eart? And so determined to win him in this way? She had meant to
win him. Even yet, she could not trust alone to his desire to see David's
project through, but threw in the charm of her own personality to swing
the balance. Oh, she understood him. At the start she had read him,
measured him, sounded him through. That supreme moment, at the crisis of
the storm, had she not lent herself to the situation, counting the price?
At this thought, the heat surged to his face. He wished in that instant to
punish her, break her, but deeper than his anger with her burned a fury
against himself. That he should have allowed her to use him, make a fool
of him. He who had blamed Weatherbee, censured Foster, for less.

Then Marcia Feversham took advantage of the silence and, at her first
statement, Jimmie Daniels sat erect; he forgot his thirst, the discomfort
of his position, and opened his notebook on his knee. "I understand your
work this season was in the Matanuska coal region, Mr. Tisdale; you must
be able to guess a little nearer than the rest of us as to the outcome of
the Naval tests. Is it the Copper River Northwestern or the Prince William
Development Company that is to have the open door?"

Tisdale's glance moved from the opal sea to the lady's face; the genial
lines crinkled faintly at the corners of his eyes. "I believe the Bering
and Matanuska coal will prove equally good for steaming purposes," he
replied.

Frederic Morganstein grasped the arms of his chair and moved a little,
risking a twinge of pain, to look squarely at Tisdale. "You mean the
Government may conserve both?" His voice was habitually thick and
deliberate, as though the words had difficulty to escape his heavy lips.
"That, sir, would lock the shackles on every resource in Alaska. Guess
you've seen how construction and development are forced to a standstill,
pending the coal decision. Guess you know our few finished miles of
railroad, built at immense expense and burdened with an outrageous tax,
are operating under imported coal. Placed an order with Japan in the
spring for three thousand tons."

"Think of it!" exclaimed Marcia. "Coal from the Orient, the lowest grade,
when we should be exporting the best. Think of the handicap, the injustice
put upon those pioneer Alaskans who fought tremendous obstacles to open
the interior; who paved the way for civilization."

Tisdale's face clouded. "I am thinking of those pioneers, madam, and I
believe the Governme