The details of the scheme were submitted by the men, and were as follows: Kate was to ask him to ride horseback with her to "Big Fork," five miles through the forest, on some near afternoon, and the men were to bedeck themselves as Indians, attack them, take her from his custody and hurry her off into apparent captivity, whilst he trembled with fear and inaction. "But suppose he should happen to be disappointing and shoot somebody," objected Lucy Gaines. "Oh, he must have no chance to do that," said Varney. "Miss Fortune can induce him to discharge his pistols in some feat of marksmanship and we will swoop down before he can reload them." "For shame!" cried Kate. "How could that be a fair test of bravery? An unarmed man against five brawny Indians! I'll have none of it. His pistols must remain undisturbed." "But--good heavens!--he may kill us all," cried Trask. "Well, how else is he to prove his courage? You must take your chances, gentlemen, with your coward. If he is a coward you need not fear his pistols, though he had a dozen; if he is not, then you may have to run from them." "Allow us to capture you and offer him the privilege of fighting for your liberty, choosing his own weapons. If he agrees to fight for you, instead of taking his proffered freedom, we will leave the field to him and you may call him hero. That is fair, is it not?" proposed Farring. "You will not hurt him?" asked Kate doubtingly. "Hurt him? We shall not even catch him. He will leave you and fly for his life!" cried Trask. "I tell you now, gentlemen, if he stands the test and disproves your taunts against his valour, my respect for him will be far more than you can ever hope to inspire. Yet, after all, it will be a diversion--it will be fun to see how he will act," mused the fair plotter. It required all of Kate's courage and a dismal sacrifice of pride to suggest the ride to Captain Studdiford, but she did it the next morning, stopping him near the fort after having walked not thirty feet behind for more than two hundred yards. She was a trifle insecure as to her own valour in this preliminary step. The rosiness of her cheeks might have been by others attributed to the chill of the December morn, but she knew they were the flames from an inward fire. Captain Studdiford's heart thumped unusually fast as he looked down into the piquant face and big blue eyes, which for the first time since he had known her, wore a gleam bordering on embarrassment. They were very soft and timid this morning--there was something appealing in their tempting depths. "May I not walk with you? I am going your way," were her first words as she reached his side. "Whither, pray?" "Oh, to--" and here she blushed, for in truth she had no destination--"to Anna Corwin's," she concluded in relief. "But Mistress Corwin lives back yonder. How came you to be going this way?" "Did I say Anna Corwin?" "If I am not deaf."