She could see how the logs of the cabin had moved awry and what a big, dilapidated hovel it was.

As she looked in, Colter loomed over her--placed a familiar and somehow masterful hand upon her.

Ellen let it rest on her shoulder a moment.
Must she forever be repulsing these rude men among whom her lot was cast?
Did Colter mean what Daggs had always meant?
Ellen felt herself weary, weak in body, and her spent spirit had not rallied.

Yet, whatever Colter meant by his familiarity, she could not bear it.

So she slipped out from under his hand.
"Uncle Tad, are y'u heah ?" she called into the blackness.