The thought sobered and halted her. She glanced once at the dark face of her companion. Dan couldn't understand the strange light that suddenly leaped to her eyes. Perhaps she herself couldn't have explained the wave of tenderness that swept over her,--with no cause except the look in Dan's earnest gray eyes and the lines that cut so deep. Since the world was new, it has been the boast of the boldest of men that they looked their Fate in the face. And this is no mean looking. For fate is a sword from the darkness, a power that reaches out of the mystery, and cannot be classed with sights of human origin. It burns out the eyes of all but the strongest men. Yet Dan was looking at his fate now, and his eyes held straight. They walked together down to the ruined house, and the three of them sat silent while the fire burned red. Then Lennox turned to them with a half-smile. "You're wasting time, you two," he said. "Remember all our food is gone. If you start now, and walk hard, maybe you can make it out." "There are several things to do first," Dan answered simply. "I don't know what they are. It isn't going to be any picnic, Dan. A man can travel only so far without food to keep up his strength, particularly over such ridges as you have to cross. It will be easy to give up and die. It's the test, man; it's the test." "And what about you?" his daughter asked. "Oh, I'll be all right. Besides--it's the only thing that can be done. I can't walk, and you can't carry me on your backs. What else remains? I'll stay here--and I'll scrape together enough wood to keep a fire. Then you can bring help." He kept his eyes averted when he talked. He was afraid for Dan to see them, knowing that he could read the lie in them. "How do you expect to find wood--in this snow?" Dan asked him. "It will take four days to get out; do you think you could lie here and battle with a fire for four days, and then four days more that it will take to come back? You'd have two choices: to burn green wood that I'd cut for you before I left, or the rain-soaked dead wood under the snow. You couldn't keep either one of them burning, and you'd die in a night. Besides--this is no time for an unarmed man to be alone in the hills." Lennox's voice grew pleading. "Be sensible, Dan!" he cried. "That Cranston's got us, and got us right. I've only one thing more I care about--and that is that you pay the debt! I can't hope to get out myself. I say that I can't even hope to. But if you bring my daughter through--and when the spring comes, pay what we owe to Cranston--I'll be content. Heavens, son--I've lived my life. The old pack leader dies when his time comes, and so does a man." His daughter crept to him and sheltered his gray head against her breast. "I'll stay with you then," she cried.