“For New York!  I’ve made my fight, and I’ve won.”  His eyes kindled feverishly.  “I’ve won in spite of them all.  I hold the key to a kingdom.  It’s mine—­mine!  I hold the gateway to an empire, and those who pass through must pay.”  The girl had never seen such fierce triumph in a face.  “I saw it in a dream, only it was more than a dream.”  The wind snatched O’Neil’s words from his lips, but he ran on:  “I saw a deserted fishing-village become a thriving city.  I saw the glaciers part to let pass a great traffic in men and merchandise.  I saw the unpeopled north grow into a land of homes, of farms, of mining-camps, where people lived and bred children.  I heard the mountain passes echo to steam whistles and the whir of flying wheels.  It was a wonderful vision that I saw, but my eyes were true.  They called me a fool, and it took the sea and the hurricane to show them I was right.”  He paused, ashamed of his outburst, and, taking the girl’s hand in his, went stumbling ahead of the storm.

Their limbs were cramped, their teeth chattered, they wallowed through mire, and more than once they fell.  Nearing Trevor’s house, they saw what the storm had done.  Kyak was nearly razed.  Roofs had been ripped off, chimneys were down, glass was out.  None but the most substantial log cabins had withstood the assault, and men were busied in various quarters trying to repair the damage.

They found Natalie beside herself with anxiety for their safety, and an hour later Trevor came in, soaked to the skin.  He was very tired, and his face was haggard.

“Well!  She went out!” he said.  “I saw a million dollars swallowed up in that sea.”

They tried to comfort him, but the collapse of his work had left him dazed.

“God!  I didn’t think it could blow like this—­and it isn’t over yet.  The town is flat.”

“I’m sorry.  You understand I sympathize?” said Murray; and the engineer nodded.

“You told me it blew here, and I thought I knew what you meant, but nothing could withstand those rollers.”

“Nothing.”

“You’ll go East and see our people, I suppose?”

“At once.”

“Tell them what you saw.  They’ll never understand from my reports.  They’re good people.  If there’s anything I can do—­”

O’Neil took his hand warmly.

Two days later Murray bade the girls good-by, and left, traveling light.  They remained in Kyak so that Eliza might complete her investigations.

Of all those who suffered by the storm Curtis Gordon took his misfortune hardest.  This had been a black season for him, indeed.  Beginning with O’Neil’s rivalry, everything had gone against him.  He had dropped his coal interests at Kyak in favor of the copper-mine, because they failed to yield quick profits.  Then he had learned that the mine was valueless, and realized that it could not serve him much longer as a means of raising funds.  Still, he had trusted that by taking a vigorous part