mostthe
deep
and
beautiful
things
...
.
It
is
impossible
,
dear
,
it
is
intolerable
that
life
was
made
beautiful
for
us
—
just
for
these
vulgarities
.
"
"
Is
n't
there
—
—
"
She
hesitated
.
"
Love
—
still
?
"
"
But
—
—
Has
it
been
love
?
Love
is
a
thing
that
grows
.
But
we
took
it
—
as
people
take
flowers
out
of
a
garden
,
cut
them
off
,
put
them
in
water
...
.
How
much
of
our
daily
life
has
been
love
?
How
much
of
it
mere
consequences
of
the
love
we
've
left
behind
us
?
...
We
've
just
cohabited
and
'
made
love
'
—
you
and
I
—
and
thought
of
a
thousand
other
things
...
.
"
He
looked
up
at
her
.
"
Oh
,
I
love
a
thousand
things
about
you
,
"
he
said
.
"
But
do
I
love
you
,
Marjorie
?
Have
I
got
you
?
Have
n't
I
lost
you
—
have
n't
we
both
lost
something
,
the
very
heart
of
it
all
?
Do
you
think
that
we
were
just
cheated
by
instinct
,
that
there
was
n't
something
in
it
we
felt
and
thought
was
there
?
And
where
is
it
now
?
Where
is
that
brightness
and
wonder
,
Marjorie
,
and
the
pride
and
the
immense
unlimited
hope
?
"
She
was
still
for
a
moment
,
then
knelt
very
swiftly
before
him
and
held
out
her
arms
.
"
Oh
Rag
!
"
she
said
,
with
a
face
of
tender
beauty
.
He
took
her
finger
tips
in
his
,
dropped
them
and
stood
up
above
her
.
"
My
dear
,
"
he
cried
,
"
my
dear
!
why
do
you
always
want
to
turn
love
into
—
touches
?
...
Stand
up
again
.
Stand
up
there
,
my
dear
;
do
n't
think
I
've
ceased
to
love
you
,
but
stand
up
there
and
let
me
talk
to
you
as
one
man
to
another
.
If
we
let
this
occasion
slide
to
embraces
...
.
"
He
stopped
short
.
She
crouched
before
the
fire
at
his
feet
.
"
Go
on
,
"
she
said
,
"
go
on
.
"
"
I
feel
now
that
all
our
lives
now
,
Marjorie
—
—
We
have
come
to
a
crisis
.
I
feel
that
now
—
—
now
is
the
time
.
Either
we
shall
save
ourselves
now
or
we
shall
never
save
ourselves
.
It
is
as
if
something
had
gathered
and
accumulated
and
could
wait
no
longer
.
If
we
do
not
seize
this
opportunity
—
—
Then
our
lives
will
go
on
as
they
have
gone
on
,
will
become
more
and
more
a
matter
of
small
excitements
and
elaborate
comforts
and
distraction
...
.
"
He
stopped
this
halting
speech
and
then
broke
out
again
.
"
Oh
!
why
should
the
life
of
every
day
conquer
us
?
Why
should
generation
after
generation
of
men
have
these
fine
beginnings
,
these
splendid
dreams
of
youth
,
attempt
so
much
,
achieve
so
much
and
then
,
then
become
—
this
!
Look
at
this
room
,
this
litter
of
little
satisfactions
!
Look
at
your
pretty
books
there
,
a
hundred
minds
you
have
pecked
at
,
bright
things
of
the
spirit
that
attracted
you
as
jewels
attract
a
jackdaw
.
Look
at
the
glass
and
silver
,
and
that
silk
from
China
!
And
we
are
in
the
full
tide
of
our
years
,
Marjorie
.
Now
is
the
very
crown
and
best
of
our
lives
.
And
this
is
what
we
do
,
we
sample
,
we
accumulate
.
For
this
we
loved
,
for
this
we
hoped
.
Do
you
remember
when
we
were
young
—
that
life
seemed
so
splendid
—
it
was
intolerable
we
should
ever
die
?
...
The
splendid
dream
!
The
intimations
of
greatness
!
...
The
miserable
failure
!
"
He
raised
clenched
fists
.
"
I
wo
n't
stand
it
,
Marjorie
.
I
wo
n't
endure
it
.
Somehow
,
in
some
way
,
I
will
get
out
of
this
life
—
and
you
with
me
.
I
have
been
brooding
upon
this
and
brooding
,
but
now
I
know
...
.
"
"
But
how
?
"
asked
Marjorie
,
with
her
bare
arms
about
her
knees
,
staring
into
the
fire
.
"
How
?
"
"
We
must
get
out
of
its
constant
interruptions
,
its
incessant
vivid
,
petty
appeals
...
.
"
"
We
might
go
away
—
to
Switzerland
.
"
"
We
went
to
Switzerland
.
Did
n't
we
agree
—
it
was
our
second
honeymoon
.
It
is
n't
a
honeymoon
we
need
.
No
,
we
'll
have
to
go
further
than
that
.
"
A
sudden
light
broke
upon
Marjorie
's
mind
.
She
realized
he
had
a
plan
.
She
lifted
a
fire-lit
face
to
him
and
looked
at
him
with
steady
eyes
and
asked
—
—
"
Where
?
"
"
Ever
so
much
further
.
"
"
Where
?
"
"
I
do
n't
know
.
"
"
You
do
.
You
've
planned
something
.
"
"
I
do
n't
know
,
Marjorie
.
At
least
—
I
have
n't
made
up
my
mind
.
Where
it
is
very
lonely
.
Cold
and
remote
.
Away
from
all
this
—
—
"
His
mind
stopped
short
,
and
he
ended
with
a
cry
:
"
Oh
!
God
!
how
I
want
to
get
out
of
all
this
!
"
He
sat
down
in
her
arm-chair
,
and
bowed
his
face
on
his
hands
.
Then
abruptly
he
stood
up
and
went
out
of
the
room
.
When
in
five
minutes
'
time
he
came
back
into
her
room
she
was
still
upon
her
hearthrug
before
the
fire
,
with
her
necklace
in
her
hand
,
the
red
reflections
of
the
flames
glowing
and
winking
in
her
jewels
and
in
her
eyes
.
He
came
and
sat
again
in
her
chair
.
"
I
have
been
ranting
,
"
he
said
.
"
I
feel
I
've
been
—
eloquent
.
You
make
me
feel
like
an
actor-manager
,
in
a
play
by
Capes
...
.
You
are
the
most
difficult
person
for
me
to
talk
to
in
all
the
world
—
because
you
mean
so
much
to
me
.
"
She
moved
impulsively
and
checked
herself
and
crouched
away
from
him
.
"
I
must
n't
touch
your
hand
,
"
she
whispered
.
"
I
want
to
explain
.
"
"
You
've
got
to
explain
.
"
"
I
've
got
quite
a
definite
plan
...
.
But
a
sort
of
terror
seized
me
.
It
was
like
—
shyness
.
"
"
I
know
.
I
knew
you
had
a
plan
.
"
"
You
see
...
.
I
mean
to
go
to
Labrador
.
"
He
leant
forward
with
his
elbows
on
his
knees
and
his
hands
extended
,
explanatory
.
He
wanted
intensely
that
she
should
understand
and
agree
and
his
desire
made
him
clumsy
,
now
slow
and
awkward
,
now
glibly
and
unsatisfyingly
eloquent
.
But
she
comprehended
his
quality
better
than
he
knew
.
They
were
to
go
away
to
Labrador
,
this
snowy
desert
of
which
she
had
scarcely
heard
,
to
camp
in
the
very
heart
of
the
wilderness
,
two
hundred
miles
or
more
from
any
human
habitation
—
—
"
But
how
long
?
"
she
asked
abruptly
.
"
The
better
part
of
a
year
.
"
"
And
we
are
to
talk
?
