the icy water that the pump could not keep under and the frost could not
stop.

Yet there was something that thrilled one in the stubborn fight, and a
strange ascetic satisfaction in proving how much flesh and blood could
stand. One felt stronger for bracing one's tired body against fresh
fatigue, and watchfulness in the face of constant danger toned up the
brain. Then, after all, the vast, silent wilderness had a seductive
charm.

"This country draws, and holds what it gets," he said. "I'm satisfied to
stop here, as long as I'm young."

For a time they smoked in silence, and presently went to bed, tired with
exhausting labor and glad to rest in dreamless sleep until they began
again in the bitter dawn.




CHAPTER XI

STORMONT FINDS A CLUE


The Dufferin House was the best hotel in the small Ontario town, and
about ten o'clock one evening Stormont read a newspaper in his
comfortable room. His clerk had been some days in the town, looking into
a proposed transaction in real estate, and Stormont left Winnipeg when a
letter from him arrived. This was not because the business required his