“Wade, you’re afraid I’ll kill him?” whispered Moore.

“Sure.  That’s it.  I’m afraid you might.  An’ consider how hard that would be for Columbine.  She an’ Jack were raised sister an’ brother, almost.  It would be hard on her.  You see, Collie has a strange an’ powerful sense of duty to Old Bill.  If you killed Jack it would likely kill the old man, an’ Collie would suffer all her life.  You couldn’t cure her of that.  You want her to be happy.”

“I do—­I do.  Wade, I swear I’ll never kill Buster Jack.  And for Collie’s sake I’ll try not to hate him.”

“Well, that’s fine.  I’m sure glad to hear you promise that.  Now I’ll go out an’ chop some wood.  We mustn’t let the fire go out any more.”

“Pard, I’ll write another note—­a letter to Collie.  Hand me the blank-book there.  And my pencil....  And don’t hurry with the wood.”

Wade went outdoors with his two-bladed ax and shovel.  The wood-pile was a great mound of snow.  He cleaned a wide space and a path to the side of the cabin.  Working in snow was not unpleasant for him.  He liked the cleanness, the whiteness, the absolute purity of new-fallen snow.  The air was crisp and nipping, the frost crackled under his feet, the smoke from his pipe seemed no thicker than the steam from his breath, the ax rang on the hard aspens.  Wade swung this implement like a born woodsman.  The chips flew and the dead wood smelled sweet.  Some logs he chopped into three-foot pieces; others he chopped and split.  When he tired a little of swinging the ax he carried the cut pieces to the cabin and stacked them near the door.  Now and then he would halt a moment to gaze away across the whitened slopes and rolling hills.  The sense of his physical power matched something within, and his heart warmed with more than the vigorous exercise.

When he had worked thus for about two hours and had stacked a pile of wood almost as large as the cabin he considered it sufficient for the day.  So he went indoors.  Moore was so busily and earnestly writing that he did not hear Wade come in.  His face wore an eloquent glow.

“Say, Wils, are you writin’ a book?” he inquired.

“Hello!  Sure I am.  But I’m ’most done now....  If Columbine doesn’t answer this ...”

“By the way, I’ll have two letters to give her, then—­for I never gave her the first one,” replied Wade.

“You son-of-a-gun!”

“Well, hurry along, boy.  I’ll be goin’ now.  Here’s a pole I’ve fetched in.  You keep it there, where you can reach it, an’ when the fire needs more wood you roll one of these logs on.  I’ll be up to-night before dark, an’ if I don’t fetch you a letter it’ll be because I can’t persuade Collie to write.”

“Pard, if you bring me a letter I’ll obey you—­I’ll lie still—­I’ll sleep—­I’ll stand anything.”

“Ahuh!  Then I’ll fetch one,” replied Wade, as he took the little book and deposited it in his pocket.  “Good-by, now, an’ think of your good news that come with the snow.”