ction.
Schooling himself to a semblance of patience, he sat through another
long hour.

Why, he thought dully, should he have had the presumption to expect
an answer to his cable ... she was too kind to cable "no" ... her
letter of explanation would be a month in coming.... He watched as the
mists around Apo gathered, thickened, darkened: the banks were
flashlighted into white billows, then the soft rumble of thunder
rolled down the slopes, a vanguard of the rainstorm which rustled the
forest tops as it swept down nearer, louder, to expire as it touched
the edge of the town: a few drops splashed heavily on the tin roof of
the silent house, then the stars shone more brilliantly than before
and Apo loomed sharp against a cleared sky.

It was a long night. At last he rose wearily and seated himself at his
desk, shading his dulled eyes. A moment of indecision, and he wrote to
his sister.

Dear Sue-sister:

Sometimes your sweet letters breathe the fear that harm
might befall me. You need not worry.

I live in a lovely land, a land of sunny days and balmy
nights, a land of courteous, friendly folk.

I live in a land where pneumonia is unknown, or sunstroke:
cholera perished in boiling water, and behind our mosquito
nets we laugh at malaria.

Should other dangers threaten, I have my company of loyal
Macabebes: laughing fighters, stern lovers, they guard me
while I sleep. They like me, I think.

Nothing but Old Age can befall me here; and I think the
Fountain of Youth lies not where old Ponce searched--but
here, on Apo's towering crest. I am going there to search
... some day ... before I am too old.

I have but one fear: that you and the others whom I love may
some day cease to--

His head ached intolerably. He dropped his pen in sudden listlessness,
crossed aimlessly to the window. Dawn wavered over Samal. The plaza
was dark save for the lights which blazed in the cuartel to show that
the Macabebes, too, had kept the long vigil.

Suddenly he saw four fagged little Macabebes emerge from the shadowed
street and enter the path of light which streamed from the wide
cuartel door. Shoulders drooping under heavy packs after the long
night's hike, they staggered into the building.

A moment, and a fiercely glad yell rose from the barracks, and the
Sergeant bounded out of the doorway to speed toward Terry's house.
Terry straightened