the moment. I was
answered. The woman might never be mine, but she had never been his,
either. I turned away. I was triumphant, but I loathed myself. I was
sick with the situation, and the man who had brought me to it.

"You may keep your kisses, monsieur," I said savagely. "You may keep
them. But if you mention them to me again I shall throttle you where
you stand."

The Englishman had felt the revulsion, and he showed no resentment of
my heat. He heaved himself up in the hot, horrible sunshine and rubbed
his hands as if washing them free.

"We are curs," he said quietly.

I could not say nay. "We must eat," I cautioned; "we must eat, and
keep ourselves sane. If we can get through this day without murder or
worse, we shall have work to do from now on that will serve to keep our
heads clear. Pierre will be coming soon now."

Starling was regarding me keenly. "You lose your temper, and therefore
you should be easy to read," he said reflectively. "But you are not.
You evidently married my cousin for convenience. I can understand the
situation. But you stand by your bargain well. You have the honor of
your name somewhat sensitively at heart. But if you had not married
her---- If there were no compulsion, no outside reason--tell me, would
you marry her now?"

But that I left unanswered.

CHAPTER XXI

THE PIVOT

Pierre came at five o'clock. He was keen for the approaching supper
hour and came jovially.

I was sick with haste, and deep sunk in my own grief, so I was cruel
and a fool; I plumped the facts at him without a softening word. And
so I frustrated my own ends. The great, slow creature cowered and grew
dumb under my story. Then he went, great-eyed and hanging-lipped, from
cabin to cabin. I had locked up his springs of word and thought.

But one thing my sword and my words prodded out of him. He had come by
the portage path from the east, and had seen no marks of passage that
were less than a week old. Our star led west.

I baled what provision and ammunition we needed, loaded the canoes, and
cached the furs and the balance of the stores at the edge of the
forest. At six o'clock we were afloat. I led the way, and Pierre
followed with the Englishman. This gave me space to think in silence.

The sun sank red and clear, and we paddled from a colored dusk to a
clear starlight. I knew this dimly, as the lost in the inferno know
the barred joys above them. Unless we found P