"This is no shelter at all. I'm in the big cedars above here. You've got to have some hot food right off. We will leave the little wild mare here until morning." With Wolf Cub hanging to their heels, they started the upward climb. Judith gave to the last ounce of her depleted strength. They reached the still glowing ashes of Doug's fire on their hands and knees, and lay beside it till the warning chill brought Douglas to his feet. He chopped more wood, rekindled the fire in the center of the camp, and established Judith beside it on some blankets. Then he prepared some coffee and bacon for her. She ate ravenously. Douglas watched her with satisfaction radiating from every line of his snow-burned face. "Are you warm now, Jude?" he asked her when she had begun on her second cup of coffee. "Well, not exactly warm, but I sure am thawing!" "As soon as you are warm, I'll let you sleep. That's right, let old Wolf Cub snuggle up against you. He's better than a hot-water bottle. Are you surprised to see me, Judith?" She looked up at him through weary eyes that still held the old unquenchable fires in their depths. "I didn't know. If you had gone off on a long hunt for the sky pilot, you wouldn't have heard yet that I was gone. Did you find him?" "I never even got to look for him. I was down at Inez' trying to sweat some truth out of Scott when your mother came in with word you were gone. Peter and I started after you at once." "Peter! Where is he?" "Jude, let's keep our stories until morning. Things look different, then. And you are all in." "So are you!" "I'm not as bad off as you. Let me tuck you up, dear. When you've had a sleep, you can give me my turn." Too done up to protest, Judith allowed Douglas to wrap her in blankets and, with the Wolf Cub snuggled against her back, she dropped into slumber. Douglas set himself to the task of keeping the fire going. The snow ceased at midnight and the cold grew more intense. Douglas chopped wood or walked up and down before the fire to fight off the snow stupor which constantly menaced him. When the lethargy was too heavy to be controlled by exercise alone, he stooped over Judith and, lifting the corner of the blanket which covered her face, he would gaze at her with such joy and thankfulness as he never before had experienced. Whatever the future might bring forth, he had her safe and warm for to-night. And he wished that he believed in a God that he might thank Him! CHAPTER XVIII ELIJAH NELSON'S RANCH "Call it Fate, call it Destiny, something stronger than my own will is shaping my destiny." --_Douglas Spencer_. At dawn Judith stirred, blinked at Douglas, and sat up, staring. Her eyes were bloodshot and deep sunk in her head, but her look was full of energy, nevertheless. Douglas was standing on the opposite side of the fire. "Have you been up all night?" she demanded. "Had to keep the fire," he mumbled, swaying as he spoke.