"Come, let us go," said Ewan, with head aside.
"Not yet," said Mona.
Then Jarvis Kerruish, who had stepped aside for a moment, returned and said:
"Will you take a wager with me, Mona—a pair of gloves?"
"Very well," she answered.
"Who do you bet on?"
"Oh, on the stranger," said Mona, coloring slightly, and laughing a little.
"How lucky," said Jarvis, "I bet on the captain."
"I can stand it no longer," whispered Ewan, "will you come?" But Mona's eyes were riveted on the group about the oxen. She did not hear, and Ewan turned away, and walked out of the meadow.
Then there was a shout, and the oxen started with Dan behind them. On they went through the hard, tough ground, tranquilly, steadily, with measured pace, tearing through roots of trees that lay in their way as if nothing could stop them in their great strength.