The Sky Line of Spruce

scrutiny by both Morris and the girl. "Good Lord,

uite at ease. "Can't say just how. I just felt that I could-

once have I dared go in reach of his rope. And there he is, crouched at your feet! I was always

But you came just in time-" The girl's voice wavere

en advised quietly. "It was en

e found it hard to believe how really distressed he was; but Morris, an outdoor man to the core, understood completely. Besides, Ben knew that the praise was not deserved. Excessive bravery had played no part in the scene of a moment before. He had been brave just as far as Morris was brave, leaping freely in response to a call for help: the same degree of bravery that can be counted on in most men, ove

e heart beating in the lean breast as a man might know his brother's heart. The bond between them was hidden from his sight, something back of him, beyond him, enfolded within a secret self that was mysterious as a dream, and it reached into the countless years; yet it was real, an ancient relationship that was no l

efore?" Morris asked him, c

ev

imself, to control him like you did. Lo

lifted the savage face till their eyes met. The wolf growled, then, whimper

be afraid of, now,

med him. Even I can see that much. And I never

dful wolf of Scandinavian legend-was tamed. He had found a new master; Ben had won a servant and friend whose loyalty would never waver

of the voice and the gesture that accompanies it interpret a spoken order in a dog's brain. On this occasi

cely take his eyes from her face. He knew perfectly that he was staring rudely,

kinds; and such creatures as had admired him in Seattle's underworld had never got close to him. He had had many dreams; but some way it had never been credible to

mewhat admiring, and the speculations of ripening womanhood were in her eyes. He returned her gaze with frankest interest and admiration. His senses had been made sharp in his wilderness life; and his re

own people, those who can follow through and understand. She too knew the urge of unbridled vitality and spirit, common to all the woods children; and life's vivid meaning was her inheritance, no less than his. Her arms and lips were warm from fast-flowing blood, her nerves were vibrant and singing like hi

ed since his return. Her garb became her: simple, not holding the eye in itself but calling attention to the brunette beauty of her throat and face, the warm redness of her childish mouth, and the brown, warm color of her arms. She had dark, waving ha

e aisles. All manner of delectable possibilities occurred to

y to make. A few hours more would find him plunging deeper into the forest

as murmuring. "I never saw anything like it; it was

pect." The man's eyes fell to the shaggy form

l prompted him. "Beatri

day he had heard it from the lips of the merchant. And this was

her-or brother-who'

btfully. "My father is alre

oke about Ben's lips. Few times in his li

d, "who is going to be my