Next morning McNab was awakened by the barking of the dog. He found that all his companions were astir, and all watching the dog with strained eyes. Brinklow’s face was grim. McNab looked at Julia prepared to hate her for the pain she had given him; but when she turned her dark eyes on him, he found it impossible to do so. Though she were pledged to another man ten times over, he loved her more than ever. He turned away from her with an inward groan.
It was a grey morning with a raw chill in the air. Wisps of fog were floating through the forest enveloping the black tree trunks in ghostly shrouds. The dog was leaping at the edge of the burned land, barking with a strange poignancy. Occasionally he would run in a little way, only to be forced out as the hot embers burned his feet. His atte