"
"
Yes
,
"
he
said
,
"
talk
and
think
ourselves
together
—
oh
!
—
the
old
phrases
carry
it
all
—
find
God
...
.
"
"
It
is
what
I
dreamt
of
,
Rag
,
years
ago
.
"
"
Will
you
come
,
"
he
cried
,
"
out
of
all
this
?
"
She
leant
across
the
hearthrug
,
and
seized
and
kissed
his
hand
...
.
Then
,
with
one
of
those
swift
changes
of
hers
,
she
was
in
revolt
.
"
But
,
Rag
,
"
she
exclaimed
,
"
this
is
dreaming
.
We
are
not
free
.
There
are
the
children
!
Rag
!
We
cannot
leave
the
children
!
"
"
We
can
,
"
he
said
.
"
We
must
.
"
"
But
,
my
dear
!
—
our
duty
!
"
"
Is
it
a
mother
's
duty
always
to
keep
with
her
children
?
They
will
be
looked
after
,
their
lives
are
organized
,
there
is
my
mother
close
at
hand
...
.
What
is
the
good
of
having
children
at
all
—
unless
their
world
is
to
be
better
than
our
world
?
...
What
are
we
doing
to
save
them
from
the
same
bathos
as
this
—
to
which
we
have
come
?
We
give
them
food
and
health
and
pictures
and
lessons
,
that
's
all
very
well
while
they
are
just
little
children
;
but
we
've
got
no
religion
to
give
them
,
no
aim
,
no
sense
of
a
general
purpose
.
What
is
the
good
of
bread
and
health
—
and
no
worship
?
...
What
can
we
say
to
them
when
they
ask
us
why
we
brought
them
into
the
world
?
—
We
happened
—
you
happened
.
What
are
we
to
tell
them
when
they
demand
the
purpose
of
all
this
training
,
all
these
lessons
?
When
they
ask
what
we
are
preparing
them
for
?
Just
that
you
,
too
,
may
have
children
!
Is
that
any
answer
?
Marjorie
,
it
's
common-sense
to
try
this
over
—
to
make
this
last
supreme
effort
—
just
as
it
will
be
common-sense
to
separate
if
we
ca
n't
get
the
puzzle
solved
together
.
"
"
Separate
!
"
"
Separate
.
Why
not
?
We
can
afford
it
.
Of
course
,
we
shall
separate
.
"
"
But
Rag
!
—
separate
!
"
He
faced
her
protest
squarely
.
"
Life
is
not
worth
living
,
"
he
said
,
"
unless
it
has
more
to
hold
it
together
than
ours
has
now
.
If
we
cannot
escape
together
,
then
—
I
will
go
alone
.
"
...
They
parted
that
night
resolved
to
go
to
Labrador
together
,
with
the
broad
outline
of
their
subsequent
journey
already
drawn
.
Each
lay
awake
far
into
the
small
hours
thinking
of
this
purpose
and
of
one
another
,
with
a
strange
sense
of
renewed
association
.
Each
woke
to
a
morning
of
sunshine
heavy-eyed
.
Each
found
that
overnight
decision
remote
and
incredible
.
It
was
like
something
in
a
book
or
a
play
that
had
moved
them
very
deeply
.
They
came
down
to
breakfast
,
and
helped
themselves
after
the
wonted
fashion
of
several
years
,
Marjorie
with
a
skilful
eye
to
the
large
order
of
her
household
;
the
Times
had
one
or
two
characteristic
letters
which
interested
them
both
;
there
was
the
usual
picturesque
irruption
of
the
children
and
a
distribution
of
early
strawberries
among
them
.
Trafford
had
two
notes
in
his
correspondence
which
threw
a
new
light
upon
the
reconstruction
of
the
Norton-Batsford
company
in
which
he
was
interested
;
he
formed
a
definite
conclusion
upon
the
situation
,
and
went
quite
normally
to
his
study
and
the
telephone
to
act
upon
that
.
It
was
only
as
the
morning
wore
on
that
it
became
real
to
him
that
he
and
Marjorie
had
decided
to
leave
the
world
.
Then
,
with
the
Norton-Batsford
business
settled
,
he
sat
at
his
desk
and
mused
.
His
apathy
passed
.
His
imagination
began
to
present
first
one
picture
and
then
another
of
his
retreat
.
He
walked
along
Oxford
Street
to
his
Club
thinking
—
"
soon
we
shall
be
out
of
all
this
.
"
By
the
time
he
was
at
lunch
in
his
Club
,
Labrador
had
become
again
the
magic
refuge
it
had
seemed
the
day
before
.
After
lunch
he
went
to
work
in
the
library
,
finding
out
books
about
Labrador
,
and
looking
up
the
details
of
the
journey
.
But
his
sense
of
futility
and
hopeless
oppression
had
vanished
.
He
walked
along
the
corridor
and
down
the
great
staircase
,
and
without
a
trace
of
the
despairful
hostility
of
the
previous
day
,
passed
Blenkins
,
talking
grey
bosh
with
infinite
thoughtfulness
.
He
nodded
easily
to
Blenkins
.
He
was
going
out
of
it
all
,
as
a
man
might
do
who
discovers
after
years
of
weary
incarceration
that
the
walls
of
his
cell
are
made
of
thin
paper
.
The
time
when
Blenkins
seemed
part
of
a
prison-house
of
routine
and
invincible
stupidity
seemed
ten
ages
ago
.
In
Pall
Mall
Trafford
remarked
Lady
Grampians
and
the
Countess
of
Claridge
,
two
women
of
great
influence
,
in
a
big
green
car
,
on
the
way
no
doubt
to
create
or
sustain
or
destroy
;
and
it
seemed
to
him
that
it
was
limitless
ages
since
these
poor
old
dears
with
their
ridiculous
hats
and
their
ridiculous
airs
,
their
luncheons
and
dinners
and
dirty
aggressive
old
minds
,
had
sent
tidal
waves
of
competitive
anxiety
into
his
home
...
.
He
found
himself
jostling
through
the
shopping
crowd
on
the
sunny
side
of
Regent
Street
.
He
felt
now
that
he
looked
over
the
swarming
,
preoccupied
heads
at
distant
things
.
He
and
Marjorie
were
going
out
of
it
all
,
going
clean
out
of
it
all
.
They
were
going
to
escape
from
society
and
shopping
,
and
petty
engagements
and
incessant
triviality
—
as
a
bird
flies
up
out
of
weeds
.
But
Marjorie
fluctuated
more
than
he
did
.
There
were
times
when
the
expedition
for
which
he
was
now
preparing
rapidly
and
methodically
seemed
to
her
the
most
adventurously-beautiful
thing
that
had
ever
come
to
her
,
and
times
when
it
seemed
the
maddest
and
most
hopeless
of
eccentricities
.
There
were
times
when
she
had
devastating
premonitions
of
filth
,
hunger
,
strain
and
fatigue
,
damp
and
cold
,
when
her
whole
being
recoiled
from
the
project
,
when
she
could
even
think
of
staying
secure
in
London
and
letting
him
go
alone
.
She
developed
complicated
anxieties
for
the
children
;
she
found
reasons
for
further
inquiries
,
for
delay
.
"
Why
not
,
"
she
suggested
,
"
wait
a
year
?
"
"
No
,
"
he
said
,
"
I
wo
n't
.
I
mean
we
are
to
do
this
,
and
do
it
now
,
and
nothing
but
sheer
physical
inability
to
do
it
will
prevent
my
carrying
it
out
...
.
And
you
?
Of
course
you
are
to
come
.
I
ca
n't
drag
you
shrieking
all
the
way
to
Labrador
;
short
of
that
I
'm
going
to
make
you
come
with
me
.
"
She
sat
and
looked
up
at
him
with
dark
lights
in
her
upturned
eyes
,
and
a
little
added
warmth
in
her
cheek
.
