d. Making a tourniquet, she applied it to the
upper arm. Then rolling up a bloody bandage into a pad, she laid it upon
the pumping artery and bound it firmly down into place. Then flexing the
forearm hard upon it, she bandaged all securely again. Still the wounded
man lay unconscious. The girl was terrified. She placed her hand over
his heart. It was beating but very faintly. In the agony and terror of
the moment as in a flash of light her heart stood suddenly wide open to
her, and the thing that for the past months had lain hidden within her
deeper than her consciousness, a secret joy and pain, leaped strong
and full into the open, and she knew that this man who lay bleeding and
ghastly before her was dearer to her than her own life. The sudden rush
of this consciousness sweeping like a flood over her soul broke down and
carried away the barrier of her maidenly reserve. Leaning over him in a
passion of self-abandonment, she breathed, "Oh, Jack, dear, dear Jack."
As he lay there white and still, into her love there came a maternal
tender yearning of pity. She lifted his head in her arm, and murmured
brokenly, "Oh, my love, my dear love." She kissed him on his white lips.

At the touch of her lips Jack opened his eyes, gazed at her for a
moment, then with dawning recognition, he said with a faint smile,
"Do--it--again."

"Oh, you heard," she cried, the red blood flooding face and neck, "but I
don't care, only don't go off again. You will not, Jack, you must not."

"No--I won't," he said. "It's rotten--of me--to act--like this
and--scare you--to death. Give me--a little--time. I will be--all
right."

"If they would only come! If I could only do something!"

"You're all right--Kathleen. Just be--patient with me--a bit. I am
feeling--better every minute."

For a few moments he lay quiet. Then with a little smile he looked up
at her again and said, "I would go off again just to hear you say those
words once more."

"Oh, please don't," she entreated, hiding her face.

"Forgive me, Kathleen, I am a beast. Forget it. I am feeling all right.
I believe I could sit up."

"No, no, no," she cried. "Lie a little longer."

She laid his head down, ran a hundred yards to the wheat field,
returning with two sheeves, and made a support for his head and
shoulders. "That is better," she said.

"Good work," he said. "Now I am going to be fit for anything in a few
moments. But," he added, "you look rather badly, as if you might f