This last circumstance nonplused Ellen.

She was at a loss to understand it unless the Isbel menace now encroached upon Colter so formidably that he had forgotten her for the present.
Then one bright August morning, when she had just begun to relax her eternal vigilance and breathe without oppression, Colter encountered her and, darkly silent and fierce, he grasped her and drew her off her feet.

Ellen struggled violently, but the total surprise had deprived her of strength.

And that paralyzing weakness assailed her as never before.

Without apparent effort Colter carried her, striding rapidly away from the cabins into the border of spruce trees at the foot of the canyon wall.
"Colter--where--oh, where are Y'u takin' me ?" she found voice to cry out.
"By God! I don't know," he replied, with strong, vibrant passion.