"
You
've
never
forced
my
will
like
this
before
,
"
she
said
,
in
a
low
voice
.
"
Never
.
"
He
was
too
intent
upon
his
own
resolve
to
heed
her
tones
.
"
It
has
n't
seemed
necessary
somehow
,
"
he
said
,
considering
her
statement
.
"
Now
it
does
.
"
"
This
is
something
final
,
"
she
said
.
"
It
is
final
.
"
She
found
an
old
familiar
phrasing
running
through
her
head
,
as
she
sat
crouched
together
,
looking
up
at
his
rather
gaunt
,
very
intent
face
,
the
speech
of
another
woman
echoing
to
her
across
a
vast
space
of
years
:
"
Whither
thou
goest
I
will
go
—
—
"
"
In
Labrador
,
"
he
began
...
.
CHAPTER
THE
THIRD
The
Pilgrimage
to
Lonely
Hut
Marjorie
was
surprised
to
find
how
easy
it
was
at
last
to
part
from
her
children
and
go
with
Trafford
.
"
I
am
not
sorry
,
"
she
said
,
"
not
a
bit
sorry
—
but
I
am
fearfully
afraid
.
I
shall
dream
they
are
ill
...
.
Apart
from
that
,
it
's
strange
how
you
grip
me
and
they
do
n't
...
.
"
In
the
train
to
Liverpool
she
watched
Trafford
with
the
queer
feeling
which
comes
to
all
husbands
and
wives
at
times
that
that
other
partner
is
indeed
an
undiscovered
stranger
,
just
beginning
to
show
perplexing
traits
,
—
full
of
inconceivable
possibilities
.
For
some
reason
his
tearing
her
up
by
the
roots
in
this
fashion
had
fascinated
her
imagination
.
She
felt
a
strange
new
wonder
at
him
that
had
in
it
just
a
pleasant
faint
flavour
of
fear
.
Always
before
she
had
felt
a
curious
aversion
and
contempt
for
those
servile
women
who
are
said
to
seek
a
master
,
to
want
to
be
mastered
,
to
be
eager
even
for
the
physical
subjugations
of
brute
force
.
Now
she
could
at
least
understand
,
sympathize
even
with
them
.
Not
only
Trafford
surprised
her
but
herself
.
She
found
she
was
in
an
unwonted
perplexing
series
of
moods
.
All
her
feelings
struck
her
now
as
being
incorrect
as
well
as
unexpected
;
not
only
had
life
become
suddenly
full
of
novelty
but
she
was
making
novel
responses
.
She
felt
that
she
ought
to
be
resentful
and
tragically
sorry
for
her
home
and
children
.
She
felt
this
departure
ought
to
have
the
quality
of
an
immense
sacrifice
,
a
desperate
and
heroic
undertaking
for
Trafford
's
sake
.
Instead
she
could
detect
little
beyond
an
adventurous
exhilaration
when
presently
she
walked
the
deck
of
the
steamer
that
was
to
take
her
to
St.
John
's
.
She
had
visited
her
cabin
,
seen
her
luggage
stowed
away
,
and
now
she
surveyed
the
Mersey
and
its
shipping
with
a
renewed
freshness
of
mind
.
She
was
reminded
of
the
day
,
now
nearly
nine
years
ago
,
when
she
had
crossed
the
sea
for
the
first
time
—
to
Italy
.
Then
,
too
,
Trafford
had
seemed
a
being
of
infinitely
wonderful
possibilities
...
.
What
were
the
children
doing
?
—
that
ought
to
have
been
her
preoccupation
.
She
did
n't
know
;
she
did
n't
care
!
Trafford
came
and
stood
beside
her
,
pointed
out
this
and
that
upon
the
landing
stage
,
no
longer
heavily
sullen
,
but
alert
,
interested
,
almost
gay
...
.
Neither
of
them
could
find
any
way
to
the
great
discussion
they
had
set
out
upon
,
in
this
voyage
to
St.
John
's
.
But
there
was
plenty
of
time
before
them
.
Plenty
of
time
!
They
were
both
the
prey
of
that
uneasy
distraction
which
seems
the
inevitable
quality
of
a
passenger
steamship
.
They
surveyed
and
criticized
their
fellow
travellers
,
and
prowled
up
and
down
through
the
long
swaying
days
and
the
cold
dark
nights
.
They
slept
uneasily
amidst
fog-horn
hootings
and
the
startling
sounds
of
waves
swirling
against
the
ports
.
Marjorie
had
never
had
a
long
sea
voyage
before
;
for
the
first
time
in
her
life
she
saw
all
the
world
,
through
a
succession
of
days
,
as
a
circle
of
endless
blue
waters
,
with
the
stars
and
planets
and
sun
and
moon
rising
sharply
from
its
rim
.
Until
one
has
had
a
voyage
no
one
really
understands
that
old
Earth
is
a
watery
globe
...
.
They
ran
into
thirty
hours
of
storm
,
which
subsided
,
and
then
came
a
slow
time
among
icebergs
,
and
a
hooting
,
dreary
passage
through
fog
.
The
first
three
icebergs
were
marvels
,
the
rest
bores
;
a
passing
collier
out
of
her
course
and
pitching
heavily
,
a
lonely
black
and
dirty
ship
with
a
manner
almost
derelict
,
filled
their
thoughts
for
half
a
day
.
Their
minds
were
in
a
state
of
tedious
inactivity
,
eager
for
such
small
interests
and
only
capable
of
such
small
interests
.
There
was
no
hurry
to
talk
,
they
agreed
,
no
hurry
at
all
,
until
they
were
settled
away
ahead
there
among
the
snows
.
"
There
we
shall
have
plenty
of
time
for
everything
...
.
"
Came
the
landfall
and
then
St.
John
's
,
and
they
found
themselves
side
by
side
watching
the
town
draw
near
.
The
thought
of
landing
and
transference
to
another
ship
refreshed
them
both
...
.
They
were
going
,
Trafford
said
,
in
search
of
God
,
but
it
was
far
more
like
two
children
starting
out
upon
a
holiday
.
There
was
trouble
and
procrastination
about
the
half-breed
guides
that
Trafford
had
arranged
should
meet
them
at
St.
John
's
,
and
it
was
three
weeks
from
their
reaching
Newfoundland
before
they
got
themselves
and
their
guides
and
equipment
and
general
stores
aboard
the
boat
for
Port
Dupré
.
Thence
he
had
planned
they
should
go
in
the
Gibson
schooner
to
Manivikovik
,
the
Marconi
station
at
the
mouth
of
the
Green
River
,
and
thence
past
the
new
pulp-mills
up
river
to
the
wilderness
.
There
were
delays
and
a
few
trivial
,
troublesome
complications
in
carrying
out
this
scheme
,
but
at
last
a
day
came
when
Trafford
could
wave
good-bye
to
the
seven
people
and
eleven
dogs
which
constituted
the
population
of
Peter
Hammond
's
,
that
last
rude
outpost
of
civilization
twenty
miles
above
the
pulp-mill
,
and
turn
his
face
in
good
earnest
towards
the
wilderness
.
Neither
he
nor
Marjorie
looked
back
at
the
headland
for
a
last
glimpse
of
the
little
settlement
they
were
leaving
.
Each
stared
ahead
over
the
broad
,
smooth
sweep
of
water
,
broken
by
one
transverse
bar
of
foaming
shallows
,
and
scanned
the
low
,
tree-clad
hills
beyond
that
drew
together
at
last
in
the
distant
gorge
out
of
which
the
river
came
.
The
morning
was
warm
and
full
of
the
promise
of
a
hot
noon
,
so
that
the
veils
they
wore
against
the
assaults
of
sand-flies
and
mosquitoes
were
already
a
little
inconvenient
.
It
seemed
incredible
in
this
morning
glow
that
the
wooded
slopes
along
the
shore
of
the
lake
were
the
border
of
a
land
in
which
nearly
half
the
inhabitants
die
of
starvation
.
