Grigg stood as though paralysed. Duval stared at the girl for a moment, then turned and whispered a few low words to his companion. Norton would have given much to know what they were, but their effect was evident. With a complete change of manner, Grigg forced the anger from his face and spoke in a low wheedling voice which yet had a ring of sincerity in it. "Looky here, Kitty! You ain't meanin' that----" "I mean what I say," she flashed back at him. "I know you're not my father, and so does Captain Norton. That's enough." Grigg flung Norton one malignant glance. "Well, gal," he said slowly, "that's true. I ain't your dad." "Who am I, then?" demanded Kathleen swiftly. "I dunno." The backwoodsman shook his head, and Norton could not but believe he spoke the truth. "I found ye nigh on twenty year back, Kitty, in an Injun camp. Wyandots, they was, an' I bought ye fer a new horn o' powder an' a gun. That thar's God's truth, gal. They wouldn't say nothin' 'bout ye. Now I've told, gal, you won't go back on the ol' man? Come 'long into the woods a spell----" "I think not," broke in Norton drily. "Grigg, we know all about how you want to sell Kitty to this skunk of a Duval. She'll have nothing more to do with you. That's flat." "You've been an' set her up to this, hey?" snarled Grigg suddenly, turning on the Louisianian. "All right! I'll make ye pay afore I'm done with ye!" Duval gave the angry man a look, and again Grigg flung off his rage swiftly. "Kitty, won't ye go with me?" he said slowly, picking up his rifle. "No." Duval stood aside, watching, a shadowy sneer on his powerful features. A glance at the river showed Norton the skiff some three hundred yards away and slowly approaching the landing. Grigg, leaning on his rifle and clawing his grizzled beard, looked at the girl with a sudden sadness in his deep eyes. "Kitty," he said very slowly, the harsh timbre of his voice accentuating his words and lending them sincerity, "I've brung ye up as best I could. When the ol' woman died ten year back, it was you helped to bury her. 'Member that? Ye allus called me Dad, didn't ye? I've done right by ye, gal, accordin' to my lights. Ain't I give ye the best I could? Ain't I paid ol' Elisha Ayres to give ye learnin'? You ain't lacked fer nothin', Kitty, even if I am poor." Norton, listening, forbore to interfere. It occurred to him that Grigg was making a desperate fight for a valuable piece of property, yet there was truth in what the man said. And Kathleen knew it. Struggle sat in her face.