God's Country-And the Woman

forest mountains. It was she whose emotions revealed themselves now. The blood came and went in her cheeks. The soft lace at her throat rose and fell swiftly.

ngs she had said had raised a mountain between them. She could feel the throb of his arm on which her hand rested. All at once her calm had deserted her. She had never known a man like this, had ne

" she whispered. "I

like you to fight and die for. I no longer wonder at men fighting for them as they have sung their stories in books. I have nothing down in that world which you have called civilization-nothing except the husks of murdered hopes, ambitio

nd-when you must sacrifice all of that for whic

es

ou with my life and my honour.

-a little more than that-had changed the course of his life as completely as the master-strokes of a painter might have changed the tones of a canvas epic. It did not take reason or thought to impinge this fact upon him. It was a knowledge that engulfed him overwhelmingly. So short a time ago that even now he could not quite comprehend it all, he was alone out on the lake, thinking of the story of the First Woman that Jasper had told him down

hat in asking him to fight for her she had spoken with the physical definition of that word in mind. But at the outset she had plunged him into mystery. If she had asked him to draw the automatic at his side and leap into battle with a dozen of his kind he would not have been surprised. He had expected something like that. But this other-her first demand upon him! What could it mean? Shrouded in mystery, bound by his oath of honour to make no effort to uncove

the palmate horn of a moose feeding among the water-lily roots. He leaned forward, and shaded his eyes. In another moment his heart gave a quicker throb. What he had seen was the flash of a paddle. He made out a canoe, and then two. They were moving close i

had been crying. The dampness of tears still clung to her lashes; but the smile on her lips was swee

at way," she apologized. "But I couldn

ere glad, or s

ly glad. A few hours ago it didn't seem po

s hope,"

here is

ently, smiling at him with sweet confidence. Her eyes were like pure, soft violets. He wanted to kneel at her fee

ng the shore of the lake," he sa

suddenness with which the colour ebbed from he

r fingers clutched his arm almost fie

rock ridge," he said. "I am sure ther

vestige of colour had left the girl's cheeks. But now, as she stood there breathing quickly in her excitement, there came a change in her. She threw back her head. Her lips parted. Her blue eyes flashed a fire in which Philip in his amazement no

run off into the forest-and hide," she said.

you tr

olut

you should tell me: Who they are, wh

otect me as a wife. I will be constantly at your side. Were I alone I would know what to expect. But-with you-they may not offer me harm. If they do not, show no suspicion. But be watch

nforgettable as life itself," he whispered, so low that,

he coulee down to the lake. We can

n to traverse the boulder-strewn b

f I suggest that there is not one chanc

that involuntarily he held her hand closer in his own. "But I want them

re the significance of her words h

given me," he said. "With me you are anxious to f

"I am praying that they are not the ones I suspect. B

reached the la

may call you

at is ne

u will

e-for you are P

ible that you might allow me to retain at least a pa

tated. "If you wish I will call you Philip, But

certain exigenc

es

ched his convulsively. She pointed to a stretch of the open lake. The canoes were plainly visi

s not going to demand a great amount of

ce one of them," she replied in a low, strained voice.

ecide," he said, after a moment's

ft me hiding here five days ago. He is part French and part In

ves on the beach," he

d again by the terror of what might be in the approaching canoes. He was stra

ould hear her heart beating. "It is Jean-and the o

rned t

Wait for us there, I must see Jean alo

o her. And he knew by what he saw in her face that Jean's return had set the world trembling under her feet, that for h

hispered. "

returned in the di