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“ Out of that shack Chako had run with blazing, laughing eyes in pursuit of the little squeaking man in the store suit. In this store, while Chako bought groceries at one counter, she bought clothes at another, thrilling with a marvelous secret. Years seemed to have passed over her head since she had left Fort Edward. Then she had been a green girl; now she was a woman with life behind her.
On the platform in front of Maroney's the usual little crowd was loitering. One and all, they turned and stared at Ann as at a phenomenon from the skies. ”

“ Having gone to the lake to wash and drink, he lay down with his back to her. Ann was in a fever of anxiety because she could not see what had become of the gun. Apparently he had slipped it under the edge of his bed.
They lay in their blankets, feet to the lake, with a distance of about twenty feet separating them. The moon came up over the cliffs and flooded their little camping place with her level rays. Ann could see better now. Sleep was far from her eyes. By and by Chako rolled over, and his face became visible to her as a pale, oval patch. ”

“ Obeying a subconscious prompting, she reached in for them, and laid them down on the shore.
Finally the canoe floated. Ann thrilled with a terrible satisfaction; but it was not yet out of Chako's reach. She crept slowly into the icy water, pushing it, careful to make no splash. The pebbly bottom dropped away quite steeply—ankle-deep, knee-deep, thigh-deep, waist-deep, Finally, gathering up all her strength, she shoved the light craft out into the swift current, and a wild, triumphant cry broke from her lips. ”

“ Cranmer insisted on carrying Ann's suit case part way, and Ann took her bundles.
Their path led them within a hundred feet of the spot where the steamboat was tied to the bank. Only her pilot house and her crooked stack showed above. She was getting up steam, and light wood smoke was floating from the stack.
The usual little crowd of men was standing about and sitting on the lumber. When Frank Bower saw Ann passing by, the other woman carrying her suit case, his honest face took on a comical expression of surprise and chagrin. Ann saw at once that he would never leave that day. ”

“ All the southerly side of the lake was bounded by low cliffs, pale in the dying light. On the other side the trees came down to the water's edge. The landing place was down at the end of this tree-lined shore, where broken rocks ran out in a point. Around that point was the awful chute down which the waters poured into the gorge.
Chako let the canoe ground lightly on the shingle, and laid down his paddle. Ann had to get out first. In doing so she had to turn around and present her back to Chako. She did not hesitate. Whatever comes must come, she told herself. ”

“ Finally, with a groan, Ann untied the rope, threw her bed on the raft, and stepped after it. Refusing to think any longer, she caught up the paddle and desperately drove her unwieldy craft out into the swift current.
Once the current gripped it, the die was cast. On a raft one could not go back upstream.
The sun was low when she came in sight of the wide expanse of sand that marked the meeting of the rivers. Hairy Tom's brown tent was pitched in the middle of it, and the old man himself was visible, a tiny black figure, in front of the tent. ”

“ Always, before this, he went into a scrap with a don't give-a-damn look that had his man half licked before they begun. This time he was mad—so mad he couldn't see good. Bower was mad too, but it was a different kind of mad; and I tell you we men got the surprise of our lives when we saw Chako measuring his long length on the floor!”
“Was that the end?” cried Ann.
“No, the beginning,” said Car dryly. “Chako was game, of course—game to the marrow. A man shows his true mettle in a losing fight, and I was proud of the boy. Chako came back again and again. ”

“ The only thing for you to do is to go to work and forget. You staked everything on Chako. Well, you lost! Face it! Don't be a bad loser. To hang around where you're not wanted would only open the way for unbearable humiliations.”
So much for common sense. On the other hand, her instincts were not articulate, but they exerted a terrible pull. All the good reasons in the world made no difference. Feeling that pull, Ann cried in pain:
“I can't leave here! I can't! I can't!”
By and by Maroney banged rudely on her door, and called out that Cal Nimmo wanted to see her downstairs. ”

“ Bower is the feller that come down the Rice River just a day or so ahead of you. He had a scow load of supplies for the surveying party in the cañon down there. Soon as he delivered it, he was going back light in a canoe. I looked for him before this, but of course, his season's work being done, he's nachelly takin' things easy.”
“Do you think he'll have room for me?” asked Ann.
“Sure! He's got a twenty-foot dugout, and only a breed boy to help him paddle. A good tripper. Bower is, too—one of the best. You'll be safe with him. A good-hearted man, too—not like Chako.” ”

