That little devil of a Keok calls me Pinkey now, and Miss Standish says
it wasn't because I was funny that she laughed, but that the change in
me was so sudden she couldn't help it. Nawadlook says I've got a
character-ful chin--"
Alan gripped his hand, and a swift change came over Stampede's face. A
steely glitter shot into the blue of his eyes, and his chin hardened.
Nature no longer disguised the Stampede Smith of other days, and Alan
felt a new thrill and a new regard for the man whose hand he held. This,
at last, was the man whose name had gone before him up and down the old
trails; the man whose cool and calculating courage, whose fearlessness
of death and quickness with the gun had written pages in Alaskan history
which would never be forgotten. Where his first impulse had been to
laugh, he now felt the grim thrill and admiration of men of other days,
who, when in Stampede's presence, knew they were in the presence of a
master. The old Stampede had come to life again. And Alan knew why. The
grip of his hand tightened, and Stampede returned it.
"Some day, if we're lucky, there always comes a woman to make the world
worth living in, Stampede," he said.
"There does," replied Stampede.
He looked steadily at Alan.
"And I take it you love Mary Standish," he added, "and that you'd fight
for her if you had to.
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