ies pressing on him, drew himself away.
He arose, better refreshed, he vowed, than by all the nights of sleep he
had ever had in his life.

As he rose, their lips met, once and briefly.

* * * * *

Garth's first task after breakfast was to clear the growth of willows
that obstructed their access to the lake. The little island was framed
squarely in the centre of the opening made by his axe; and off to the
left, across an estuary formed at the mouth of the watercourse, Mabyn's
shack stood on top of its cut-bank in plain view.

At sight of the convenient island, Garth was struck by an idea. He
examined it attentively. It lay something less than a quarter of a mile
off shore; and a triangle might have been drawn between his camp, the
island and Mabyn's shack, of which the three sides would have been of
about equal length. The island was about three acres in extent; and
completely ringed about with willow bushes. In the centre, two or three
cottonwood trees elevated their heads above the willows.

Later, he asked Natalie casually: "Could Mabyn swim, when you knew him,
do you remember?"

"He could not," she said instantly. "In fact he had a childish horror of
the water."

Garth turned his head to hide his satisfaction; and his plan began to
take shape.

While the sun was yet low, Rina, true to her promise, came to attend
upon Natalie. There was no change in her manner; her unreadable eyes
expressed no consciousness of the events of the night before. She
questioned Natalie in her best professional way. It was not yet
necessary to disturb the dressings on the arm; but she volunteered to do
Natalie's hair; and what other offices would contribute to her comfort.
Garth, convinced now that he had as sure a hold on her as she on him,
unhesitatingly allowed her to enter the tent alone. But he kept within
earshot.

He necessarily overheard part of their talk. Natalie, it seemed, had a
method of her own with Rina. Obliterating the fact that she had received
her injury at the breed's hands, she was unaffectedly grateful for all
that was done for her; and what was more subtle--or kinder--she treated
Rina as her equal, as one who understood in herself the thoughts and the
instincts of a lady. Garth, with the clue he possessed to the unhappy
heart of the girl, could not tell which he ought to commend the more,
Natalie's mother-wit, or her generosity.

Rina apparently sought to steel her breast a