t trait in you--and afterwards minded your own business
quite after my heart. I need outdoor life. I'm up here early for the
first fishing. I want to tour the woods. I may invest in timberlands.
Putting out of your mind all this foolish sex matter--as I have
explained my man-to-man theory--will you go with me? I'll have a cook,
of course. Pardon my sudden reference to pay--I'll pay you twice what
you're getting now--providing you're working for wages."

"I am working for wages. And I can't leave the work."

"What is it?"

"I'm the master of the Flagg drive on these waters."

"And you prefer to boss rough men and endure hardship rather than to
come with me?"

The bitterness of the last interview with Flagg was still with Latisan.
"If it was a matter of preference--but that isn't the way of it!" He
returned her gaze and flushed. In spite of his resolve to go on with the
battle that was ahead, he was tempted, and acknowledged to himself the
fact; but Flagg was trying him cruelly.

"You have been the drive master here for a long time--that's why you
cannot be spared?" She tossed away her cigarette and gave him earnest
attention.

"I'm just beginning my work with Flagg."

"Then of course you're not vital. Let the man who used to be master----"

"That was Flagg, himself. He's laid up with paralysis."

"Oh!" she drawled, provokingly. "A matter of conscientiousness--loyal
devotion--champion of the weak--or a young man's opportunity to be lord
of all for the future!"

"He's an old devil to work for, and the job promises no future," blurted
Latisan, his manner leaving no doubt as to his feelings.

"Then come with me," she invited. "If I get to own timberlands, who
knows?"

He shook his head. "There are reasons why I can't quit--not this
season."

"I hoped I'd seem to you like a good and sufficient reason," she
returned, insinuatingly; in her anxiety to make a quick job of it, in
her cynical estimate of men as she had been finding them out in the
city, she was venturing to employ her usual methods as a temptress,
naturally falling into the habit of past procedure.

She found it difficult to interpret the sudden look he gave her, but her
perspicacity warned her that she was on the wrong tack with this man of
the north country.

"I'm afraid you're finding me a peculiar person, Mr. Latisan," she
hastened to say. "I am. I'm quick to judge and quick to decide. Your
gallantry at the railroad station influenced me in