The Detroit times., 1912-07-16
CHAPTER %.
A Face Out Of the Night.
lHAaNfa.aaAN

(Continued).
With an effort Steele aroused him.
self and looked at his watch. II was
a quarter OF five. He stopped To close
The stove door, and stopped suddenly.
his hand reaching out. head and
shoulders hunched over Across his
knee. shining in the firelight, like a
thread OF spun gold. lay a single MA
ment OF woman's hair.
He rose slowly. holding the hair be-
tween him and the light. His fingers
irembled, his breath came quickly.
The hair had fallen upon his knee
from the letter-or the envelope. and
il was wonderfully like her hair!
From the direction of the factors
quarters came the deep believing OF
Breeds moose-horn. calling him TO
supper. Before he responded to 1t,
Steele wound the silken thread of gold
about his finger, then placed It care
fully among the papers and cards
which he carried in his leather wallet
His face was flushed when he Joined
the factor. Not since the night at the
Hawkins ball. when he had felt the
touch OF q beautiful woman's hands.
the warmth OF her breath. the soft
sweep OF her hair against his lips as
he had leaned over her In his half-sur-
render, had thought of woman stirred
him as he felt himself stirred now
He was glad that Breed was too much
absorbed in his own troubles 10 OBJ
serve any possible change in himself
or TO ask questions about the letter
Il tell you, II may mean the short
birch for me. Steele" said the factor
gloomily. Lac Balm is just now tie
emptiest. most fallen-to-pieces. UNI
business-lke post between the Atha-
basca and the Bay. We've had two
bad seasons running. and everything
has gone wrong Col. Becker is big
one with the company. Amt no doubt
about that, and ten 10 one he'll think
it's a new man that's wanted here.
Nonsense" exclaimed Steele. A
sudden fash shot into his face as he
looked hard at Breed See here. how
would you like to have me go out to
meet them" he asked. Sort OF a
welcoming committee Of one, you
know Before they got here I could
casually give 'em to understand what
Lac Balm has been up against during
the last two seasons"
Breeds face frightened in an in
slant
That might save US, Steele. viii
you do it,"
With pleasure"
Philip was conscious OF an increas-
ing warmth in his face as he bent
over mis- plate You're sure-they're
elderly people," he asked
THAT is what MacVeigh wrote me
from Churchill; at least he said the
colonel was an old man"
And his wife,"
Has got her nerve" growled Breed
irreverentiy. 1T wouldn't be so bad
If il was only the colonel. But an old
woman-ugh, What he doesn't think
of she'll remind him OF, you can de-
pend on that"
Steele thought of his mother, who
looked at things through a magnify
ing lorgnette, and laughed little
cheerlessly.
I'll go out and meet them, any
way he comforted. Have Jack fix
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 II was almost with
feeling of shame that he took the
golden hair from his wallet and held
II 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 il
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 1t floating back
into the deeper gloom of the cabin.
II 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 snow-shoes, 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 q huge rock in front of his
shelter. Ii was still light when he
wrapped himself in his blanket and
Day down on the balsam. with his feet
stretched out to the reflected heat OF
~ big rock. II 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 inky blackness, there crept
over him slowly feeling of Hneli-
ness. II was a new sensation TO
Steele, and he shivered as he sat UP