on her sleeve between elbow and shoulder. Her face had gone chalky
white, her eyes were half closed, and her teeth were set painfully in her
blue nether lip. To see his sparkling, vivid Natalie brought so low, was a
sight to open all the doors of Garth's brain to madness. His heart swelled
suffocatingly with rage and grief, but there was no time for that, when
every faculty he possessed must be concentrated on saving her; and forcing
it back, he picked her up again with infinite tenderness. His first and
instinctive thought was to return and seize the hut; so that he might
at least have a roof to cover her. He suspected the other two were now
without arms; but even if they had a weapon, he had a better one; was
a sure shot; and was on his guard.

At the first move he made in the direction of the hut, Natalie, whom he
had thought unconscious, divined his intention.

"Garth! Not in his house!" she murmured feverishly. "I will not go in
there! I will not!"

He paused in a painful perplexity. "But dearest, there is no other
house," he said.

"Put me down in the open air," she begged. "It would suffocate me! I
will not endure it!"

So Garth turned back among the trees. He strode over the dead leaves and
the pine needles to the lake shore. Here, between the willows that grew
thickly at the water's verge, and the heavier timber, extended an open
strip of grass, still fresh and green. He laid his burden down upon it;
and, rolling up his coat, put it under her head for a pillow.

He hastily cut away her sleeve, exposing the injury. The ball had passed
through, making a clean opening where it entered, and a jagged wound
whence it issued. It was clear the bone was broken; but from the
character of the bleeding, even Garth could see that the artery was
uninjured. He brought water from the lake in his hat, and gently washed
the wound; but even in this he doubted if he did right; for the water
was cold--but he had nothing in which to heat it. The best he could do
was to take the chill out of it by pressing the handkerchief between his
hot hands.

Everything they possessed that might have been of service was two miles
off; and might just as well have been a hundred; for Garth could not
think of leaving her; and he shrank from the thought of inflicting the
agony it would cause her to be carried so far. And even suppose they
gained their own camp, the situation would be little improved; for how
was he in his ignorance to underta