"I said I didn't know, and I don't."

"Were Flea with him?"

"Nope; not in her body, but jest in her spirit."

"Rats! Scoot along with ye, and take yer cat and get out!"

Scraggy had not noticed the blood oozing from Lem's, cheek until she had
received her dismissal. She passed a long, red, bare arm about the
animal and asked:

"Who bit yer cheek, Lem?"

"Who says it were bit?"

"I say it. I see white teeth a goin' in it. And I see red lips ag'in' it
with deadly hate."

Lem glanced forbiddingly at the woman. "The bats be a comin' again," he
muttered, "and there ain't no tellin' what she'll do. If it wasn't for
that blasted cat, I'd chuck her in the lake!"

But he dared not carry out his threat; for Scraggy was muttering to
herself, the cat rebuffing her rough handling.

In another minute she rose and made toward the steps. Her eyes fell upon
Lem, and sanity flashed back into them.

"I gived the boy to the woman--with golden hair," she stammered, as if