self. An' then
she's overcome; an', try as she may to conceal what she feels, she's
not able at all t' do it. The signs, Tommy? Why, they're all as plain
in speech as words themselves could be! Have you seed any signs, boy?
No. She'll not wed you. 'Tis not in her heart t' do it, whatever her
mind may say. She'll wed me. I knows it. An' so I'll tell you that
you'll waste your labor if you puts out on Scalawag Run with the
notion o' winnin' the love o' this maid with bold behavior in her
service. If that's in your mind, put it away. Turn with me t'
Point-o'-Bay Cove an' lie safe the night. I'm sorry, Tommy. You'll
grieve, I knows, t' lose the maid. I could live without her. True.
There's other maids as fair as she t' be found in the world. Yet I
loves this maid more than any maid that ever I knowed; an' I'd be no
man at all if I yielded her to you because I pitied your grief."

"I'm not askin' you t' yield her."

"Nor am I wrestin' her away. She've jus' chose for herself. Is she
ever said she cared for you, Tommy?"

"No."

"Is there been any sign of it?"

"She've not misled me. She've said not a word that I could blame her
for. She--she've been timid in my company. I've frightened her."

"She's merry with me."

"Ay."

"Her tongue jus' sounds like brisk music, an' her laughter's as free
as a spring o' water."

"She've showed me no favor."

"Does she blush in your presence?"

"She trembles an' goes pale."

"Do her eyes twinkle with pleasure?"

"She casts them down."

"Does she take your arm an' snuggle close?"

"She shrinks from me."

"Does she tease you with pretty tricks?"

"She does not," poor Tommy replied. "She says, 'Yes, sir!' an' 'No,
sir!' t' me."

"Ha!" Sandy exclaimed. "'Tis I that she'll wed!"

"I'm sure of it. I'm content t' have her follow her will in all
things. I loves the maid. I'll not pester her with complaint. Is you
comin' along?"

"Tis sheer madness!"

"Is you comin' along?"

Sandy Rowl swept his hand over the prospect of fog and spindrift and
wind-swept ice.

"Man," he cried, "look at that!"

"The maid's sick," Tommy Lark replied doggedly. "I loves her. Is you
comin' along?"

"You dunderhead!" Sandy Rowl stormed. "I got t' go! Can't you
understand that? You leaves me no choice!"

* * * * *

When Tommy Lark and Sandy Rowl had leaped and crept through half the
tossing distance to Scalawag Harbor, the fog had closed in,
accompanied b