She knew the ways of
the moose, the bear, and the little blue fox, and of the wild
amphibians of the Northern seas; she was skilled in the lore of
the woods, and the streams, and the tale writ by man and bird and
beast upon the delicate snow crust was to her an open book; yet
Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in her eye as she read the
Rules of the Camp. These rules had been fathered by the
Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, and were
remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor.
Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of
ladies; but who could suspect that this native wife--Well, it was
too late now.
This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name
and fame had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through
all the Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the
assurance of an old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of
first acquaintance and joined in. But she held her own in the
unequal contest, while her husband, slower in wit, ventured
naught but applause. And he was very proud of her; his every look
and action revealed the magnitude of the place she occupied in
his life.
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