"I may not be able to call on you for some time, but you can be very good to me by coming to see me. I'll be stopping at St. Luke's Hospital for quite a while."
"At St. Luke's Hospital? I don't understand," she cried perplexed.
"You see, my dear Mrs. Delancy, I have come to a definite conclusion in regard to our present position. You must not stay here all night. I'd be a coward and a cur to subject you to such a thing. Well, I'm going down to tackle that dog."
"To—tackle—the—dog," she gasped.
"And while I'm keeping him busy you are to cut and run for the road down there. Then you'll have easy sailing for town."
"Mr. Crosby," she said firmly, clasping his arm; "you are not to leave this beam. Do you think I'll permit you to go down there and be torn to pieces by that beast, just for the sake of letting me cut and run, as you call it? I'd be a bigger brute than the dog and—and—"
"Mrs. Delancy, my mind is made up. I'm going down!"
"That settles it! I'm coming too," she proclaimed emphatically.
"To be sure. That's the plan. You'll escape while I hold Swallow."
"I'll do nothing of the sort. You shall not sacrifice yourself for my sake. I'd stay up here with you all the rest of my life before I'd permit you to do that."