wid his two haythen
Diggers, beyond the laygoon there. It worr the yellar one that
sphotted me lyin' there in the ditch; it worr only your own oiyes,
Miss--more power to their beauty for that!--that saw me folly him
unbeknownst here; and that desaved them, ye see!"

The young girl remained for an instant silent and thoughtful.

"We're no friends of the Fort," she said finally, "but I don't reckon
for that reason my brother will cotton to YOU. Stay out thar where ye
are, till I come to ye. If you hear me singin' again, you'll know he's
come back, and ye'd better scoot with what you've already got, and be
thankful."

She shut the door again and locked it, went into the dining-room,
returned with some provisions wrapped in paper, took a common wicker
flask from the wall, passed into her brother's bedroom, and came out
with a flannel shirt, overalls, and a coarse Indian blanket, and,
reopening the door, placed them before the astonished and delighted
vagabond. His eye glistened; he began, "Glory be to God," but for once
his habitual extravagance failed him. Nature triumphed with a more
eloquent silence over his well-worn art. He hurriedly wiped his
begrimed face and eyes with the shirt she had given him, and catching
the sleeve of her rough pea-jacket in his dirty hand, raised it to his
lips.

"Go!" she said imperiously. "Get away while you can."

"Av it vas me last words--it's speechless oi am," he stammered, and
disappeared over the railing.

She remained for a moment holding the door half open, and gazing into
the darkness that seemed to flow in like a tide. Then she shut it, and
going into her bedroom resumed her interrupted toilette. When she
emerged again she was smartly stockinged and slippered, and even the
blue serge skirt was exchanged for a bright print, with a white fichu
tied around her throat. An attempt to subdue her rebellious curls had
resulted in the construction from their ruins of a low Norman arch
across her forehead with pillared abutments of ringlets. When her
brother returned a few moments later she did not look up, but remained,
perhaps a little ostentatiously, bending over the fire.

"Bob allowed that the Fort boat was huntin' MEN--deserters, I reckon,"
said Jim aggrievedly. "Wanted me to believe that he SAW one on the
Marsh hidin'. On'y an Injin lie, I reckon, to git a little extra
fire-water, for toting me out to the bresh on a fool's errand."

"Oh, THAT'S where you went!"