But when he was surely gone, after one fearful look at the white sea which encompassed her, the girl fled to the cabin, slammed the door after her, and flung herself on the bed to weep out her lonely terror in an ecstasy of tears.She had spent the first violence of her grief, and was sitting crouched on the rug before the open fire when the sound of a footstep, crunching the snow, startled her.The door opened, to let in the man who had just left her.
"You are back--already," she cried, her tear? stained face lifted toward him.
"Yes," he smiled' from the doorway."Come here, little partner."And when she had obediently joined him her eye followed his finger up the mountain-trail to a bend round which men and horses were coming."It's a relief-party," he said, and caught up his field-glasses to look them over more certainly.Two men on horseback, leading a third animal, were breaking a way down the trail, black spots against the background of white."I guess Fort Salvation's about to be relieved," he added grimly,following the party through the glasses.
She touched the back of his hand with a finger."Are you glad?" she asked softly.
"No, by Heaven!" he cried, lowering his glasses swiftly.
As he looked into her eyes the blood rushed to his brain with a surge.Her face turned to his unconsciously, and their lips met.
"And I don't even know your name," she murmured."Waring Ridgway; and yours?""Aline Hope," she said absently.Then a hot Rush ran over the girlish face."No, no, I had forgotten.I was married last week."The gates of paradise, open for two days, clanged to on Ridgway.He stared out with unseeing eyes into the silent wastes of snow.The roaring in his ears and the mountainsides that churned before his eyes were reflections of the blizzard raging within him.
"I'll never forget--never," he heard her falter, and her voice was a thousand miles away.
From the storm within him he was aroused by a startled cry from the girl at his side.Her fascinated gaze was fixed on the summit of the ridge above them.There was a warning crackle.The overhanging comb snapped, slid slowly down, and broke off.With gathering momentum it descended, sweeping into its heart rocks, trees, and debris.A terrific roar filled the air as the great white cloud came tearing down like an express-train.
Ridgway caught her round the waist and flung the girl against the wall of the cabin, protecting her with his body.The avalanche was upon them, splitting great trees to kindling-wood in the fury of its rush.The concussion of the wind shattered every window to fragments, almost tore the cabin from its foundations.Only the extreme tail of the slide touched them, yet they were buried deep in flying snow.
He found no great difficulty in digging a way out, and when he lifted her to the surface she was conscious.Yet she was pale even to the lips and trembled like an aspen in the summer breeze, clinging to him for support helplessly.
His cheerful voice rang like a bugle to her shocked brain."It's all past.We're safe now, dear--quite safe."The first of the trail-breakers had dismounted and was plowing hisway hurriedly to the cabin, but neither of them saw him as he came up the slope.
"Are you sure?" She shuddered, her hands still in his."Wasn't it awful? I thought--" Her sentence trailed out unfinished.
"Are you unhurt, Aline?" cried the newcomer.And when he saw she was, he added: "Praise ye the Lord.O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known."At sound of the voice they turned and saw the man hurrying toward them.He was tall, gray, and seventy, of massive frame and gaunt, still straight and vigorous, with the hooked nose and piercing eyes of a hawk.At first glance he looked always the bird of prey, but at the next as invariably the wolf, an effect produced by the salient reaching jaw and the glint of white teeth bared for a lip smile.Just now he was touched to a rare emotion.His hands trembled and an expression of shaken thankfulness rested in his face.
Aline, still with Ridgway's strong arms about her, slowly came back to the inexorable facts of life.
"You--here?"
"As soon as we could get through--and thank God in time.""I would have died, except for--" This brought her immediately to an introduction, and after she had quietly released herself the man who had saved her heard himself being formally presented: "Mr.Ridgway, I want you to meet my husband, Mr.Harley."Ridgway turned to Simon Harley a face of hammered steel and bowed, putting his hands deliberately behind his back.
"I've been expecting you at Mesa, Mr.Harley," he said rigidly."I'll be glad to have the pleasure of welcoming you there."The great financier was wondering where he had heard the man's name before, but he only said gravely: "You have a claim on me I can never forget, Mr.Ridgway."Scornfully the other disdained this proffer."Not at all.You owe me nothing, Mr.Harley--absolutely nothing.What I have done I have done for her.It is between her and me."At this moment the mind of Harley fitted the name Ridgway to its niche in his brain.So this was the audacious filibuster who had dared to fire on the trust flag, the man he had come West to ruin and to humble.
"I think you will have to include me, Mr.Ridgway," he said suavely."What is done for my wife is done, also, for me."
