grandfather's house as he had seen it when a boy, and
so he did not see the countenance of the young man at his side. Had he
done so, he would not have missed knowing what the young man from that
moment knew, and from that moment, out of the love now awakened in his
heart for the big man, carefully concealed, giving thanks that he had
not told his name.

For a long minute they stood thus looking away from each other, while
Harry King, by a mighty effort, gained control of his features, and
his voice. Then although white to the lips, he spoke quietly: "Harry
King--the murderer--be the son of Larry Kildene--Larry Kildene--I--to
slink away in the hills--forever to hide--"

"No more of that. I'll show you a new life. Give me your hand, Harry
King." And the young man extended both hands in a silence through
which no words could have been heard.

CHAPTER XVII

ADOPTING A FAMILY

As the two men walked down toward the cabin they saw Amalia standing
beside the door in the sunlight which now streamed through a rift in
the clouds, gazing up at the towering mountain and listening to the
falling water. She spied them and came swiftly to them, extending both
hands in a sweet, gracious impulsiveness, and began speaking rapidly
even before she reached them.

"Ah! So beautiful is your home! It is so much that I would say to you
of gratitude in my heart--it is like a river flowing swiftly to tell
you--Ah! I cannot say it all--and we come and intrude ourselves upon
you thus that you have no place where to go for your own sleeping--Is
not? Yes, I know it. So must we think quickly how we may unburden you
of us--my mother and myself--only that she yet is sleeping that
strange sleep that seems still not like sleep. Let me that I serve
you, sir?"

Larry Kildene looked on her glowing, upturned face, gathering his
slower wits for some response to her swift speech, while she turned to
the younger man, grasping his hands in the same manner and not ceasing
the flow of her utterance.

"And you, at such severe labor and great danger, have found this noble
man, and have sent him to us--to you do we owe what never can we
pay--it is thus while we live must we always thank you in our hearts.
And to this place--so _won-n-der-ful_--Ah! Beautiful like heaven--Is
not? Yes, and the sweet sound always in the air--like heaven and the
sound of wings--to stop here even for this night is to make those
sorrowful thoughts lie still and for a whil