is
mark, while he reached into the canoe and brought forth an axe, a
bundle of food, and a coffee-pot; then, still chuckling, he gathered a
few sticks of driftwood and built a fire. She had a blind instinct to
flee, and sought for a means of escape, but they were well out upon the
bar that stretched a distance of three hundred feet to the wooded bank;
on one side of the narrow spit was the scarcely moving, half-stagnant
water of a tiny bay or eddy, on the other, the swift, gliding current
tugging at the beached canoe, while the outer end of the gravelled
ridge dwindled down to nothing and disappeared into the river. At sight
of the canoe a thought struck her, but her face must have shown some
sign of it, for the man chanced to look at the moment, and, seeing her
expression, straightened himself, then gazed about searchingly. Without
a word he stepped to the boat, and, seizing it, dragged it entirely out
upon the bar, where her strength would not be equal to shoving it off
quickly, and, not content with this, he made the painter fast, then
went back to his fire. The eagerness died out of her face, but an
instant later, when he turned to the clearer water of the eddy to fill
the coffee-pot, she seized her chance and sped up the bar towards the
bank. The shingle under foot and her noisy skirts betrayed her, and
with an oath he followed. It was an unequal race, and he handled her
with rough, strong hands when he overtook her.

"So! You lied to me! Well, I'm through with this foolishness. If you'll
go back on your word like this you'll 'bawl me out' before the priest,
so I'll forget my promise, too, and you'll be glad of the chance to
marry me."

"Let me go!" she panted. "I'll marry you. Yes, yes, I'll do it, only
don't touch me now!"

He led her back to the fire, which had begun to crackle. She was so
weak now that she sank upon the stones shivering.

"That's right! Sit down and behave while I make you something hot to
drink. You're all in." After a time he continued, as he busied himself
about his task: "Say, you ought to be glad to get me; I've got a lot of
money, or I will have, and once you're Mrs. Runnion, nobody'll ever
know about this or think of you as a squaw." He talked to her while he
waited for the water to boil, his assurance robbing her of hope, for
she saw he was stubborn and reckless, determined to override her will
as well as to conquer her body, while under his creed, the creed of his
kind, a woman wa