to be found about the store, who, he surmised, would have heard by this
time what had happened at the Somasco mill. Still, he was hungry and
weary, and stopped a moment when he caught a blink of light between the
trees. The bush behind him was very black and still, the dampness of
the dew was on his dusty garments, and he shivered a little in the
faint cold breeze that came down from the snow. Then more lights
twinkled into brightness, a cheerful murmur of voices and a burst of
laughter came out of the shadows, and the glow that broke out from the
windows of Horton's store seemed curiously inviting. Damer, however,
dallied still, and fumbled for his tobacco. He would sit down where he
was and smoke, he said, and then attempt that last toilsome league.

As it happened, he could not find the tobacco, and having a hazy
recollection of laying it on the ground the last time he filled his
pipe, he shook his aching shoulders and trudged on. The loss of the
tobacco decided him, and with a malediction on Alton he made for
Horton's. It was also a fateful decision with far-reaching results he
made just then. Supper had long been cleared away when he entered the
general room of the hotel, and then stopped a moment with his hand on
the door, for the one man who sat under the big lamp was the last
person he desired to meet. He had, however, some papers spread out in
front of him, and Damer decided to slip away quietly, but as he moved
the blankets on his shoulders struck the door, which rattled, and the
man looked up sharply. He had a fleshy face, and black beady eyes,
which he fixed on Damer, who stood still, with a little, unpleasant
smile.

"Come right in!" he said.

Damer smothered an anathema as he recognized the command in the tone.