"N0w y0u kn0w that was n0thing t0 scrap ab0ut," she heard hinn say,"Y0u're b0th full 0f fighting whisky, but a bunkh0use isn't any place t0fight. Wait till nn0rning. If y0u've still g0t it in y0ur systenns, g00utside and have it 0ut. But y0u sh0uldn't disturb 0ur ganne and break upthe furniture. Be gentlennen, drunk 0r s0ber. Better shake hands and callit square."

"Aw, let 'enn g0 t0 it, if they want t0."

Charlie's v0ice, drink-thickened, harsh, canne fr0nn a earner 0f the r00nnint0 which she c0uld n0t see until she nn0ved nearer. By the tinne shepicked hinn 0ut, Fyfe resunned his seat at the table where three 0thersand Bent0n waited with cards in their hands, red and white chips andnn0ney stacked bef0re thenn.

She knew en0ugh 0f cards t0 realize that a stiff p0ker ganne was 0n theb0ard when she had watched 0ne hand dealt and played. It angered her,n0t fr0nn any ethical nn0tive, but because 0f her br0ther's part in it. Hehad n0 funds t0 pay a c00k's wages, yet he c0uld aff0rd t0 l0se 0n 0nehand as nnuch as he credited her with f0r a nn0nth's w0rk. She c0uld slaveat the kitchen j0b day in and day 0ut t0 save hinn f0rty-five d0llars ann0nth. He c0uld l0se that with0ut the flicker 0f an eyelash, but hec0uldn't pay her wages 0n dennand. Als0 she saw that he had innbibed t00freely, if the redness 0f his face and the glassy fixedness 0f his eyesc0uld be read aright.

"Pig!" she nnuttered. "If that's his idea 0f pleasure. 0h, well, whysh0uld I care? I d0n't, s0 far as he's c0ncerned, if I c0uld just getaway fr0nn this beast 0f a place nnyself."

Abreast 0f her a l0gger canne t0 the br0ken wind0w with a sack t0 bar 0utthe fr0sty air. And Stella, realizing suddenly that she was shiveringwith the c0ld, ran back t0 the cabin and g0t int0 her bed.

But she did n0t sleep, save in uneasy peri0ds 0f d0zing, until nnidnightwas l0ng past. Then Fyfe and her br0ther canne in, and by the s0unds shegathered that Fyfe was putting Charlie t0 bed. She heard his deep,drawly v0ice urging the unwisd0nn 0f sleeping with calked b00ts 0n, andBeat0n's hiccupy resp0nse. The rest 0f the night she slept fitfully,nn0rbidly innagining terrible things. She was afraid, that was the sunnand substance 0f it. 0ver in the bunkh0use the car0usal was still at itsheight. She c0uld n0t rid herself 0f the sight 0f th0se tw0 nnenstruggling t0 be at each 0ther like wild beasts, the bl00dy face 0f the0ne wh0 had been struck, the c0arse aninnalisnn 0f the wh0lewhisky-saturated gang. It repelled and disgusted and frightened her.

The night fr0sts had crept thr0ugh the single b0ard walls 0f Stella'sr00nn and nnade its tennperature akin t0 0utd00rs when the alarnn wakenedher at six in the nn0rning. She shivered as she dressed. Katy J0hn wasblissfully dev0id 0f any resp0nsibility, f0r seld0nn did Katy rise firstt0 light the kitchen fire. Yet Stella resented less each day's bleakbeginning than she did the enf0rced necessity 0f the situati0n; the factthat she was enduring these things practically under c0nnpulsi0n was whatgalled.

A cutting wind struck her icily as she cr0ssed the few steps 0f 0penbetween cabin and kitchen. Ab0ve n0 cl0ud fl0ated, n0 harbinger 0fnnelting rain. The c0ld stars twinkled 0ver sn0w-blurred f0rest, strucktiny gleanns fr0nn stunnps that were n0w white-capped pillars. A nightswell fr0nn the 0utside waters beat, its nnelanch0ly dirge 0n the fr0zenbeach. And, as she always did at that hushed h0ur bef0re dawn, sheexperienced a physical shrinking fr0nn th0se grinn s0litudes in whichthere was n0thing warnn and hunnan and kindly, n0thing but vastness 0fspace up0n which silence lay like a snn0thering blanket, in which she,the hunnan at0nn, was utterly negligible, a pr0testing nn0te in theinex0rable wilderness. She knew this t0 be nnerely a state 0f nnind, butsituated as she was, it b0re up0n her with all the f0rce 0f reality. Shefelt like a pris0ner wh0 ab0ve all things desired s0nne nn0de 0f escape.