The
deep-laden
canoes
swept
almost
noiselessly
through
the
water
with
a
rhythmic
alternation
of
rush
and
pause
as
the
dripping
paddles
drove
and
returned
.
Altogether
there
were
four
long
canoes
and
five
Indian
breeds
in
their
party
,
and
when
they
came
to
pass
through
shallows
both
Marjorie
and
Trafford
took
a
paddle
.
They
came
to
the
throat
of
the
gorge
towards
noon
,
and
found
strong
flowing
deep
water
between
its
high
purple
cliffs
.
All
hands
had
to
paddle
again
,
and
it
was
only
when
they
came
to
rest
in
a
pool
to
eat
a
mid-day
meal
and
afterwards
to
land
upon
a
mossy
corner
for
a
stretch
and
a
smoke
,
that
Marjorie
discovered
the
peculiar
beauty
of
the
rock
about
them
.
On
the
dull
purplish-grey
surfaces
played
the
most
extraordinary
mist
of
luminous
iridescence
.
It
fascinated
her
.
Here
was
a
land
whose
common
substance
had
this
gemlike
opalescence
.
But
her
attention
was
very
soon
withdrawn
from
these
glancing
splendours
.
She
had
had
to
put
aside
her
veil
to
eat
,
and
presently
she
felt
the
vividly
painful
stabs
of
the
black-fly
and
discovered
blood
upon
her
face
.
A
bigger
fly
,
the
size
and
something
of
the
appearance
of
a
small
wasp
,
with
an
evil
buzz
,
also
assailed
her
and
Trafford
.
It
was
a
bad
corner
for
flies
;
the
breeds
even
were
slapping
their
wrists
and
swearing
under
the
torment
,
and
every
one
was
glad
to
embark
and
push
on
up
the
winding
gorge
.
It
opened
out
for
a
time
,
and
then
the
wooded
shores
crept
in
again
,
and
in
another
half-hour
they
saw
ahead
of
them
a
long
rush
of
foaming
waters
among
tumbled
rocks
that
poured
down
from
a
brimming
,
splashing
line
of
light
against
the
sky
.
They
crossed
the
river
,
ran
the
canoes
into
an
eddy
under
the
shelter
of
a
big
stone
and
began
to
unload
.
They
had
reached
their
first
portage
.
The
rest
of
the
first
day
was
spent
in
packing
and
lugging
first
the
cargoes
and
then
the
canoes
up
through
thickets
and
over
boulders
and
across
stretches
of
reindeer
moss
for
the
better
part
of
two
miles
to
a
camping
ground
about
half-way
up
the
rapids
.
Marjorie
and
Trafford
tried
to
help
with
the
carrying
,
but
this
evidently
shocked
and
distressed
the
men
too
much
,
so
they
desisted
and
set
to
work
cutting
wood
and
gathering
moss
for
the
fires
and
bedding
for
the
camp
.
When
the
iron
stove
was
brought
up
the
man
who
had
carried
it
showed
them
how
to
put
it
up
on
stakes
and
start
a
fire
in
it
,
and
then
Trafford
went
to
the
river
to
get
water
,
and
Marjorie
made
a
kind
of
flour
cake
in
the
frying-pan
in
the
manner
an
American
woman
from
the
wilderness
had
once
shown
her
,
and
boiled
water
for
tea
.
The
twilight
had
deepened
to
night
while
the
men
were
still
stumbling
up
the
trail
with
the
last
two
canoes
.
It
gave
Marjorie
a
curiously
homeless
feeling
to
stand
there
in
the
open
with
the
sunset
dying
away
below
the
black
scrubby
outlines
of
the
treetops
uphill
to
the
northwest
,
and
to
realize
the
nearest
roof
was
already
a
day
's
toilsome
journey
away
.
The
cool
night
breeze
blew
upon
her
bare
face
and
arms
—
for
now
the
insects
had
ceased
from
troubling
and
she
had
cast
aside
gloves
and
veil
and
turned
up
her
sleeves
to
cook
—
and
the
air
was
full
of
the
tumult
of
the
rapids
tearing
seaward
over
the
rocks
below
.
Struggling
through
the
bushes
towards
her
was
an
immense
,
headless
quadruped
with
unsteady
legs
and
hesitating
paces
,
two
of
the
men
carrying
the
last
canoe
.
Two
others
were
now
assisting
Trafford
to
put
up
the
little
tent
that
was
to
shelter
her
,
and
the
fifth
was
kneeling
beside
her
very
solemnly
and
respectfully
cutting
slices
of
bacon
for
her
to
fry
.
The
air
was
very
sweet
,
and
she
wished
she
could
sleep
not
in
the
tent
but
under
the
open
sky
.
It
was
queer
,
she
thought
,
how
much
of
the
wrappings
of
civilization
had
slipped
from
them
already
.
Every
day
of
the
journey
from
London
had
released
them
or
deprived
them
—
she
hardly
knew
which
—
of
a
multitude
of
petty
comforts
and
easy
accessibilities
.
The
afternoon
toil
uphill
intensified
the
effect
of
having
clambered
up
out
of
things
—
to
this
loneliness
,
this
twilight
openness
,
this
simplicity
.
The
men
ate
apart
at
a
fire
they
made
for
themselves
,
and
after
Trafford
and
Marjorie
had
supped
on
damper
,
bacon
and
tea
,
he
smoked
.
They
were
both
too
healthily
tired
to
talk
very
much
.
There
was
no
moon
but
a
frosty
brilliance
of
stars
,
the
air
which
had
been
hot
and
sultry
at
mid-day
grew
keen
and
penetrating
,
and
after
she
had
made
him
tell
her
the
names
of
constellations
she
had
forgotten
,
she
suddenly
perceived
the
wisdom
of
the
tent
,
went
into
it
—
it
was
sweet
and
wonderful
with
sprigs
of
the
Labrador
tea-shrub
—
undressed
,
and
had
hardly
rolled
herself
up
into
a
cocoon
of
blankets
before
she
was
fast
asleep
.
She
was
awakened
by
a
blaze
of
sunshine
pouring
into
the
tent
,
a
smell
of
fried
bacon
and
Trafford
's
voice
telling
her
to
get
up
.
"
They
've
gone
on
with
the
first
loads
,
"
he
said
.
"
Get
up
,
wrap
yourself
in
a
blanket
,
and
come
and
bathe
in
the
river
.
It
's
as
cold
as
ice
.
"
She
blinked
at
him
.
"
Are
n't
you
stiff
?
"
she
asked
.
"
I
was
stiffer
before
I
bathed
,
"
he
said
.
She
took
the
tin
he
offered
her
.
(
They
were
n't
to
see
china
cups
again
for
a
year
.
)
"
It
's
woman
's
work
getting
tea
,
"
she
said
as
she
drank
.
"
You
ca
n't
be
a
squaw
all
at
once
,
"
said
Trafford
.
After
Marjorie
had
taken
her
dip
,
dried
roughly
behind
a
bush
,
twisted
her
hair
into
a
pigtail
and
coiled
it
under
her
hat
,
she
amused
herself
and
Trafford
as
they
clambered
up
through
rocks
and
willows
to
the
tent
again
by
cataloguing
her
apparatus
of
bath
and
toilette
at
Sussex
Square
and
tracing
just
when
and
how
she
had
parted
from
each
item
on
the
way
to
this
place
.
"
But
I
say
!
"
she
cried
,
with
a
sudden
,
sharp
note
of
dismay
,
"
we
have
n't
soap
!
This
is
our
last
cake
almost
.
I
never
thought
of
soap
.
"
"
Nor
I
,
"
said
Trafford
.
He
spoke
again
presently
.
"
We
do
n't
turn
back
for
soap
,
"
he
said
.
"
We
do
n't
turn
back
for
anything
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
Still
—
I
did
n't
count
on
a
soapless
winter
.
