think you'll marry Necia, do you?"

"I know it."

"Like hell you will! Suppose you find her first."

"What do you mean? Wait--"

But his visitor was gone, leaving behind him a lover already sorely
vexed, and now harassed by a new and sudden apprehension. What venom
the man distilled! Could it be that he had sent Necia away? Burrell
scouted the idea. She wasn't the kind to go at Stark's mere behest;
and as for his forcing her, why, this was not an age of abductions!
He might aim to take her, but it would require some time to
establish his rights, and even then there were Gale and himself to
be reckoned with. Still, this was no time for idling, and he might
as well make certain, so the young man put on his coat hurriedly,
knowing there was work to do There was no telling what this night
would bring forth, but first he must warn his friend, after which
they would fight this thing together, not as soldier and civilian,
but as man and man, not for the law, but against it. He smiled as he
realized the situation. Well, he was through with the army, anyhow;
his path was strange and new from this time henceforth, and led him
away from all he had known, taking him among other peoples; but he
did not flinch, for it led to her. Behind him was that former life;
to-night he began anew.

Stark traced his way back to his cabin in a ten times fiercer mood
than he had come, reviling, cursing, hating; back past the dark
trading-post he went, pausing to shake his clenched fist and grind