"No," he said, with a touch of awkwardness. "I reckon I had better stick
to the track. To know where you properly belong is something, and if I
took the other job, my chiefs would soon find me out."

"You're modest," Ruth remarked. "One likes modest people, but don't you
think you're obstinate?"

"When the trail you hit goes uphill, obstinacy's useful."

"If you won't take help, you may be long reaching the top, but we'll let
it go. The wind hasn't dropped much. How can we get back?"

"We must wait," Lister replied with a twinkle. "The trouble about an
adventure is, when you start you're often forced to stay with it and put
it over. That sometimes costs more than you reckon."

Ruth's eyes sparkled, but she forced a smile. "Logical people make me
tired. But why do you imagine I haven't the pluck to pay?"

"I don't," said Lister. "I've no grounds to imagine anything like that.
My business was to take care of you and I ought to have seen the storm
was coming. Now I'm mad because I didn't watch out."

"Sometimes you're rather nice," Ruth remarked. "You know I made you go
on. All the same, we must start as soon as possible."

Lister got up presently and launched the canoe. The thunder had gone,
but the breeze was strong and angry white waves rolled up the lake. To
drive the canoe to windward was heavy labor, and while she lurched