“I do like that woman,” said he with a quaintly deliberate seriousness. “That's the finest woman in this district.”
Thorpe felt the quick moisture rush to his eyes. There was something inexpressibly touching in those simple words as Big Junko uttered them.
“And when you are married,” he asked, “what are you going to do? Are you going to stay on the river?”
“No, I'm goin' to clear a farm. The woman she says that's the thing to do. I like the river, too. But you bet when Carrie says a thing, that's plenty good enough for Big Junko.”
“Suppose,” suggested Thorpe, irresistibly impelled towards the attempt, “suppose I should offer you two hundred dollars a month to stay on the river. Would you stay?”
“Carrie don't like it,” replied Junko.
“Two hundred dollars is big wages,” persisted Thorpe. “It's twice what I give Radway.”
“I'd like to ask Carrie.”
“No, take it or leave it now.”
“Well, Carrie says she don't like it,” answered the riverman with a sigh.