THE BRAVEST WOMAN HE EVER KNEW
IX THE DUNES OF THE COLUMBIA
X A WOMAN'S HEART-STRINGS
XI THE LOOPHOLE
XII "WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY"
XIII "A LITTLE STREAK OF LUCK"
XIV ON BOARD THE AQUILA
XV THE STORY OF THE TENAS PAPOOSE
XVI THE ALTERNATIVE
XVII "ALL THESE THINGS WILL I GIVE THEE"
XVIII THE OPTION
XIX LUCKY BANKS AND THE PINK CHIFFON
XX KERNEL AND PEACH
XXI FOSTER'S HOUR
XXII AS MAN TO MAN
XXIII THE DAY OF PUBLICATION
XXIV SNOWBOUND IN THE ROCKIES AND "FIT AS A MOOSE"
XXV THE IDES OF MARCH
XXVI THE EVERLASTING DOOR
XXVII KISMET, AN ACT OF GOD
XXVIII SURRENDER
XXIX BACK TO HESPERIDES VALE
XXX THE JUNIOR DEFENDANT
XXXI TISDALE OF ALASKA--AND WASHINGTON, D.C.
XXXII THE OTHER DOCUMENT
XXXIII THE CALF-BOUND NOTEBOOK

THE RIM OF THE DESERT

CHAPTER I

THE MAN WHO NEVER CAME BACK

It is in October, when the trails over the wet tundra harden, and before
the ice locks Bering Sea, that the Alaska exodus sets towards Seattle; but
there were a few members of the Arctic Circle in town that first evening
in September to open the clubhouse on the Lake Boulevard with an informal
little supper for special delegate Feversham, who had arrived on the
steamer from the north, on his way to Washington.

The clubhouse, which was built of great, hewn logs, with gabled eaves,
stood in a fringe of firs, and an upper rear balcony afforded a broad
outlook of lake and forest, with the glaciered heights of the Cascade
Mountains breaking a far horizon. The day had been warm, but a soft
breeze, drawing across this veranda through the open door, cooled the
assembly room, and, lifting one of the lighter hangings of Indian-wrought
elk leather, found the stairs and raced with a gentle rustle through the
lower front entrance back into the night. It had caressed many familiar
things on its way, for the walls were embellished with trophies from the
big spaces where winds are born. There were skins of polar and Kodiak
bear; of silver and black fox; there were antlered heads set above the
fireplace and on the rough, bark-seamed pillars that supported the
unceiled roof. A frieze of pressed and framed Alaska flora finished the
low gallery which extended around three sides of the hall, and the massive
chairs, like the polished banquet board, were of crocus-yellow Alaska
cedar.

The delegate, who had come out to tide-water over the Fairbanks-Valdez
trail, was describing w