Toppy moved toward her. Was it true? Was it really there the note in her voice that he yearned to hear?
“What did you say—please?” he stammered.
And now it was her turn to be confused. The sobs came back to her. Toppy took a long breath and nerved himself to desperation.
“Helen!” he said hoarsely.
“Bob! Oh, Bob!” she whispered. “Don’t leave me—don’t leave me alone.”
Once more Toppy filled his lungs with air and ground his teeth in desperate resolution. He tried to speak, but only a gurgling sound came from his throat; so he held out his big arms in mute appeal, and suddenly he found himself whispering incoherently at a little blonde head which lay snuggled in great content against his bosom.
A maddened yell came from the men who were after Reivers. But Toppy and the girl might have been a thousand miles away for all the attention they paid. One end of the stockade fell in with a great roar and a shower of flame and sparks; but the twain did not hear.
“Aye, aye!” Old Campbell moved swiftly away. “He’s a grown man now, and so he’s a right to have his woman.—Aye. A real man he had to be to take her away from the Snow-Burner.”
Down by the river the pursuing men gave tongue to a cry with the note of the wolf in it.
Campbell turned from the young couple and stared with gleaming eyes in the direction whence came the cry.