Ridgeley merely said: "Yes, he seemed to me to be more than a common hand. But, all the same, it won't be two weeks before he'll be in here as drunk as a wild cat, wanting to shoot me for holding back his money." In this way Williams came to be to Mrs. Field a very important figure in the landscape of that region. She often spoke of him, and on the following Saturday night, when Field came home, she anxiously asked, "Is Williams in town?" "No, he hasn't shown up yet." She clapped her hands in delight. "Good! good! He's going to win his fight." Field laughed. "Don't bet on Williams too soon. We'll hear from him before the week is out." "When are we going to visit the camp?" she asked, changing the subject. "As soon as it warms up a little. It is too cold for you." She had a laugh at him. "You were the one who wanted to 'plunge into the snowy vistas.'" He evaded her joke on him by assuming a careless tone. "I'm not plunging as much as I was; the snow is too deep." "When you go I want to go with you--I want to see Williams." "Ha!" he snorted melodramatically. "She scorns me faithful heart. She turns----" Mrs. Field smiled faintly. "Don't joke about it Ed. I can't get that wife out of my mind." III. A few very cold gray days followed, and then the north wind cleared the sky; and, though it was still cold, it was pleasant. The sky had only a small white cloud here and there to make its blueness the more profound. Ridgeley dashed up to the door with a hardy little pair of bronchos hitched to a light pair of bobs, and Mrs. Field was tucked in like a babe in a cradle. Almost the first thing she asked was, "How is Williams?" "Oh, he's getting on nicely. He refused to sleep with his bunk mate, and finally had to lick him, I understand, to shut him up. Challenged the whole camp then to let him alone or take a licking. They let him alone, Lawson says.--G'lang there, you rats!" Mrs. Field said no more, for the air was whizzing by her ears, and she hardly dared look out, so keen was the wind, but as soon as they entered the deeps of the forest it was profoundly still. The ride that afternoon was a glory she never forgot. Everywhere yellow-greens and purple shadows. The sun in a burnished blue sky flooded the forests with light, striking down through even the thickest pines to lay in fleckings of radiant white and gold upon the snow.