Pearl rose and shook the snow from her cloak.  “Forget it,” she said scornfully.  The little horse-shoe frown showed between her brows, and her eyes as she looked at him were full of a sparkling disdain.  “That girl wasn’t worth that,” she snapped her fingers.  “And here you’ve been loping over the globe for years, because she turned you down.  I should think you’d feel like a fool.”  She spoke quite fearlessly, although Seagreave had thrown up his head and stood looking at her with a white face and compressed lips.  “But that ain’t the reason,” she went on shrewdly.  “I know men.  You like to think you quit things because of the girl,” she laughed that low, harsh, unpleasant laugh of hers.  “You quit ’em because you got lazy, and anything like a responsibility was a bore.  That’s straight.”

Without another glance at him, she sped down the hill, like an arrow shot from a bow.

CHAPTER XII

As that long, white winter slowly wore away there were many in the camp who, although they had endured the strain of a wearing monotony through many previous seasons, nevertheless suffered greatly from it; and, in consequence, as the clock of the year began to indicate spring an almost riotous joy was felt and expressed when it was announced through the camp that the Black Pearl had again consented to dance for them.

It was considered a truly fitting celebration of the fact that there had already been one great thaw, and, although there was every possibility of things freezing up again, yet nevertheless spring had at last loosed her hounds and they were hard on winter’s traces.  In fact, one belated train, after hours spent on the road, had succeeded in pushing through, an evidence that they all would soon be running with their accustomed, if rather erratic regularity, and there was naturally a tremendous excitement and jollification in the camp at this arrival of the first mail bearing news from the outside world.

The messages for Pearl included a letter from her mother and one from Bob Flick, but none from Hanson.  Bob Flick announced that his patience was worn thin and that he would be up on the first train bearing passengers.  Mrs. Gallito’s letter was full of commiserations for her daughter on her enforced detention, and she evidently regarded the nature of that durance as particularly vile.

“Pearl, how you been standing it up in that God-forsaken hole where you can’t even keep warm is what beats me.  Seems to me I went to church once, oh, just for a lark, and the preacher talked about some plagues of Egypt, all different kinds, you know.  It was real interesting.  I always remembered it.  But in looking back over plagues I’ve seen, the very worst of all was snow.  I’m afraid, when I see you again, you’ll be all skin and bone and shadow.  I do hope you won’t be sick like poor Hanson.  I had an awful sad letter from him; seems he took cold and’s been at death’s door.”