of crime and of flight and enforced vigil. She had a painful thing to
tell this man--that she could not, as she had hoped, release him from
his desperate prison that night; but she did not tell him until she had
fed him first and given him drink too. She insisted upon his taking the
food first. It was highly seasoned, beef with mustard upon it, and
pickles. All the while he watched her hand with thirsty eye. When he had
gulped his food to please her, she produced a small bottle. He cursed
her when he saw its size, but all the same he held out his hand for it
eagerly and drank its contents, shutting his eyes with satisfaction and
licking his lips.

All this time she was steadying the boat by holding on to a tree with a
strong arm.

"Now it's hard on you, father, but you'll have to stay here another
night. Down at The Mills they're watching for you, and it would be sure
death for you to try and get through the swamp, even if I could take you
in the boat to the edge anywhere."

The man, who had been entirely absorbed with eating and drinking and
stretching himself, now gave a low howl of anguish; then he struggled to
his knees and shook his fist in her face. "By ---- I'll throw you out of
this 'ere boat, I will; what do yer come tellin' me such a thing as that
for? Don't yer know I'd liefer die--don't yer know that?" He brought
his fist nearer and nearer to her eyes. "Don't yer know that?"

It appeared that he would have struck her, but by a dexterous twist of
her body and a pull upon the tree she jerked the boat so that he lost
his balance, not entirely, but enough to make him right himself with
care and sit down again, realising for the time being that it was she