that, too; but she wouldn't listen--she wouldn't lis--My God! _Why_ am I
bald?"

He swung his arms like a pair of flails and advanced distractedly upon
Langdon, who immediately retreated.

"Come back here," he said. "I want to picture to you the horrors that are
going on in your native land! You ought to know. You've got to know!"

"Certainly, old man," quavered Langdon, keeping a tree between them. "But
don't come any closer or I'll scream."

"Do you think I'm nutty?"

"Oh, not at all--not _at_ all," said Langdon soothingly. "Probably the
wafers disagreed with you."

"Curtis, wouldn't it rock any man's equilibrium to fall head over heels
in love with a girl inside of ten minutes? I merely ask you, man to man."

"It sure would, dear friend----"

"And then to see that divine girl almost ready to love you in return--see
it perfectly, plainly? And have her tell you that she could learn to care
for you if your hair wasn't so thin and you didn't wear eye-glasses? By
Jinks! That was _too_ much! I'll leave it to you--_wasn't_ it?"

Langdon swallowed hard and watched his friend fixedly.

"And then," continued Sayre, grinding his teeth, "_then_ she told me
about Willett!"

"Hey?"

"Oh, the whole thing is knocked in the head from a newspaper standpoint.
They've all written home. They're married--or on the point of it----"

"What!"

"But that isn't what bothers me. What do I care about this job, or any
other job, since I've seen the only girl on earth that I could ever stay
home nights for! And to think that she ran away from me and I'm never to
see her again because I'm near-sighted and partly bald!"

He waved his arms distractedly.

"But, by the gods and demons!" he cried, "I'm not going to stand for her
going hunting with that man-net! If she catches any insufferable pup in
it I'll go insane!"

Langdon's eyes rolled and he breathed heavily.

"Old man," he ventured, kindly, "don't you think you'd better lie down
and try to take a nice little nap----"

Sayre instantly chased him around the tree and caught him.

"Curt," he said savagely, "get over the idea that there's anything the
matter with me mentally except love and righteous indignation. I _am_ in
love; and it hurts. I'm indignant, because those people are treating my
sex with an outrageous and high-handed effrontery that would bring the
blush of impotent rage to any masculine cheek!"

"What people?" said the other warily. "You needn't answer till y