ble heat of the room, and the reek of his own
pipe disgusted him. So he had moved over to the window where the cold
air of early spring drifted in through the open ventilating slot in the
storm sash.

His gaze was on the Cove below, where the snow-laden ice was discoloured
by the moist slush of thaw, and the open waters, far down towards the
distant headlands, had so deeply encroached upon the claims of winter.

A great, premature thaw had set in. It was the real spring thaw a month
or more early. Skert Lawton, who controlled the water power of the mill,
had warned him of its coming. Bat too had spoken out of his years of
experience of the moods of Labrador's seasons. But somehow the sight of
it all gave him none of the joy with which it had inspired the others.

The evil night of threatened disaster had become only a memory. Nearly
six weeks had passed since Nancy McDonald had craved the privilege of
caring for the man who had so nearly given his life in the saving of the
mill and all the great purpose it represented. Now he was mercifully
returned to health and strength under the devoted care that had been
bestowed upon him. The mill was again in full work. And the human army
it employed had returned to their peace-time labours in the full
determination to undo the grievous hurt which the mischief of the
Skandinavia's agents and their own folly had inflicted. In the relief of
reaction, they, no less than their employers, had redoubled their
efforts.

All outward sign of the trouble through which the mill had passed had
long since been cleared away under the driving power of the forceful Bat
Harker. The scars of fire remained here and there. But they were no more
than a reminder for those who were ready to forget the folly they had
once committed.

Everything was moving on now as Bull and his comrades would have had it.
Only that morning word had come through that Ray Birchall was on his way
from London for the purpose of his report, and expected to reach Sachigo
in three weeks' time. Could anything, then, be better than this early
thaw? It was a veritable act of Providence that the London man's
inspection of the mills, and all the property involved would take place
under the most active conditions.

It should have been a time of rejoicing and mental ease. It should have
been a time of stirring hope. A moment for complaisant contemplation of
a great purpose achieved. But the man at the window regarded the thing