Some time after the factor’s guests were gone Grant, at the window of his room, shivered and looked about. He had put on his skin coat, but the night was cold and his feet were bare. Clouds rolled across the moon, and mist floated about the trees along the bank. At one spot he saw the red reflections from the steamer’s furnace, and he thought a stoker cleaned the fire. A light burned in a tent, and the canvas shone like a paper lantern.
An ice-floe crashed against a rock, the river throbbed, and the wind wailed in the spruce tops, but this was all. Soon after daybreak the Firefly would start, and the strangers at the fort would go on board. Some occupied tents along the bank, and some were at the stables, but only Fraser, Grant and Helen used the factor’s house.
FireflyGrant opened his d