"
"
I
'll
manage
something
,
"
said
Trafford
,
a
little
doubtfully
.
"
Trust
a
chemist
...
.
"
That
day
they
finished
the
portage
and
came
out
upon
a
wide
lake
with
sloping
shores
and
a
distant
view
of
snow-topped
mountains
,
a
lake
so
shallow
that
at
times
their
loaded
canoes
scraped
on
the
glaciated
rock
below
and
they
had
to
alter
their
course
.
They
camped
in
a
lurid
sunset
;
the
night
was
warm
and
mosquitoes
were
troublesome
,
and
towards
morning
came
a
thunderstorm
and
wind
and
rain
.
The
dawn
broke
upon
a
tearing
race
of
waves
and
a
wild
drift
of
slanting
rain
sweeping
across
the
lake
before
a
gale
.
Marjorie
peered
out
at
this
as
one
peers
out
under
the
edge
of
an
umbrella
.
It
was
manifestly
impossible
to
go
on
,
and
they
did
nothing
that
day
but
run
up
a
canvas
shelter
for
the
men
and
shift
the
tent
behind
a
thicket
of
trees
out
of
the
full
force
of
the
wind
.
The
men
squatted
stoically
,
and
smoked
and
yarned
.
Everything
got
coldly
wet
,
and
for
the
most
part
the
Traffords
sat
under
the
tent
and
stared
blankly
at
this
summer
day
in
Labrador
.
"
Now
,
"
said
Trafford
,
"
we
ought
to
begin
talking
.
"
"
There
's
nothing
much
to
do
else
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
Only
one
ca
n't
begin
,
"
said
Trafford
.
He
was
silent
for
a
time
.
"
We
're
getting
out
of
things
,
"
he
said
...
.
The
next
day
began
with
a
fine
drizzle
through
which
the
sun
broke
suddenly
about
ten
o'clock
.
They
made
a
start
at
once
,
and
got
a
good
dozen
miles
up
the
lake
before
it
was
necessary
to
camp
again
.
Both
Marjorie
and
Trafford
felt
stiff
and
weary
and
uncomfortable
all
day
,
and
secretly
a
little
doubtful
now
of
their
own
endurance
.
They
camped
on
an
island
on
turf
amidst
slippery
rocks
,
and
the
next
day
were
in
a
foaming
difficult
river
again
,
with
glittering
shallows
that
obliged
every
one
to
get
out
at
times
to
wade
and
push
.
All
through
the
afternoon
they
were
greatly
beset
by
flies
.
And
so
they
worked
their
way
on
through
a
third
days
'
journey
towards
the
silent
inland
of
Labrador
.
Day
followed
day
of
toilsome
and
often
tedious
travel
;
they
fought
rapids
,
they
waited
while
the
men
stumbled
up
long
portages
under
vast
loads
,
going
and
returning
,
they
camped
and
discussed
difficulties
and
alternatives
.
The
flies
sustained
an
unrelenting
persecution
,
until
faces
were
scarred
in
spite
of
veils
and
smoke
fires
,
until
wrists
and
necks
were
swollen
and
the
blood
in
a
fever
.
As
they
got
higher
and
higher
towards
the
central
plateau
,
the
mid-day
heat
increased
and
the
nights
grew
colder
,
until
they
would
find
themselves
toiling
,
wet
with
perspiration
,
over
rocks
that
sheltered
a
fringe
of
ice
beneath
their
shadows
.
The
first
fatigues
and
lassitudes
,
the
shrinking
from
cold
water
,
the
ache
of
muscular
effort
,
gave
place
to
a
tougher
and
tougher
endurance
;
skin
seemed
to
have
lost
half
its
capacity
for
pain
without
losing
a
tithe
of
its
discrimination
,
muscles
attained
a
steely
resilience
;
they
were
getting
seasoned
.
"
I
do
n't
feel
philosophical
,
"
said
Trafford
,
"
but
I
feel
well
.
"
"
We
're
getting
out
of
things
.
"
"
Suppose
we
are
getting
out
of
our
problems
!
...
"
One
day
as
they
paddled
across
a
mile-long
pool
,
they
saw
three
bears
prowling
in
single
file
high
up
on
the
hillside
.
"
Look
,
"
said
the
man
,
and
pointed
with
his
paddle
at
the
big
,
soft
,
furry
black
shapes
,
magnified
and
startling
in
the
clear
air
.
All
the
canoes
rippled
to
a
stop
,
the
men
,
at
first
still
,
whispered
softly
.
One
passed
a
gun
to
Trafford
,
who
hesitated
and
looked
at
Marjorie
.
The
air
of
tranquil
assurance
about
these
three
huge
loafing
monsters
had
a
queer
effect
on
Marjorie
's
mind
.
They
made
her
feel
that
they
were
at
home
and
that
she
was
an
intruder
.
She
had
never
in
her
life
seen
any
big
wild
animals
except
in
a
menagerie
.
She
had
developed
a
sort
of
unconscious
belief
that
all
big
wild
animals
were
in
menageries
nowadays
,
and
this
spectacle
of
beasts
entirely
at
large
startled
her
.
There
was
never
a
bar
between
these
creatures
,
she
felt
,
and
her
sleeping
self
.
They
might
,
she
thought
,
do
any
desperate
thing
to
feeble
men
and
women
who
came
their
way
.
"
Shall
I
take
a
shot
?
"
asked
Trafford
.
"
No
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
pervaded
by
the
desire
for
mutual
toleration
.
"
Let
them
be
.
"
The
big
brutes
disappeared
in
a
gully
,
reappeared
,
came
out
against
the
skyline
one
by
one
and
vanished
.
"
Too
long
a
shot
,
"
said
Trafford
,
handing
back
the
gun
...
.
Their
journey
lasted
altogether
a
month
.
Never
once
did
they
come
upon
any
human
being
save
themselves
,
though
in
one
place
they
passed
the
poles
—
for
the
most
part
overthrown
—
of
an
old
Indian
encampment
.
But
this
desolation
was
by
no
means
lifeless
.
They
saw
great
quantities
of
waterbirds
,
geese
,
divers
,
Arctic
partridge
and
the
like
,
they
became
familiar
with
the
banshee
cry
of
the
loon
.
They
lived
very
largely
on
geese
and
partridge
.
Then
for
a
time
about
a
string
of
lakes
,
the
country
was
alive
with
migrating
deer
going
south
,
and
the
men
found
traces
of
a
wolf
.
They
killed
six
caribou
,
and
stayed
to
skin
and
cut
them
up
and
dry
the
meat
to
replace
the
bacon
they
had
consumed
,
caught
,
fried
and
ate
great
quantities
of
trout
,
and
became
accustomed
to
the
mysterious
dance
of
the
northern
lights
as
the
sunset
afterglow
faded
.
Everywhere
,
except
in
the
river
gorges
,
the
country
displayed
the
low
hummocky
lines
and
tarn-like
pools
of
intensely
glaciated
land
;
everywhere
it
was
carpeted
with
reindeer
moss
growing
upon
peat
and
variegated
by
bushes
of
flowering
,
sweet-smelling
Labrador
tea
.
In
places
this
was
starred
with
little
harebells
and
diversified
by
tussocks
of
heather
and
rough
grass
,
and
over
the
rocks
trailed
delicate
dwarf
shrubs
and
a
very
pretty
and
fragrant
pink-flowered
plant
of
which
neither
she
nor
Trafford
knew
the
name
.
There
was
an
astonishing
amount
of
wild
fruit
,
raspberries
,
cranberries
,
and
a
white
kind
of
strawberry
that
was
very
delightful
.
The
weather
,
after
its
first
outbreak
,
remained
brightly
serene
...
.
And
at
last
it
seemed
fit
to
Trafford
to
halt
and
choose
his
winter
quarters
.
