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He stripped off his packs and returned for Marette She had coe of the scow and called to hih the water Her ar toward hih the shallow sea about his feet and laughed as he put her down on the edge of the platforht of the candle sputtered in their wet faces Only di

"Your nest, little Gray Goose," he cried gently

Her hand reached up and touched his face "You have been good to me, Jeems," she said, a little tremble in her voice "You may--kiss me"

Out in the beat of the rain Kent's heart choked hi His soul swelled with the desire to shout forth a paean of joy and triuht for all time With the warm thrill of Marette's lips he had become the superman, and as he leaped ashore in the darkness and cut the tie-rope with a single slash of his knife, he wanted to give voice to the thing that was in hilory of their freedo, under his laughing, sobbing breath With a giant's strength he sent the scow out into the bayou, and then back and forth he swung the long one- the craft riverith the force of two pairs of arms instead of one Behind the closed door of the tiny cabin was all that the world now held worth fighting for By turning his head he could see the faint illuht--the cabin--Marette!

He laughed inanely, foolishly, like a boy He began to hear a dull, droning rew into a more distinct, cataract-like roar It was the river Swollen by flood, it was a terrifying sound But Kent did not dread it It was his river; it was his friend It was the pulse and throb of life to hi tumult of it was notto hirew in his ears Over his head the black sky opened again, and a deluge of rain fell straight down But above the sound of it the rush of the river drew nearer, and still nearer He felt the first eddying swirl of it against the scow head, and powerful hands seemed to reach in out of the darkness He knew that the nose of the current had caught hi him out on the breast of the strea the utter chaos of blackness ahead He felt under hireat flood as it swept toward the Slave, the Mackenzie, and the Arctic And he cried out at last in the downpour of storm, a cry of joy, of exultation, of hope that reached beyond the laws of h the thickness of sodden night the tiny as glowing yelloith candle-light