she
comforted him, his head against her breast. "Don't you know I'll lead
you?" she cried, a world of pleading in her tone. "Oh, Bill--you
can't give up. You must try. If you die, I'll die too--here beside
you. Oh, Bill--don't you know I need you?"

The words stirred and wakened him more than all her first aid. She
needed him; she was pleading to him to get up and go on. Could he
refuse that appeal? Could any wish of hers, as long as he lived and was
able to strive for her, go ungranted? The blood mounted through his
veins, awakened. A mysterious strength flowed back into his thews.

There could be no further question of giving up. He struggled with
himself, and his voice was almost his own when he spoke. "Give me more
food--and more whisky," he commanded. "Take some yourself too--you'll
have to help me a lot going home. And give me your hands."

He struggled to his feet. He reeled, nearly fell; but her arms held him
up. She gave him more chocolate and a swallow of the burning liquid.

"It's a race against time," she told him. "If I can get you into the
cabin before the reaction comes, I can save you. Try with every muscle
you've got, Bill--for me!"

She need make no other appeal. She took his hand, and they started
mushing over the drifts.

* * * * *

The moose that stands at bay against the wolf pack, the ferocious little
ermine in the grasp of the climbing marten never made a harder, more
valiant fight than these two waged on the way to the cabin. There was
no mercy for them in the biting cold. Bill was frightfully worn and
spent from his experience of the day and the previous night, and
Virginia had lent her own young strength to him. Often he reeled and
faltered, and at such times her arm in his kept him up. The miles
seemed innumerable and long.

A might that has its seat higher and beyond the mere energy-giving
chemistry of their bodies came to their aid. Virginia had never dreamed
that she possessed such power of endurance and unfaltering muscles: a
spirit born of an unconquerable will rose within her and bore her on.
She was aware of no physical pain; the magnificent exertion of her
muscles was almost unconscious. Just as women fight for the lives of
their babes she fought for him, as if it were the deepest instinct of
her being. The thought of giving up was intolerable, and such spirit is
the soul of victory!

They won at last. Without the stimulant and the nutritious foo