apple-like face of the magistrate, and began as if he was about to
reveal the most terrible crime in the annals of the world. All the time
he was holding on to the Judge with both hands, as if he feared he might
not listen to his proposal, but tear away and attempt to escape.

At last Sandy drew a sharp, short breath, and blurted out what he had to
say, as if it was tearing out his lungs.

"Good, good!"

The Judge drew a long breath. He swelled out to nearly twice his usual
importance. You could have seen him grow.

It was now the Judge