“You mean—­”

“That we’ll have a square deal within another five years, or know the reason why.  And another five years after that, we’ll he shipping a million reindeer carcasses down into the States each year.  Within twenty years we’ll be shipping five million.  Nice thought for the beef barons, eh?  But rather fortunate, I think, for the hundred million Americans who are turning their grazing lands into farms and irrigation systems.”

One of Alan Holt’s hands was clenched at the rail.  “Until I went down this winter, I didn’t realize just how bad it was,” he said, a note hard as iron in his voice.  “Lomen is a diplomat, but I’m not.  I want to fight when I see such things—­fight with a gun.  Because we happened to find gold up here, they think Alaska is an orange to be sucked as quickly as possible, and that when the sucking process is over, the skin will be worthless.  That’s modern, dollar-chasing Americanism for you!”

“And are you not an American, Mr. Holt?”

So soft and near was the voice that both men started.  Then both turned and stared.  Close behind them, her quiet, beautiful face flooded with the moon-glow, stood Mary Standish.

“You ask me a question, madam,” said Alan Holt, bowing courteously.  “No, I am not an American.  I am an Alaskan.”

The girl’s lips were parted.  Her eyes were very bright and clear.  “Please pardon me for listening,” she said.  “I couldn’t help it.  I am an American.  I love America.  I think I love it more than anything else in the world—­more than my religion, even. America, Mr. Holt.  And America doesn’t necessarily mean a great many of America’s people.  I love to think that I first came ashore in the Mayflower.  That is why my name is Standish.  And I just wanted to remind you that Alaska is America.”

Alan Holt was a bit amazed.  The girl’s face was no longer placidly quiet.  Her eyes were radiant.  He sensed the repressed thrill in her voice, and he knew that in the light of day he would have seen fire in her cheeks.  He smiled, and in that smile he could not quite keep back the cynicism of his thought.

“And what do you know about Alaska, Miss Standish?”

“Nothing,” she said.  “And yet I love it.”  She pointed to the mountains.  “I wish I might have been born among them.  You are fortunate.  You should love America.”

“Alaska, you mean!”

“No, America.”  There was a flashing challenge in her eyes.  She was not speaking apologetically.  Her meaning was direct.

The irony on Alan’s lips died away.  With a little laugh he bowed again.  “If I am speaking to a daughter of Captain Miles Standish, who came over in the Mayflower, I stand reproved,” he said.  “You should be an authority on Americanism, if I am correct in surmising your relationship.”

“You are correct,” she replied with a proud, little tilt of her glossy head, “though I think that only lately have I come to an understanding of its significance—­and its responsibility.  I ask your pardon again for interrupting you.  It was not premeditated.  It just happened.”