o take any writing materials along with me!"

"Oh, Garth!" said Natalie reproachfully, as he finished.

He turned a face of whimsical penitence. "Honest, I won't do it again!"
he said. "But I was under two hundred pounds pressure. It was a case of
blow off or bust!"

* * * * *

They could joke for each other's benefit; but privately neither
attempted to disguise from himself what a desperate pass they had
reached. When they parted for the night, Natalie would lie staring
wide-eyed at the fire, and ceaselessly reproaching herself for having
drawn Garth into the sad tangle of her life; while he, tossing on his
blankets on the other side of the partition, blamed himself no less
bitterly for having allowed her to run into danger; and wrung his
exhausted brain for an expedient to save her.

A little beleaguered garrison watching its small store lessen day by
day, and counting the crumbs--this is the situation of all to try the
soul. But a garrison is always buoyed up by the hope of succour; and
Garth and Natalie could expect none. On the other hand there was no
possibility of treachery within this garrison; no need to measure out
the rations, or to guard the store; for each was jealous of the other's
having _less_; and each sought to give away his share.

There was no variety in those days. They waited in vain for an
attack--even longed for it; for behind their walls, the odds would be
more nearly equal. But the other party knew this too; and preferred to
starve them out. Garth's snares yielded nothing in four days; the only
flesh they ate during that time was a fish he caught with a line set at
night in the lake. Their stores were reduced to a few handfuls of flour
and a little tea. Meanwhile their enemies feasted insolently all day
about their fire; this siege was child's play for them; they were so
perfectly sure of their prey in the end.

There came a night at last when Garth and Natalie no longer cared to
keep up the show of joking; they liked to be quiet instead; and they
instinctively drew close together. They sat in the inner room; her head
dropped frankly on his shoulder; and her hand lay in his. It made his
heart ache to see how thin it was. But her spirit was still strong.

"Garth!" she said suddenly. "Let's make a break for it! Anything would
be better than this!"

He shook his head. "No go, dearest," he said. "I've been over that, over
and over it, every night for a week!