The Washington herald., 1912-06-23

lorgnette, and laughed a little cheer
lessly
"I'll go out and meet them, anyway
he comforted. Have Jack hx me up
for the hike in the morning Breed. III
start after breakfast"
He was glad when supper was over
and he was back in his own cabin
smoking his pipe. 1t was almost with
feeling of shame that he took the
golden hair from his wallet and help
It once more so that it shone before
his eyes in the freight
You're crazy, Phil Steele" he as
sured himself "You're an unalloyed
idiot What the deuce has Col. Beck
er's wife got to do with you-even II
she has golden hair and uses cream
tinted paper soaked in hyacinth? Con-
found it-there !" and he released the
shining hair from his fingers so that
the air currents sent it floating back
into the deeper gloom of the cabin.
1t was midnight before he went to
bed. He was up with the first cold
gray of dawn All that day he strobe
steadily eastward on snowshoes, over
the company's trail to the bay. Two
hours before dusk he put up his light
tent. gathered balsam for a bed, and
built a FIRE of dry spruce against the
face of huge rock in front of his shell
ter. 1t was still light when he wrapped
himself in his blanket and lay down
on the balsam, with his feet stretched
out to the reflected heat of the big
rock. 1t seemed TO Steele that there
was an unnatural stiffness in the air, as
the night thickened beyond the rim of
freight, and, as the gloom grew still
deeper, blotting out his vision in inly
blackneSs, there crept over him slowly
a feeling of loneliness. II was a new
sensation to Steele, and he shivered as
he sat up and faced the FIRE. 1t was
this same quiet, this same unending
mystery of voiceleSs deSolation that had
won him to the North. Until tonight
he had loved it. But now there was
something oppressive about it, some
thing that made him strain his eyes to
see beyond the rock and the FIRE, and
set his ears in tense listening for sounds
which did not exist He knew that in
this hour he was longing for compan-
lonship-not that of Breed, nor of men
with whom he hunted men, but of men
and women whom he had once known
and in whose lives he had played a part
ages ago, It seemed to him. He knew,
as he sat with clenched hands and star
ing eyes, that chiefly he was longing
for woman-a woman whose eyes and
lips and sunny hair haunted him after
months of forgetfulness, and whose
face smiled at him luringly, now, from
out the leaping flashes Of fre-teupting
him, calling him over a thousand miles
of space. And if he yielded
The thought sent his nails biting into
the flesh of his palms and he sank back
with a curse that held more of misery
than blasphemy. Physical exhaustion
rather than desire for sleep closed his
eyes, at last, in half-slumber, and after
that the face seemed nearer and more
real to him, until It was close at his
side, and was speaking to him. He
heard again the soft, rippling laugh,
girlishly sweet, that had fascinated him
at Hawkins ball; he heard the distant
hum and chatter Of other voices. and
then one loud and close-that of Ches-
bro, who had unwittingly interrupted
them. and saved him, just in the nick
of time.
Steele moved restlessly; after a mo-
ment wriggled to his elbow and looked
toward the FIRE. He seemed TO hear
Chesbro's voice again as he awoke, and
a thrill as keen as an electric shock
set his nerves tingling when he heard
once more the laughing voice of his
dream, hushed and low. In amazement
he sat bolt upright and stared Was
he still dTeaming2 The FIRE was burn
ing brightly and he was aware that he
had scarce fallen into sleep. j
A movement sound of feet crunch
ing softl yin the snow. and a figure
came between him and the FIRE.
II was a woman.