And
when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the
woman who shared his fortunes.
As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods had
remembered their old-time cunning and cast him after the manner
of men who were born when the world was young. Full seven feet he
towered in his picturesque costume which marked a king of
Eldorado. His chest, neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To
bear his three hundred pounds of bone and muscle, his snowshoes
were greater by a generous yard than those of other men.
Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and unflinching eyes
of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew but the
law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his frost-incrusted
hair swept like day across the night and fell far down his coat of
bearskin.
A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he
swung down the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he
brought the butt of his dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a
Norse sea rover, on southern foray, might thunder for admittance
at the castle gate.
Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread,
casting, as he did so, many a glance at the three guests--three
guests the like of which might never come under a man's roof in a
lifetime.
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