"You will be ready when I come back?"
She bobbed her head.
"Ready—and waiting," she said.
She sat and put up a hand to him, wistfully disconsolate, before he disappeared beyond a twist in the trail.
The next night, in the cabin up-river, after Miriam had left them alone to what she termed their complacent silence, Garry Devereau and Steve sat a long while before the former raised a face alight with his rare mirth.
"Remember Joe's one proposed journey into the realms of romance?" he asked suddenly.
Openly Steve grinned, and nodded.
"Remember how Joe threatened to close the last chapter?"
Steve nodded again.