"Then, sweetheart——"
"No, Jack," she now sat straighter. "I was dreaming. Besides, he'd follow with every officer in Florida. Don't you understand, dear, that he has the right? I'm helpless to refuse! I can't—possibly! It's simply awful, but it's got to be."
Yet I believed that she had been on the point of yielding, and was about to urge still further when Monsieur's voice, speaking to Echochee, brought me to my feet.
"Well, my boy Jack," he exclaimed, entering with a cheeriness I found detestable, "we shall leave her now, eh? She has packing to do, and must get early to rest."
His protectorate seemed to brook no opposition, and an angry retort sprang to my lips which remained unspoken when I saw the pallor of Doloria's face.
"Yes," she said, without animation, "I must pack. See you to-morrow—on the march."
So, ignoring him, I passed out. But a better humor came to me as I thought of Tommy's scheme about the Orchid, and coming upon Echochee at the landing I asked—lightly for her benefit, yet quite seriously for myself:
"Is there any magic in your tribe that can bring a troubled princess sleep and pleasant dreams?"
I knew that she was searching my face with her black little eyes that glistened like a snake's, as she answered slowly:
"Injun maiden find plenty good dream when her head lay on breast of sleeping brave."