He stepped into the cabinet and, with deft fingers, drew with charcoal the characters.
"Like that," he smiled.
"Yes," she smiled back, "there is one."
"Grand!" he exclaimed. "Let"s get it at once, shall we?"
They hastened up the hill. Marian wondered at herself, as she handed out the letter; wondered that she did not question him further to make sure he was really the rightful owner. But there was something free and frank about his bearing. It disarmed suspicion.
After he had read the letter, she thought she caught a look of disappointment on his face. If she did, it quickly vanished.
While she was dispensing the accustomed hospitality of the Northland, a steaming plate of "mulligan" and a cup of coffee, she felt his eyes resting upon her many times.
When at last he had finished eating, he turned and spoke hesitatingly:
"I--I"d like to ask a favor of you."
"All right."
"If another letter like that comes to me here, you keep it for me, will you?"
"Why, yes, only I won"t be here much longer. I"m going to Nome after the break-up."
"I"m going north. I"ll be back before then. But if I"m not, you keep it, will you?" There was a tense eagerness about him that stirred her strongly.
"Why, yes--I--I--guess so. But what shall I do if you don"t get back before I leave?"
"Take it with you. Leave word where I can find you and take it."
"You see," he half-apologized, after a moment"s thought, "these northern P. O."s change hands so much, so many people handle the mail, that I--I"m afraid I might lose one of these letters, and--and--they"re mighty important; at least, one of them is going to be. Will you do it? I--I think I"d trust you--though I don"t just know why."
"Yes," Marian said slowly, "I"ll do that."
Three minutes later she saw him skillfully disentangling his dogs and sending them on their way:
"One of those college boys," she whispered to herself. "They come North expecting to find gold shining in the sand of the beach. I"ve seen so many come up here as he is, happy and hopeful, and in three or four years I"ve seen them go "outside," old beyond their years, half-blind with snow-blindness, or worse; broken in body and spirit. I only hope it does not happen to him. But what"s all the mystery, I"d like to know?"
She gave a sudden start. For the first time she realized that he had not given her his name.
"And I promised to personally conduct that mysterious mail of his!" she exclaimed under her breath.
CHAPTER IV
FOR HE IS A WHITE MAN"S DOG
Two months had elapsed since the mysterious college boy had pa.s.sed on north with his dog-team.
Many things could have happened to him in those months. As Marian sat looking away at the vast expanse of drifting ice which had been restless in its movements of late, telling of the coming of the spring break-up, she wondered what had happened to the frank-eyed, friendly boy. He had not returned. Had a blizzard caught him and s.n.a.t.c.hed his life away? The rivers were overflowing their banks now, though thick and rotten ice was still beneath the milky water. Had he completed his mission north, and was he now struggling to make his way southward? Or was he securely housed in some out-of-the-way cabin, waiting for open water and a schooner?
A letter had come, a letter in a blue envelope, and addressed as the other to Phi Beta Ki. That was after Lucile"s return. Lucile had been away to the Nome market with her deer herd when the first letter had come, but had now been home for a month. The two of them had laughed and wondered about that letter. They had put it in the pigeon-hole, and there it now was. But Marian had not forgotten her promise to take it with her in case the boy did not return before she left the Cape.
Now, as she watched-the restless ocean, she realized that it would not be many days before it would break its bonds. The ice would then float away to points unknown. Little gasoline schooners would go flitting here and there like sea-gulls, and then would come the hoa.r.s.e voice of the _Corwin_, mail steamer for Arctic. She would take that steamer to Nome. Would the boy be back by then, or would she carry the mysterious letter with her? For a long time Marian gave herself up to speculation.
As she sat dreaming of these things, she started suddenly. Something had touched her foot.
"Oh;" she exclaimed, then laughed.
The most forlorn-looking dog she had ever seen had touched her foot with his nose. His hair was ragged and matted. His bones protruded at every possible point. His mouth was set awry, one side hanging half-open.
"So it"s you," she said; "you"re looking worse than common."
The dog opened his mouth, allowing his long tongue to loll out.
"I suppose that means you"re hungry. Well, for once you are in luck.
The natives caught a hundred or more salmon through the ice. I have some of them. Fish, Old Top, fish! What say?"
The dog stood on his hind legs and barked for joy. He read the sign in her eyes if he did not understand her lip-message.
In another moment he was gulping down a fat, four-pound salmon, while Marian eyed him, a curious questioning look on her face.
"Now," she said, as the dog finished, "the question is what are we going to do with you? You"re an old dog. You"re no good in a team.
Too old. Bad feet. No, sir, you can"t be any good, or you wouldn"t be back here in five days. We gave you to Tommy Illayok to lead his team.
You were a leader in your day all right, and you"d lead "em yet if you could, poor old soul!"
There was a catch in her voice. To her dogs were next to humans. In the North they were necessary servants as well as friends.
"The thing that makes it hard to turn you out," she went on huskily, "is the fact that you"re a white man"s dog. Yes, sir! a white man"s dog. And that means an awful lot; means you"d stick till death to any white person who"d feed you and call you friend. Mr. Jack London has written a book about a white man"s dog that turned wild and joined a wolf-pack. It"s a wonderful book, but I don"t believe it. A white man"s dog wants a white man for a friend, and if he loses one he"ll keep traveling until he finds another. That"s the way a white man"s dog is, and that"s why you come back to us, poor old dear." She stooped and patted the s.h.a.ggy head.
"I"ll tell you what," she murmured, after a moment"s reflection. "If the fish keep running, if the wild ducks come north, or the walrus come barking in from Bering Sea, then you can stay with us and get sleek and fat. You can sleep by our door in the hallway every night, and if anyone comes prowling around, you can ask them what they want. How"s zat?"
The dog howled his approval.
Marian smiled, and turning went into the cabin. The dog did not belong to them. He was an old and decrepit leader, deserted by a faithless master. He had adopted their cabin as his home. When food had become scarce, they had been forced to give him to an Eskimo traveling up the coast. Now, in five days he was back again. Marian was not sure that Lucile would approve of the arrangement she had made with the dog, but when her heart prompted her, she could only follow its promptings.
She had hardly entered the cabin than she heard a growl from the dog, followed by the voice of a stranger.
"Down, Rover!" she shouted, as she sprang to the door.
The man who stood before her was badly dressed and unshaven. His eyes bore a shifty gleam.
"Get out, you cur!" He kicked at the dog with his heavy boot.
Marian"s eyes flashed, but she said nothing.
"This the post office?" The man attempted a smile.