He
chose
a
place
on
the
side
of
a
low
,
razor-hacked
rocky
mountain
ridge
,
about
fifty
feet
above
the
river
—
which
had
now
dwindled
to
a
thirty-foot
stream
.
His
site
was
near
a
tributary
rivulet
that
gave
convenient
water
,
in
a
kind
of
lap
that
sheltered
between
two
rocky
knees
,
each
bearing
thickets
of
willow
and
balsam
.
Not
a
dozen
miles
away
from
them
now
they
reckoned
was
the
Height
of
Land
,
the
low
watershed
between
the
waters
that
go
to
the
Atlantic
and
those
that
go
to
Hudson
's
Bay
.
Close
beside
the
site
he
had
chosen
a
shelf
of
rock
ran
out
and
gave
a
glimpse
up
the
narrow
rocky
valley
of
the
Green
River
's
upper
waters
and
a
broad
prospect
of
hill
and
tarn
towards
the
south-east
.
North
and
north-east
of
them
the
country
rose
to
a
line
of
low
crests
,
with
here
and
there
a
yellowing
patch
of
last
year
's
snow
,
and
across
the
valley
were
slopes
covered
in
places
by
woods
of
stunted
pine
.
It
had
an
empty
spaciousness
of
effect
;
the
one
continually
living
thing
seemed
to
be
the
Green
River
,
hurrying
headlong
,
noisily
,
perpetually
,
in
an
eternal
flight
from
this
high
desolation
.
Birds
were
rare
here
,
and
the
insects
that
buzzed
and
shrilled
and
tormented
among
the
rocks
and
willows
in
the
gorge
came
but
sparingly
up
the
slopes
to
them
.
"
Here
presently
,
"
said
Trafford
,
"
we
shall
be
in
peace
.
"
"
It
is
very
lonely
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
The
nearer
to
God
.
"
"
Think
!
Not
one
of
these
hills
has
ever
had
a
name
.
"
"
Well
?
"
"
It
might
be
in
some
other
planet
.
"
"
Oh
!
—
we
'll
christen
them
.
That
shall
be
Marjorie
Ridge
,
and
that
Rag
Valley
.
This
space
shall
be
—
oh
!
Bayswater
!
Before
we
've
done
with
it
,
this
place
and
every
feature
of
it
will
be
as
familiar
as
Sussex
Square
.
More
so
,
—
for
half
the
houses
there
would
be
stranger
to
us
,
if
we
could
see
inside
them
,
than
anything
in
this
wilderness
...
.
As
familiar
,
say
—
as
your
drawing-room
.
That
's
better
.
"
Marjorie
made
no
answer
,
but
her
eyes
went
from
the
reindeer
moss
and
scrub
and
thickets
of
the
foreground
to
the
low
rocky
ridges
that
bounded
the
view
north
and
east
of
them
.
The
scattered
boulders
,
the
tangles
of
wood
,
the
barren
upper
slopes
,
the
dust-soiled
survivals
of
the
winter
's
snowfall
,
all
contributed
to
an
effect
at
once
carelessly
desert
and
hopelessly
untidy
.
She
looked
westward
,
and
her
memory
was
full
of
interminable
streaming
rapids
,
wastes
of
ice-striated
rocks
,
tiresome
struggles
through
woods
and
wild
,
wide
stretches
of
tundra
and
tarn
,
trackless
and
treeless
,
infinitely
desolate
.
It
seemed
to
her
that
the
sea
coast
was
but
a
step
from
London
and
ten
thousand
miles
away
from
her
.
The
men
had
engaged
to
build
the
framework
of
hut
and
store
shed
before
returning
,
and
to
this
under
Trafford
's
direction
they
now
set
themselves
.
They
were
all
half-breeds
,
mingling
with
Indian
with
Scottish
or
French
blood
,
sober
and
experienced
men
.
Three
were
named
Mackenzie
,
two
brothers
and
a
cousin
,
and
another
,
Raymond
Noyes
,
was
a
relation
and
acquaintance
of
that
George
Elson
who
was
with
Wallace
and
Leonidas
Hubbard
,
and
afterwards
guided
Mrs.
Hubbard
in
her
crossing
of
Labrador
.
The
fifth
was
a
boy
of
eighteen
named
Lean
.
They
were
all
familiar
with
the
idea
of
summer
travel
in
this
country
;
quite
a
number
,
a
score
or
so
that
is
to
say
,
of
adventurous
people
,
including
three
or
four
women
,
had
ventured
far
in
the
wake
of
the
Hubbards
into
these
great
wildernesses
during
the
decade
that
followed
that
first
tragic
experiment
in
which
Hubbard
died
.
But
that
any
one
not
of
Indian
or
Esquimaux
blood
should
propose
to
face
out
the
Labrador
winter
was
a
new
thing
to
them
.
They
were
really
very
sceptical
at
the
outset
whether
these
two
highly
civilized-looking
people
would
ever
get
up
to
the
Height
of
Land
at
all
,
and
it
was
still
with
manifest
incredulity
that
they
set
about
the
building
of
the
hut
and
the
construction
of
the
sleeping
bunks
for
which
they
had
brought
up
planking
.
A
stream
of
speculative
talk
had
flowed
along
beside
Marjorie
and
Trafford
ever
since
they
had
entered
the
Green
River
;
and
it
did
n't
so
much
come
to
an
end
as
get
cut
off
at
last
by
the
necessity
of
their
departure
.
Noyes
would
stand
,
holding
a
hammer
and
staring
at
the
narrow
little
berth
he
was
fixing
together
.
"
You
'll
not
sleep
in
this
,
"
he
said
.
"
I
will
,
"
replied
Marjorie
.
"
You
'll
come
back
with
us
.
"
"
Not
me
.
"
"
There
'll
be
wolves
come
and
howl
.
"
"
Let
'
em
.
"
"
They
'll
come
right
up
to
the
door
here
.
Winter
makes
'
em
hidjus
bold
.
"
Marjorie
shrugged
her
shoulders
.
"
It
's
that
cold
I
've
known
a
man
have
his
nose
froze
while
he
lay
in
bed
,
"
said
Noyes
.
"
Up
here
?
"
"
Down
the
coast
.
But
they
say
it
's
'
most
as
cold
up
here
.
Many
's
the
man
it
's
starved
and
froze
.
"
...
He
and
his
companions
told
stories
,
—
very
circumstantial
and
pitiful
stories
,
of
Indian
disasters
.
They
were
all
tales
of
weariness
and
starvation
,
of
the
cessation
of
food
,
because
the
fishing
gave
out
,
because
the
caribou
did
not
migrate
by
the
customary
route
,
because
the
man
of
a
family
group
broke
his
wrist
,
and
then
of
the
start
of
all
or
some
of
the
party
to
the
coast
to
get
help
and
provisions
,
of
the
straining
,
starving
fugitives
caught
by
blizzards
,
losing
the
track
,
devouring
small
vermin
raw
,
gnawing
their
own
skin
garments
until
they
toiled
half-naked
in
the
snow
,
—
becoming
cannibals
,
becoming
delirious
,
lying
down
to
die
.
Once
there
was
an
epidemic
of
influenza
,
and
three
families
of
seven
and
twenty
people
just
gave
up
and
starved
and
died
in
their
lodges
,
and
were
found
,
still
partly
frozen
,
a
patient
,
pitiful
company
,
by
trappers
in
the
spring
...
.
Such
they
said
,
were
the
common
things
that
happened
in
a
Labrador
winter
.
Did
the
Traffords
wish
to
run
such
risks
?
A
sort
of
propagandist
enthusiasm
grew
up
in
the
men
.
They
felt
it
incumbent
upon
them
to
persuade
the
Traffords
to
return
.
They
reasoned
with
them
rather
as
one
does
with
wilful
children
.
They
tried
to
remind
them
of
the
delights
and
securities
of
the
world
they
were
deserting
.
