B. men.
"I thank you, my friend," she said uncertainly; "but I cannot--not
now. Not until I know, M'sieu. Without many hands at the paddles how
can we overtake the Nakonkirhirinons?"
Thus she sat, alone among men, staring into the fire, and it seemed as
if the heart in her breast would burst with its anxiety. A woman was at
all times a thing of overwhelming interest in the wilderness, and such
a woman as this drew every eye in the brigade to feast upon her beauty,
each according to the nature of the man, either furtively, with
tentative admiration, or openly, with boldness of daring.
And presently, after the meal was over, she saw Mr. Mowbray gather his
men in a group. For a few moments he spoke to them, and a ripple of
words, of ejaculations and exclamations, went across the assemblage
like a wave.
"Nom de Dieu! Not alone?"
"To the Pay d'en Haut,--those two?"
"A woman? Mother of God!"
Wondering eyes turned to the figure in the glow of the fire, to the
brown hands hard clasped, the face with its flame-lit eyes.
"Five men and a good canoe I send with them," said Mowbray quietly;
"who goes? Know you it is a quest of death."
"Who goes, M'sieu?" cried a French trader.
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