But with your legs free you might take it into your head to run away." "Would you mind spreading a blanket on the floor, M'seur?
If you are gone long this box will grow hard and sharp." A few minutes later, after he had made his prisoner as comfortable as possible in the cabin, Howland went again through the fringe of scrub bush to the edge of the ridge.

Below him the plain was lost in the gloom of night.

He could see nothing of the buildings at the post but two or three lights gleaming faintly through the darkness.

Overhead there were no stars; thickening snow shut out what illumination there might have been in the north, and even as he stood looking into the desolation to the west the snow fell faster and the lights grew fainter and fainter until all was a chaos of blackness.
In these moments a desire that was almost madness swept over him.

Since his fight with Jean the swift passing of events had confined his thoughts to their one objective--the finding of Meleese and her people.
He had assured himself that his every move was to be a cool and calculating one, that nothing--not even his great love--should urge him beyond that reason which had made him a master-builder among men.