bought me, I should have
been that man's wife. I should have been a good wife to that man. Such
was my will. But my will with you was that I should never be your wife.
Wherefore, I am your dog."

Porportuk knew that he played with fire, and he resolved to play firmly.
"Then I speak to you, not as El-Soo, but as a dog," he said; "and I tell
you to come with me." He half reached to grip her arm, but with a
gesture she held him back.

"Not so fast, Porportuk. You buy a dog. The dog runs away. It is your
loss. I am your dog. What if I run away?"

"As the owner of the dog, I shall beat you--"

"When you catch me?"

"When I catch you."

"Then catch me."

He reached swiftly for her, but she eluded him. She laughed as she
circled around the table. "Catch her!" Porportuk commanded the Indian
with the rifle, who stood near to her. But as the Indian stretched forth
his arm to her, the Eldorado king felled him with a fist blow under the
ear. The rifle clattered to the ground. Then was Akoon's chance. His
eyes glittered, but he did nothing.

Porportuk was an old man, but his cold nights retained for him his
activity. He did not circle the table. He came across suddenly, over
the top of the table. El-Soo was taken off her guard. She sprang back
with a sharp cry of alarm, and Porportuk would have caught her had it not
been for Tommy. Tommy's leg went out, Porportuk tripped and pitched
forward on the ground. El-Soo got her start.

"Then catch me," she laughed over her shoulder, as she fled away.

She ran lightly and easily, but Porportuk ran swiftly and savagely. He
outran her. In his youth he had been swiftest of all the young men. But
El-Soo dodged in a willowy, elusive way. Being in native dress, her feet
were not cluttered with skirts, and her pliant body curved a flight that
defied the gripping fingers of Porportuk.

With laughter and tumult, the great crowd scattered out to see the chase.
It led through the Indian encampment; and ever dodging, circling, and
reversing, El-Soo and Porportuk appeared and disappeared among the tents.
El-Soo seemed to balance herself against the air with her arms, now one
side, now on the other, and sometimes her body, too, leaned out upon the
air far from the perpendicular as she achieved her sharpest curves. And
Porportuk, always a leap behind, or a leap this side or that, like a lean
hound strained after her.

They crossed the open ground beyond the encampm