[Gutenberg 19064] • The Triumph of John Kars: A Story of the Yukon

"Maybe you never feel dread, or doubt, or worry," the girl said as she approached Murray McTavish's desk in Fort Mowbray -- on the Snake River, in the Yukon. "Maybe you never feel anything -- human. Say, you're a man and strong. I'm just a woman, and -- and he's my father. He's overdue by six weeks. Father should have been back six weeks ago. You know that. He isn't back. Well?"

"In the last ten years there's not been a single time that Allan's hit the northern trail on a trade when he's got back to time by weeks."

"I guess I've never felt as I do now," she said miserably.

"How?"

The girl's words came in a sudden passionate rush.

"You wouldn't understand. You're a good partner. You're a big man on the trail. Guess there's no bigger men on the trail than you and father -- unless it's John Kars. But you all fight with hard muscle. I've got it all here," she added, pressing her fur mitted hands over her bosom. "I know there's something amiss. I've never felt this way before. Where is he? Where did he go this time? He never tells us. You never tell us. . . ."