certainly were not boys in appearance."

"I'm afraid I swore too," he said sadly.

"You had some excuse, but I'm sorry. They would have hurt you if you hadn't
kept them off."

"Yes, they'd probably have given me a beating. People do things in hot blood
they wish they hadn't afterward. I know this Oakville rough-scuff. Since
we've had it out, and they know what to expect, they'll give me a wide berth.
Now go and sleep. You were never safer in your life."

She did not trust herself to reply, but the glance she gave him from her
tearful eyes was so eloquent with grateful feeling that he was suddenly
conscious of some unwonted sensations. He again patrolled the place and tied
the dog near the barn.

"It's barely possible that some of these mean cusses might venture to kindle a
fire, but a bark from Towser will warn 'em off. She IS a spirited little
woman," he added, with a sharp change in soliloquy. "There's nothing
milk-and-water about her. Thunder! I felt like kissing her when she looked
at me so. I guess that crack on my skull has made me a little light-headed."

He lay down in his clothes so that he might rush out in case of any alarm, and
he intended to keep awake. Then, the first thing he knew, the sun was shining
in the windows.

It was long before Alida slept, and the burden of her thoughts confirmed the
words that she had spoken so involuntarily. "You don't know how a woman feels
when a man stands up for her as you did." It is the nature of her sex to