THE LOVE OF POLEON DORET To the girl crouching at the stern of Runnion's boat it seemed as if this day and night would never end.

It seemed as if the procession of natural events must have ceased, that there was no longer any time, for she had been suffering steadily for hours and hours without end, and began to wonder dreamily whether she had not skipped a day in her reckoning between the time when she first heard of the strike on her claim and this present moment.

It occurred to her that she was a rich girl now in her own right, and she smiled her crooked smile, as she reflected that the thing she had longed for without hope of attainment had come with confusing swiftness, and had left her unhappier than ever....
Would the day never come?
She pulled the rugs up closer about her as the morning chill made her shiver.

She found herself keeping mechanical count with the sound of the sweeps--they must be making good speed, she thought, and the camp must be miles behind now.

Had it been earlier in the season, when the river ran full of drift, they never could have gone thus in the dark, but the water was low and the chances of collision so remote as to render blind travel safe.