saw a boat shoot out of the mist, white and ghostlike as the mist forms that stalked over the water, and in the boat a man.
There he was! The sheep-stealer, come once more to rob her mother and herself. At once her furious passion boiled up in her veins. She saw before her the man who had wronged her; she thought nothing of her own weakness beside his strength, of there being no one within call to come to her aid, should his arm be stouter than hers. She sprang to her feet with a shout, such as an Indian might utter on leaping on his foe, and rushed to the water's edge, just as the man had landed, and had her hands at his throat in a moment.
"You coward, you thief!" she cried, shaking him savagely.
"Glory!"
In an instant a pair of stronger hands had wrenched her hands away and pinioned them.
"By heaven! you wild cat, what are you flying at me like that for? What has brought you here at this time of night?"
Mehalah was abashed. Her rage sank. She had mistaken her man. This was no sheep-stealer. She could not speak, so great was her agitation. She writhed to free herself, but writhed in vain. Elijah laughed at her attempts.
"What are you here for?" he asked again. "Can you not answer my question?"
"Someone has been stealing our ewes," she said.
"And you took me for the thief," said Rebow. "Much obliged for the compliment. Me—the owner of Red Hall, and the man that purchased the Ray, the farm house, and the marshes and the saltings and all that thereon is for eight hundred pounds, to be taken and hanged for sheep-lifting! A likely story, Glory. You must manage better another time."
"What brings you here?" asked Mehalah sullenly, angry with herself and with him.
"That is the question I asked of you, and you return it. I will tell you. I am out duck-shooting, but the mist lies so thick on the water, and eats into the marrow of the bones. I could see no ducks, and I was freezing
