There were others who could build the road; success, fortune, ambition--in the old way he had seen them--were overshadowed now by this love of a girl.
He stopped and lighted his pipe.

The fragrant odor of the tobacco, the flavor of the warm smoke in his mouth, helped to readjust him, to cool his heated brain.

The old fighting instincts leaped into life again.

Go into the South?
He asked himself the question once more, and in the gloomy silence of the forest his low laugh fell again as he clenched his hands in anticipation of what was ahead of him.

No--he would build the road! And in building it he would win this girl, if it was given for him to possess her.
His saner thoughts brought back his caution.