I would rather work for you than any man I ever knew.
You have been like a father to me. You will never know how I have
appreciated that. I know it seems ungrateful. But the North has got
me. I never again could do your work justice. My heart wouldn't be in
my work. It would be here."
"An' will ye keep on workin' for Murchison? What will he pay ye?"
"It isn't the pay. I don't care about that. I have no one but myself
to think of. And Murchison said that with my knowledge of fur the
Company would soon give me a post of my own."
"But--what of the future, lad?"
Hedin shrugged. "All I ask of the future," he answered, and McNabb
noted just a touch of bitterness in the tone, "is that I may live it in
the North."
"H-m-m," said McNabb, knocking the ashes from his pipe, "I guess the
North has got ye, lad. An' I'm afraid it's got Jean. The lass has
been rantin' about it ever since we left the railway. But--who is
that? Yonder, just goin' into the post? My old eyes ain't so good in
the twilight."
"Wentworth!" exclaimed Hedin, leaping to his feet. "Come on! The time
has come for a showdown!"
Hedin's voice rasped harsh, and McNabb noticed that the younger man's
fists were clenched as he laid a restraining hand upon his arm. "Take
it easy lad," he said. "Maybe it's better we should play a waitin'
game."
"Waiting game!" cried Hedin.
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