the physician got down to first principles, and found a
big, white-bodied, fine-faced Scotchman in the heart of the wreck, he
was amazed. A wild man, but not a whiskey bloat. A crazy man, but not a
maniac. He stood long beside Dannie as he lay unconscious.

"I'll take oath that man has wronged no one," he said. "What in the
name of God has some woman been doing to him?"

He took money from Dannie's wallet and bought clothing to replace the
rags he had burned. He filled Dannie with nourishment, and told the
woman who found him that when he awoke, if he did not remember, to tell
him that his name was Dannie Macnoun, and that he lived in Rainbow
Bottom, Adams County. Because just at that time Dannie was halfway
across the state.

A day later he awoke, in a strange room and among strange faces. He
took up life exactly where he left off. And in his ears, as he
remembered his flight, rang the awful cry uttered by Mary Malone, and
not until then did there come to Dannie the realization that she had
been driven to seek him for help, because her woman's hour was upon
her. Cold fear froze Dannie's soul.

He went back by railway and walked the train most of the way. He
dropped from the cars at the water tank and struck across country, and
again he ran. But this time it was no headlong flight. Straight as a
homing bird went Dannie with all speed, toward the foot of the Rainbow
and Mary Malone.

The Kingfisher sped rattling down the river when Dannie came crashing
along the bank.

"Oh, God, let her be alive!" prayed Dannie as he leaned panting against
a tree for an instant, because he was very close now and sickeningly
afraid. Then he ran on. In a minute it would be over. At the next turn
he could see the cabins. As he dashed along, Jimmy Malone rose from a
log and faced him. A white Jimmy, with black-ringed eyes and shaking
hands.

"Where the Hell have you been?" Jimmy demanded.

"Is she dead?" cried Dannie.

"The doctor is talking scare," said Jimmy. "But I don't scare so easy.
She's never been sick in her life, and she has lived through it twice
before, why should she die now? Of course the kid is dead again," he
added angrily.

Dannie shut his eyes and stood still. He had helped plant star-flowers
on two tiny cross-marked mounds at Five Mile Hill. Now, there were
three. Jimmy had worn out her love for him, that was plain. "Why should
she die now?" To Dannie it seemed that question should have been, "Why
should she