Edison Marshall

“ Scarcely a quarter of a mile ahead, in a little pass that led through the shore crags down to the beach, Doomsdorf had left one of his most powerful bear traps. Ned had seen it many times as he had clambered through on a short cut to the cabin. Because it lay in a natural runway for game—one of the few spots where the shore crags could be easily surmounted—it was at least possible that the huge bear might fall into it, on his return to his lair in the hills.
Ned hurried on, and in a few moments had dug out the great trap from its covering of snow. ”

“ Ned's eyes widened, as he tried to read his meaning. Doomsdorf laughed softly in the silence. “You won't be here!” he repeated. “You fool—do you think I'd let you get in my way? It will rest as it is to-night. To-morrow morning you start out to tend your traps—and you will tend Bess's lines as well as your own. She will stay here—with me—from now on.”
Ned felt his muscles hardening to steel. “I won't leave her to you——”
“You won't? Don't make any mistake on that point. If you are not on your way by sun-up, you get a hundred—from the knout . ”

“ Life isn't so pleasant to either of us that we'll submit to everything in order to live. No matter what you do to me—I know what I'll do to you if you try to carry out your wicked designs by force.”
Doomsdorf eyed him calmly, but the smile of contempt was wholly gone from his lips. “You'll show fight?” ”

“ Always he experienced a sense of some great omission,—perhaps only his failure to feel the old delight and exultation that the mere fact of her presence used to impart to him. He found it increasingly hard to give full attention to her; to let his eyes dwell always on her beauty and his ears give heed to her wrongs. ”

“ If they ever gained freedom, he would, in all probability, find in her all that he could desire in the future. They could take up their old love anew, and doubtless she would give him all the happiness he had a right to expect—more than he deserved. ”