quietude of
the black forest and the unfriendly solitude of the cold mountain lake.

"Oh, Hiram!" she cried. "I'm so glad you're here! Hiram--I--I believe
I'm sc-scared."

How it happened neither of them knew, for all at once his powerful arms
were about her, and she had crept into them as less courageous women
instinctively seek the protection of the stronger sex. His arms
tightened and she pressed closer to him as if she were cold and seeking
warmth. Hiram was ablaze with love for her and exultation. He lifted
her bodily from the ground, and her lips quivered against his.

"Oh, Hiram! Hiram!" she cried then as if in terror. "What am I doing?
What is the matter with me? You kissed me, Hiram, and--and I let you!
I must have been terribly frightened. I--I seem to have lost my
reason."

"No! No! Don't say that!" begged Hiram huskily. "Jo, I love you!
You love me, Jo. Say you love me."

She hid her face against his breast and said nothing, but her shoulders
shook.

"Jo, say it!" he pleaded. "Don't torment me! You must love me. You
came to my arms when trouble threatened. Tell me that you love me, Jo!"

She only trembled and shivered as if cold.

"Tell me, Jo! Don't torture me. Tell me that you love me!"

There was a stifled sob; then, in muffled tones:

"You big, blind country jake! If you don't know that I'm telling you
that with every nerve and fiber of my being, you deserve torture!"

The forest and the lake came together in Hiram's vision, then vanished.
There was no lake, no trees, no sentinel peaks about them.

"But, Jo," said Hiram as they walked back slowly toward the camp, his
arm about her waist, "I can't marry you. I've got nothing--I'm only
your skinner. You--why, your profits every month run up into four
figures. Oh, I wish you hadn't a cent! I wish Drummond had beaten us
out!"

"What foolish talk!" she said scornfully. "What is money? I care so
little for money, Hiram. It was only to try and preserve from total
collapse all my hard-working, indomitable, old foster father had built
up so patiently that I undertook the freighting job. I've made
money--lots of it--and if you think you and the rest of the boys
haven't had a big share in my success you're all wrong. We'll keep on
skinning them to Ragtown till the steel is laid; then I mean to do
something handsome by the men who have been so loyal to me, and sell
the outfit. Then"--she sighed--"then something else," sh