No matter how far afield their talk began, it always came
back to themselves. They wanted to know all about each other, to compare
experiences and points of view. But time fled too fast for words. They
talked--as lovers will to the end of time--in exclamations and the
meeting of eyes and little endearments.
When Diane and Peter found them on the hilltop, Sheba protested, with
her half-shy, half-audacious smile, that it could not be two hours since
she and Gordon had left the living-room. Peter grinned. He remembered a
hilltop consecrated to his own courtship of Diane.
The only wedding present that Macdonald sent Sheba was a long envelope
with two documents attached by a clip. One was from the Kusiak "Sun."
It announced that the search party had found the body of Northrup with
the rest of the stolen gold beside him. The other was a copy of a legal
document. Its effect was that the district attorney had dismissed all
charges pending against Gordon Elliot.
Although Macdonald lost the coal claims at Kamatlah by reason of the
report of Elliot, all Alaska still believes that he was right. In that
country of strong men he stands head and shoulders above his fellows.
He has the fortunate gift of commanding the admiration of friend and
foe alike.
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