Page:Honore Willsie--Judith of the godless valley.djvu/333

 She looked up at him through weary eyes that still held the old unquenchable fires in their depths.

"I didn't know. If you had gone off on a long hunt for the sky pilot, you wouldn't have heard yet that I was gone. Did you find him?"

"I never even got to look for him. I was down at Inez' trying to sweat some truth out of Scott when your mother came in with word you were gone. Peter and I started after you at once."

"Peter! Where is he?"

"Jude, let's keep our stories until morning. Things look different, then. And you are all in."

"So are you!"

"I'm not as bad off as you. Let me tuck you up, dear. When you've had a sleep, you can give me my turn."

Too done up to protest, Judith allowed Douglas to wrap her in blankets and, with the Wolf Cub snuggled against her back, she dropped into slumber. Douglas set himself to the task of keeping the fire going. The snow ceased at midnight and the cold grew more intense. Douglas chopped wood or walked up and down before the fire to fight off the snow stupor which constantly menaced him. When the lethargy was too heavy to be controlled by exercise alone, he stooped over Judith and, lifting the corner of the blanket which covered her face, he would gaze at her with such joy and thankfulness as he never before had experienced. Whatever the future might bring forth, he had her safe and warm for to-night. And he wished that he believed in a God that he might thank Him!