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 sluggishly through the woods. Without pause, Almayne rode his horse down the steep bank into the water. As the animal began to swim, Jolie saw the hunter turn and throw a curious glance behind him. She flushed as she realized the meaning of that glance, and her horse was halfway down the bank when Lachlan, who had dropped a little behind, rode forward and grasped her bridle.

"Wait," he said, and she noticed that he was frowning as though angry. "There is a boat on the other bank. Almayne will bring it presently. He should have told you."

"He thought that I would be afraid—that I would not venture," she answered quickly, and jerked the horse's head the other way, so that Lachlan lost his grip on the rein. Next moment her horse was in the water, swimming.

She was wet to the shoulders when they reached the other bank. There a path sloped up from the water's edge and wound into the forest, and without a word Almayne led the way along this path. A quarter of a mile farther on he halted suddenly, swung around in his saddle and turned to her a countenance unwontedly melancholy.

"I am both a fool and a brute, Mistress," he said very humbly. "It is my fault that you are wet and cold. I did not think that you would have courage to swim the river."

She laughed at him, finding a strange joy in her triumph.