The decks were crowded with passengers as the ship picked her way into Juneau, and Alan wandered among them with a gathering sense of disillusionment pressing upon him.

He knew that he was looking with more than casual interest for Mary Standish, and he was glad when Stampede bumped into an old acquaintance and permitted him to be alone.

He was not pleased with the discovery, and yet he was compelled to acknowledge the truth of it.

The grain of dust had become more than annoying.

It did not wear away, as he had supposed it would, but was becoming an obsessive factor in his thoughts.