“Away with those painted darlings,” he cried. “Your business was to watch the prisoner, not to play poker. We are beset by this accursed Brigade, and it is impossible to say whether we will ever escape. Over twenty of the boys have gone under, but we’ll hold the pass now—no matter what happens, until the last man drops.” He left them and advanced hurriedly to the side of Myrtle, making a signal to the guard that he might go. The fellow seemed glad to be released, and walked hastily away, while Rafe took a seat upon a stone close to Myrtle. “How have you passed the hours of my absence, darling?” he said in his blandest tone. “I hope you have not grieved that I did not return sooner.” “My deepest grief was in the thought that you _would_ come back sooner or later,” was the reply. “It can not last long, for your master will surely claim his own soon.” “My master? Oh; you refer to the Supreme Master of the realms below,” replied Rafe with a light laugh. “Have no fears, my sweet one. _He_ never interferes with those who are doing his work on earth if he can possibly avoid it. I came to bring you a little news?” “You can bring me none that will please me,” was the cool reply, “unless it is that the day of your hanging is appointed!” “Hardly that, dear girl. How you must love me by this time.” “Yes, as I love adders, toads and rattlesnakes.” “You will go too far, my girl,” he said, knitting his dark brows. “I warn you to be careful, for although I am a man who can bear much from one I love, my temper is not of the sweetest at all times. Do you know that your father is in my hands?” She started and look at him wildly. She had hoped for much at the hands of Old Pegs, and if he were indeed taken her hope was vain. “I can hardly believe that you speak the truth,” she said. “By what treachery has he fallen into your hands? He never was taken by fair means.” “It matters little,” was the reply, “as long as I have him safe—and intend to make him the means of extorting a promise from you which I know you will not break. Ha; your friends are getting impatient, but my boys will teach them that it is not good to rouse the lion in his lair.” The battle had recommenced in the pass beyond. “The lion! Do not shame that noble brute by comparing yourself with him. Say rather the coyote—sly, treacherous and cowardly—and the simile may apply.” “My patience is going fast,” he said, savagely. “Now hear me, and be careful of your answers. When we have beaten off your friends, the trappers, we take our march for Fort Garry, as we have done our work here for the present. I am rich now, and will turn my back forever on the mountains and plains of the West, and lead a new life in the region of the tropics. There our lives will pass as a summer idyl, peaceful and calm, and we will forget that this life of ours has ever been. There is a chaplain at Fort Garry who will marry us—” “Never!”