t tendering of this bold invitation disarmed Colina. She
hesitated. He went on with a touch of boyish eagerness: "There's only
a traveler's grub, of course. I got a fish on a night-line this
morning. Also there's a prairie chicken roasted yesterday."

A self-deceiving argument ran through Colina's brain like quick-silver:
"If I go, I shall be tormented by the feeling that he got the best of
me; if I stay a while I can put him in his place!"

She dismounted. The young man turned abruptly to tie Ginger to the
poplar-tree, but even in the boundary of his cheek Colina read his
beaming happiness.

With scarcely another glance at her he plunged down the bank and set to
work over his fire. Colina sedately followed and seated herself on a
boulder to wait until she should be served.

Now that he no longer looked at her, Colina could not help watching
him. A dangerous softness began to work in her breast; he was so
boyish, so clumsy, so anxious to entertain her fittingly--his
unconsciousness of her nearness was such a transparent assumption.

Colina was alarmed by her own weakness. She looked resolutely at the
dog.

He was a mongrel black and tan, bigger than a terrier, and he had a
ridiculous curly tail. He had received her with an insulting air of
indifference.

"What an ugly dog!" Colina said coolly.

The young man swung around and affectionately rubbed the dog's ear.

"The best sporting dog in Athabasca," he said promptly, but without any
resentment.

Colina bit her lip again. It seemed as if everything she did was mean.
"Of course his looks haven't anything to do with his good qualities,"
she said. Here she was apologizing.

"He's almost human," said the young man. "I talk to him like a person."

"Come here, dog," said Colina.

The animal was suddenly stricken with deafness.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Job."

"Come here, Job!" said Colina coaxingly.

Job looked out across the river.

"Job!" said his master sternly.

The dog sprang to him as if they had been parted for years, and
frantically licked his hand. This display of boundless affection was
suspiciously self-conscious.

The young man led him to Colina's feet. "Mind your manners!" he
commanded.

Job in utter abasement offered her a limp paw. She touched it, and he
scampered back to his former place with an air of relief, and turning
his back to her lay down again. It cannot be said that his enforced
obedience made her fe