A curious thought
came to Philip as he looked at her. Like a flash the memory of a
certain night came to him--when it had taken Miss Brokaw and her
maid two hours to make a toilet for a ball. And Jeanne, in the
heart of a wilderness, had made herself more beautiful than
Eileen. He imagined, as she stood before him, a little embarrassed
by the admiration in his eyes, the sensation Jeanne would create
in a ballroom at home. And then he laughed--laughed joyously at
thoughts which he could not reveal to Jeanne, and which she, by
some quick intuition, knew that she should not ask him to express.
Twice again Philip made the portage, accompanied the second time
by Jeanne, who insisted on carrying a small pack and two paddles.
In spite of his determination and splendid physique, Philip began
to feel the effects of the tremendous strain which he had been
under for so long. He counted back and found that he had slept but
six hours in the last forty-eight. There was a warning ache in his
shoulders and a gnawing pain in the bones of his forearms. But he
knew that he had not yet made sufficient headway up the Churchill.
It would not be difficult for him to make a camp far enough back
in the bush to avoid discovery; but, at the same time, if he and
Jeanne were pursued, the stop would give their enemies a chance to
get ahead of them.
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