es an'
skitters, an' shipping. Why, in a week I guess Father Adam'll be hittin
the trail for the forests, an'--"

"Nancy McDonald will be sailing for Quebec."

Bat was no longer gazing on the other's broad back and the mane of hair
which did its best to conceal his massive neck. Bull had turned. His
strong face was flushed. His fine eyes were hot. There could be no
mistaking the passionate emotion which the other had stirred.

The two men gazed into each other's eyes. Then with a curiously
expressive gesture of his great hands Bull turned to the chair standing
near, and flung himself into it.

The lumberman's eyes twinkled. He had done the thing he desired. "An'
you don't want her to?" he said deliberately.

Just for a moment it looked as though a headlong outburst was about to
reply to him. Then, quite suddenly, the hot light in Bull's eyes died
out and he smiled. He shook his head.

"No," he said in simple denial. "If she goes it means the end of Sachigo
for me."

"You reckon you'll quit?"

In a moment the lumberman remembered a scene which had been enacted
years ago on the high ground on the north shore of the Cove. He would
never forget it. It had been the final decision of another to quit
Sachigo. And the reason had been not dissimilar.

There was no reply. Bull sat staring blankly in front of him. His eyes
were on the wintry sky which was still broad with the light of day
beyond the window.

Presently his gaze lost its abstraction and came again to the strong,
lined face of the older man. "Yes, Bat," he said calmly, almost coldly,
"I'd have to quit. I just couldn't stand for it. Nancy's got right into
my life. She's the only thing I can see--now."

"Fer all she's a kind of prisoner right here, caught red-hand doin' the
damnedest she knows to break us in favour of the outfit that pays her?"

Bat smiled as he flung his challenge. But his tone, his words, were no
indication of his mood, or of the rapid thought passing behind his
shrewd eyes. A great sense of pleasure was asurge within him. He wanted
to tell of it. He wanted to reach out and grip the other's hand, and
tell him all that his words meant to him. But he refrained. Another
man's secret was involved, and that was sufficient. His lips were
sealed.

Bull stirred restlessly.

"Oh, psha!" he cried at last, with a force that displayed the tremendous
feeling he could no longer deny. "I know what you think, Bat. I'm crazy.
Well, maybe I am. Most