The sharp glance of Buck flitted here and there, in ten seconds he knew everything in the room; the steady blue eye of Lee Haines went leisurely from place to place and lingered; but both of them stared at Kate as if they could not have enough of her.

They talked without pause while they ate.

A stranger in the room would have sealed their lips in utter taciturnity, but here they sat with a friend, five months of loneliness and labor behind them, and they gossiped like girls.
Into the jangle of talk cut a thin, small voice from outside, a burst of laughter.

Then: "Bart, you silly dog!" and Joan stood at the open door with her hand buried in the mane of the wolf-dog.

The fork of Buck Daniels stopped halfway to his lips and Lee Haines straightened until the chair groaned.
They spoke together, hushed voices: "Kate!" "Come here, Joan!" Her face glistened with pride, and Joan came forward with wide eyes, tugging Black Bart along in a reluctant progress.
"It ain't possible!" whispered Buck Daniels.