in Mademoiselle, her voice showing
suppressed amusement. "This platform is far too narrow to quarrel
upon; and, besides, the condition of the wager is most easily
met,--that is, if my lips be deemed of sufficiently rosy hue."

I know I stood with opened mouth, so astounded by these mocking words
as to be stricken dumb; but not so De Croix. The audacity of his
nature made eager response to the bold challenge.

"Do you mean what you say, Toinette?" he asked, striving to gain a view
of her face in the darkness.

"Do I? And pray, why not?" she questioned lightly. "One kiss is not
so very much to give, and I shall never miss it. 'T is duller here
than at Montreal, and no doubt 't will greatly interest me to witness
the race. Surely it will prove a better way to end your foolish
quarrel than to shoot each other. But come, Messieurs, why do you
hesitate so long? is not the prize enough?"

He bowed gallantly, and took her hand.

"'T would be the ransom of a king," he answered; "though first I wish
to know the terms of this contest more clearly."

She looked out into that silent and lonely night, her eyes upon the
distant gleam, and instinctively our glances followed hers. It was a
dull desolation, with no sound, no movement, in all the black void.
The stars gleamed dull on the water of the river beneath us, and we
could dimly see the denser shadow of the opposite shore; beyond this,
nothing was apparent save that distant candle flame. What lay
between,--what strange obstruction of land, what ambushed
foes,--neither of us had means of knowing. We could simply plunge into
the mystery of it blindfolded by the fates. Yet to draw back now would
brand either of us forever with the contempt of her who had challenged
us so lightly.

"'T is all simple enough," she said at last, her eyes glowing with
quick excitement. "The goal is yonder where that light glows so
clearly, though I warn you the longest way round may prove the surest
in the end. To the one of you who reaches there first and returns
here, I am to give one kiss as a measure of reward. I care not how it
may be accomplished,--such minor matters rest with your own wits."

"But the young girl we seek," he insisted; "must she also be brought
here upon the return?"

"Pish! what care I what may be done with the girl? Besides, she is far
safer from the savages there than she would be here."

I saw De Croix lean far out over the sharpened palisades and peer