“ Chako had to count the roll. Ann waited with averted head, holding herself tight.
“There's too much money here,” he said sullenly.
“Three hundred was the amount agreed on,” murmured Ann.
Her lips were stiff with repugnance at being forced to speak about money.
“But I didn't bring you all the way out.”
“There is the canoe—”
“Ah, you can't pay for that!” he said harshly. “That's not the point. You've got to have money enough to get home on. What you paid Bower to bring you out has got to be taken out of this. How much did you pay Bower?”
“Nothing,” said Ann.
“What?” cried Chako. ”

“ Leave him to his meditations for a while. Sympathy! My God, it would be all to do over again! I tell you the lad is lucky, being in the wrong, to get so thoroughly licked. It will give him a properer notion of life. No man is a complete man until he has been well licked at least once.”
Ann said no more.
“You don't ask me anything about Bower?” said Cal slyly.
Ann looked her question.
“After I put Chako to bed, I come back to Bagger's,” said Cal. “Me and Bower went away by ourselves and had a talk. There's a man!”
“What did he tell you?” asked Ed Cranmer eagerly. ”

“ Nellie Nairns is gone, and the fellows here are bored. When a gang of men gets in that condition, anything devilish can happen. As long as they believed you were a respectable woman, you were pretty safe from them; but they're only ordinary men. They have their own explanation as to why you went north with Chako Lyllac and came back with Frank Bower, and there's no budging them from it. According to their notions, you're fair game now. I put it blunt. The only way you could keep the gang off would be by accepting one of them as a protector.”
Ann shuddered. ”

“ Instantly she was attacked by a wild terror that showed she was not dead yet. There were still new torments to be undergone. To be abandoned there in the empty land! Her heart stood still at the terrible prospect. ”

“ They ate a meal on the shore. Bower strongly commended Ann's baking, which, to tell the truth, was not up to her standard. His eyes brooded on her continually. Pain is apt to make one selfish; and Ann, having made up her mind that she could trust Bower, gave little thought to him. Hairy Tom was frankly impatient with her, or with Bower, or with both of them. ”

“ It makes an old man thoughtful. I was a lot older than Joe, and my end will not be long put off.”
By and by Ann asked him anxiously how she could get on from there.
“Oh, there's always some way,” said Hairy Tom cheerfully. “If need be, I could paddle you down to the Rocky Mountain portage, put you across, and build you a raft on the other side. Then you could float down to one of the posts in Athabasca; but I reckon you'd rather go out to Fort Edward, where you started from.”
Ann nodded.
“Well, as it happens, Frank Bower will be coming up from the portage any day now. ”

“ No, I'm too old for changes. What I like about this country is, it never changes. This is my life. I always used to plan to go out at last when I got ready to die, but law, I guess dyin's much the same one place as another. Seems like it wouldn't be stickin' by the land if I carried my old bones outside; so I'll die on the ground I've slep' on nigh fifty years.”
Hairy Tom insisted on Ann's taking his tent, while he slept under his canoe. ”

“ When Chako gets drunk and raging, he's like a mad buffalo. Nothing can withstand him; and we thought Frank Bower was too good a man to make meat for Chako. He's near twenty years older than Chako, anyhow; but Frank, he says, cool as you please:
“'Take your hands off me, men. This cub needs a lickin', and he's goin' to get it at last!'”
A groan was forced from Ann.
“Well, didn't he need a lickin'?” Cal flashed on her.
Ann hung her head.
“Go on! Go on!” Ed Cranmer said, beside himself. ”

“ If you don't stick close to this shack for the next couple of days, I swear I'll wash my hands of you for good!”
“I promise,” murmured Ann.
XXXI When Ed had gone to the store, Mrs. Cranmer suggested that she and Ann should go to the settlement together to buy supplies. There seemed to be no harm in this; nevertheless, Ann determined to hold to the letter of her promise, and she declined.
Probably Mrs. Cranmer was not displeased. The good woman was clearly burning with curiosity to learn the inwardness of the affair, which Cal had so tantalizingly suppressed. She set off alone. ”

“ The two of them ran across the rock floor, cutting off the first bend, and came to the lip of the cañon farther along.
The waters were in full turmoil here, and the roar of it rose up with stunning force. ”

“ Frank Bower was there.”
Ann half rose from her chair and dropped back again.
“Easy, my girl!” said Cal. “There was no murder done. You all know what a peaceable fellow Big Frank is. Why, I can scarcely ever recollect when he got into a fight. He'll do anything to avoid a fight, and he's respected, just the same, because all men know his pluck and endurance on the trail. Well, Chako marches up to him and says:
“'I been lookin' for you.'
“'Well,' says Frank, 'I ain't been keepin' out of your way.'
“Chako ups and throws a little wad of bills in Frank's face. ”