g himself into the dry, sun-warmed
sand, and had slept heavily for hours. When he awoke the position of
the sun told him that it must be morning. After washing the blood and
sand from his scratches, he had set out to find the camp of the
Borelands.

Harlan did not give any reason for his apparently senseless
determination to swim ashore at the last moment, nor was any expected.
On the frontier it is actions, not the reasons for them that are of
moment. At the risk of appearing a fool Harlan kept silent on the
subject. If he told now what he had heard of Kon Klayu that night he
had lain in the top bunk at Silvertip's, there would be nothing for the
Borelands to work for, nothing to hope for, during the time that must
elapse before the _Hoonah_ returned with the winter stores. The truth
now would only arouse bitter thoughts of revenge in the heart of
Boreland, who must chafe inwardly at his helplessness. There was time
enough for the truth when the schooner returned to Kon Klayu.

"Over there on the east side of the Island, almost directly opposite to
this point, I think, I found a sort of Eskimo hut made of whale ribs
and peat and drift," Harlan was saying as Ellen came out of the cabin.
"It isn't half bad, and with a little work I can make it fit to live
in."

The young man saw Ellen and came to his feet. "I honestly don't know
how to excuse myself for being here, Mrs. Boreland,"--there was a hint
of wistfulness in the deep dark eyes he bent upon her--"but--I _am_
here and dependent on your generosity until the schooner comes back.
I'll try to be as little of a bother as I can. I was just telling
Kayak about the hut I found on the other side of the Island. I'll live
there."

Ellen's mind had already been busy with the problem of housing her
unwelcome guest. She had not been blind to the interested and
welcoming look Jean had given the young man as she greeted him half an
hour before. She was aware of the almost inevitable result of
propinquity. She looked up now with relieved interest and despite
herself, with faintly quickening approval. By living on the other side
of the Island, Harlan would in part solve the problem. She could then
see to it that he saw little of Jean. If it were not for her sister,
she might find it in her to like, though she could never approve of the
good-looking young ne'er-do-well. Through Kayak Bill she had come to
know part of the truth about the death of Naleenah, but lik