Grasping her chin, Hunter dug his fingertips and thumb into her cheeks. When at...

Grasping her chin, Hunter dug his fingertips and thumb into her cheeks. When at last her jaws parted, he held the canteen over her yawning mouth and began trickling water down her.
To his surprise, she went perfectly still. By breathing carefully through her nose, she was able to let him fill her mouth without swallowing. The excess water sluiced out onto her cheeks and ran into her hair. Hunter couldn't plug the canteen and lay it down, not without turning her loose. And if he turned her loose, she'd spit out the water.
"Warrior!" he yelled.
Several fires away, Warrior shot up from his bed. After looking around in befuddlement, he spied Hunter and broke into a run. Within seconds he was standing by the pallet, his sleepy brown eyes riveted on the yellow-hair.
"
, what are you trying to do, drown her?"
"Yes. Squeeze her nose."
"What?"
"Do it!"
Warrior knelt at her head. "Hunter, are you--"
"Do I have to call Swift Antelope?"
Warrior pinched the girl's nose. "If she dies, it is your doing."
"She isn't going to die. I'm trying to make her drink." Hunter watched the girl's face turn red from lack of air. After a few seconds the muscles in her throat became distended. Then, at last, she swallowed part of the water and began to choke. "Turn loose. , turn loose!"
Warrior, who always seemed to be one thought behind everyone else, finally released her nose and sat back on his heels. The girl gasped and sucked water the wrong way. Grimly, Hunter watched while she fought to get her breath.
When at last she stopped coughing, he said, "You will drink?"
Her eyes glittered up at him, so filled with hatred that a chill ran up his spine. Hunter grasped her chin again. "Her nose, Warrior. And this time, turn loose when she starts to swallow or we drown her."
" will drown her. I'm just helping.