The Barrier

resented; but that wore out quickly, and he let himself drift, content with the pleasure of her company and happy in the music of her laughter. Her quick wit an

remembered the purity of neck and breast it had displayed, but he attributed that to the

found that she regarded the matter innocently, as customary, and therefore in the light of an accepted convention; nor did she seem to see anything in her blood or station to render her inferior to other women. She questioned him tirelessly a

woodland flower, and through innumerable, unnoticed familiarities took him into her innermost confid

coming was bold, for he stood fairly upon the ship's deck, staring at the growing picture of the town, as he had watched it recede a month before, and his smile was evil now, as it had been then. With him was a stranger. When the boat wa

ain, you see, and

e young man addressed him civilly, although he felt that t

n gold-sack at the officer. "I reckon I can rustle thir

is place, anyhow?" dema

d business," the ma

, "because it would please me right down to

d that he must be some incoming tenderfoot who had grub-staked the desperado to prospect in the hills back of Flambeau. As the two came up past him he saw that he was mistaken-this man was no more of a tenderfoot than Runnion; on the contrary, he had the bearing of one to whom new countries are old, who had trod the edge of things all his life. There was a hint of the me

ter Runnion and his companion, and entered the store in time to see the latter greet "No Creek"

you, Stark," said the

ied Stark, as Lee ad

ing

as usual. One of them stays here. I may open a hous

s a good pl

thout mirth. "Fine! There must b

an talking to him earnestly and with such evident effect as to alter Stark's plans on the moment; for when Runnion entered the store shortly Stark spoke to him quickly, following which they both hurried bac

re was something in the air he knew from the mysterious manner of "No Creek" Lee and from the suppressed excitement of Doret and the

ew him back in the Cass

a minin

ldn't leap over in the mining business, but it ain't his reg'lar g

oon,

all. He's the feller that killed the gold-commiss

o you

was killin' snakes, and it cost him all he had made to get clear. If it had happened across the line, the coroner's jury would have freed him, 'cause the commissioner was drunk a

e a killer,"

e always lets the other man begin, an

were the other man who invariably shot fi

's got notches on his gun till it looks like a cub bear had chawed

That's the sayin'. You needn't grin, ther

" said the trader's deep voice behind them. He had

Lee, turning. "Y

know who he is-used to hear

the miner. "He's an old friend of

s. While the soldier fell into easy conversation with the new-comer, Gale gazed at him narrowly, studying him as he studied all men who came as strangers. As he was doing so Alluna e

quaw, M

d man

-Ute

do you savv

ved in Cali

question came

I followed the Moth

e name," said the

Where were

one place long eno

men were sparring cautiously in

ds, too, eh?"

nother one beside

"No Creek" Lee, fervently

alf-breeds?" q

ntention of pressing the subject further he sauntered away; but no so

ho

aw-m

eclared. "He's differen

he had heard of Necia's father, and although Stark volunteered

straightway sought Alluna. Speaking to her with u

native tongue before strangers. T

ar to cook the berrie

you speak it the better. He is the kind who sees much and talks

woman. "His eyes are bad, like a

work and came close up to

e name, but he might have chan

this man

I used to hear of him when

he same-she must have told you how h

, and others knew him so well they never doubted that

man is

t was like that

's temper

eyes wer

n has ev

years of my age,

ears old. It must be

nd brows were grizzled, and his face had the look of a man of sixty, while only those who knew hi

and let Father Barnum keep her there till this m

is to be will be. But she must never be seen in that dance-girl's dress again, at least, not till I learn more about this Stark. It makes no differe

No white men except the soldiers and this one have

ge Carmack made on the Klondike. He came to tell me and Poleon, and we are goin

them?" interrogated Alluna, fearfully

nd I feared that he might be among them; but it's no use hiding any longer, there's no other place for us to go. If Lee has got a mine, I'll have the one next to it, for we

sisted the woman. "Why did he not st

ith us." Then he added, almost in a wh

e back, John! Promise that you will co

little woman; I'm not r

garding the strike, else she might precipitate a premature excitement which would go far towards ruining his

him he will not know

es

e rest i

n and bound about in turn with a light tarpaulin. It did not weigh thirty pounds in all. Selecting a new pair of water-boots, he stuffed dry grass inside them, oiled up his six-shooter, then slipped out the back way, and in five minutes w

iary. He began to resent it keenly. Even Doret and the trader seemed to share the general feeling, hence the thought of the long, lonesome winter approaching reduced the Lieutenant to a state of black despondency, deepened by the knowledge that he now had an open enemy in camp in the person of Runnion. Then, too, he had taken a morbid dislike to the new man, Stark. So that, all in all, the youth felt he had good reason to be in the dumps this afternoon. There was nothing desirable in this place-everything undesirable-except Necia. Her presence in Flambeau went far towards making his humdrum ex

he arose to find Necia herself there, excited and radiant. She came in without sign

," she began at once, when she found t

t is

father and Poleon a

t is

ut of mother, and th

"But what-

-a wonderful strike-ri

s changed. I'm right glad

se to-morrow everybody will know

ate fo

re, then the news will go up-river and down-river, and thousands of others will come pouring in from everywhere, and this will be a city. The

dy with the fine clothes?'

the mine-owner.' And then you wi

ant Burrell, the

ldier, stopping her breathless

, and now they've all gone back to his creek to stake more claims. They slipped away quietly to prevent suspicion, but I knew there was something u

we are n

hy I came, so you can get a mine for yourself and be a rich m

mmand. "In the first place, these men don't lik

do you

I'm not a miner. I don

ve heard nothing but

Uncle Sam, and I don't believe I ought to take up mining claims. I'm not sure there is a

r eager face clouding with the look of a hurt c

Maybe I'm foolish, but I can't see m

never have another. Oh, it means so much to me; it means life, future, everything! Why, it means heaven to a girl like me!" Her eyes were wet with the sudden dashing of her hopes, and her chin quivered in a sweet, girlish way that

m if we tried," he said, as if wil

took it coming back, and I could find it again, but Lee doesn't know that route, so he will follow the summer trail, which is fifteen miles farther. You see, his creek

of them and compel them to reckon with him as an equal, preferring a state of open enmity, if necessary, to this condition of indifferent toleration. Moreover, he knew that Necia was coveted by half of them, and if he spent a night in the woods alone with her it would stir them up a bit, he fancied. By Heaven! That would make them sit up and notice him! But then-it might work a wrong u

urrell. Come! Please c

m all day, or it may have been wholly the sense of her there beside him, warm and pleading, but something caused a great wave to surge up thr

ftly about his neck and her face nestling close to his. Neither of them knew how long they stood thus blended together, but soon he grew conscious of the beating of her heart against his breast, as she lay there like a little fluttering bird, and felt the throbb

breathing softly and with shy timidity, as if the

u. I love

ent or a physical touch that suddenly enwraps them like a flame. So it was with Burrell. The sweet burden of this girl in his arms, the sense of her yielding lips, the warmt

ff at once, and that he could have no more kisses for the present. "But, of course, it is a long trip, and we will have to sit down now and then to rest," she added, shyly; at

we must be well up towards the head of Black B

his arms once more, far up among the perfumed wooded heights, as the silent darkness stole upon them, stirred in him such a fret to be gone that it was like a fever.

you ready,

," she answ

sure you won'

le you l

ver trail that wound along the bank. A hundred yards

ping river, standing at the entrance to a wooded, grass-grown valley, with rolling hills and domes displayed at its head, while back

earning in his misty eyes as he took the girlish figure in his arms. But she

om the feel of the blood that leaped within him. Then he joined his companion, and, hand-in-hand,