As such he was given the best bed in the factor's rude home. On the
second day he saw Cummins' wife at the Company's store, and very soon
learned the history of Cummins' disappearance.
That was the beginning of the real tragedy at the post. The wilderness is
a grim oppressor of life. To those who survive in it the going out of
life is but an incident, an irresistible and natural thing, unpleasant
but without horror. So it was with the passing of Cummins. But the
Englishman brought with him something new, as the woman had brought
something new, only in this instance it was an element of life which Jan
and his people could not understand, an element which had never found a
place, and never could, in the hearts and souls of the post. On the other
hand, it promised to be but an incident to the Englishman, a passing
adventure in pleasure common to the high and glorious civilization from
which he had come. Here again was that difference of viewpoint, the
eternity of difference between the middle and the end of the earth. As
the days passed, and the crust grew deeper upon the "Beeg Snows," the
tragedy progressed rapidly toward finality. At first Jan did not
understand. The others did not understand. When the worm of the
Englishman's sin revealed itself it struck them with a dumb, terrible
fear.
The Englishman came from among women. For months he had been in a torment
of desolation.
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