“Where are they going? Do you know, George?”
“They take the Northward trail. Rayner tell me that when he have drunk much brandy. ‘From North Star to the North Star we go,’ he say, ‘you old graven image, and when we come back the girl shall be ours!’ I do not understand such words, for there is no girl there, but such are the words that Rayner speak.”
Joy looked at Babette. “He knows something,” she said.
“Yes,” answered her foster-sister, “but there is one thing he does not know, and that is a woman’s heart. He surely cannot hope——”
“I do not know what he may hope. I know what I shall do. My cousin Adrian is intolerable in his pretensions.”
“What will you do, Joy? I begin to fancy that away from the restraints of civilization Adrian Rayner is possibly a dangerous man. And we are ‘North of fifty-three!’”
“I do not care. I am not afraid. There is, as you once hinted, the law of the wilderness, and at least I will be mistress in my own house.” She turned to her servant. “We will leave you one of the sleds, George. You will then be able to bring some of the meat home. I will talk with you again when you arrive.”
She gave orders for one team to push on and one to remain, then as she and her foster-sister recommenced their march she spoke again.
“I wonder why Adrian Rayner has lingered so long at North Star?”