He had allowed himself to become attached to this girl until--yes, he knew now he loved her.

If only he had not awakened her and himself with that first hot kiss; if only--But there was no going back now, no use for regrets, only the greater necessity of mapping out a course that would cause her least unhappiness.

If he could have run away he would have done so gladly, but he was bound here to this camp, with no possibility of avoiding her.
When he drove his reason with firm hands he saw but one course to follow; but, when his mind went slack for a moment, the old desire to have her returned more strongly than ever, and he heard voices arguing, pleading, persuading--she was the equal of any woman in the world, they said, in mind, in purity, and in innocence.

He hated himself for hesitating; he railed at his own indecision; and then, when he had justified his love and persuaded himself that he was right in seeking this union, there would rise again the picture of his people, their chagrin, and what would result from such a marriage.

He knew how they would take it; he knew what his friends would say, and how he would be treated as the husband of a half-breed Indian; for in his country one drop of colored blood made a negro, and his people saw but little difference between the red and the black.