bs.

Knowing how vain any attempt at struggle would be, she lay quietly;
reflecting on all the events of the night. Strong in the faith that
Stane had escaped, she rejoiced that these events had forced from his
lips the declaration that in the past few weeks she had seen him
repress again and again. He could never recall it; and those kisses,
taken in the very face of death, those were hers until the end of time.
Her heart quickened as she thought of them, and her lips burned. It
was, she felt, a great thing to have snatched the deepest gladness of
life in such an hour, and to have received an avowal from a man who
believed that he was about to die for her. And what a man!

The thought of Miskodeed occurred to her; but now it did not trouble
her very greatly. That visit of the Indian girl to the cabin had at
first been incomprehensible except on one hateful supposition; but
Stane's words had made it clear that the girl had come to warn them,
and if there was anything behind that warning, if, as she suspected,
the girl loved Stane with a wild, wayward love, that was not the man's
fault. She remembered his declaration that he had never seen Miskodeed
except on the two occasions at Fort Malsun, and though Ainley's evil
suggestions recurred to her mind, she dismissed them instantly. Her
lover was her own----

The sledge came to a sudden standstill; and lying there she caught a
clamour of excited voices. She listened carefully, but such words as
reached her were in a tongue unknown to her. A few minutes passed,
something was thrown on the sled, close by her feet, then a whip
cracked, a dog yelped, and again the sledge moved forward.

She was quite warm, and except for the thongs about her, comfortable,
and presently her eyes closed, at first against the rather oppressive
darkness resulting from the covering blanket, then remained closed
without any conscious volition, and she slept, heavily and dreamlessly.

She was awakened by the sled coming to a standstill; and then followed
the sounds of men pitching camp; the crackle of a fire, the growling
and yelping of dogs quarrelling over their food. She did not know how
long she had slept; but after awakening, it seemed a very long time
before any one came near her. Then she caught the sound of steps
crunching the frozen snow. The steps halted by the sledge and hands
busied themselves with the fastenings. A minute later she felt that her
limbs were free; and as the blanket wa