new you must come back,
because some of the gear was here." She hesitated. "Did--did you go
after--him?"

He nodded grimly, and she gave a little cry of terror.

"You--you found him?"

He nodded affirmatively.

"And then----?"

"I found him dying from a bad injury."

"Dying----?"

"Yes. He's dead now."

She turned on him with horrified eyes.

"You--you didn't kill him?"

"Nope. I went there for that, but the Injuns got him first."

Tears swam in her eyes. She moved her hands nervelessly and put the
painful, crucial question.

"Did he know--why you came?"

He inclined his head, much affected by her attitude of abject shame. She
gave a smothered cry and sank her head into her hands.

"Don't, don't!" he implored. "He understood all right, and he's dead and
gone. Forget it!"

He took the mug of hot cocoa, anxious to drop a subject which caused him
as much pain as it did her. Through the frosted windows he could see the
sunlit, beautiful landscape, shining with incomparable radiance. Soon the
spring would come, and with it the soul-filling song of birds, breaking
the long silence of the winter.

"It must be round about March," he said. "I sure have lost count of
time."

"It's March the third or fourth," she replied.

He glanced round the room and was surprised to notice its tidy appearance.
All the domestic utensils were clean and neatly arranged on shelves, and
the window boasted a pair of curtains. He began to realize how near death
he must have been--so near, indeed, but for her he would have crossed the
abyss before this.

"Where did you find me?" he asked.

"Away back on the fringe of the wood. The dogs came home with the sled and
I followed the tracks till I found you. I--I thought you were dead."

"And you carried me here?"

"I unpacked the sled and went back with it. I managed to get you on to
it--the dogs did the rest."

He gave a low sigh.

"I'll soon be up and about again."

"I don't think you will. You are terribly weak--and look so ill."

He laughed weakly.

"I ain't much of an invalid. You'll see."

She did see. His recovery was amazingly rapid. He seemed to change hourly,
making new flesh at an astonishing pace. His iron constitution performed
miracles of transformation. In three days, despite argument, he was out of
bed. On the tenth day he shouldered the shovel and the washing pan and
went out to a small creek to hunt the elusive gold. But failure still
dogged him. He