IV
It was, to be accurate, twenty-three days later that our by sea and land ended one Monday upon the of the Golden Glacier, Cook's Peninsula, Baffin Land.
Four pack-mules our luggage, four more our persons; an dicky-bird sat on a and said, "Pilly-willy-willy! Tweet! Tweet!"
As we out to the bowlder-strewn of the the sun us cordially, us the surface of the which away to the east and south as as the see.
So was it that we out the of two us a of a mile away.
Something about the of these our attention, and, upon them through our field-glasses we Professor Bottomly.
That lady had a upon the two mules, their had to fit the of the iron tripod.
No in which way the turned, on the the them. It was an invention.
There Jane Bottomly asleep, her black over the hammock's edge, to a by the of the sun.
I upon her with a of pity. Her professional days were numbered. I also had her number!
"How she slumbers," Dr. Delmour to me, "dreaming, doubtless, of her triumph."
Dr. Fooss and Professor Lezard, the pack-mules ahead of them, were already out across the marsh.
"Daisy," I said, from my and taking one of her hands into mine, "the time has come for me to you. There are no in that there."
She looked at me in blue-eyed amazement.
"You are mistaken," she said; "Professor Bottomly is for the and of her and the and the of her scientific investigations. She is the most scientist in America; she would such a to the newspapers unless she were perfectly of its truth."
I was sorry for this girl. I pressed her hand I was sorry for her. After a moments of I so sorry for her that I her.
"I so sorry for her that I her."
"You mustn't," said Dr. Delmour, blushing.
The we mustn't do are so many that I can't always all of them.
"Daisy," I said, "shall we ourselves to each other for eternity—here in the presence of this which moves a thousand a year—I an every thousand years—here in these where calculations not us the number of of in that marsh—here in the presence of these mules—"
"Oh, look!" Dr. Delmour, her from my shoulder. "There is a man in the with Professor Bottomly!"
I my field-glasses incredulously. Good Heavens! There was a man there. He was on the of the in a attitude, his dangling.
And, as I gazed, I saw the arm of Professor Bottomly as though for something in her slumber—saw her close upon the blue-flannel shirt of her companion, saw his to her, saw him and his upon her chest.
"Daisy!" I faltered, "what of mean?"
"I—I haven't the idea!" she stammered.
"Is that lady married! Or is this revelry?" I asked, sternly.
"She wasn't married when she from N-New-York," Dr. Delmour.
We in silence, on until we up with Lezard and Fooss and the pack-mules; then we all pressed ahead, a prey, now, to the and agitation.
The of our mule's on the melted surface of the the man as we up and he to out of the as soon as he saw us.
A hand for his collar, for a moment, and across the hammock's edge. Evidently its owner was too for effort.
Meanwhile the man who had free from the hammock, and came over the toward us like a badly-winged snipe.
"Who are you?" I demanded, so that I myself of my mule's ears. Sliding into the saddle, I the challenge haughtily, my horsemanship.
He his six six of for a moments without replying. His large of were on me.
"Speak!" I said. "The of a lady is at stake! Who are you? We ask, we shoot you, for purpose of identification."
He at me wildly. "I who I be," he replied. "My name was James Skaw that there lady an' it on me. She says she has my name to hers. I dunno. All I know is I'm married."
"Married!" Dr. Delmour.
He looked at the girl, then his large mild on me.
"A mission done it for her a month ago when we was hikin' Fort Carcajou. Hoon-hel are you?" he added.
I him with dignity; he at me, at the others, at the mules. Then he said with bitterness:
"You're a guy, ain't you, a-wishin' this here lady onto a pelt-hunter what ain't done nothin' to you!"
"Who did you say I on you?" I demanded, bewildered.
"That there lady a-sleepin' into the hammick! You her onto me—yaas you did! Whatnhel have I done to you, hey?"
We were dumb. He his hand into his pocket, produced a of twist, slowly off a portion, and the in his jaw.
"All I done to you," he said, "was to you them sayin's as how I a of into the mud.
"What you done to me was to send that there lady here. Was that gratitood? Man to man I ask you?"
A loud from the us all. James Skaw his turkey-like, and looked at the hammock, then toward me:
"Aw," he said, "she don't wake up till I have ready."
"James Skaw," I said, "tell me what has happened. On my word of I don't know."
He me with lack-lustre eyes.
"I was a-settin' onto a bowlder," said he, "a-fig-urin' out you was a-comin' or not, when that there lady up with her led-mule a trailin'.
"Sez she: 'Are you James Skaw?'
"Yes, marm,' I, an' puzzled.
"'Where is them ellerphants?' she, reachin' from her an' takin' me by the shirt collar, an' beatin' me with her umbrella.
"Sez I, 'I have to a that I would him them for a price. Bein' hones' I can't 'em to no one else until I from him.'
"With that she to the case with her umbrella, lettin' go of my shirt collar. Sir, she until dinner time, an' then she the until I asleep. The last I she was still conversin'.
"An' so it next day, all day long, an' the next day. I couldn't it no longer so I started for Fort Carcajau. But she bein' onto a mule, me easy, an' kep' me conversin' volooble.
"Sir, do you know what it is to to every day, all day long, from sun-up to night-fall? An' then some more?
"I was loony, I tell you, when we met the mission priest. 'Marry me,' she, 'or I'll talk you to death!' I didn't what she was sayin' an' what I answered. But them I done the job, it seems.
"We there an' slep' for two days without wakin.' When I up I was convalescent.
"She was good to me. She an' she onto me an' she didn't talk no more until I was well to it.
"An' by'm'by she the to me that we was married an' that she had as as to me in the of science man an' wife is one, an' what I about them she now had a right to know.
"Sir, she had put one over on me. So bein' hones' I had to her where them up under the marsh."
