ou; nor would I
shrink back from torture, did it of necessity come to me, for I possess
a faith in Christ which would sustain me in such an ordeal. But
this--O God!--it is too much! The thought that I may be reserved for a
worse fate than death, may be compelled to live for months, perhaps
years, as the humiliated companion of these murderous savages--I, a
lady of France! It is more than I can bear."

I saw tears shining in her eyes, and my hand, seeking her own, closed
over it with sympathetic pressure.

"God grant there be some escape," I said earnestly; it was all that
came to my lips.

"But I feel there is none. I have not lived upon the border of this
vast wilderness all my life without learning something regarding the
customs of savages. If they spare a woman from stake or knife it is
that they may doom her to a fate more horrible, making of her their
degraded slave. I know this, and have read the truth anew in those
faces glaring upon me to-day. There remains but one faint hope--that
woman who seems to exercise control over them may incline the savages
to mercy."

"I cannot encourage you to place much trust in such tenderness," I
confessed sadly. "'T is not likely, despite her white face, and
certain graces bespeaking knowledge of civilization, she will prove any
less a savage than those she governs. She would not be here, able to
control so wild a brood of wolves, if she were not of their breed in
heart; nor do women chiefs have much choice against the vote of the
tribe. I do not trust her, Madame; I studied her face--a fair one, I
grant--as she stood in the sun upon the rock summit. It was hard set,
and savage with the scent of blood and battle. No mercy led her to
protect us then; like a great cat she prefers playing with her mice
before killing. Has she been here while I slept?"

"No one has visited us excepting the old chief who led the assault; he
did nothing but strike the Puritan, who sought speech with him."

She paused a moment, her head bent low; then she lifted her face to
mine again, and I read within it the quick determination of her soul.

"Geoffrey Benteen, listen. What would you do to save her who was
Eloise Lafreniere from such a fate of horror as now overhangs her?"

"Anything within the power of a man," I answered instantly, a painful
throbbing at the heart. "I would even drive the saving steel into your
heart to keep you unsoiled from the clutch of such foul hands. Ay