“Oh, the blizzard is past. You never saw a finer, more bracing morning. It’s a day for the gods,” he laughed boyishly.
She could have conceived no Olympian more heroic than he, and certainly none with so compelling a vitality. “Such a warm, kind light in them!” she thought of the eyes others had found hard and calculating.
It was lucky that the lunch the automobilists had brought from Avalanche was ample and as yet untouched. The hotel waiter, who had attended to the packing of it, had fortunately been used to reckon with outdoor Montana appetites instead of cloyed New York ones. They unpacked the little hamper with much gaiety. Everything was frozen solid, and the wine had cracked its bottle.
“Shipped right through on our private refrigerator-car. That cold-storage chicken looks the finest that ever happened. What’s this rolled up in tissue-paper? Deviled eggs and ham sandwiches AND caviar, not to speak of claret frappe. I’m certainly grateful to the gentleman finished in ebony who helped to provision us for this siege. He’ll never know what a tip he missed by not being here to collect.”
“Here’s jelly, too, and cake,” she said, exploring with him.
“Not to mention peaches and pears. Oh, this is luck of a special brand! I was expecting to put up at Starvation Camp. Now we may name it Point Plenty.”
“Or Fort Salvation,” she suggested shyly. “Because you brought me here to save my life.”
She was such a child, in spite of her charming grown-up airs, that he played make-believe with a zest that surprised himself when he came to think of it. She elected him captain of Fort Salvation, with full power of life and death over the garrison, and he appointed her second in command. His first general order was to put the garrison on two meals a day.
She clapped her little hands, eyes sparkling with excitement. “Are we really snow-bound? Must we go on half-rations?”
“It is the part of wisdom, lieutenant,” he answered, smiling at her enthusiasm. “We don’t know how long this siege is going to last. If it should set in to snow, we may be here several days before the relief-party reaches us.” But, though he spoke cheerfully, he was aware of sinister possibilities in the situation. “Several weeks” would have been nearer his real guess.