he staggered back; and
that dog too felt the spade, and ceased to trouble him. He sheathed his
sword in the brute at his thigh.

"To the wall!" cried Elizabeth; and in three seconds the fight was at an
end, and our young people stood side by side, while a remnant of five
dogs, with ears and tails of disaster, fled shamefully from the stricken
field.

For a moment they stood panting and victorious, and then Elizabeth,
dropping her spade, covered her face, and sank to the ground in a
paroxysm of weeping. Denton looked about him, thrust the point of his
sword into the ground so that it was at hand, and stooped to comfort
her.

* * * * *

At last their more tumultuous emotions subsided, and they could talk
again. She leant upon the wall, and he sat upon it so that he could keep
an eye open for any returning dogs. Two, at any rate, were up on the
hillside and keeping up a vexatious barking.

She was tear-stained, but not very wretched now, because for half an
hour he had been repeating that she was brave and had saved his life.
But a new fear was growing in her mind.

"They are the dogs of the Food Company," she said. "There will be
trouble."

"I am afraid so. Very likely they will prosecute us for trespass."

A pause.

"In the old times," he said, "this sort of thing happened day after
day."

"Last night!" she said. "I could not live through another such night."

He looked at her. Her face was pale for want of sleep, and drawn and
haggard. He came to a sudden resolution. "We must go back," he said.

She looked at the dead dogs, and shivered. "We cannot stay here," she
said.

"We must go back," he repeated, glancing over his shoulder to see if the
enemy kept their distance. "We have been happy for a time.... But the
world is too civilised. Ours is the age of cities. More of this will
kill us."

"But what are we to do? How can we live there?"

Denton hesitated. His heel kicked against the wall on which he sat.
"It's a thing I haven't mentioned before," he said, and coughed;
"but ..."

"Yes?"

"You could raise money on your expectations," he said.

"Could I?" she said eagerly.

"Of course you could. What a child you are!"

She stood up, and her face was bright. "Why did you not tell me before?"
she asked. "And all this time we have been here!"

He looked at her for a moment, and smiled. Then the smile vanished. "I
thought it ought to come from you," he said. "I didn