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But when the dread promontory was weathered at last, and Natalie, a wraith of her blooming self, awoke in her right senses, Rina changed again, resuming her old sullen, moody self; and all his work was undone. It was clear the unfortunate girl was dragged ceaselessly back and forth between her new-fledged soul and the old savage impulses of her blood.
He had his compunctions in thus moving against Rina while she was absent on an errand for Natalie; but he consoled himself with the thought that Rina, with all she could do, had still a heavy score to pay off. He told Natalie what he was about to do; and at her earnest pleading carried her out of the tent, and propped her partly upright at the edge of the lake where she would be able to see him.
All the while the horses cropped, Garth strode ceaselessly up and down, biting his lips; while the white-faced boy, who had not spoken all morning, sat holding his bursting head between his hands; and Rina, crouching apart, gazed over the prairie with unseeing eyes.
They mak' me sick! My mot'er say to me; 'You eighteen year old, Rina; w'en you go to marry? I say to my mot'er, 'I never marry a pig-man; I want to stay to you." Her voice changed, borrowing the soft, passionate music of the nightingale she had never heard.
"Better not," said Natalie anxiously. "You're right," he said with a sigh. "It's the first thing you learn: never to write when you feel that way. But it's mighty hard to resist it!" Rina understood little of all this. "You send answer back?" she asked. "No. Tell him there's no answer," said Garth. "Tell him we nearly died laughing," he added.
I'll keep away from there too. He'll think it's all right. Then" Mabyn's whisper was pure venom "sneak up behind him and knock him on the head with an axe! Choose a moment when the girl is asleep or delirious. We will throw his body in the lake. No one will ever know how it happened!" There was a pause. "Will you do it?" said Mabyn eagerly. Rina remained silent. Mabyn cursed her under his breath.
Natalie, wrapped in the blanket, soon fell into the sleep of exhaustion. Rina looked at the pale and shaken Garth with an odd expression. "If you have whiskey, better tak' a drink," she suggested. Garth had his flask; and he obeyed without question.
"Have you any sisters outside, 'Erbe't?" she gently persisted. "No," he said. "Your mot'er, she is not dead?" "No." "She mos' be ver' nice, I think." "She's a lady!" he blurted out. Rina nodded wisely. "I know what that is," she said. "A lady is a ver' nice woman." Her voice dropped very low.
It was Natalie's life against theirs; and throughout the hours of the night, he steeled his heart to launch five souls to eternity two of them the souls of women. Rina he knew would be transformed into a tigress by the death of Mabyn; so even Rina, whom Natalie loved, must go too.
I also remember that after the death of grandmother, when I was sick and living with my aunt Rina, some days he would see me lying on the roadside and would toss me a coin. On my return from Tuskegee I found Mr. Simpson deeply interested in the welfare of my people; in fact, it seemed as if he was looking for some one to start an industrial school upon his place. We had many talks together.
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