he bank above, and watched the others curiously
and warily.

He had cooled down. So many things had happened to him during the past
two days that his capacity for anger and astonishment was pretty well
used up. He now felt more like a spectator than the leading man in the
drama.

Finally, Bela, with a highly indifferent air, came to him with a plate
of food which she put on his knees. Evidently he was expected to feed
himself as best he could with his hands tied. Bela, avoiding his eyes,
whispered swiftly:

"I your friend, Sam. Jus' foolin' them. Wait and see."

Sam laughed scornfully. The other men looked over, and Bela had to go
back.

Sam had no compunction against eating their food. Scorning them all,
he fully intended to get the better of them yet. Meanwhile he was
wondering what had taken place between them. He could not interpret
the relations between Bela and the three men. They were apparently
neither friendly nor inimical.

Afterward a discussion arose as to their disposition between the two
boats. The rowboat was not big enough to carry them all.

"Lay him in the dugout," Bela said indifferently. "I paddle him."

"No you don't," said Joe quickly. "He goes with the men."

"All right," said Bela, shrugging. "You come wit' me."

This arrangement pleased Joe very well, and by it Bela succeeded in
parting him from Sam.

The two boats proceeded together down the smoothly flowing,
willow-bordered stream. Shand and Jack took turns at sculling the
larger craft, and Bela loafed on her paddle that they might keep up
with her.

The view was as confined and unvarying as the banks of a canal, except
that canals commonly are straight, while this watercourse twisted like
Archimedes's screw. The only breaks in the endless panorama of
cut-banks, mud-flats, willows, and grass were the occasional little
inlets, gay with aquatic flowers.

Bela was most at home kneeling in the stern of her dugout. Joe,
sitting opposite, watched her graceful action with a kindling eye.

"Drop behind a bit," he whispered. "I want to talk to you. Are you
listening?"

She seemed not to have heard. Nevertheless the other boat drew away a
little.

"Look here," Joe began with what he intended to be an ingratiating
air, "this is a bad business for you. I'm not saying I blame you. Just
the same your price has gone down, see? Do you get me?"

Bela lowered her eyes and watched the little whirl-pools in the train
of her paddle. "I un'e