"Nor do I want to lose mine," he broke in, smiling. "Oh, you are not so easily rid of me, Kitty! I will find your true name for you, and that's a promise; until then, I will keep your eagle and do you keep mine in pledge of my return. Not that you need the pledge, since it would be a far harder matter to keep away from your eyes----" "Fie, sir!" And she interrupted merrily enough. "And how many pledges have you left behind in Louisiana?" "Two," returned Norton, so that for a moment her face became as serious as his own. "One to my friend, Davy Crockett, in shape of my finest rifle; and one to the traders who sent me hither, in shape of a promise that I would wipe out Blacknose. Tell me, Kitty, do you wish to marry Charles Duval?" "Do you think I wish it?" And she inspected him with half-frightened eyes. "Well"--Norton shifted his rifle uneasily,--"he is a person of note, is a gentleman of family--and is able to buy you with money." "So much might be said for the Indian Tecumthe," she returned, flushing at the brutality of his last words. "No, I shall not marry him." "Bravely said," nodded Norton, and felt tremendously relieved. Of course, he told himself, his only interest lay in saving this helpless girl from two scoundrels. "Well, even if Abel Grigg swears you're under age----" "There's the skiff coming!" she cried quickly. "Just crossing over." Norton glanced up. Perhaps a mile down the river and with her eight sweeps bringing her slowly across in a long slant for the Kentucky side, was a large boat. There was no hurry, he calculated, for she would require a good fifteen or twenty minutes to head over across the swift current of the Ohio---- "_----then you take this horse and rejoin the boys. I'll get back in that boat._" The cold, commanding words rang out clearly from somewhere behind and above. Norton stiffened; with one quick motion he unstopped his powderhorn and poured some black grains into the pan of his rifle, as it lay across his knees. "The durned spy must ha' lit out," came the growl of Abel Grigg's voice. "Tobin ain't showed up, neither." The Louisianian glanced swiftly at Kathleen. She was staring at him wide-eyed, her face ghastly in its sudden pallor. He knew that she must have realized instantly what had occurred--Duval, on his way home from Henderson, had met Grigg and intended to turn over his horse to the backwoodsman and catch this skiff back to Louisville. Cursing the mischance of fate which had led to such a happening, and thinking only of keeping the girl unseen, Norton leaned forward and whispered, with a gesture toward the trees: "I'll back them into the woods. Get under those trees, and when the boat comes get aboard." "No," she returned, with a shake of the head. "Why should I be afraid?"