of the men
might--provided his heart did not leap out of his breast before he
reached her.

It did not. But as they passed he received the shock of his life.
Whatever it was he expected from her, an angry scowl maybe, or an
appealing look, or a scornfully averted head, he did not get it. She
raised calm, smiling eyes to his and said provokingly:

"Hello, Sam!"

That was what he had meant to do, but it missed fire. He found himself
gaping clownishly at her. For something had leaped out of her eyes
into his, something sweet and terrible and strange that threw him into
a hopeless confusion.

He whipped up his horses and banged down the trail. All night he
tossed in his blankets, hungry and exasperated beyond bearing. Cursing
her brought him no satisfaction at all. It rang hollowly.

As the days passed, stories of another kind reached Sam's ears. It
appeared that many of Bela's boarders desired to marry her,
particularly the four settlers who had first arrived. They had offered
themselves in due form, it was said, and, much to the satisfaction of
the company in general, had been turned down in positive terms.

Whether or not this was precisely true, Husky Marr suddenly sold out
his outfit and went out on a York boat, while Black Shand Fraser
packed up his and trekked over to the Spirit River. Later word came
back that he had built himself a raft, and had gone down to Fort
Ochre, the farthest point that white men had reached.

The other two stuck it out. Big Jack Skinner philosophically abandoned
his pretensions, but Joe Hagland would not take his answer. He
continued to besiege Bela, and the general opinion was that he would
wear her out in the end. All of which did not help smooth Sam's
pillow.

Another piece of news was that old Musq'oosis had come to live with
Bela and help her run her place. That night on his way back Sam saw
that a teepee had been pitched beside the road near the
stopping-house. In the end, as was inevitable, Sam began to argue with
himself as to the wisdom of his course in staying away from Bela's.

"Every time they see me drive past it revives the story in their
minds," he told himself. "They'll think I'm afraid of her. She'll
think I'm afraid of her. I've got to show them all. I'm just making a
fool of myself staying away. It's only a public eating-house. My
money's as good as anybody else's, I guess. I'll never make good with
the gang until I can mix with them there as if nothing had h