ne, "the owner may return."

"But he will not turn us out," cried Helen. "The men of the wilds are
all hospitable."

"That is true," agreed Stane, "and I have no doubt that we should be
allowed to winter here if we chose. But if the man comes there is a
better way. We shall be able to engage him to take us to Fort Malsun,
and so to safety and civilization."

"Oh!" laughed the girl, "are you so anxious to go back to
civilization?"

Stane's face suddenly clouded, and the old hardness came back to it.

"There is no going back for me--yet," he answered bitterly.

"But you will return, some day," she answered quietly. "I have no doubt
of that at all. But I was not thinking of that when I spoke, I was
wondering whether you were tired of this primitive life. For my part I
quite enjoy it. It is really exhilarating to know that one has to
depend upon one's self, and to find unexpected qualities revealing
themselves at the call of circumstances. I think I shall never be the
same again, my old life seems contemptibly poor and tame when I look
back upon it."

"I can understand that," he answered, turning from his bitterness. "The
wilderness gets into one's blood."

"Particularly if it is a little wild to start with," she replied
cheerfully, "as I really believe mine is."

"There are men who have lived up here for years, enduring hunger and
every kind of hardship, hazarding life almost daily, who having
stumbled suddenly upon a fortune, have hurried southward to enjoy their
luck. They have been away a year, two years, and then have drifted back
to the bleak life and hazard of the North."

"It is not difficult to believe that," answered Helen. "The life itself
is the attraction up here."

Stane permitted himself to smile at her enthusiasm and then spoke. "But
if you had to live it day by day, year in and year out, Miss Yardely,
then----"

"Oh then," she interrupted lightly, "it might be different. But----"
She broke off suddenly and a sparkle of interest came in her eyes.
Pointing to the pile of wood in the corner she cried: "Mr. Stane, I am
sure there is something hidden under that wood."

Stane started and stared at the stacked-up logs, a slight look of
apprehension on his face. The girl laughed as she caught the look. "It
is nothing to be alarmed at; but those logs are misleading I am sure,
for at one place I can see something gleaming. What it is I don't know,
but I am going to find out."

Rising quickly, she b