Project Gutenberg's God's Country--And the Woman, by James Oliver Curwood

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Title: God's Country--And the Woman

Author: James Oliver Curwood

Posting Date: August 14, 2009 [EBook #4585]
Release Date: October, 2003
First Posted: February 12, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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God's Country--And the Woman

By

James Oliver Curwood

Author of "The Honor of the Big Snows," "Philip Steele," Etc.

CHAPTER ONE

Philip Weyman's buoyancy of heart was in face of the fact that he had
but recently looked upon Radisson's unpleasant death, and that he was
still in a country where the water flowed north. He laughed and he
sang. His heart bubbled over with cheer. He talked to himself frankly
and without embarrassment, asked himself questions, answered them,
discussed the beauties of nature and the possibilities of storm as if
there were three or four of him instead of one.

At the top end of the world a man becomes a multiple being--if he is
white. Two years along the rim of the Arctic had taught Philip the
science by which a man may become acquainted with himself, and in
moments like the present, when both his mental and physical spirits
overflowed, he even went so far as to attempt poor Radisson's "La Belle
Marie" in the Frenchman's heavy basso, something between a dog's sullen
growl and the low rumble of distant thunder. It made him cough. And
then he laughed again, scanning the narrowing sweep of the lake ahead
of him.

He felt like a boy, and he chuckled as he thought of the definite
reason for it. For twenty-three months he had been like a piece of
rubber stretched to a tension--sometimes almost to the snapping point.
Now had come the reaction, and he was going HOME. Home! It was that one
word that caused a shadow to flit over his face, and only once or twice
had he forgotten and let it slip between his lips. At least he was
returning to civilization--getting AWAY from the everlasting drone of
breaking ice and the cl