"If that pore
young thing yonder keeps a widow it won't be because of any
encouragement she gets from Mr. Carrington. If I ever seen
marriage in a man's eye I seen it in his this minute!"
"Bruce!" cried Betty, starting up as Carrington approached. "Oh,
Bruce, I am so glad you have come--you are not hurt?" She
accepted his presence without question. She had needed him and
he had not failed her.
"We are none of us hurt, Betty," he said gently, as he took her
hand.
He saw that the suffering she had undergone during the preceding
twenty-four hours had left its record on her tired face and in
her heavy eyes. She retained a shuddering consciousness of the
unchecked savagery of those last moments on the keel boat; she
was still hearing the oaths of the men as they struggled
together, the sound of blows, and the dreadful silences that had
followed them. She turned from him, and there came the relief of
tears.
"There, Betty, the danger is over now and you were so brave while
it lasted. I can't bear to have you cry!"
"I was wild with fear--all that time on the boat, Bruce--" she
faltered between her sobs. "I didn't know but they would find
you out. I could only wait and hope--and pray!"
"I was in no danger, dear. Didn't the girl tell you I was to
take the place of a man Slosson was expecting? He never doubted
that I was that man until a light--a signal it must have been--on
the shore at the head of the bayou betrayed me.
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