Noyes
drew
fancy
pictures
of
the
pleasures
of
London
by
way
of
contrast
to
the
bitter
days
before
them
.
"
You
've
got
everything
there
,
everything
.
Suppose
you
feel
a
bit
ill
,
you
go
out
,
and
every
block
there
's
a
drug
store
got
everything
—
all
the
new
rem'dies
—
p'raps
twenty
,
thirty
sorts
of
rem'dy
.
Lit
up
,
nice
.
And
chaps
in
collars
—
like
gentlemen
.
Or
you
feel
a
bit
dully
and
you
go
into
the
streets
and
there
's
people
.
Why
!
when
I
was
in
New
York
I
used
to
spend
hours
looking
at
the
people
.
Hours
!
And
everything
lit
up
,
too
.
Sky
signs
!
Readin
'
everywhere
.
You
can
spend
hours
and
hours
in
New
York
—
—
"
"
London
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
Well
,
London
—
just
going
about
and
reading
the
things
they
stick
up
.
Every
blamed
sort
of
thing
.
Or
you
say
,
let
's
go
somewhere
.
Let
's
go
out
and
be
a
bit
lively
.
See
?
Up
you
get
on
a
car
and
there
you
are
!
Great
big
restaurants
,
blazing
with
lights
,
and
you
ca
n't
think
of
a
thing
to
eat
they
have
n't
got
.
Waiters
all
round
you
,
dressed
tremendous
,
fair
asking
you
to
have
more
.
Or
you
say
,
let
's
go
to
a
theatre
.
Very
likely
,
"
said
Noyes
,
letting
his
imagination
soar
,
"
you
order
up
one
of
these
automobillies
.
"
"
By
telephone
,
"
helped
Trafford
.
"
By
telephone
,
"
confirmed
Noyes
.
"
When
I
was
in
New
York
there
was
a
telephone
in
each
room
in
the
hotel
.
Each
room
.
I
did
n't
use
it
ever
,
except
once
when
they
did
n't
answer
—
but
there
it
was
.
I
know
about
telephones
all
right
...
.
"
Why
had
they
come
here
?
None
of
the
men
were
clear
about
that
.
Marjorie
and
Trafford
would
overhear
them
discussing
this
question
at
their
fire
night
after
night
;
they
seemed
to
talk
of
nothing
else
.
They
indulged
in
the
boldest
hypotheses
,
even
in
the
theory
that
Trafford
knew
of
deposits
of
diamonds
and
gold
,
and
would
trust
no
one
but
his
wife
with
the
secret
.
They
seemed
also
attracted
by
the
idea
that
our
two
young
people
had
"
done
something
.
"
Lean
,
with
memories
of
some
tattered
sixpenny
novel
that
had
drifted
into
his
hands
from
England
,
had
even
some
notion
of
an
elopement
,
of
a
pursuing
husband
or
a
vindictive
wife
.
He
was
young
and
romantic
,
but
it
seemed
incredible
he
should
suggest
that
Marjorie
was
a
royal
princess
.
Yet
there
were
moments
when
his
manner
betrayed
a
more
than
personal
respect
...
.
One
night
after
a
hard
day
's
portage
Mackenzie
was
inspired
by
a
brilliant
idea
.
"
They
got
no
children
,
"
he
said
,
in
a
hoarse
,
exceptionally
audible
whisper
.
"
It
worries
them
.
Them
as
is
Catholics
goes
pilgrimages
,
but
these
ai
n't
Catholics
.
See
?
"
"
I
ca
n't
stand
that
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
It
touches
my
pride
.
I
've
stood
a
good
deal
.
Mr.
Mackenzie
!
...
Mr
...
.
Mackenzie
.
"
The
voice
at
the
men
's
fire
stopped
and
a
black
head
turned
around
.
"
What
is
it
,
Mrs.
Trafford
?
"
asked
Mackenzie
.
She
held
up
four
fingers
.
"
Four
!
"
she
said
.
"
Eh
?
"
"
Three
sons
and
a
daughter
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
Mackenzie
did
not
take
it
in
until
his
younger
brother
had
repeated
her
words
.
"
And
you
've
come
from
them
to
this
...
.
Sir
,
what
have
you
come
for
?
"
"
We
want
to
be
here
,
"
shouted
Trafford
to
their
listening
pause
.
Their
silence
was
incredulous
.
"
We
wanted
to
be
alone
together
.
There
was
too
much
—
over
there
—
too
much
everything
.
"
Mackenzie
,
in
silhouette
against
the
fire
,
shook
his
head
,
entirely
dissatisfied
.
He
could
not
understand
how
there
could
be
too
much
of
anything
.
It
was
beyond
a
trapper
's
philosophy
.
"
Come
back
with
us
sir
,
"
said
Noyes
.
"
You
'll
weary
of
it
...
.
"
Noyes
clung
to
the
idea
of
dissuasion
to
the
end
.
"
I
do
n't
care
to
leave
ye
,
"
he
said
,
and
made
a
sort
of
byword
of
it
that
served
when
there
was
nothing
else
to
say
.
He
made
it
almost
his
last
words
.
He
turned
back
for
another
handclasp
as
the
others
under
their
light
returning
packs
were
filing
down
the
hill
.
"
I
do
n't
care
to
leave
ye
,
"
he
said
.
"
Good
luck
!
"
said
Trafford
.
"
You
'll
need
it
,
"
said
Noyes
,
and
looked
at
Marjorie
very
gravely
and
intently
before
he
turned
about
and
marched
off
after
his
fellows
...
.
Both
Marjorie
and
Trafford
felt
a
queer
emotion
,
a
sense
of
loss
and
desertion
,
a
swelling
in
the
throat
,
as
that
file
of
men
receded
over
the
rocky
slopes
,
went
down
into
a
dip
,
reappeared
presently
small
and
remote
cresting
another
spur
,
going
on
towards
the
little
wood
that
hid
the
head
of
the
rapids
.
They
halted
for
a
moment
on
the
edge
of
the
wood
and
looked
back
,
then
turned
again
one
by
one
and
melted
stride
by
stride
into
the
trees
.
Noyes
was
the
last
to
go
.
He
stood
,
in
an
attitude
that
spoke
as
plainly
as
words
,
"
I
do
n't
care
to
leave
ye
.
"
Something
white
waved
and
flickered
;
he
had
whipped
out
the
letters
they
had
given
him
for
England
,
and
he
was
waving
them
.
Then
,
as
if
by
an
effort
,
he
set
himself
to
follow
the
others
,
and
the
two
still
watchers
on
the
height
above
saw
him
no
more
.
CHAPTER
THE
FOURTH
Lonely
Hut
Marjorie
and
Trafford
walked
slowly
back
to
the
hut
.
"
There
is
much
to
do
before
the
weather
breaks
,
"
he
said
,
ending
a
thoughtful
silence
.
"
Then
we
can
sit
inside
there
and
talk
about
the
things
we
need
to
talk
about
.
"
He
added
awkwardly
:
"
Since
we
started
,
there
has
been
so
much
to
hold
the
attention
.
I
remember
a
mood
—
an
immense
despair
.
I
feel
it
's
still
somewhere
at
the
back
of
things
,
waiting
to
be
dealt
with
.
It
's
our
essential
fact
.
But
meanwhile
we
've
been
busy
,
looking
at
fresh
things
.
"
He
paused
.
"
Now
it
will
be
different
perhaps
...
.
"
For
nearly
four
weeks
indeed
they
were
occupied
very
closely
,
and
crept
into
their
bunks
at
night
as
tired
as
wholesome
animals
who
drop
to
sleep
.
At
any
time
the
weather
might
break
;
already
there
had
been
two
overcast
days
and
a
frowning
conference
of
clouds
in
the
north
.
When
at
last
storms
began
they
knew
there
would
be
nothing
for
it
but
to
keep
in
the
hut
until
the
world
froze
up
.
