ould grant his desire, the safety of three people would accrue from it.
And surely she had not loved the Frenchman, who until a brief while ago
had a wife. As he understood, they had been as parents to her. She was
young, but if a man could inspire her with love--with gratitude even----

He questioned De Loie very closely. The trouble with Destournier would
be his inability to travel rapidly. They would soon be overtaken. Escape
that way was not feasible.

"I will consider. Come and share our breakfast."

Rose was walking by herself, on the outskirts of the clearing, her slim
hands clasped together, her head drooping, and even so her figure would
have attracted a sculptor. The Indian was enchanted with it. To clasp it
in his arms--ah, the thought set his hot blood in a flame.

She turned and raised her eyes beseechingly, her beautiful, fathomless
eyes in whose depths a man easily lost himself, the curved sweetness of
the mouth that one might drain and drain, and never quite have his fill.

"What is it, M'sieu? Is there any hope? Can nothing be done?" Her voice
went to his heart.

"What would you be willing to do, Mam'selle?"

"If I were a man I would attempt his rescue, or die with him. It would
not be so hard to die holding a friend's hand."

"You love him very much?"

The love Savignon meant had so little place in her thoughts that the
question did not cause her to change color.

"He was so good to me when I was little, and ill for a long while. He
used to hold me on his knee, and let my head rest on his strong breast.
And when I was well again we climbed rocks, and he showed me where the
choicest wild fruit grew. And we went out in the canoe. He taught me to
read, he had books of strange, beautiful stories. And after he married
miladi he took me in his home as if I was a child. Ah, I could not help
loving one so kind, unless I had been made of stone. And I wanted to
comfort him in his sorrow."

Her voice, in its pathos, the eyes luminous with tears that did not
fall, swept through the man like a devouring flame. He must have her. He
would risk all, he would test her very soul.

"You have not said what you would give."

"My life, M'sieu, if I could exchange it for his."

"It does not need that. Listen, Mam'selle: When I first looked upon you,
I was swept away with a strange emotion. I had seen lovely girls, there
are some in our own race, with eyes of velvet, and lips that tempt
kisses. And I knew when