“How about it, Ashton?” he inquired. “Think you feel fit to rod this afternoon? Don’t hesitate to say no, if that’s the right answer. I expect my wife and Miss Chuckie, between them, can help me carry the line as far as the camp.”
“I can do it alone,” interposed the girl. “Let them both stay here and rest all afternoon.”
“No, Miss Chuckie. I can and shall do my work,” insisted Ashton, springing up with unexpected briskness for one who had appeared so fatigued. “It is you and Mrs. Blake who must stay here to rest––unless you wish to keep us company.”
“Might we not go to the new camp and put it in order?” suggested Genevieve.
“What if that outlaw should come sneaking back?” objected Ashton. “It seems to me you should keep with us.”
“He would not trouble us,” replied Isobel.
“Yet if he should? Anyway, Blake and I saw a wolf up here the other day.”
“A real wolf! Where?”
“Yes,” answered Blake. “Over in the ravine the other side of the head of Dry Fork Gulch.”
“He may attack you,” argued Ashton.