heart was dead. His soul crushed. His dream
broken. There remained only his brain, his mind made up, his worship for
the girl--a love that had changed from a thing of joy to a fire of agony
within him. Straight ahead he looked, knowing there was only one thing
for him to do. And only one. There was no alternative. No hope. No
change of fortune that even the power of God might bring about. What lay
ahead of him was inevitable.

After all, there is something unspeakable in the might and glory of
dying for one's country--or for a great love. And Jolly Roger McKay felt
that strength as he strode through the blackness, and knocked at the
door, and went in to face Nada and the little old gray-haired Missioner
in the lampglow.

Swift as one of the flashes of lightning in the sky the anxiety and fear
had gone out of Nada's face, and in an instant it was flooded with the
joy of his coming. She did not mark the strange change in him, but
went to him as she had gone to him in the trail, and Jolly Roger's arms
closed about her, but gently this time, and very tenderly, as he might
have held a little child he was afraid of hurting. Then she felt the
chill of his lips as she pressed her own to them. Startled, she looked
up into his eyes. And as he had done in the trail, so now Jolly Roger
stood her away from him, and faced the Missioner. In a cold, hard voice
he told what had happened to Nada that evening, and of the barbarous
effort Jed Hawkins had made to sell her to Mooney. Then, from a pocket
inside his shirt, he drew out a small, flat leather wallet, and thrust
it in the little Missioner's hand.

"There's close to a thousand dollars in that," he said. "It's mine. And
I'm giving it to you--for Nada. I want you to keep her, and care for
her, and mebby some day--"

With both her hands Nada clutched his arm. Her eyes had widened. Swift
pallor had driven the color from her face, and a broken cry was in her
voice.

"I'm goin' with you," she protested. "I'm goin' with you--and Peter!"

"You can't--now," he said. "I've got to go alone, Nada. I went back--and
I killed Jed Hawkins."

Over the roof of the cabin rolled a crash of thunder. As the explosion
of it rocked the floor under their feet, Jolly Roger pointed to a door,
and said,

"Father, if you will leave us alone--just a minute--"

White-faced, clutching the wallet, the little gray Missioner nodded, and
went to the door, and as he opened it and entered into the darkness o