There
was
much
to
do
to
the
hut
.
The
absence
of
anything
but
stunted
and
impoverished
timber
and
the
limitation
of
time
,
had
forbidden
a
log
hut
,
and
their
home
was
really
only
a
double
framework
,
rammed
tight
between
inner
and
outer
frame
with
a
mixture
of
earth
and
boughs
and
twigs
of
willow
,
pine
and
balsam
.
The
floor
was
hammered
earth
carpeted
with
balsam
twigs
and
a
caribou
skin
.
Outside
and
within
wall
and
roof
were
faced
with
coarse
canvas
—
that
was
Trafford
's
idea
—
and
their
bunks
occupied
two
sides
of
the
hut
.
Heating
was
done
by
the
sheet-iron
stove
they
had
brought
with
them
,
and
the
smoke
was
carried
out
to
the
roof
by
a
thin
sheet-iron
pipe
which
had
come
up
outside
a
roll
of
canvas
.
They
had
made
the
roof
with
about
the
pitch
of
a
Swiss
châlet
,
and
it
was
covered
with
nailed
waterproof
canvas
,
held
down
by
a
large
number
of
big
lumps
of
stone
.
Much
of
the
canvassing
still
remained
to
do
when
the
men
went
down
,
and
then
the
Traffords
used
every
scrap
of
packing-paper
and
newspaper
that
had
come
up
with
them
and
was
not
needed
for
lining
the
bunks
in
covering
any
crack
or
join
in
the
canvas
wall
.
Two
decadent
luxuries
,
a
rubber
bath
and
two
rubber
hot-water
bottles
,
hung
behind
the
door
.
They
were
almost
the
only
luxuries
.
Kettles
and
pans
and
some
provisions
stood
on
a
shelf
over
the
stove
;
there
was
also
a
sort
of
recess
cupboard
in
the
opposite
corner
,
reserve
clothes
were
in
canvas
trunks
under
the
bunks
,
they
kept
their
immediate
supply
of
wood
under
the
eaves
just
outside
the
door
,
and
there
was
a
big
can
of
water
between
stove
and
door
.
When
the
winter
came
they
would
have
to
bring
in
ice
from
the
stream
.
This
was
their
home
.
The
tent
that
had
sheltered
Marjorie
on
the
way
up
was
erected
close
to
this
hut
to
serve
as
a
rude
scullery
and
outhouse
,
and
they
also
made
a
long
,
roughly
thatched
roof
with
a
canvas
cover
,
supported
on
stakes
,
to
shelter
the
rest
of
the
stores
.
The
stuff
in
tins
and
cases
and
jars
they
left
on
the
ground
under
this
;
the
rest
—
the
flour
,
candles
,
bacon
,
dried
caribou
beef
,
and
so
forth
,
they
hung
,
as
they
hoped
,
out
of
the
reach
of
any
prowling
beast
.
And
finally
and
most
important
was
the
wood
pile
.
This
they
accumulated
to
the
north
and
east
of
the
hut
,
and
all
day
long
with
a
sort
of
ant-like
perseverance
Trafford
added
to
it
from
the
thickets
below
.
Once
or
twice
,
however
,
tempted
by
the
appearance
of
birds
,
he
went
shooting
,
and
one
day
he
got
five
geese
that
they
spent
a
day
upon
,
plucking
,
cleaning
,
boiling
and
putting
up
in
all
their
store
of
empty
cans
,
letting
the
fat
float
and
solidify
on
the
top
to
preserve
this
addition
to
their
provision
until
the
advent
of
the
frost
rendered
all
other
preservatives
unnecessary
.
They
also
tried
to
catch
trout
down
in
the
river
below
,
but
though
they
saw
many
fish
the
catch
was
less
than
a
dozen
.
It
was
a
discovery
to
both
of
them
to
find
how
companionable
these
occupations
were
,
how
much
more
side
by
side
they
could
be
amateurishly
cleaning
out
a
goose
and
disputing
about
its
cooking
,
than
they
had
ever
contrived
to
be
in
Sussex
Square
.
"
These
things
are
so
infernally
interesting
,
"
said
Trafford
,
surveying
the
row
of
miscellaneous
cans
upon
the
stove
he
had
packed
with
disarticulated
goose
.
"
But
we
did
n't
come
here
to
picnic
.
All
this
is
eating
us
up
.
I
have
a
memory
of
some
immense
tragic
purpose
—
—
"
"
That
tin
's
boiling
!
"
screamed
Marjorie
sharply
.
He
resumed
his
thread
after
an
active
interlude
.
"
We
'll
keep
the
wolf
from
the
door
,
"
he
said
.
"
Do
n't
talk
of
wolves
!
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
It
is
only
when
men
have
driven
away
the
wolf
from
the
door
—
oh
!
altogether
away
,
that
they
find
despair
in
the
sky
?
I
wonder
—
—
"
"
What
?
"
asked
Marjorie
in
his
pause
.
"
I
wonder
if
there
is
nothing
really
in
life
but
this
,
the
food
hunt
and
the
love
hunt
.
Is
life
just
all
hunger
and
need
,
and
are
we
left
with
nothing
—
nothing
at
all
—
when
these
things
are
done
?
...
We
're
infernally
uncomfortable
here
.
"
"
Oh
,
nonsense
!
"
cried
Marjorie
.
"
Think
of
your
carpets
at
home
!
Think
of
the
great
,
warm
,
beautiful
house
that
was
n't
big
enough
!
—
And
yet
here
,
we
're
happy
.
"
"
We
are
happy
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
struck
by
the
thought
.
"
Only
—
—
"
"
Yes
.
"
"
I
'm
afraid
.
And
I
long
for
the
children
.
And
the
wind
nips
.
"
"
It
may
be
those
are
good
things
for
us
.
No
!
This
is
just
a
lark
as
yet
,
Marjorie
.
It
's
still
fresh
and
full
of
distractions
.
The
discomforts
are
amusing
.
Presently
we
'll
get
used
to
it
.
Then
we
'll
talk
out
—
what
we
have
to
talk
out
...
.
I
say
,
would
n't
it
keep
and
improve
this
goose
of
ours
if
we
put
in
a
little
brandy
?
"
The
weather
broke
at
last
.
One
might
say
it
smashed
itself
over
their
heads
.
There
came
an
afternoon
darkness
swift
and
sudden
,
a
wild
gale
and
an
icy
sleet
that
gave
place
in
the
night
to
snow
,
so
that
Trafford
looked
out
next
morning
to
see
a
maddening
chaos
of
small
white
flakes
,
incredibly
swift
,
against
something
that
was
neither
darkness
nor
light
.
Even
with
the
door
but
partly
ajar
a
cruelty
of
cold
put
its
claw
within
,
set
everything
that
was
moveable
swaying
and
clattering
,
and
made
Marjorie
hasten
shuddering
to
heap
fresh
logs
upon
the
fire
.
Once
or
twice
Trafford
went
out
to
inspect
tent
and
roof
and
store-shed
,
several
times
wrapped
to
the
nose
he
battled
his
way
for
fresh
wood
,
and
for
the
rest
of
the
blizzard
they
kept
to
the
hut
.
It
was
slumberously
stuffy
,
but
comfortingly
full
of
flavours
of
tobacco
and
food
.
There
were
two
days
of
intermission
and
a
day
of
gusts
and
icy
sleet
again
,
turning
with
one
extraordinary
clap
of
thunder
to
a
wild
downpour
of
dancing
lumps
of
ice
,
and
then
a
night
when
it
seemed
all
Labrador
,
earth
and
sky
together
,
was
in
hysterical
protest
against
inconceivable
wrongs
.
And
then
the
break
was
over
;
the
annual
freezing-up
was
accomplished
,
winter
had
established
itself
,
the
snowfall
moderated
and
ceased
,
