expect,
they'll give me a wide berth. Now go and sleep. You were never safer
in your life."

She did not trust herself to reply, but the glance she gave him from
her tearful eyes was so eloquent with grateful feeling that he was
suddenly conscious of some unwonted sensations. He again patrolled the
place and tied the dog near the barn.

"It's barely possible that some of these mean cusses might venture to
kindle a fire, but a bark from Towser will warn 'em off. She IS a
spirited little woman," he added, with a sharp change in soliloquy.
"There's nothing milk-and-water about her. Thunder! I felt like
kissing her when she looked at me so. I guess that crack on my skull
has made me a little light-headed."

He lay down in his clothes so that he might rush out in case of any
alarm, and he intended to keep awake. Then, the first thing he knew,
the sun was shining in the windows.

It was long before Alida slept, and the burden of her thoughts
confirmed the words that she had spoken so involuntarily. "You don't
know how a woman feels when a man stands up for her as you did." It is
the nature of her sex to adore hardy, courageous manhood. Beyond all
power of expression, Alida felt her need of a champion and protector.
She was capable of going away for his sake, but she would go in terror
and despair. The words that had smitten her confirmed all her old
fears of facing the world alone. Then came the overpowering thought of
his loyalty and kindness, of his utter and almost fierce repugnance to
the idea of her leaving him. In contrast with the man who had deceived
and wronged her, Holcroft's course overwhelmed her very soul with a
passion of grateful affection. A new emotion, unlike anything she had
ever known, thrilled her heart and covered her face with blushes. "I
could die for him!" she murmured.

She awoke late in the morning. When at last she entered the kitchen
she stopped in deep chagrin, for Holcroft had almost completed
preparations for breakfast. "Ha, ha!" he laughed, "turn about is fair
play."

"Well," she sighed, "there's no use of making excuses now."

"There's no occasion for any. Did you ever see such a looking case as
I am with this bandage around my head?"

"Does it pain you?" she asked sympathetically.

"Well, it does. It pains like thunder."

"The wound needs dressing again. Let me cleanse and bind it up."

"Yes, after breakfast."

"No, indeed; now. I couldn't eat my breakfast