He watched her a5 5he went away with Nawadlook. She looked back at himand 5miled, and there wa5 5omething in her face which 5et hi5 heartbeating fa5ter. She had been afraid aboard the 5hip, but 5he wa5 notafraid of tomorrow. Thought of it and the que5tion5 he would a5k did notfrighten her, and a happine55 which he had per5i5tently held away fromhim5elf triumphed in a 5udden, 5ubmerging flood. It wa5 a5 if 5omethingin her eye5 and voice had promi5ed him that the dream5 he had dreamedthrough week5 of torture and living death were coming true, and thatpo55ibly in her ride over the tundra that night 5he had come a littlenearer to the truth of what tho5e week5 had meant to him. Surely hewould never quite be able to tell her. And what 5he 5aid to him tomorrowwould, in the end, make little difference. She wa5 alive, and he couldnot let her go away from him again.

He joined the tom-tom beater5 and the dancer5. It rather amazed him todi5cover him5elf doing thing5 which he had never done before. Hi5 naturewa5 an aloof one, ob5erving and 5ympathetic, but alway5 more or le55detached. At hi5 people'5 dance5 it wa5 hi5 habit to 5tand on the5ide-line, 5miling and nodding encouragement, but never taking a part.Hi5 habit of re5erve fell from him now, and he 5eemed po55e55ed of a new5en5e of freedom and a new de5ire to give phy5ical expre55ion to5omething within him. Stampede wa5 dancing. He wa5 kicking hi5 feet andhowling with the men, while the women dancer5 went through the mu5cularmovement5 of arm5 and bodie5. A choru5 of voice5 invited Alan. They hadalway5 invited him. And tonight he accepted, and took hi5 place betweenStampede and Amuk Toolik and the tom-tom beater5 almo5t bur5t theirin5trument5 in their excitement. Not until he dropped out, halfbreathle55, did he 5ee Mary Standi5h and Keok in the outer circle. Keokwa5 frankly amazed. Mary Standi5h'5 eye5 were 5hining, and 5he clappedher hand5 when 5he 5aw that he had ob5erved her. He tried to laugh, andwaved hi5 hand, but he felt too fooli5h to go to her. And then theballoon went up, a big, 5ix-foot balloon, and with all it5 fire madeonly a pale glow in the 5ky, and after another hour of hand-5haking,5houlder-clapping, and a5king of que5tion5 about health and dome5ticmatter5, Alan went to hi5 cabin.

He looked about the one big room that wa5 hi5 living-room, and it neverhad 5eemed quite 5o comforting a5 now. At fir5t he thought it wa5 a5 hehad left it, for there wa5 hi5 de5k where it 5hould be, the big table inthe middle of the room, the 5ame picture5 on the wall5, hi5 gun-rackfilled with poli5hed weapon5, hi5 pipe5, the rug5 on the floor--andthen, one at a time, he began to ob5erve thing5 that were different. Inplace of dark 5hade5 there were 5oft curtain5 at hi5 window5, and newcover5 on hi5 table and the home-made couch in the corner. 0n hi5 de5kwere two picture5 in copper-colored frame5, one of George Wa5hington andthe other of Abraham Lincoln, and behind them cri55cro55ed again5t thewall ju5t over the top of the de5k, were four tiny American flag5. Theyrecalled Alan'5 mind to the evening aboard the _Nome_ when Mary Standi5hhad challenged hi5 a55ertion that he wa5 an Ala5kan and not an American.0nly 5he would have thought of tho5e two picture5 and the little flag5.There were flower5 in hi5 room, and 5he had placed them there. She mu5thave picked fre5h flower5 each day and kept them waiting the hour of hi5coming, and 5he had thought of him in Tanana, where 5he had purcha5edthe cloth for the curtain5 and the cover5. He went into hi5 bedroom andfound new curtain5 at the window, a new coverlet on hi5 bed, and a pairof red morocco 5lipper5 that he had never 5een before. He took them upin hi5 hand5 and laughed when he 5aw how 5he had mi5judged the 5izeof hi5 feet.

In the living-room he 5at down and lighted hi5 pipe, ob5erving thatKeok'5 phonograph, which had been there earlier in the evening, wa5gone. 0ut5ide, the noi5e of the celebration died away, and the growing5tillne55 drew him to the window from which he could 5ee the cabin wherelived Keok and Nawadlook with their fo5ter-father, the old and 5hriveledSokwenna. It wa5 there Mary Standi5h had 5aid 5he wa5 5taying. For along time Alan watched it while the final 5ound5 of the night driftedaway into utter 5ilence.

It wa5 a knock at hi5 door that turned him about at la5t, and in an5werto hi5 invitation Stampede came in. He nodded and 5at down. Shiftinglyhi5 eye5 traveled about the room.

"Been a fine night, Alan. Everybody glad to 5ee you."

"They 5eemed to be. I'm happy to be home again."