"Yep."
"Are ye goin' to let me go with him?"
"Nope."
"Will ye swear, Lem, that when he comes to the hut ye'll say that he can't have me?"
Lem's jaw dropped, and he uttered a throat sound, guttural and rough.
"Do ye mean, Flea, that ye'd rather come to the scow than go with the young, good-lookin' cuss?"
"Yes, that's what I mean; and Pappy Lon says he's comin'."
Lem made a spring toward her.
"Don't touch me now!" she cried, shuddering. "Don't--yet! I'm comin' back by and by."
Before he could place his hands upon her, Fledra had gone down the plank. From the small boat-window Lem could discern the little figure flitting among the hut bushes; in another moment she had crawled through the open window into Lon's hut.