moonlight. The black pines on the point rose higher, resinous smells
came out of the dark, and presently a row of lights twinkled ahead.
Thirlwell ran the canoe alongside the landing and when they reached the
veranda Agatha gave him her hand.

"You start early, I think," she said. "I have much to thank you for and
am glad we have met."

He let her go and afterwards leaned against the rails. She had made him
a promise and when they next met it would be beside a river of the
North. But this was twelve months ahead; he felt it was a long time to
wait.




CHAPTER IV

STRANGE'S PARTNER


The day's work was over and Thirlwell and his employer sat, smoking and
talking, in their shack at the Clermont mine. Scott was young and had
once been fastidious, but, like Thirlwell, he wore work-stained
overalls. For a time when they first came up, both had clung to a few of
the refinements of civilization, but their grasp on these had slackened,
and now they frankly admitted that it was too much of an effort to
change their clothes when they were tired.

The shack was built of pine logs, notched where they crossed at the