But remember that my
comrades in this march deserve your cheers more than I. Without them I
couldn't have done anything."
"In our infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities," added Jeff
Hyde. "The luck of the world was in that book!"
In another half-hour the White Guard was at ease, and four of them were
gathered about the great stove in the store, Cloud-in-the-Sky smoking
placidly, and full of guttural emphasis; Late Carscallen moving his
animal-like jaws with a sense of satisfaction; Gaspe Toujours talking in
Chinook to the Indians, in patois to the French clerk, and in broken
English to them all; and Jeff Hyde exclaiming on the wonders of the
march, the finding of Lepage at Manitou Mountain, and of himself and
Gaspe Toujours buried in the snow.
VII
In Hume's house at midnight Lepage lay asleep with his wife's
letters--received through the factor--in his hand. The firelight played
upon a dark, disappointed face--a doomed, prematurely old face, as it
seemed to the factor.
"You knew him, then," the factor said, after a long silence, with a
gesture towards the bed.
"Yes, well, years ago," replied Hume.
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