them all, thereby destroying a
precedent in the establishing of which he had risked his life and
robbing himself and his loyal followers at the same time. The situation
was desperate; but he could not find it in his heart to regret the day's
work; for there was the girl with the sea-eyes, lying safe in his own
house this very minute! A thrill, sweet yet bitter, went through his
blood at the thought. No other woman had ever caused him a choking pang
like this. The remembrance of those clear eyes shook him to the very
soul and quenched his burning anger with a wave of strangely mingled
adoration and desire. He was little more than a fine animal, after all.
The man in him lay passive and undeveloped under the tides of passion,
craving, brute-pride and crude ambitions. But the manhood was there, as
his flawless courage and unconsidered kindness to women and children
indicated. But he was self-centred, violent, brutally masterful. Women
and children had always seemed to him (until now) helpless, harmless
things, that had a right to the protection of men even as they had a
right to remain ashore from the danger of wind and sea. The stag caribou
and the dog-wolf have the same attitude toward the females of their
races. It is a characteristic which is natural to animals and boasted of
by civilized men. Dogs and gentlemen do not bite and beat their females;
and if Black Dennis Nolan resembled a stag, a he-wolf, and a dog in many
points, in this particular he also resembled a gentleman. Like some
hammering old feudal baron of the Norman time and the finer type, his
battles were all with men. Those who did not ride behind him he rode
against. He feared the saints and a priest, even as did the barons of
old; but all others must acknowledge his lordship or know themselves for
his enemies. To Black Dennis Nolan the law of the land was a vague thing
not greatly respected. To Walter, Lord of Waltham, William the Red was a
vague personage, not greatly respected. Walter, Lord of Waltham, son of
Walter and grandson of Fitz Oof of Normandy; Skipper of Chance Along,
son of Skipper Pat and grandson of Skipper Tim--the two barons differed
only in period and location. In short, Black Dennis Nolan possessed
many of the qualities of strong animals, of a feudal baron, and one at
least of a modern gentleman.

The skipper was overtaken and joined by his young brother at the edge of
the barrens above Chance Along. They scrambled swiftly down the path