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Show cord. Forgetting all about her new clothes, she stared down at her hand, at Warren's ring. Not until that moment had she fully realized its meaning. She was engaged to Warren, was going to marry him, live with him; he would be her husband, hus-band, the father of her children. That's what the ring meant It suddenly seemed a hateful thing, that beautiful diamond a symbol of a loveless betrothal. She i wanted to get it off her hand, and here, in the dead of an Arctic win- wtt-1 dldn t'knw that youthen you-then did you get back to the Bay? and I6 w nUteS ag0- Poleo" ana I. We brought Bill Fornier e s up at my cabin. Poleon is uo there with him." p Patricia started. "Oh-hh!" From Craig s tone she knew that Bill was dying. Bill had worked at hifSaK till he dropped, and they had brought him in to the Bay to die Tears sprang to her eyes. "Can't I do something to help. Craig? Can't I see him, nurse him?" IpVKRKTlOMf i IVER M Wfii end the lie. She couldn't marry Warren. The very thought was repugnant, re-pugnant, even sinful. Her Arctic trip at least had saved her from a bitterly unhappy marriage. Of at least one thing she was certain now, amid all her raging uncertainties-she uncertainties-she could never marry Warren. She whirled around, caught up her gloves, lifted her 6nowshocs from their wall peg. When she entered Warren's cabin, across the river, and walked over to his desk, he surveyed her in the light of the gasoline lamp. "New clothes, dearl And what pretty ones on you! Where did you get them, if I may ask?" "Craig brought them to me as a Christmas present," Patricia said frankly. "He came back to the Bay this afternoon, he and Poleon." Lovett winced. Patricia read the thought in his mind she was wearing wear-ing clothes which Craig Tarlton had brought her. "I hated to come here, Warren," she said hastily, badly torn up by what she had to do. "I hate to tell xneres nothing that can be done, Craig said. He moved around so that his body sheltered Patricia from the wind, for the storm was lashing her in the face with icy pellets and lapping gn0w spume over her racquets. "Bill is in no pain. I've shot him full of drug. Maybe it's better you don't go up there; your visit might rouse him. In a minute I'm going back and relieve Poleon. I can do everything every-thing necessary." He tapped a packet which he was carrying under his arm. "I brought you a Christmas Christ-mas remembrance, Treeshia. From the barrens." Patricia's heart pounded madly. "Treeshia" he had called her that again! And he was giving her a Christmas present. Were the heavens heav-ens caving in? Was she dreaming? dream-ing? There was nothing more than friendship in Craig's attitude; nothing noth-ing more than a cordial esteem such as he might have shown toward i Why didn't Craig come back and thaw out and get into this right, instead in-stead of being such an iceberg? He might be able to whip Warren, whereas she could only stave off the debacle a little longer. With the November Moon-of-Hard-ening-Ice, Resurrection froze over for its long winter sleep. Shore ice stilled the beating surf of Great Desolation Des-olation and crept out and out in the the bay until at last the whole great lake lay quiet and dead. Snow covered cov-ered the land and frozen waters, Bnow as dry and gritty as sand. The sun had swung farther and farther to the south till it was making only a little arch above the southern horizon, and the days had dwindled ! SYNOPSIS ' ' " , . J Lvett. thirty-three, Junior fo,e powerful Wellington, overt, Incorporated Mines ot ,lch engages In questionable plans to make a secret Canadian Arctic, where efore a rich but inaccessible t hat been discovered on Res-I Res-I ver, which flows into Dyna-f Dyna-f Patricia, high spirited and s lughter of crusty old Jasper J who Is engaged to Warren. 1 iccompany him. They go by meets "Poleon." a French- ospector, who tells her there I I prospectors in the field and e of the difficulties, they are y a thread. Pat is disturbed in will not disclose what his ion is. She meets Sam Honey-i Honey-i IdofPoleon's. Moved by the ill Fornier, prospector who. anybody whom he respected. But friendship and esteem from him they were overwhelming riches to the lonely and disheartened girl. "My cabin it's just yonder; won't you step over for a cup of tea, Craig?" she invited hesitatingly, hesitating-ly, not knowing how far to presume on his friendliness. "I can stay only a minute, but I'd be glad," Craig accepted. They walked together to her cabin and went inside, out of the rising storm. Craig laid his present on Patricia's cot and looked around at her home. Dainty and feminine, with curtained windows, cretonne colors and the cozy warmth of a girl's touch, it was a great contrast to his own stern bachelor cabin up the hollow. "You're actually living over here!" he said. "On this side of Resurrection. Sam Honeywell was the first to tell me. I laughed at him. But then others told me." In a kind of daze Patricia set two cups and saucers on her little table. ta-ble. For Craig to be there in her J cabin, having tea with her, was in the nature of a wish-born miracle. Just a few minutes ago the Bay had been unutterably emDtv. the storm ill Sly ill, struggles to hold his s decides to help him. Informed f fcwaughimi, half-breed