“It was not that I doubted you, Nellie,” he said, “but that Vose might know the full truth.”
Then turning to the guide, he asked:
“Do you still advise her to leave me?”
Vose Adams was unaccustomed to scenes like this. He moved about uneasily, coughed, cleared his throat, and for a few minutes was at a loss for words.
“I don’t know what to advise,” he finally said; “but don’t you think, if she could go to the captain and let him see how she feels, he will give in? How would it do for both of you to walk back with your arms round each other’s neck and sayin’ sweet words––wouldn’t that fetch him? Hanged, if I know what to tell you!” he exclaimed desperately, observing the smiles on their faces.
“I am afraid your plan wouldn’t work,” said the lieutenant, “but you have proved yourself the very friend we need.”
These words were a hint of the scheme that had come into the brain of the young officer. Had he made a prisoner of Vose Adams, as he thought for a minute of doing, the guide would really be more dangerous, since there was no way of guarding against his treachery, but if he could be turned into a friend, it would be almost equivalent to saving the fugitives. It was that for which the young man planned, but he felt that the real work must be done by Nellie. He could not win the good will of Vose, but she could, for who was able to resist her appeals?
It was a proof of the brightness of the girl that she caught the purpose of her escort the moment his last words were uttered, and she performed her part with a cleverness that could not have been surpassed.
Tears were in the eyes of the emotional Nellie, but she stepped across the brief intervening space and laid her hand on the arm of Adams.