go crazy…nobody…nobody.”
Lord Luton, as head of his expedition, was capable of making swift decisions, and without consulting the others, said: “We must move forward before the ice catches us. You can join us, but not stay with us. We’ll try to intercept a trading boat heading south and send you to safety.”
“What will I do?”
“In Edmonton, I’m sure they’ll find a way to get you back to Dakota.”
They were astounded by what she said next: “No! I came to find gold and I’ll find it,” and Luton was so appalled by such a statement at such a time that he confronted her fiercely: “We’ll have none of that. You escaped death only because we came along. Next time it’ll find you.” When she lamented the loss of her dreams, Carpenter comforted her, but Luton put a stop: “Ma’am, you’ll be on your way back on the first riverboat we intercept, and now I would be obliged if my nephew would utter a brief prayer of thanks for our salvation from the dreadful storm and your rescue from a certain death.”
The storm-tossed gold-seekers bowed their heads as Philip whispered: “Dear God, like Peter whom You saved from that storm on the Sea of Galilee, we give thanks for Thy saving us on Great Slave.” He hesitated: “And we give special thanks for saving Thy heroic daughter Irina who survived only because of Thy miracle. Guide us to the safety of the Mackenzie.”
After the amens, Carpenter lifted the young woman into the
Sweet Afton
, which proceeded without further incident to the exit from the lake. As soon as they were upon the river again, the condition that Philip had alluded to in his prayer took effect: they felt safe and once more in proper hands.
Irina Kozlok remained with them for several troublesome days. Because Lord Luton was determined to forge ahead against the coming of winter, they traveled continuously, and this presented problems about tending to their needs with a woman aboard. Previously the men had adopted simple, sanitary systems, and now they were inhibited, but the ice was broken by Fogarty, who, after he could control himself no longer, finally blurted out: “Madam, will you please look the other way?” and with the quiet ease of a duchess she replied: “Gentlemen, I’ve been married. I have brothers. This is noproblem,” and then she added, flashing the first smile since the wreck of her boat: “And I’ll expect the same courtesy from you.”
Philip was mortified by this discussion, for like any young romantic he had to believe that it had been more than accident that Irina saved his life in Edmonton, for that is how he now thought of her caution against the overland route, while he had saved hers on the shore of the Great Slave. To himself he mumbled: “It was fate,” and the more he saw of her courageous resolve, and the handsome appearance she made when her uniform was dried and she could wear it again, the more he was reminded of his reaction on that night of their first meeting in Edmonton: Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a wife like that…? and by the end of the second day with her he found himself a confused mixture of pity, admiration and deep attraction. In his infatuation he interpreted her slightest gesture of politeness as reciprocation of his feelings.
The first of the other four team members to recognize that young Philip was falling in love with a woman much older than himself was Lord Luton, and like a true Bradcombe he stiffened, summoning all the traditions of his ancient and distinguished family. The Bradcombes had survived when many other families had crumbled, he reminded himself, because through the centuries they had consistently protected their young men from the snares of attractive French women, and English commoners, and pert Irish lassies and, in recent decades, from the daughters of aspiring American millionaire families. With unerring rectitude they had allowed marriages only with the safest young women from the best English
Lord Luton, as head of his expedition, was capable of making swift decisions, and without consulting the others, said: “We must move forward before the ice catches us. You can join us, but not stay with us. We’ll try to intercept a trading boat heading south and send you to safety.”
“What will I do?”
“In Edmonton, I’m sure they’ll find a way to get you back to Dakota.”
They were astounded by what she said next: “No! I came to find gold and I’ll find it,” and Luton was so appalled by such a statement at such a time that he confronted her fiercely: “We’ll have none of that. You escaped death only because we came along. Next time it’ll find you.” When she lamented the loss of her dreams, Carpenter comforted her, but Luton put a stop: “Ma’am, you’ll be on your way back on the first riverboat we intercept, and now I would be obliged if my nephew would utter a brief prayer of thanks for our salvation from the dreadful storm and your rescue from a certain death.”
The storm-tossed gold-seekers bowed their heads as Philip whispered: “Dear God, like Peter whom You saved from that storm on the Sea of Galilee, we give thanks for Thy saving us on Great Slave.” He hesitated: “And we give special thanks for saving Thy heroic daughter Irina who survived only because of Thy miracle. Guide us to the safety of the Mackenzie.”
After the amens, Carpenter lifted the young woman into the
Sweet Afton
, which proceeded without further incident to the exit from the lake. As soon as they were upon the river again, the condition that Philip had alluded to in his prayer took effect: they felt safe and once more in proper hands.
Irina Kozlok remained with them for several troublesome days. Because Lord Luton was determined to forge ahead against the coming of winter, they traveled continuously, and this presented problems about tending to their needs with a woman aboard. Previously the men had adopted simple, sanitary systems, and now they were inhibited, but the ice was broken by Fogarty, who, after he could control himself no longer, finally blurted out: “Madam, will you please look the other way?” and with the quiet ease of a duchess she replied: “Gentlemen, I’ve been married. I have brothers. This is noproblem,” and then she added, flashing the first smile since the wreck of her boat: “And I’ll expect the same courtesy from you.”
Philip was mortified by this discussion, for like any young romantic he had to believe that it had been more than accident that Irina saved his life in Edmonton, for that is how he now thought of her caution against the overland route, while he had saved hers on the shore of the Great Slave. To himself he mumbled: “It was fate,” and the more he saw of her courageous resolve, and the handsome appearance she made when her uniform was dried and she could wear it again, the more he was reminded of his reaction on that night of their first meeting in Edmonton: Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a wife like that…? and by the end of the second day with her he found himself a confused mixture of pity, admiration and deep attraction. In his infatuation he interpreted her slightest gesture of politeness as reciprocation of his feelings.
The first of the other four team members to recognize that young Philip was falling in love with a woman much older than himself was Lord Luton, and like a true Bradcombe he stiffened, summoning all the traditions of his ancient and distinguished family. The Bradcombes had survived when many other families had crumbled, he reminded himself, because through the centuries they had consistently protected their young men from the snares of attractive French women, and English commoners, and pert Irish lassies and, in recent decades, from the daughters of aspiring American millionaire families. With unerring rectitude they had allowed marriages only with the safest young women from the best English
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