ture
of her four-year-old twins, beautiful in spite of their grimy
exterior, beautiful as a Heaven-inspired picture to the mother.

The man smiled. Nor was it an unpleasant smile. Perhaps, somewhere in
his savage composition, he had a grain of humor; perhaps it was only
the foolish smile of a man whose wits are not equal to so incongruous
a situation.

"They're most ev'ry color," piped Vada, with added excitement.

"Uh!" grunted Jamie in agreement. "An' the bugs has horns."

But the man had recovered himself. The interruption had brought with
it a realization of the time he had spent in the hut.

"You'd best go and find more," he said. "There's heaps outside." Then
he turned to Jessie. "Come on. We must be going. Have you got the
things you need ready?"

But the mother's eyes were on the small intruders. Something was
gripping at her heart, and somehow it felt like four small and dirty
hands.

"Wher' you goin'?" demanded Vada, her childish curiosity roused, and
all her beautiful spiders forgotten for the moment.

Her question remained unanswered, leaving the room in ominous silence.
Then Jamie's treble blundered into its midst, dutifully echoing his
sister's inquiry.

"'Es, wher' you doin'?"

The man's eyes were narrowly watching the woman's face. He noted the
tremulous lips, the yearning light in her eyes. In a moment he was
answering the children, lest their innocent words should upset his
plans.

"Say, your momma's going for a horse-ride. She's just going right out,
and I'm going to show her a dandy place where she can fetch you, so
you can catch heaps an' heaps of bugs and spiders. She's just wanting
you to stop right here and catch more bugs, till I come along and
fetch you."

"O--oh!" cried Vada, prolonging her exclamation gleefully. "Say, can't
us go now?"

"Me do too," murmured her faithful shadow.

One quick glance at the mother's face and the man spoke again.

"Not now, kiddies. I'll come and fetch you. Run along." Then he turned
swiftly upon Jessie. "Where's your bundle?" he asked in his usual
masterful manner.

And her reply came in a tone of almost heart-broken submission.

"In there," she said, with a glance at the inner room.

The man gave her no time to add anything more. He felt the ground he
was treading was more than shaky. He knew that with the coming of
these children a tremendous power was militating against him--a power
which would need all his wits to combat. He passed in