and indeed, often
laughed, but one got a hint of reserve and unobtrusive strength. He did
not display his qualities, as some of the professors and business men
she knew had done, but she imagined they would be seen if there was
need.

"In a sense, the North is disappointing," she remarked. "I expected to
feel rather overwhelmed, but I'm not."

"Wait," said Thirlwell, smiling. "After a few hundred miles of lonely
trail you'll know the country better. I don't want you to get to love
it; but in the wilderness love often goes with fear."

"Once I thought that impossible," Agatha replied. "Now I don't know. I'm
beginning to recognize that I'm not as modern as I thought. But have you
ever been frankly afraid of the wilds?"

"Often. When you meet the snow on the frozen trail, a hundred miles from
shelter, mind and body shrink. Perhaps it's worse when all that stands
for warmth and life is loaded on the hand-sledge you haul across the
rotten ice. Then it's significant that the _Metis_ are sometimes more
afraid than white men. They know the country better."

"They haven't the civilized man's intellect. Ignorance breeds
superstition that makes men cowards."

"That's so, to some extent," Thirlwell agreed. "I suppose superstition
is man's fear of dangers he can't understand and his wish to propitiate
the unknown powers that rule such things. You and I call these powers
natural forces, for which we have our weights and measures; but I must
own that the measures are often found defective when applied to mining.
I've met rock-borers who would sooner trust a mascot than a scientific
rule."

"We are a curious people," Agatha remarked with a laugh. "But you passed
a smooth beach with good shade where the river runs out. Why did you
come on here?"

"The other's the regular camping spot. I remembered that you don't like
old provision cans."

Agatha was pleased. He had thought about her and remembered her
dislikes. While she wondered how she could tactfully thank him, he went
on--

"Besides, I wanted to make another mile or two. A good day's journey is
important."

"Would a mile or two make much difference?"

"You would have to take the distance off at the other end. The economy
of travel in the North is sternly simple, and transport's the main
difficulty. You can travel a fixed distance on a fixed quantity of food,
and how much you take depends on the skill and number of your packers.
Good men get good wages and money doe