. "I could do it," he told
himself, sneering at the obsequiousness of Big Jack _et al._

Meanwhile he attended strictly to his own duties.

Sam, when he chose, had command of a face as wooden as Bela's. More
than once Bela, when she was unobserved, flashed a hurt and angry look
at his indifferent back in the distance. For several hours during the
afternoon Sam disappeared altogether. During his absence the other men
had an uneasy time at Bela's hands.

With all her haughty airs she did not relax any of her care of Husky.
The others envied him his wound. Hour by hour he was visibly growing
better. The fever had left him. He had got over his fear of Bela.

Now, by a twisted course of reasoning, characteristic of him, he
adopted a proprietary air toward her. She was his, he seemed to say,
because forsooth, he had been shot by her. This, it need not be said,
was highly offensive to the other men.

In the middle of the afternoon, Bela desiring a pail of water, Jack
and Shand fell into a wrangle over who should get it. The fact that
each felt he was making a fool of himself did not lessen the
bitterness of the dispute.

Joe attempted to take advantage of it by sneaking out of the door with
another pail. He was intercepted, and the argument took on a
three-cornered aspect. Another endless, futile jawing-match resulted.
Each was restrained from striking a blow by the knowledge that the
other two would instantly combine against him.

Bela finally got the water herself, and ordering the three of them
outside, bolted the door after them. The last sound they heard was
Husky's triumphant laugh from the bed, whereupon they patched up their
differences, and joined in cursing him, and expressing the hope he
might yet die of his wound.

They were not allowed inside again until Sam returned and the supper
was started. Their tempers had not improved any, and the situation
grew steadily worse. Throughout the meal a sullen silence prevailed.

Bela maintained the air of a haughty mistress of an unruly school.
They all deferred to her uneasily, except Sam, who kept himself
strictly to himself. His face was as blank of expression as a
wax-work.

As soon as Bela finished eating she rose.

"I go now," she said coolly. "Come back to-morrow."

Three of the faces fell absurdly. Sam did not look up. A tiny flash in
Bela's dark eyes showed that she observed the difference. She moved
toward the door. Involuntarily Young Joe started to r