desk
where it had been pushed aside to make room for a rough sketch of the
camp with its outreaching skidways and cross-hauls, lay a small volume.

"And Southey!" she exclaimed under her breath, and picked up the book.
It was "Madoc," and three lines, heavily underscored, stood boldly out
upon the page:

"Three things a wise man will not trust,
The wind, the sunshine of an April day,
And woman's plighted faith."

Over and over she read the lines, and, returning the book to its place,
pondered, as she allowed her glance to rove again over the little room
whose every detail bespoke intense masculinity.

"I might at least be nice to him," she murmured. "Maybe the girl _was_
horrid. And he is 'way up here, trying to forget!" Unconsciously she
repeated the words of her Uncle Appleton: "He _has_ made good."

And then there flashed through her mind the words of the guide: "She is
beautiful, and she loves him. She accompanied him for three days and
three nights on the trail to the land of the white man, and he promised
that he would come again into the woods and protect her from harm."

"This Indian girl," she whispered--"she loves him, and he persuaded her
to accompany him, and when they drew near to civilization he sent her
back--with a promise!"

Her lips thinned and the hot blood mounted to her cheeks. No matter
what conditions sent this man into the woods, there could be no
justification for _that_. She shuddered as she drew her skirts away
where they brushed lightly against the blankets of his bunk, and turned
toward the door.

And just at that moment the door opened, and in the gathering darkness
a man stood framed in the doorway. She drew back, startled, and with
the swiftness of light her glance swept him from the top of his cap to
the soles of his heavy boots.

He was a large man whose features were concealed by a thick beard. His
fringed and beautifully embroidered shirt of buckskin was open at the
throat, as if to allow free play to the mighty muscles of his
well-formed neck.

Only a few seconds he stood thus, and with a swift movement removed the
cap from his head.

"You will pardon me," he said, and his eyes sought hers; "I did not
know any one was here."

At the first sound of his voice the girl started. One quick step, and
she stood before him, staring into his eyes. She felt her flesh grow
cold, and her heart seemed gripped between the jaws of a mighty vise.

"_You!_" she gasped,