is calm."

"I know what ails her," said the father. "She's found that she's not
like other girls. She's found that a white soul doesn't count with
white people; they never go below the skin." Then he told her of the
scene that morning in the store, adding that he believed she loved
Lieutenant Burrell.

"Did she say so?"

"No, she denied it, now that she knows she hasn't got his kind of blood
in her."

"Blood makes no difference," said the woman, stubbornly. "If he loves
her, he will take her; if he does not--that is all."

Gale looked up at her, and was about to explain, when the utter
impossibility of her comprehending him made him desist, and he fell
moody again. At last he said, "I've got to tell her, Alluna."

"No, no!" cried the woman, aghast. "Don't tell her the truth! Nothing
could be worse than that!"

But he continued, deliberately: "Love is the biggest thing in the
world; it's the only thing worth while, and she has got to have a fair
show at it. This has been on my mind for weeks, and I've put it away,
hoping I wouldn't have to do it; but to-day I came face to face with it
again, and it's up to me. She'll have to know some time, so the sooner
the better."

"She would not believe you," said the woman, at which he started.

"I never thought of that. I wonder if she would doubt! I couldn't stand
that."

"There is no proof, and it would mean your life. A good man's life is a
great price to pay for the happiness of one girl--"

"I gave it once before," said Gale, a trifle bitterly, "and now that
the game is started I've got to play the string out; but--I wonder if
she would doubt--" He paused for a long moment. "Well, I'll have to
risk it. However, I've got a lot of things to do first--you and the
youngsters must be taken care of."

"And Stark?" said Alluna.

"Yes, and Stark."

Burrell took his prisoner to the barracks, where he placed him under
guard, giving instructions to hold him at any cost, not knowing what
wild and reckless humor the new citizens of Flambeau might develop
during the night, for it is men who have always lived with the halter
of the law tight upon their necks who run wildest when it is removed.
Men grown old on the frontier adhere more closely to a rigid code than
do tenderfeet who feel for the first time the liberty and license of
utter unrestraint, and it was these strangers whom the soldier feared
rather than men like Gale and "No Creek" Lee, who would recognize the
me