e wasn't going to let him die
there alone in a corner, like a wounded animal in some obscure den
among the rocks. For the moment her own troubles were pretty nearly
forgotten, for there was something for her to do. She had been but a
useless by-product of humanity in the great melting pot of the world
and had proved incapable of rising above the dross and making even a
poor place for herself. But this man was young and strong and able,
bearing all the marks of one destined to be of use. He had looked
splendid in his efficient and sturdy manhood and therefore there was
something wrong, utterly wrong and against the course of nature in his
being about to be snuffed out before her very eyes, just because she
had dropped that abominable pistol. It--it just couldn't be!

She leaned forward again and looked upon his face, that was ashen
under the coating of tan. Once he opened his eyes and looked at her,
but the lids closed down again and once more she became obsessed by
the idea that she might have been very unjust to him, that she had
perhaps insulted and wronged him. All at once the face she was looking
at became blurred, but it was because she saw it through a mist of
gathering tears. It had been easy, when she had bought that pistol, to
think of killing a man; now it seemed frightful, abominable, and the
resentment she had felt against the man was turning against herself in
spite of the fact that it had been an accident, just a miserable
accident.

Long minutes, forty or fifty of them, went by as she waited and
listened. But presently Maigan, that had laid his head in her lap and
was looking at her pitifully, as if he had been begging her to help
the man he loved, rose suddenly and dashed to the door, barking. It
proved to be Papineau and his wife, who was very breathless.

The man came in, looked at Hugo and rushed out again. He took the time
to exchange his toboggan for Hugo's, which was lighter and to which he
hitched his three powerful dogs. Madge went to him.

"You'll hurry, won't you?" she cried. "I--I'm afraid, I'm horribly
afraid. Don't--don't come back without a doctor will you?"

"You bet de life, mees, I make dem dog 'urry plenty moch. Yes, ma'am,
you bet!" he repeated, calmly, but looking at her with the strong
steely eyes that seemed peculiar to these men of the great North.

He ran with his team up the path. When he reached the tote-road the
girl saw that he had jumped on the sled, which was tearing a