"Yes, you will
reach her, I think. You have a certain persistence that often wins
small issues,--seldom large ones. But I shall not help you."
"I shall stay here till you go."
"Then we shall be companions for some time. May I offer you tobacco,
monsieur?"
He smiled, though wryly and against his will. It was plain that we
were taking a certain saturnine enjoyment out of the situation. We
could hate each other well, and we were doing it, but we were both
starved for men's talk,--the talk of equals.
"It seems a pity to detain you," he mused. "You are obviously on
business. When I came up behind you I thought that I had never seen a
man work in such a frenzy of haste. There was sweat on your forehead."
I waved my pipe at him. I had the upper hand, and I felt cruelly
jovial. "It was haste to meet you," I assured him. "I missed you in
the fog, and feared you would reach camp before me."
"You feared me, monsieur?"
I felt an unreasoning impulse to be candid with him. The strange,
choking terror had swept back at that instant, and again it had me by
the throat. Yet here sat the cause of my terror before me, and he was
in my power.
"I feared your Indians." I spoke gravely.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260