Page 16 (1/2)

He opened his eyes to see a stone hearth in front of hiue to wet his cracked lips His face felt dry and tight in the heat froht him pain Still, he smiled and pulled the blanket--for someone had covered him as he slept--up to his neck

But now fully awake, he realized that he actually felt too hot The very idea seemed absurd, but nevertheless, he threw off the blanket and welcomed the chilly draft that eddied across the floor

Jack sat up and looked around Stiff and aching, he felt a hundred years old, but his pains were forgotten as he took in his surroundings At home he would have considered this a sih, remote terrain of the Yukon Territory, it seele room, the cabin must have leah freshly cut, their lines as perfect as if they had been put in place by a e stone fireplace interrupted one wall, but on the opposite side of the cabin stood a heavy black iron stove, its pipe rising up through the roof There were doors front and back, and beside each one--and this surprised Jack the most, so far from what he would deem civilization--was a tall, ht streah those ts, and beyond them he saw forest

Heavy furs had been stretched on the floor as rugs At the front of the cabin there were two chairs arranged by theto catch the best light, and beside the door a shelf laden with books The sight of those volulearee, made his heart leap

The rear corners of the cabin were given over to living space Nearest Jack, on the hearth side, a bed sat in the corner, head-and footboards siantly carved, mattress hidden beneath a French floral coverlet Opposite the bed, in the corner beside the stove, a small, round table had been draped with a white lace cloth, and two chairs were snug against it, presenting what passed in this cabin for a dining roolasses

The table had been set for one The sered, but he had barely noticed it before Now, though, the sight of the white bowl on the table, the fork and knife and spoon just so, ut, and for aat his belly When the craered to his feet, for he had noticed perhaps the e place

The pot on the stove

It had been set to one side so that the contents would stay war s of such tales in erly across the cabin With every step, he noticed things that he had been too overwhelmed to take in before His boots sat on the floor by the stove His feet ached, and his socks were thin and worn, but the boots had been set out to dry Likewise his jacket hung on a hook by the door, as though he himself had made a home here

But the prospect of food crowded out all other thoughts He took a breath, staring at the pot, and then uncovered it, only to find hier Soht him here?--had made a stew, and his mouth watered at the rich, meaty smell of it A wooden spoon lay on the stove, and he picked it up and stirred, glie, but even better, dark chunks of htfood left by a stranger, but only for a er overrode any hesitation After all, what else was he to think except that the stew had been left, and the table set, for hiic in suspicion No one would have gone to the trouble of bringing hiirl who had saved hio

He frowned Was that what had happened? She had hidden theo simply missed them, somehow? It seemed impossible The monster should have seen them and, if not, should have smelled them there And yet it had been entirely blind to their presence

The idea that the girl had done this nested deep in his thoughts There must have been some trick to it, perhaps some musk in the fur that masked their scents What else could it have been?

These thoughts crossed histhe bowl froetables toto the table, injuries all but forgotten for the le drop He slid into a chair, picked up a spoon, and lifted the first taste to his lips Rich flavors filled his er took over He lah that he could stop hi so wonderful, and as he dipped the spoon once us, both sy into the bowl Carrots Potatoes Cabbage Just what he needed to stave off scurvy The girl, or whoever had prepared this steas not only feeding hi to heal him as well Yet none of this hat struck him so suddenly as to make him pause his spoon above the bowl

In the wild northlands, where could such vegetables possibly be grown so early in spring? The ground had thawed only weeks ago

He dipped his spoon again and continued eating, but now his orated by the irl did not live here by herself, yet Jack spotted no trace of a man’s influence in the place The floral coverlet alone indicated only woirl had a sister or mother who shared the home

Yet how did she--or they--survive?

Survival The word echoed in his mind His spoon clinked in the empty bowl, and he rose automatically to refill it As he spooned out s, and the sahts as he had had upon waking A cabin--or better yet, a cottage--in the woods, a fire burning in the hearth, food left out for a lost stranger…it all smacked of fairy tales Yet he was hier were real The heat of the fire and the stove were real The rich taste of the stew…that was also real

This is no fairy tale, he thought

But around hietables this early in spring, in the midst of the wild And then there was the cabin itself, so expertly constructed Now, though, as Jack stood in front of the stove with his bowl in his hands, what caught his attention was the absence of certain things The cabin’s walls were totally devoid of the tools of survival In any other cabin he had visited--most in climes far more hospitable than the Yukon, but even in the tiny shack where he, Merritt, and Jim had spent the winter--those tools had been there, or their past presence was evident

There were no snowshoes hanging on the wall, nor any hooks to indicate there ever had been He saw no fishing pole, no net, and no rifle hich to hunt In fact there were no weapons at all Surely outside, up against the cabin, there ht be some kind of enclosure where fireould be stacked and tools could be kept--a shovel, an ax, a saw But even if that were the case, weapons would be kept inside

Curiosity battling with his hunger now, Jack fetched his spoon from the table and walked around the cabin as he ate, bowl raised al to contradict his observations Still amazed by the quality of the cabin’s construction, he took another bite and then paused by the hearth, where the fire was now burning lower, to inspect the wall The logs were joined perfectly, each of see the horizontal seam between one and the next

What had the builder used to seal the gaps? He walked the length of the wall,around the hearth, and noted the uniforaps filled by rocks or sticks, and the spaces between the logs had not been sealed withor sap

Bowl in hand, Jack leaned in closer, peering at the space between two logs He pushed a finger in and found it smooth Brows knitted, he used the back of his spoon to scrape at the joining, and bark stripped away, revealing white, glistening wood beneath

There were no seas had not been sealed because there were no spaces; the logs had grown together Underneath, the bark was green, and the wood glistened because it lived

Stel cradled forgotten in one hand, he turned in a slow circle, staring at the walls and doors and then tilting his head back to look at the rafters, all of it alive He staggered toward the front of the cabin and set the bowl on top of the slish, French, Russian, and other languages Spinning around, with the i in on him, he stopped suddenly and looked at the floor

Did the cabin have roots? It had to, if the trees that had been cut down to build it were still alive Had it grown like this? I his discovery The doors and s and the furnishings were ordinary enough, as far as he could tell But otherwise the cabin waswood