Macavoy looked up. "Whin you plaze; but a word in your ear; are you sure
she'll not follow us?"

"She doesn't know. Fort Ste. Anne is in the south, and Fort Comfort,
where we go, is far north."

"But if she kem!" the big man persisted.

"You will be a king; you can do as other kings have done," Pierre
chuckled.

The other shook his head. "Says Father Nolan to me," says he, "tis till
death us do part, an' no man put asunder'; an' I'll stand by that, though
I'd slice out the bist tin years av me life, if I niver saw her face
again."

"But the girl, Wonta--what a queen she'd make!"

"Marry her yourself, and be king yourself, and be damned to you! For she,
like the rest, laughed in me face, whin I told thim of the day whin I--"

"That's nothing. She hung a dead coyote at my door. You don't know women.
There'll be your breed and hers abroad in the land one day."

Macavoy stretched to his feet--he was so tall that he could not stand
upright in the room. He towered over Pierre, who blandly eyed him. "I've
another word for your ear," he said darkly. "Keep clear av the likes o'
that wid me. For I've swallowed a tribe av divils. It's fightin' you
want. Well, I'll do it--I've an itch for the throats av men, but a fool