“Miles, can you leave Phil to look after things, and come with me for five minutes?” she said, with a thrill of anxiety in her tone.  She was faint and spent with hunger and fatigue, the prospect before her seemed too dreadful to be faced, yet deep down in her heart was the stern determination not to be outwitted if she could help it.  But she must first of all get rid of this stupid trembling, which made her feel as if her limbs were not strong enough to bear the weight of her body; so sitting down at the table she prepared to get a good square meal as the first step towards the successful accomplishment of what was to come after.  Miles was a minute later in coming, because he had been attending to a customer.  “What is the matter; is Father very bad?” he asked, with a quaver of fear in his tone.  Accidents, or sickness of any kind, always seemed so much worse in winter, and then death and disaster had already worked havoc in the family.

“Poor Father is bad enough, but I dare say he will do very well with care, and Nellie is a famous one for looking after sick folks,” Katherine answered, as cheerfully as she could, quick to understand what was in the mind of Miles, and feeling genuinely sorry for him.  Then she said briskly:  “But I have gone and done a fearfully stupid thing to-night, and I want to know if you feel brave enough to help me out of a very big muddle?”

Miles bristled up in an offended fashion.  “I suppose I’ve got as much pluck as most people; anyhow I’m not quite a coward.”

“Of course you are not, or I should not have dreamed of asking you to help me to-night,” Katherine said, with a nervous laugh; then in a jerky tone she went on:  “I want you to get the store shut up as soon as possible, then, directly the people have cleared off, we have got to go and bring those stores home that I had to cache.”

“But we can’t go at night, and in a snowstorm!” expostulated Miles; but his eyes glowed and his nostrils dilated, as if the very thought of such an expedition sent thrills of delight all through him.

“It is not snowing so badly now, and luckily the moon will help us.  Moreover, if we don’t go tonight it will not be of much use to go at all; for if we wait until the morning I fancy we shall find that most of the stores have disappeared, especially the Black Crow tobacco,” Katherine replied, then told him of the look she had seen pass between the man who wanted the tobacco and Oily Dave, after she had been so foolishly frank in explaining where the stores were to be found.

“I’ll go and shut up sharp, then we’ll start as soon as possible,” Miles said, with a jump of irrepressible joyfulness, for nothing appealed to him like adventure.

“Don’t let anyone even guess what we are going to do!” cried Katherine, who felt that enough indiscretion had been committed that night to last them for a long time to come.