and swayed unsteadily as her hand sought her
throat. Her voice came dry and hard and choking as she repeated the
word: "_You!_" And in that moment the man saw her face in the deepening
gloom of the room.

"_Ethel!_" he cried, springing toward her with outstretched arms. Then,
when she was almost within their grasp, the arms dropped, for the girl
shrank from his touch and her eyes blazed.

Thus for a moment they stood facing each other, the girl--white,
tense--with blazing eyes, and the big man, who fought for control of
himself. Finally he spoke, and his voice was steady and very low.

"Forgive me, Ethel," he said. "For the moment I forgot that I have not
the right--that there is another----"

With a low, moaning cry the girl covered her face with her hands. Even
since she faced him there the thought had flashed through her brain
that there might be some mistake--that the man might even yet be as he
appeared to be--big and brave and _clean_.

But now--from his own lips she had heard it--"there is another"--and
that other--an _Indian_!

A convulsive shudder shook her whole body, the room seemed to reel; she
pressed her hands more tightly to her eyes, as if to shut out the sight
of him, and the next instant all was dark, and she pitched heavily
forward into the arms of the man.

For one brief moment he held her, straining her limp body to his. The
hands relaxed and fell away from her pallid face, and the bearded lips
bent close above the soft lips of the unconscious girl--but _only_ for
a moment.

Without touching the lips, the man straightened up and, crossing to the
bunk, laid the still form upon the blankets. With never a backward
glance, he passed out through the door.

It was dark in the clearing, and a couple of steps brought him face to
face with Appleton, who was coming to tell his niece that the ladies'
quarters were ready.

The foreman paused and looked squarely into the face of his employer.
He slowly raised an arm and pointed to the open door of the office.

"Miss Manton," he said, "has fainted." And without waiting for a reply,
passed on into the night.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

CHARLIE FINDS A FRIEND

The following morning the camp looked out upon a white world. The
threatened snow which began during the night was still falling, and
from the windows the dark walls of the clearing could be seen but dimly
through the riot of dancing flakes.

It was a constrained and rather glum party that s