"I hate untidy travellers!"--she would say--"Horrors of men and
women in oil-skins, smelling of petrol! No goblin ever seen in a
nightmare could be uglier than the ordinary motorist!"

She had no luggage with her, save an adaptable suitcase which, she
declared "held everything." This she quickly packed and locked,
ready for her journey. Then she stepped to the window and waved her
hand towards the near hill and the "hut of the dying."

"Fool of a bear man!" she said, apostrophising the individual she
chose to call by that name--"Here you come along to a wild place in
California running away from ME,--and here you find a sort of
untutored female savage eager and willing to be your 'woman!' Well,
why not? She's just the kind of thing you want--to fetch wood, draw
water, cook food, and--bear children! And when the children come
they'll run about the hill like savages themselves, and yell and
dance and be greedy and dirty--and you'll presently wonder whether
you are a civilised man or a species of unthinking baboon! You will
be living the baboon life,--and your brain will grow thicker and
harder as you grow older,--and your great scientific discovery will
be buried in the thickness and hardness and never see the light of
day! All this, IF she is 'your woman!' It's a great 'if' of course!-
-but she's big and handsome, with a beautiful body and splendid
strength, and I never heard of a man who could resist beauty and
strength together. As for ME and my 'vulgar wealth' as you call it,
I'm a little wisp of straw not worth your thought!--or so you
assume--no, good Bear!--not till we come to a tussle--if we ever
do!"