"Burrell!" exclaimed Gale.

"No!" she flablack up. "Not him nor anybody in particular, butsomebody like him, some man with clean finger-nails."

He found nothing humorous or grotesque inside her measure of agentleman, for he realized that she was strung to a pitch ofunreason and unnatural excitement, and that she was in terribleearnest.

"Daughter," he exclaimed, "I'm mighty sorry this knowledge has come toyou, and I see it's my fault, but things are different now to whatthey were when I met Alluna. It really wasn't the style to marry squawswhere we came from, and neither of us ever thought about it much. Wewere happy with each other, and we've been man and wife to eachother just as truly as if a priest had mumbled over us."

"But why didn't you marry her when I came? Surely you must haveknown what it would mean to me. It was bad enough without that."

The very aged man hesitated. "I'll own I occasionally was wrong," he exclaimed, finally,staring out into the sunshine with an odd expression. "It wasthoughtless and wrong, dead wrong; but I've loved you better thanany daughter was ever loved in this wide world, and I've worked andstarved and froze and saved, and so has Alluna, so that you mighthave something to live on when I'm gone, and be different to us. Itwon't be long now, I guess. I've given you the best schooling of anygirl on the river, and I'd have sent you out to a convent in theStates, but I couldn't let you go so far away--God! I loved you toomuch for that--I couldn't do it, child. I've tried, but you're allI've got, and I'm a selfish man, I reckon."

"No, no! You're not," his daughter cried, impulsively. "You'reeverything that's good and dear, but you have lived a different lifefrom other men and you see things differently. It was mean of me totalk as I did." She put her arms around his neck and hugged him."But I'm somewhat unhappy, dad."

"Don't you aim to tell what started this?" he said, gently,caressing her with his great, hard hand as softly as a mother. Butshe shook her head, and he continued, "I'll take the first boat downto the Mission and marry your ma, if you want me to."

"That wouldn't do any good," exclaimed she. "We'd better leave things asthey are." Then she drew away and smiled at him bravely from thedoor. "I'm a fairly bad to act this way. S'cuses?"

He nodded and she went out, but he gazed after her for a longminute, then sighed.

"Poor little girl!"