the bulkhead of boughs; the buggy heeled lower,
lower; then, at the final angle, began to right while the rope strung
taut. The narrowest point was passed, and Tisdale stopped a breathing
space.

It was characteristic of the man to see the humor of the situation in that
moment while he stood wiping the perspiration from his face. Jove, how
Foster would enjoy seeing him labor like this for a girl. He imagined the
boy sitting up there at some coign of vantage on the bluff, admonishing,
advising him dryly, while he laughed in his sleeve. It was undeniably
funny. Alone, with one of Lighter's saddle-horses under him, his baggage
secured behind the saddle, he might have been threading the dunes of the
Columbia now. This incipient slide need not have caused him ten minutes'
delay, and eight, nine o'clock at the latest, would have found him putting
up for the night at the hotel in Wenatchee. But here he was hardly over
the divide; it was almost sunset, but he was dragging a buggy by hand
around a mountain top. He hoped Foster never would find out what he had
paid for these bays--the team of huskies that had carried him the long
trek from Nome to the Aurora mine and on through Rainy Pass had cost less.
Still, under the circumstances, would not Foster himself have done the
same? She was no ordinary woman; she was more than pretty, more than
attractive; there was no woman like her in all the world. To travel this
little journey with her, listen to her, watch her charms unfold, was worth
the price. And if it had fallen to Foster, if he were here now to feel the
spell of her, that Spanish woman would lose her hold. Then he remembered
that Foster knew her; she had admitted that. It was inconceivable, but he
had known her at the time he confessed his infatuation for Weatherbee's
wife. The amusement went out of Tisdale's face. He bent, frowning, to free
the buggy of the rope.

It was then Miss Armitage, exhilarated at his success, hurried forward
from the bend. "Oh," she cried radiantly, "how resourceful, how strong you
are. It looked simply impossible; I couldn't guess what you meant to do,
and now we have only to hitch the team and drive on to Wenatchee. But,"
she added gravely and shook her head, "it was defying Fate."

He turned, regarding her from under still cloudy brows, though the genial
lines began to deepen anew. "I told you Fate was on our side. She threw
those boughs there in easy reach. She might as well have said: 'There