y Peaks."

For several reasons this did not completely satisfy the foreman, but he
postponed his decision. Lee Haines spoke like one in the habit of giving
orders, and Swann walked slowly back to the cookhouse.

Chapter XXXVIII. The New Alliance

"And so," said Lee Haines, when he joined Buck Daniels in the
living-room, "there goes our reinforcements. That whole crew will
scatter like dead leaves when Barry breezes in. It looks to me--"

"Shut up!" cut in Daniels. "Shut up!"

His dark, homely face turned to the larger man with a singular
expression of awe. He whispered: "D'you hear? She's in the next room
whippin' Joan for runnin' away, and never a yap out of the kid!"

He held up a lean finger for caution and then Haines heard the sound of
the willow switch. It stopped.

"If you run away again," warned Kate, her voice pitched high and
trembling, "munner will whip harder, and put you in a dark place for a
long, long time."

Still there was not a sound of the child's voice, not even the pulse of
stifled weeping. Presently the door opened and Kate stood there.

"Go out in the kitchen and tell Li to give you breakfast. Naughty girls
can't eat with munner."

Through the door came Joan, her little round face perfectly white,
perfectly expressionless. She did not cringe, passing her mother; she
walked steadily across the room, rose on tip-toe to open the kitchen
door, and disappeared through it. Kate dropped into a chair, shaking.

"Out!" whispered Buck to Lee Haines. "Beat it. I got to talk alone."
And as soon as Haines obeyed, Buck sat down close to the girl. She was
twisting and untangling her fingers in a dumb agony.

"What has he done to her, Buck? What has he done?"

It was a maxim with Buck that talk is to woman what swearing is to man;
it is a safety valve, and therefore he waited in silence until the first
rush of her grief had passed.

"She only looked at me when I whipped her. My heart turned in me. She
didn't cry; she wasn't even angry. She just stood there--my baby!--and
looked at me!"

She threw herself back in the chair with her eyes closed, and he saw
where the trouble had marked her face. He wanted to lean over and take
her in his arms.

"I'm going mad, Buck. I can't stand it. How could he have changed her to
this?"

"Listen to me, Kate. Joan ain't been changed. She's only showin' what
she is."

The mother stared wildly at him.

"Don't look like I was a murderer. God knows I'm sor