retain-fnpany, retain-fnpany, about Pat's befriend-ipectors, befriend-ipectors, Warren tries to dis-Ike dis-Ike tells her that Craig Tarl- !lhom she had once been in ' deputy mining inspector for Action river area. A brilliant had resigned in disgust from company because of its de-jods. de-jods. Later she meets Craig, . id, inferring that she is mere-I mere-I I interest in the prospectors. I Jsun for the hapless prospec-- prospec-- jg, Pat decides to build a huge i house or Den. When the Job letion. Warren teUs her to She refuses after a stormy leaves on a three-month in- to the north. Pat learns that lias withdrawn her allowance. it her now she will have to go refuses to advance her a loan prospectors. She moves her the river near the Den. When Jtd by the Chtwaughlmls, at-tree at-tree her to board a plane for $e prospectors rally and beat , She learns now of Warren's lopes to starve the prospectors ke them sell their claims for It tells the prospectors of War-r War-r Still attentive to Pat. Warren i iubtle campaign to get the rTEB VI Continued i tod fuel, the two main ire thus taken care of eas- money badly for the odds iff operating expenses, she retly to Chicago and had :r jewelry sold, through thereby raising enough eep the Den going a while ilh fighting Warren, hold-iscouraged hold-iscouraged prospectors in ing that big house, scold-Ben scold-Ben men, planning three ' ay, keeping quarrels down fs up, she was a busy girl, ft she had ever been in almost to nothing. After a long morning twilight the laggard sun rose at eleven, Inched across its little journey, sank out of sight at one; and then the purple afternoon twilight gradually deepened till at last the stars and Aurora were flashing flash-ing their cold lights on the scintillating scintillat-ing snow. As the Big Dark drew near, storms that sent the temperature plummeting to 50 below came howl-ing howl-ing down from the pole and raged for days on end. Near the beginning begin-ning of December the sun failed to rise at all, day failed to come, a weird dusk that was neither day nor night settled over the land. At noon, as at midnight, one could look up and see the stars. The Sacred W, the Two Bears, the Dragon and other northern constellations swung around and around in the sky, never setting. The hopelessness of her struggle against Warren plunged Patricia into a bottomless despair. Strange moods preyed on her. The only girl on Resurrection, one girl among 300 men, she hungered for the companionship com-panionship of her own sex. With the drawing near of Christmas she was seized with a terrific homesickness, home-sickness, and in the privacy of her cabin she cried for Frances, her mother, her girl friends, and the familiar fa-miliar round of holiday parties cheerily going on in far-away Chicago. Chi-cago. On the day before Christmas she left the community house near mid-afternoon mid-afternoon and started for her cabin. cab-in. A gathering storm was beginning begin-ning to lash the pines and send the snow crawling and seething about her feet This buzzard, she could see, was different from previous ones. Its tone was deeper, throat- frightening; but now Craig was back, and the Bay did not seem lonely or the heavens black and lowering. low-ering. "One thing," Craig said, brushing brush-ing a hand across his tired eyes, "has been on my conscience. That time I suspected you of trying to cheat Bill Fornier. I apologized once, but in the light of what's happened hap-pened since, I see that my suspicion suspi-cion was positively trutaL" "Yes, it was!" Patricia blurted out. "It hurt me awf'ly, Craig. But I don't mind that now." j "You'll Go Back to Your Home, to Your Family, Won t You?" you this, but I've got to. We can't go on as we are. It's impossible." Warren started a little. "What's impossible?" He seemed to know what was coming. "Our engagement, Warren. I want to end it. Please, this Isn't any sudden decision. For months I've been realizing that I didn't love you enough to marry you. I should have told you this before now. But I just drifted along and put off facing the During the first six weeks Jar," before defeat began and her doubts and un-rose un-rose to storm fury within e were times when she (ftar to happiness. No ness. No more of that Mer restlessness which g her wherever she went. (wondering where to find tomorrow, or choosing 'resome inanities. truth till I've come to the point where I must face it." Reluctantly, knowing that she was taking a fraught step, she slipped their engagement ring from her finger fin-ger and laid it on Warren's desk. "Patricia!" She looked down at the floor, unable un-able to meet Warren's eyes. In those moments, when she needed to remember Warren's dishonesty with her and his cold-hearted campaign against these defenseless men and the long weeks when he had repulsed re-pulsed her attempt to build up a loyal one-ness between herself and him, she seemed to forget all that and remember only the occasions when Warren had done her a kindness. kind-ness. After a few moments she heard him say slowly, "On Christmas Eve, Patricia." He reached out and picked up the ring. "This isn't a very pleasant Christmas present to give a man, dear." The hurt in his voice tugged at Patricia. "I I didn't stop to think about that Oh, I'm sorry! I never stop to to think about anything." She burst into tears. "Forgive