whispered, "Yes."

"Then he's got to marry you."

But her pride was up. "Do you think I want him if he doesn't want--me?"

"He shall want you," said Randy Paine; "the day shall come when he
shall beg on his knees."

Randy had studied law. But there are laws back of the laws of the
white man. The Indian knows no rest until his enemy is in his hands.
Randy lay awake late that night thinking it out. But he was not
thinking only of Georgie. He was thinking of Becky and her
self-respect. "She will never get it back," he said, "until that dog
asks her to marry him."

He had faith enough in her to believe that she would not marry Dalton
now if he asked her. But she must be given the chance.

CHAPTER VIII

ANCESTORS

I

The Judge and Mr. Flippin were fishing, with grasshoppers for bait.
The fish that they caught they called "shiners." As an edible product
"shiners" were of little account. But the Judge and Mr. Flippin did
not fish for food, they fished for sport. It was mild sport compared
to the fishing of other days when the Judge had waded into mountain
streams with the water coming up close to the pocket of his flannel
shirt where he kept his cigars, or had been poled by Bob Flippin from
"riffle" to pool. Those had been the days of speckled trout and
small-mouthed bass, and Bob had been a boy and the Judge at middle age.
Now Bob Flippin had reached the middle years, and the Judge was old,
but they still fished together. They were comrades in a very close and
special sense. What Bob Flippin lacked in education and culture he
made up in wisdom and adoration of the Judge. When he talked he had
something to say, but as a rule he let the Judge talk and was always an
absorbed listener.

There was in their relations, however, a complete adjustment to the
class distinctions which separated them. The Judge accepted as his
right the personal service with which Bob Flippin delighted to honor
him. It was always Bob who pulled the boat and carried the basket. It
was Bob who caught the grasshoppers and cooked the lunch.

There was one dish dedicated to a day's fishing--fried ham and eggs.
Bob had a long-handled frying-pan, and the food was seasoned with the
salt and savor of the out-of-doors.

There were always several dogs to bear their masters company. The
Judge's three were beagles--tireless hunters of rabbits, and somewhat
in disgrace as a species since Germany had gone to war with the world.