e bearable to McElroy, how much more wonderful was it to Maren Le Moyne, for the

went about the business of the new cabin by the stockade wall, but in her virg

she spread out on the patchwork quilt the Indi

never before had she been conscious of anything as she was conscious of the flesh on her shoulders where his hands had rested, her lips sealed under the warm caress of

memory of that day in the forest glade hau

at part of the small settlement where stood the factory with its wide doorwa

a thousand qualms and torments. All those doubts that beset

girl's young body had fired him with all confidence, came a thousand c

mind of such a girl as Maren Le Moyne with her calm judgme

r the door nor how diligently he sought for a glimpse of the shining braids and plai

had come, their canoes laden with the wealth of the coming season, other flotillas were on the little waves of the river, other chiefs mad

our mind these days. The trade goes differently from that of last year. It is not so all-absorbing. I fear m

of beaver taken from him for which they laughingly offered him in payment a bundle of mangy skins cast out from the summer's pickings. 'Twas Peter Brins and I'll wager that those two are marked for a long reckoning when the tables turn. And by the same Indian I hear that the young blade from Montreal with his light-haired brig

ing through the country of the Saskatchewan and held by no bond of loyalty? I see trouble ahead if this yo

es of the Assiniboines. Surely they will come straight

idgar shoo

her, having come for trade, if the values were above those at York and Churchill. I hope

ui Appelle with Henderson. Since telling that wanton lie to the Nor'wester he has no

at savours of cowardice. His tricks are all tu

sibi, was swinging down through the wilderness bound for the lodges of the Assiniboines, burdened with a wealth of peltry to make a tra

em on their peaceful mission, while underneath fringed garments of buckskin, stained and beaded with porcupine quills, were bands and stripes of war-paint. They were ready for anything

Nakonkirhirinons been

brought to that new venturer in his post on the Saska

per came into Fort de Seviere, loud i

m that unopened country, bound for De Seviere, and on the banks of the Qui Appelle three men had come upon him who had shared his lonely campfire. Rollicking fello

here were no three men, who had vanished like dreams of the liqu

sks that had been in the leg-straps of his visitors. It was covered with a fine light wicker weave, of

ur friend from Montreal is taking a high hand with the

the Nor'westers on the Saskatchewan over which De Courtenay presided became more frequent and

long which roving bands of the sullen Blackfeet trailed with a watching eye on the white men at the forts, and returned without two of th

De Seviere when Maren Le Moyne had passed behind the cabin of the Savilles with some voyageur's tot on her shoulder and the handsome gallant

o give his message, and at last McElroy h

h love song. He stopped on the step, and for a moment his glance took in the interior: By a window to the north she stood at a table, its wooden surface soft and whi

im and set him quaking with a new fear. He dared not speak and bring her gaz

ce that presently stopped the song on her lips, as if her soul listened unconsciously for tangible knowledge of the presence it

up to the dark cheeks, and McE

t glib "Maren" of the glade, "there is o

ort for the intensity of her gaze into the eyes whose blue fire had

oy, revived through all his being w

al and dusted them on a hempen towel,

he silence of shy new joy, and once the factor glanced

y neared the portal with its fringe of peeping women and saw beyond them th

the girl, and went forw

Moyne, and being answered in the affirmative, he took from his hunting

s, disclosing a small square box cunningly made from birchbark and stained after the Ind

ped the little catch

ower, the exact counterpart of that one which Alfred de C

ed down upon it, and instantly

messenger whose tall figure swung away up the river's bank

this woman of the trail and portage, and she only knew vaguel

ecks for a glimpse of the contents, and looked in open perplexity at Mc

rom the forest; and where do such trinkets come from save the lower branch of the Saskatchewan!

back while the factor turned on his heel and strode away toward the

in the dancing eyes of Fr

alked slowly back to