What her business might now be in following our little detail northward I could not surmise. Here was no barracks wench! But wench or gypsy or what not, it was impossible that I should leave her here alone. Even the thought of it set one cold.

“Come into camp this night,” I said.

“I will not.”

“You must do so. I may not leave you here alone.”

“I can care for myself.”

“Yes — as you cared for yourself when I crept up behind you. And if I had been a savage — then what?”

“A quick end,” she said coolly.

“Or a wretched captivity — perhaps marriage to some villainous Iroquois —