and cold. When
supper was over and they sat by the fire she did not want to talk, and,
going to her tent, soon fell asleep.

Next day they poled against the current and paddled, in bright sunshine,
across a lake. At noon they camped among short junipers, and the next
morning carried the empty canoes, upside down, across a rocky point. It
cost twelve hours' labor, relaying the loads, to make the portage, and
then they launched upon another lake. After two more days they left the
canoes, covered with fir-branches, on a beach, and pushed inland. A
narrow trail led them across a high divide, seamed by deep gullies,
where stunted pines and juniper grew among the rocks, and they portaged
the loads by stages, carrying part for an hour or two, and then going
back. Agatha was surprised to see how much a man could carry with the
help of properly adjusted straps.

When the divide was crossed they found two canoes by the bank of a small
creek, down which they drifted with the swift current. Then there was a
chain of lakes, veiled in mist and rain, and after making a portage they
reached a wider stream. They followed it down through tangled woods and
when they camped late one evening, Agatha sat silent by the fire, trying
to retrace their journey and speculating about what lay ahead. For the
most part, her memory was blurred, and hazy pictures floated through her
mind of lonely camps among the boulders and small pine-trunks, of
breathless men dragging the canoes up angry rapids, and carrying heavy
loads across slippery rocks. Their track across the wilderness was
marked by little heaps of ashes and white chips scattered about fallen
trees.

But some of the memories were sharp; there was the evening she found
Thirlwell carrying her belongings a double stage in order that she might
have all she needed when they camped. He panted as he leaned against a
tree and his face and hair were wet; she felt moved but angry that he
had exhausted himself for her. She did not want him to think she knew
what her comfort cost and was willing to let him buy it at such a price.
She remembered that she had begun to speculate rather often about what
he thought.

Then there was the morning they saw a half-covered rock a few yards off
in the foam of a furious rapid. She had tried to brace herself for the
shock, expecting next moment to be thrown into the water, but Thirlwell
with a sweep of the paddle ran the canoe past. So far, he had never
failed in