our wagons and oxen, and the supplies for this journey are all the product of his bounty."
"They are the product of my jewels. Captain. This outfit is mine; it was bought with my own heart's blood! I owe nothing to Donald McAlpin."
"Do you think you have dealt justly by your husband?" asked the Captain. There was reproof and impatience in his tone.
"I owe him nothing, sir. I am in the same line with Dugs,—a runaway chattel. That is all."
"But Dugs, whose name now is Susannah, did not enter into her bargain voluntarily."
Neither did I. My mother made the bargain.'* How did you escape, Mrs. McAlpin? And why did you undertake this journey?"
"Mr. McAlpin was called away to England last year, to inherit an additional estate. Mamma was too ill to go, so I stayed to nurse her. I had been his body vassal for four years, and was at last k woman grown. One taste of liberty was enough. I will never be his vassal again. I decided to make this very unusual journey to elude pursuit. He'd not think of searching for me outside of the United States or Canada; least of all in the Great American Desert, whither we are bound. I mean to lose myself for good and all in Oregon."
"And so now you are seeking a divorce?"
"Yes, sir; that is, when I reach Oregon."
"Thousands of other women have borne far worse conjugal conditions all their lives, and died, making no outward Siign, Mrs. McAlpin. Men also have their full share of these afflictions, which they bear in silence to the bitter end."
"That is their own affair, sir. If other people choose to wear a ball and chain through life, that is their privilege. I would not do their choosing for them if I could."
"What course would you pursue if you had children?"
