that the sun was beating on his bare head intensely.

"Thanks, Miss Sheldon," he stammered at length. "I'll be glad to come
with you if I may." Then, his hat replaced on his head, he found two
awkward great hands at liberty, with nothing whatever to do with them.
"Can I carry something for you?" he asked, more at ease in the prospect
of some physical employment.

"Oh, will you? I shall be glad if you'll carry a basket. It will save
taking one of the boys, and I'd really rather not take one, as it
happens."

She went into the main hut of the Mission and presently returned with a
big cane basket, covered with fresh leaves, which she gave to Barry. She
herself carried a smaller bundle that might contain cloth or other soft
material.

"Come, then," she said, leading the way into the bush by another path.
"I've got a patient, Captain, one of Mr. Leyden's men, you know. A white
man, broken down by the awful loneliness."

"Leyden's man?" blurted Barry. "Why, surely nobody's come ashore from
his vessel yet? He only came up the river an hour ago."

"Oh, this time, yes, Captain. But Mr. Leyden has been here many times,
you know. We know him very well, indeed. We do whatever we can for him,
for, you know, he has helped me--us--in many ways."

Something in her speech drew the skipper's gaze to her animated face.
Something he saw there brought a fleeting scowl to his own. There was no
shred of doubt at that moment that Leyden had made considerable
progress in intimacy with the Mission people. Miss Sheldon's speech and
expression were such that Barry would have given an eye or a hand for
the same.

"You see, we hoped Mr. Leyden would arrive much sooner, Captain," the
girl went on, striding freely along the narrow path which bent towards
the upper reaches of the river. "We thought your ship was his, and that
induced my visit last evening. The extra suspense played havoc with Mr.
Gordon, for--"

"Gordon! He's no man of Leyden's, Miss Sheldon! He's my own employer's
man, if you mean Gordon from the trading post. I wondered at his
attitude when we superseded him temporarily."

The girl darted a swift glance at Barry and suddenly cut short the chat.
She went ahead, giving no reply to the skipper's outburst, and he
followed dumbly, wondering what new piece of trickery was to be revealed
when Gordon's sudden illness was investigated. For fifteen minutes he
followed in the girl's wake, attempting to reopen conversation and
recei