lower temperature.
In a week or two the whole land would be in the grip of the pitiless
winter. What were Jim's intentions? She saw him pondering over a map and
marking routes. After a trip into Dawson he came back with a team of dogs
and a new sled, plus dog-feed, snow-shoes, and sundry other gear. One
evening he broke the silence.

"Angela!"

She lifted her head from the book that she was reading.

"We're hitting the trail to-morrow."

"To where?"

"North--the Chandalar River district. There's nothing left worth staking
down here. But there's gold up there, and we can't afford to waste time."

"Very well," she said icily, and turned to the book again.

He put his arm across and closed the book.

"Better git this thing clear."

"Isn't it clear?"

"Nope. Listen here--we got enough grub to carry us over the winter, that
and no more. My last wad of dollars went to buy them dawgs. I guess you
think I'm trash, and perhaps I am, but up here in the North men stick by
their pardners till they strike gold or leave their bones on the trail.
You're my pard now--won't you act on that and make the best of it?"

Her eyes shone defiantly in the glare of the paraffin lamp. Appealing to
her sense of justice was useless in the face of circumstances.

"You call it partnership when the one is forced against her will, and the
other uses every kind of diabolical means to assist his mastery? I am
coming with you because there is no way out of it. You understand.
Nothing but force can save me--I see that. Your code of life is based on
brute strength devoid of any kind of moral sense."

His lips moved in a way that evidenced his resentment.

"What you call 'moral sense' is a pretty queer thing, I allow. It lets a
man sell his daughter for hard cash, and it lets that daughter play with a
man's feelings. If that's moral sense I ain't takin' none."

"Will you never forget that? Do you think I would have gone on with that
had I believed you misinterpreted the whole thing?"

"Misinterpreted! Say, do your kisses allow of misinterpretation?"

She was amazed at this quick and telling thrust. She had yet much to learn
about Colorado Jim. Education is a matter of mind, independent of
environment. She made the mistake of believing it to be the special
monopoly of high-schools and gentle breeding. She was unable to recognize
the diamond in its crude unpolished state.

"When I kissed you, did you think that was a kind o' habit with me