"What'd them men have to do with it?
Where'd you all be now if it wasn't for me ?" "You'd be much better off," I ventured, "if I hadn't done any rescuing at all, and if we'd all stayed over there on the boat." I pointed to the lights of the _River Belle_, lying on the opposite shore, something like a mile above us.
"We're all right now," said old Auberry after a time.

"If we can't get across to the boat, it's only four or five miles up to the settlements on this side, opposite the old Independence landing." "I couldn't walk," said the girl.

She shyly looked down at the edge of her thin wrapper, and I saw the outline of an uncovered toe.
"Here, ma'am," said Auberry, unknotting from his neck a heavy bandana.
"This is the best I can do.

You and the woman see if you can tie up your feet somehow." The girl hesitated, laughed, and took the kerchief.

She and Mandy bent apart, and I heard the ripping of the handkerchief torn across.