I fell, stunned by a blow dealt me from behind, but was saved from capture by the falling of my horse across my body.

I am here now of my own will, and for no other purpose than to save you." "To save me! Oh, Monsieur! it would make me blush really to think I ranked so high in your esteem.

Was it not rather that other girl you came to seek,--the one you sought so far through the wilderness, only to find hidden in this encampment of savages?
Tell me, Monsieur, was she by any chance of fate the heroine who last night plucked Captain de Croix from the flames of torture ?" "You know, then, of his danger and deliverance ?" I said, not feeling eager to answer her query.

"'T was a most brave and womanly act." "A strange exercise of power, indeed, Monsieur," and she looked directly into my eyes; "and the savages tell me she claimed to have knowledge of him." Surely I had a right to relate the whole story of De Croix's confession; yet somehow I did not deem it the manly thing to do.
Rather, I would let her learn the truth in God's own time, and from other lips than mine.

Perchance she would respect me more in the end for keeping silence now.