"I will marry you."
"I accept the challenge. In forty days I shall return to claim my own."
Ahah looked startled. "How do you propose to do it?"
"Because of what you have promised me this night, I shall confide to you my secret, though the success of the venture itself depends on silence. At dawn I take command of a party of Lamanites that goes into the mountains to destroy the Gadiantons."
"Oh"—Ahah reeled and she felt the world slipping from under her, such terror did the name of the dread robbers inspire.
"If I win, any favor within the gift of Tubaloth, king of the Lamanites, is mine."
"If you should fail?"
"I fail! You will admit I shall have a splendid tomb, the snow clad summit of Mt. Misti."
Ahah with a moan threw up her arms to shut out the torturous vision for the Gadiantons not only murdered but mangled their victims.
He came closer; his eyes blazed with triumph; his voice was tense with suppressed emotion. "Remember in forty days you are mine," and he was gone.