and the woman became involved in
a discussion of which Stonor understood almost every word. They had
finished eating, and all four were sitting in a row on a beach with
great stones sticking up through the sand. Clare was at one end, Stonor
at the other. They were giving Stonor a rest as they might have rested a
horse before putting him in harness again.

The woman said impatiently: "How long are you going to keep up this
foolishness?"

"What foolishness?" Imbrie said sullenly.

"Letting this man live. He's your enemy and mine. He's not going to
forget that I shot at him twice. He's got some scheme in his head right
now. He's much too willing to work."

"That's just women's talk. I know what I'm doing. I've got him just
right because he's scared of losing the girl."

"All right. Many times you ask me what to do. Sometimes you don't do
what I say, and then you're sorry afterwards. I tell you this is
foolishness. You want the white-face girl and you let the man live to
please her! What sense is there in that? She won't take you as long as
he lives."

"If I kill him she'll kill herself."

"Wah! That's just a threat. She'll hold it over you as long as he lives.
When he's dead she'll have to make the best of it. You'll have to kill
him in the end. Why not do it now?"

"I know what I'm doing," repeated Imbrie stubbornly. "I'm the master
now. Women turn naturally to the master. In a few days I'll put this
white man so low she'll despise him."

The woman laughed. "You don't know much about women. The worse you treat
him the crazier she'll be about him. And if she gets a knife, look out!"

"She won't get a knife. And if my way doesn't work I can always kill
him. He's useful. We're getting up-stream faster than we would without
him."

"He's too willing to go up the river, I think."

"There's no help for him up there, is there?"

"I don't know. You'd better do what I say."

"Oh, shut up. Go and pack the grub. We'll start soon."

The woman went to obey with her customary shrug.

Stonor had much food for thought in this conversation. He marked with
high satisfaction that the way the woman spoke did not for a moment
suggest that Imbrie had any rights over Clare, nor that he had ever
possessed her in the past. Listen as he might, he could gain no clue to
the relationship between the two speakers. He hoped they might betray
themselves further later on. Meanwhile the situation was hazardous in
the extreme. There was