'll prob'ly have to stay here all night, won't we?"

"All night! Won't worry! Don't you know that this is a _regular_
blizzard--the kind that kills men at their own doors--and that it may
last for a week? And here we are with no fire-wood, and nothing to eat!
The chances are mighty good that we'll never see camp again--and you
pipe up and hope your sister won't worry!"

Charlie leaned over closer against Carmody's body.

"Why, we've _got_ to get back, Bill!" he said, and his voice was very
earnest now. "We're all Eth's got--you and me--and she _needs_ us."

The boy felt a sudden tightening of the muscles beneath the heavy
mackinaw, and the quick gasp of an indrawn breath. A big arm stole
about his shoulders. The harshness was gone from Bill's voice, and when
he spoke the sound fell softly upon the culprit's ears.

"Sure, kid, we'll get back. Buck up! We've got a fighting chance, and
that's all we need--men like you and me. Life up here is a hard game,
kid, but we're no quitters! This is just one of the rough places in the
long, long trail.

"And, say, kid--just man to man--I want you always to remember
_that_--she needs you--and some day she may need you _bad_. This St.
Ledger may be all right, but----"

"St. Ledger!" The voice of the boy cut sharply upon the darkness. "Say,
Bill, you aren't going to marry Blood River Jack's sister, are you?"

"What!"

"Why, Blood River Jack's sister, you know, that helped fish you out of
the river."

"Lord! _No!_ What ever put that into your head?"

"Blood River Jack told us when we were coming out about you--only we
didn't know it was _you_, then. And he said that his sister was pretty,
and she loved you, and she went down the river with you for three or
four days, or something. And Eth thinks you love this half-breed girl.
And, maybe, if you did marry her, Eth would marry St. Ledger; but she
don't love him."

Bill sat suddenly erect, and the arm about the boy's shoulder tightened
and shook him roughly.

"Look here! How do you know? I read an account of their engagement 'way
along last winter."

"That was a _dang lie_! 'Cause I was in the den when she called St.
Ledger up about it. She gave him the darndest talking to he ever got,
and she told him she never would marry him as long as she lived. And
Eth _does_ love you! And you ought to heard her stick up for you when
old----"

The boy stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering his uncle's injunction
of silence. "There'