me a kiss for the secret?"

"Yes, Jerry-Jo," and the kiss fell upon the white brow.

Could John Boswell have been there then he would have understood.

"You--you are crying! I feel a tear with the kiss!"

The quivering, broken smile smote Priscilla to the heart. The ward
was deathly quiet; only the deep breathing of men closer to life than
Jerry-Jo McAlpin broke the stillness.

"Why--do you cry?"

"You know, it's a bad habit of mine, Jerry-Jo."

"Yes. You--you cried on his book, you remember?"

"I remember."

"Do--you know where he is--now?"

"No. Do you?"

The head upon the strong, young arm moved restlessly.

"Yes--I know--and I'm--going to tell you! It's the biggest joke I ever
knew. Just to think--that you don't know, and he doesn't know, and--and
I do!"

A rattling, husky laugh shook the thin form dangerously. Every instinct
of the nurse rose in alarm and defence.

"You must not talk any more, Jerry-Jo. Lie still. Come, let us think of
the In-Place."

Priscilla slipped her arm from under the dark head, and took the
wandering hands in hers. Her random words had power to hold and chain
the weak mind.

"I'm going to tell you--where he is--but we'll go back to the In-Place. I
want to tell you there, and--he'll come and find you. I'd like to do you
both a good turn--for what you've done for me."

Then, after a pause and a gasping breath:

"It's growing dark, but there's Dreamer's Rock and Bleak Head!"

"And, Jerry-Jo," whispered Priscilla, "there's Lone Tree Island,
don't you see? Your boat is coming around into the Channel. Please tell
me--where he is, Jerry-Jo----"

Priscilla realized he was going fast, and the secret suddenly gripped her
with strange power. She must have it; she must know!

"Please, Jerry-Jo, tell me where he is. I have wanted so to know! Listen!
Can you not hear--the dear old sounds, the pattering of the soft little
waves that the ice has let go free? There's the farm, the woods----" But
Jerry-Jo was struggling to rise; his black eyes wide and straining, his
thin arms outstretched.

"No!" he moaned hoarsely, and already he seemed far away. "I can't make
the Channel. I'm headed for the Secret Portage and the Big Bay."

"Jerry-Jo! oh! tell me, where is he? Where is he?"

But Priscilla knew it was too late. She bent and listened at the still
breast that was holding the secret close from her. Then, with a sense of
having been baffled, defeated, and cruelly cheated, she dr