me, Warren. War-ren. I didn't mean to be so heartless." rw W 40? While they drank their tea Craig asked her a few questions about the Den, about the prospectors; but he gave no indication that he cared to pitch into the fight. He mentioned the possibility of going back to the barrens, after the holidays, and finishing fin-ishing his inspection work. As he set down his cup Patricia insisted: "Please, Craig, you're so badly worn out let me go up to your cabin and take care of Bill while you lie down and sleep here for a few hours." Craig shook his head. "It's my job. Bill seems to feel easier if I'm with him. I think I'd better go now. Poleon is in bad shape, after our trip." When the door closed behind him Patricia ran to the north window of her cabin, scratched a clear place on the hoarfrosted pane, and watched him till he was swallowed up in the wind-torn gloom. For the first time, as she stood at the curtained window, she permitted per-mitted herself to believe that God's lake could be resurrected between Craig and her. For the first time she admitted to herself it broke over her irresistibly, an engulfing flood that she was wildly and blindly blind-ly in love with him. I the end of October, Sam f came in to the Bay, hack one of the pledges I had sent up Resurrection en ' sign. As Patricia P long list of names, she Inded to run upon Craig's I ,s,he was all eagerness, f m he had brought the n,cin-"did Craig actu-! actu-! this? What did he say, ,T he make any comments S.Cn Mf- LVett? Was fetched his head. "He was Wised, all right; but I a he said anything in -Jes. he did, too; he vns, what a twirl she's j dunno what he meant ie!TVhat "twirl" was I VlCis's tau"t, last Warren stood steady under the blow, as though he had half expected ex-pected it and was in a measure prepared. Only for an instant had he yielded to emotion. "On Christmas Christ-mas Eve, Patricia" those words had come from his heart; words of pain. But immediately he had clamped down and become his sternly repressed self again, the poker-faced self that she intensely disliked. "Please don't cry about it, dear," he bade. "It's done now. I know you didn't stop to think." He stepped around in front of her as she turned away. "Don't go just yet, Patricia. There's a word or two I must say to you." She brushed the tears from her eyes. "What, Warren?" He turned the ring over and over in his palm, thoughtfully. "You intend in-tend to go back to Chicago sometime, some-time, don't you, Patricia?" Why, yes. Of course. Why?" "You'll go back to your home, to your family, won't you? You're not planning to sever yourself from them and from all that they mean to you?" (TO BE CONTINUED) "He Was Plenty Surprised, All Right." ier; It was massing its strength more slowly and ominously. Halfway between the Den and her cabin a sudden call came out of the rising moan of the wind: "Treeshia!" Patricia stopped in her tracks, dead-short. "Treeshia" that was the name which Craig had given her, at God's lake; his own name for her. No other person on earth called her that. She whirled. Twenty yards out in the gloom a tall rangy figure was looming up, coming toward her. Because Be-cause of his heavy fur clothes she was not sure of him at first, but as he drew near she could 'no longer doubt. "It is is he ! " she breathed. Craig trudged up to her. snow-plastered, snow-plastered, weariness written on his face. "Hullo," he greeted, shaking back his parka-hood and standing bareheaded bare-headed before her. He looked her up and down, sharp-eyed as always, but his former scorn and suspicion seemed gone now. "Hmmph! You. wearing Eskimo togs! And you, A long time aner raiu uau vanished van-ished in the twilight she awoke from her tumultuous thoughts and turned to the cot where his Christmas present pres-ent lay. It was a large deerskin packet, laced with babische and smelling of campfire smoke. With fumbly hands she untied the thongs, spread open his gift. Furs! Indian-made. Indian-made. A complete winter outfit for a girl: kamiks or small boots lined with rabbit fur, hudulik or trousers, a netsuk or blouse with parka-hood attached, and gloves of dark gleaming gleam-ing otter. Bolting the cabin door, she took off her other clothes and put on these new ones. The furs were exquisitely ex-quisitely matched, the workmanship flawless, the whole outfit the most beautiful ensemble she had ever seen. And they fitted her so perfectly per-fectly that she knew Craig had had them made especially for her. As she stood in front of her mir-I mir-I ror and lifted a hand to stroke the soft fur of her parka, she caught the cold sparkling fires of the engagement en-gagement diamond on her finger. Her hand dropped like a flash. The sight of the ring broke into her happy thoughts like a jarring dis-j I h. I 7aig's taunt last f had taken up the hu- Is 1 ?W was she t in-1 in-1 P .'I remarl? Was it "lathe had judged her inf r.3 'finature on her J that way. surely he Sari!3' .She was in ad ird yuhe would y a ra t0 her, if he ever d;d if UheV d0 an? wiMul ieen uhoped for nothin. y en! l0fness had st nough already. te,back' -ore sanely KIarationo'war.she 13ehe had "ot- tetT the Course After m 'he moray right Rn ever pi- K the i renhis dut i Prize! ?mptation of this sn2,e stni beneved rd Zl SS and Preda-Se5men- Hi Anal WhVaw' at ,Mt. that field!!, WUld have this J-irove her frantic. |
