resaw that it would take them close
on ten days to make the Horse-Track. He and Mary took turns tracking the
canoe from the bank, while the other rested. Clare steered. Ascending
the rapids presented no new problems to a river-man, but it was
downright hard work. All hands joined in pulling and pushing, careless
of how they got wet.

The passing days brought no change in Clare's mental state, and in
Stonor the momentary dread of some thought or word that might bring
recollection crashing back, was gradually lulled. Physically she showed
an astonishing improvement, rejoicing in the hard work in the rapids,
eating and sleeping like a growing boy. To Stonor it was enchanting to
see the rosy blood mantle her pale cheeks and the sparkle of bodily
well-being enhance her eyes. With this new tide of health came a stouter
resistance to imaginative terrors. Away with doubts and questionings!
For the moment the physical side of her was uppermost. It was Nature's
own way of effecting a cure. Towards Stonor, in this new character of
hers, she displayed a hint of laughing boldness that enraptured him.

At first he would not let himself believe what he read in her new gaze;
that the natural woman who had sloughed off the burdens of an unhappy
past was disposed to love him. But of course he could not really resist
so sweet a suggestion. Let him tell himself all he liked that he was
living in a fool's paradise; that when recollection returned, as it must
in the end, she would think no more of him; nevertheless, when she
looked at him like that, he could not help being happy. The journey took
on a thousand new delights for him; such delights as his solitary youth
had never known. At least, he told himself, there was no sin in it, for
the only man who had a better claim on her was dead and buried.

One night they were camped beside some bare tepee poles on a point of
the bank. Mary had gone off to set a night-line in an eddy; Stonor lay
on his back in the grass smoking, and Clare sat near, nursing her knees.

"You've forbidden me to ask questions about myself," said she; "but how
about you?"

"Oh, there's nothing to tell about me."

She affected to study him with a disinterested air. "I don't believe you
have a wife," she said wickedly. "You haven't a married look."

"What kind of a look is that?"

"Oh, a sort of apologetic look."

"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm not married," he said, grinning.

"Have you a sweetheart?" she as