After it left the railroad it would lie in a pack on a half-breed’s shoulders, or perhaps in a skin bag on a hand-sledge, in front of which men with snowshoes marched.  It would travel up winding rivers between dark walls of ragged pines, across frozen lakes, and among the rocks on high divides.  Then the tired men would stop at a cluster of shacks beside a shaft and an ore-dump in the wilds, and she wondered what Thirlwell would think when he opened the envelope; whether he would be pleased or not.

But this was indulging idle sentiment that she had meant to avoid, and she went back to the table and opened her books.  Thirlwell’s answer would not arrive for some weeks, and if she went north, summer would come before she could start.  In the meantime, she had her pupils to teach.  The subject for the next morning’s lesson was difficult and needed careful study.

CHAPTER X

THIRLWELL GETS A LETTER

A dreary wind wailed about the shack, and now and then the iron roof cracked as it shrank and wrenched its fastenings in the bitter cold.  The room was not 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 some hours with snowshoe and rifle, but had seen nothing to shoot.  The white desolation was empty of life, and silent except for the wind among the pine-tops.

“I’d meant to look into the Snake Creek muskegs, but the cold drove me back,” he said.  “In summer one’s bitten by sand-flies and mosquitoes; in winter one runs some risk of freezing to death.  I wonder now and then whether mining’s worth the hardship and why we stop here.”

“Unprofitable mining isn’t logically worth much hardship,” Scott remarked.  “But don’t you mean you wonder why you came back?”

“No,” said Thirlwell, with a touch of embarrassment; “that was pretty obvious.  I was offered a good post in England, but it meant I’d be dependent on a man I don’t like.  A rough life with liberty is better than luxurious servitude.”

“The latter has some advantages,” Scott rejoined.  “To-night, for example, you could enjoy a good dinner instead of moldy beans and rancid pork, put on clean clothes, 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 burned low.  Anyhow, admitting that you’re obstinate and hate to go where others want, I’ve a notion that you felt you had to see me out when you refused that post.”

“Oh, well,” said Thirlwell awkwardly.  “In a sense, I was bound—­”

“By your scruples?  But we’ll let it go,” Scott rejoined.  “I expect we’re all to some extent the slaves of an idea.  I’d pull out to-morrow if I didn’t feel I had to make my mining venture good before I quit.  All the same, it looks as if I’d save my money by stopping now.”