Miss Appleton was her brother's double; she had his frank blue eyes, his straw-gold hair, his humorous smile and wide-awake look. She was not by any means beautiful!--her features were too irregular, her nose too tip-tilted, her mouth too generous for that--but she seemed crisp, clean-cut, and wholesome What first struck O'Neil was her effect of boyishness. From the crown of her plain straw "sailor" to the soles of her sensible walking-boots there was no suggestion of feminine frippery. She wore a plain shirtwaist and a tailored skirt, and her hair was arranged simply. The wave in its pale gold was the only concession to mere prettiness. Yet she gave no impression of deliberate masculinity. She struck one as merely not interested in clothes, instinctively expressing in her dress her own boyish directness and her businesslike absorption in her work. "You're furious, of course; anybody would be," she began, then laughed so frankly that his eyes softened and the wrinkles at their corners deepened. "I fear I was rude before I learned you were Dan's sister," he apologized. "But you see I'm a bit afraid of newspaper people." "I knew you'd struggle--although Dan described you as a perfectly angelic person." "Indeed!" "But I'm a real reporter, so I won't detain you long. I don't care where you were born or where you went to school, or what patent breakfast-food you eat. Tell me, are you going to build another railroad?" "I hope so. I'm always building roads when my bids are low enough to secure the contracts; that's my business." "Are you going to build one in Alaska?" "Possibly! There seems to be an opportunity there--but Dan has probably told you as much about that as I am at liberty to tell. He's been over the ground." She pursed her lips at him. "You know very well, or you ought to know, that Dan wouldn't tell me a thing while he's working for you. He hasn't said a word, but--Is that why you came in frowning like a thunder-cloud? Did you think he set me on your trail?" "I think I do know that he wouldn't do anything really indiscreet." Murray regarded her with growing favor. There was something about this boyish girl which awakened the same spontaneous liking he had felt upon his first meeting with her brother. He surprised her by confessing boldly: "I AM building a railroad--to the interior of Alaska. I've been east and raised the money, my men are here; we'll begin operations at once." "That's what Mr. Gordon told me about his scheme, but he hasn't done much, so far." "My line will put his out of business, also that of the Trust, and the various wildcat promoters." "Where does your road start from?" "The town of Omar, on King Phillip Sound, near Hope and Cortez. It will run up the Salmon River and past the glaciers which those other men refused to tackle." "If I weep, it is for joy," said the girl. "I don't like Curtis Gordon. I call him Simon Legree." "Why?"