nd I have ever had respect for such.

CHAPTER XVI

WE CHANGE OUR COURSE

My attempt to recross the river proved difficult. I had lost no small
amount of blood from my wound, which, besides weakening me, had so
stiffened my right shoulder as to render any strain upon the oars a
constant pain. Yet the excitement nerved me to the effort, and,
crushing down weakness by sheer force of will, I drove the heavy boat
straight through the low, overhanging bushes on to the soft mud of the
bank. Before I could arise to my feet Madame was standing beside the
dripping prow, her great eyes staring at the blood stains discoloring
my doublet.

"You are hurt!" she exclaimed, her lips white with apprehension. "I
beg you tell me, is it a serious wound?"

"Nay, the merest scratch, Madame," I answered hastily, for it added to
my pain to mark such anxiety in her face. "Not worthy your thought,
but I will ask you to call the others at once, and have them load
everything into the boat without delay. I will await you here, as I
find myself weak from loss of blood."

She stood gazing intently at me, as if she read my most secret
thoughts; and no doubt my face was sufficiently white to alarm her, yet
I smiled back into her eyes, and she turned away, running lightly up
the bank. Nor was she long away, or noisy in her mission, scarcely a
minute having elapsed before the three came trooping down to the
water-side, their hands laden with camp utensils, De Noyan wide awake
enough, and filled with intense interest in my adventures, but the
Puritan yet cock-eyed from sleep, stumbling as he walked like a man in
a dream.

"Take the oars, both of you," I said quietly, totally ignoring the
question in the eyes of the Chevalier. "I have tasted a sword point,
and am weakened from loss of blood. Pull up the stream, and be swift
and quiet about it."

"Hast thou been smitten of the Philistine, friend Benteen?" loudly
questioned Cairnes, stumbling noisily across the seats.

"Time enough to tell my story when we are beyond danger," I returned
tartly, annoyed by his awkwardness. "If you utter another word before
we are around yonder headland, I will have De Noyan hoist you
overboard."

I saw him glance askance at the unconscious Chevalier as if mentally
calculating his ability to perform the feat. Then his glinting gray
eyes swept the sodden shore as though vaguely wondering what it was we
fled from in such unseemly haste. Nor did I l