e coldest listener. The woman beside him trembled
and lifted her hand to her throat.

"I can't remember all she told me," he went on, "but her husband had left
her in Seattle when he started north, and the next season, when he failed
to return for her, she had sailed to Seward in search of him. She had
tried to influence him to give up the placer, when she saw the change in
him; at least to go down to one of the coast towns and take up the work
for which he had prepared, but he had delayed, with promises, until he was
beyond listening to her.

"'Of course he may stumble on riches any hour, as he believes,' she said
finally, 'but not all the comforts or luxuries in the world are worth the
price.' She did not break down, as she had in the cabin, but somehow I
could hear the tears falling in her voice. I can yet, and see them big and
shining deep in her eyes.

"But she was off again, making up the delay, before I could fasten my
pack, and when I overtook her in a level stretch and halted a moment to
frolic with the dog, her face brightened. Then she spoke of a little trick
she had taught him,--to go and meet his master and fetch his hat to her.
Sometimes she had hidden it in shrubs, or among rocks, but invariably he
had brought it home.

"At last we made a turn and saw the front of the glacier that closed the
top of the gorge. The stream gushed from a cavern at the foot, and above
the noise of water sounded the grinding and roaring of subterranean forces
at work. Once in a while a stone was hurled through. But that is
impossible to explain. You must have been on intimate terms with a glacier
to grasp the magnitude. Still, try to imagine the ice arching that cave
like a bridge and lifting back, rimmed in moraine, far and away to the
great white dome. And it was all wrapped in a fine Alpine splendor, so
that she stopped beside me in a sort of hushed wonder to look. But I could
hear her breath, laboring hard and quick, and she rocked uncertainly on
her feet. I laid my hand on her arm to steady her. It was time we turned
back. For half an hour I had been gathering courage to tell her so. While
I hesitated, allowing her a few minutes to take in the glory, the setter
ran nosing ahead, up over the wreckage along the edge of the glacier, and
on across the bridge. I waited until he disappeared in a small pocket,
then began: 'You know, madam, what all this color means. These twilights
linger, and it will be easier traveling down-