In this, you may remark, she was unjust. At one moment she blamed Dick for not securing her safety by a cold-blooded murder, at the next she tried not to despise him for attempting to save her by the much less reprehensible methods of bribery and a trifling surrender of pride.
She was recalled from her reflections. Dick had ended his explanation and had asked her a question.
'There must be a way out,' she said at random.
'Yes,' he laughed nervously. 'We could swim to the Mimi ... at least we could swim the first ten yards.... Norah,' he said suddenly, 'I believe that would be the best thing to do.'
The part of Norah's brain that was not under Dick's spell wondered cynically what he would say if she agreed. Then she felt ashamed of her sneer. Was not the greater part of his distress on her behalf?
'We can't make a boat without tools,' he began again, and rekindled her irritation. All this talk of what they couldn't do was utterly vain. Her woman's brain had jumped to the only course that lay open, moving along no path of reason, accepting the only practicable picture that offered.
'Dick,' she said, 'we must strike inland.'
'And hardly any of these African woods float,' went on Dick, monotonously pursuing his line of thought. There's no second boat on board.' ... Then the hope that he had been repressing burst to the surface. 'Norah,' he said, 'do you think there's a chance of those paddlers bringing back the dinghy from the other side?'
'No, dear, I don't,' she said gently. Then, as if she were dealing with an invalid, 'You see, they know they've behaved badly, and natives in the wrong get frightened like naughty children. They'd be afraid of being punished, if they came back.... No, as soon as the Indian lets them go, they'll disappear to their villages.'
The last pitiful hope that had lingered, disappeared. In his heart, he could almost have cursed the elopement, which threatened to prove fatal to both of them. Yet, as he looked at Norah, the robuster part of him declared her worth it. In the sea of blood spilt for women, no fairer face can have been mirrored.