He shook his ash-hued head.

"The pools are frozen. Moreover, as well die of heat as cold; I love not
ice-water."

"What counsel, then, Dick?"

"You'll not take the best, master--to loose my bow upon them. That fine
fellow did well to be afraid, for had you not knocked up my hand there'd
be an arrow sticking in his throat by now. He was right, Death walked
near to him."

"It must not be, Dick, unless they strike first. What else?"

"Perchance, when the smoke begins to trouble them, which it must soon,
they'll move. Then we will run for the river; 'tis but fifty yards. The
Lady Eve can swim like a duck, and so can you. The tide has turned, and
will bear you to the point, and I'll hold the bank against any who try
to follow, and take my chance. What say you of that plan, lady?"

"That it is good as another, or as bad," she answered indifferently.
"Let's bide where we are and do what we must when we must. Nay, waste no
more breath, Hugh. I'll not yield and go home like a naughty child to be
married. It was you who snatched away Grey Dick's shaft, not I; and now
I'll save myself."

"Red Eve!--that's Red Eve!" muttered the henchman, with a dry chuckle of
admiration. "The dead trouble neither man nor woman. Ah, she knows, she
knows!"