ly embarrassed, but his expression suddenly
changed, and Laura felt a faint thrill when he laid his hand upon her
arm.

"That," he said, "is a fancy you must never entertain again."

In one respect Laura was fully satisfied, and, though there was still
a great deal upon which she meant to be enlightened, she talked about
other matters for almost half an hour, and then rose with a little
shiver.

"I must get back to the settlement, where I have left the team," she
said, and glanced down at him for a moment with solicitude in her
eyes. "You will be very careful."

Nasmyth let her go, but he did not know that she signed to Mattawa,
who was then busy hewing out a big redwood log. The axeman strolled
after her into the Bush, and then stopped to look hard at her as he
uttered an inquiring, "Well?"

"Tom," said the girl, "can't you understand that it would be very much
wiser if somebody told me exactly how Mr. Nasmyth got hurt?"

The axeman nodded. "Yes," he admitted, with a wink, "that's just how
it strikes me, and I'm going to. The boss has no more arms and legs
than he's a use for anyway."

Laura gazed at him in bewilderment, but the man's expression was
perfectly grave. "Now," he added, "I guess one can talk straight sense
to you, and the fact is I can't have you coming round here again. Just
listen about two minutes, and I'll try to make the thing clear to
you."

He did so with a certain graphic force that she had not expected from
him, and the colour crept into her cheeks. Then, to Mattawa's
astonishment, she smiled.

"Thank you," she said simply. "But the other man?"

"Well," replied Mattawa, "if he goes round talking, somebody will
'most pound the life out of him."

Then he swung round abruptly, for he was shrewd, and had his primitive
notions of delicacy; and Laura went on through the stillness of the
Bush, with a curious softness in her eyes. Mattawa had been terse,
and, in some respects, his observations had not been tactful, but
nobody could have impressed her more in Nasmyth's favour. Indeed, at
the moment, she scarcely remembered how the aspersions Jake had made
might affect herself. As it happened, she met Gordon near the
settlement, and he stopped a moment. He had come upon her suddenly,
and had looked at her with a suggestive steadiness, but she smiled.

"Yes," she said, "I have been to the dam. After the way in which you
made it evident that you didn't want me to go there, it was, perhaps,
no