s; the sun struck blue, bright lines
in her black hair.

"I'll be careful, Pete."

She pressed his hand, and he returned the pressure.

The station was full of silent curiosity; a couple of squaws, a serious
buck Indian, and a bearded trapper or two made little secret of their
observation. In the far corner of the big, bare room, down one side
of which ran a long and littered counter, there was another, even more
interested spectator of the young couple's entrance. He sat at a
small table under one of the high, unshaded windows, and from over
a spread-out time-table he gave them a large and heavy share of
his attention. He was a man of middle age and sturdy build, round,
clean-shaven, dressed in Eastern outing clothes of dignified
correctness. He put on a pair of glasses to peer closer at the two
who came in hand in hand like adventuring children, with the lithe,
half-fearful grace of wild things.

A tall and sallow man behind the counter smiled under his long, ragged,
blond mustache and made a gesture of polite greeting.

"Well, you've sure kept us in the dark as to your movements, Peter
Garth. We had no notion there was a bride in these parts until the
sheriff brought us back word the other day. Ma'am, I'm glad to make your
acquaintance." He glanced keenly and curiously at Sylvie's averted face.

"I'd have been here before," she said, "but I've been suffering from
snow-blindness."

"Ah, that's bad sometimes. Your eyes are better now?"

"Y-yes, I think so."

"I can give you a first-class lotion, lady."

Sylvie and he discussed the lotion while Pete stood, drawn up, proud
and silent, his cheeks flushed, waiting to dispose of his pelts. The
bartering prolonged itself in spite of his best endeavors. Sylvie seemed
to have no sense of peril or anxiety. She insisted upon taking a bite of
early supper, forced coffee and bread and meat upon her companion, and
chatted affably. Pete saw that the Eastern stranger had riveted upon her
his attention, that he observed every gesture, listened to every
word, and while she ate, that he walked over and asked a few murmured
questions of the trader, nodding his head, then shaking it over the
answers as though they confirmed some suspicion or anxiety.

At last Pete could bear the delay no longer. Gruffly he bade Sylvie come
with him. He caught her hand and led her out, she looking back over her
shoulder like a loath child. They had gone but a few yards along the
beach trail w