The Lure of the North

t warm, although the front of the stove glowed a bright red, and after supper Thirlwell pulled his chair between it and the wall. He had been out for som

summer one's bitten by sand-flies and mosquitoes; in winter one runs some risk of freezin

h much hardship," Scott remarked. "But do

. I was offered a good post in England, but it meant I'd be dependent on a ma

hes, and go to a concert or theater. Then you'd get up next morning in a warm room, with a bath and hot water at hand, instead of freezing by a stove that had bu

lwell awkwardly. "In

t the slaves of an idea. I'd pull out to-morrow if I didn't feel I had to make my mining v

ttlements came in. His skin cap was pulled down to meet the collar of his coat, leavi

hen we met the wind on Loon Lake, but there was no shelter on the beac

else?" Sc

nothing, and when he

nder that we hadn't paid our last bill for to

was some time since Agatha had written to him. He got thoughtful as he r

to this and tell me wh

unt of her meeting with the burglar and Stormont, he remarked: "It's a ni

lwell, with an impatient frown. "Wha

trange ran less risk of being r

But why did t

y not a fool. You seem to take it for granted that Strange never found the lo

he hear abo

ng; I don't see much difference between Stormont's object and the b

w stole nothing, although he broke open the writing-table and Miss Strange'

Stormont tried to buy the letters af

red to break into the house; and this

tes that he was lame," Scott remarked in a meaning tone. "W

ruth. Nobody knows as much as Driscoll about Strange's pr

to be enough in the meantime," Scott replied. "You could send d

rstand Miss Strange means to look for the vein next summer and you

found she'll be content to give the notion up. I don't want the thing to o

he's an attr

e. To begin with, I can't support a wife, and marriage hasn't much charm for me. Then I think she's clever enough to make

? Well, it's a chivalrous object; but there's a thing you don't seem to have thought of yet. Prospecting a big belt

it," Thirlwell repl

et you go. In fact, I don't mind taking a stake

nge wouldn

mining; I've paid pretty high for what I've learned. I understand Miss Strange hasn't much money, and we

of being able to offer Agatha the help she might need was attrac

thing alone. I feel pretty sure the or

," Scott agree

ked with some diffidence: "You stated that you didn't thi

might finance me if I could show them a sure snap. I'd like to do so, anyho

. Why did you come up

paddled and portaged through the woods I felt I'd got into another world. Wanted to stop forever and began to hate the cities; the feeling wasn't new, but I hadn't got it really strong till then. Sometimes at night, when the loons were calling on the lake and my packers were asl

er, but the folks I knew seemed to have a wrong idea of values. Spent their best efforts grubbing for money and trying to take the lead in sma

went

sit in my office afterwards and dream about the glittering lakes and the stiff white pines; saw them crowding round the lonely camps, when I ought to have been studying the market reports. Well, I couldn't concentrate on buyin

're anxious to mak

er when the notions you inherit are backed by your training. Well, I saw there was a danger of my turning out a hobo if I went back North without

your relations?

rank, and since I was bound to do something foolish, I'd better do it where I wouldn't disgrace the

fought a long, and it seemed a losing, battle against forces whose strength science cannot yet properly measure. The fish-oil lamps sometimes went out in poisonous air while they examined an unsafe working face; props broke under a lo

h flesh and blood could stand. One felt stronger for bracing one's tired body against fresh fatigue, and watchfulness

it gets," he said. "I'm satisfied

bed, tired with exhausting labor and glad to rest in dr