e forest was
wonderfully still, and there seemed no reason whatever for the sudden
awakening. Then a stream of meaningless babble came through the canvas
wall of the tent. She sat up instantly, and listened. Plainly, the
patient was delirious, and the sound of his delirious babble must have
broken through her sleep. Three minutes later she was inside the tent,
her brow puckered with anxiety.

Stane lay there with flushed face, and wide-open eyes that glittered
with a feverish light. He took absolutely no notice of her entrance and
it was clear that for the present he was beyond all recognition of her.
She looked at him in dismay. For the moment he was quiet, but whilst
she still stood wondering what she should do, the delirium broke out
again, a mere babble of words without meaning, some English, some
Indian, in which she found only two that for her had any significance.
One was Gerald Ainley's name, and the other the name of the beautiful
Indian girl whom she had seen talking with the sick man down at Fort
Malsun--Miskodeed.

Her face flushed as she recognized it, and a little look of resentment
came in her eyes. She remembered what Ainley had hinted at about Stane
and Miskodeed, and what others had plainly thought; and as she stood
there it seemed almost an offence to her that the name should be
mentioned to her even in the unconsciousness of delirium. Then she gave
a hard little laugh at herself, and going outside once more, presently
returned with water and with a couple of handkerchiefs taken from the
sick man's pack.

She poured a few drops between his lips, and then after laving his
face, she laid one of the wet handkerchiefs on his brow, renewing it,
from time to time, in order to cool his head. After a little time the
babble ceased, the restlessness passed away, and his eyes closed in
natural slumber. Seated on the ground, she still watched him, her face
the index of troublesome thoughts; but after a little time, she began
to nod, her chin dropped to her chest, and she fell into a profound
sleep.

"Miss Yardely! Miss Yardely!"

Stane's voice awakened her two hours and a half later. She looked round
in some bewilderment, and as her eyes saw his tired, white face, she
started up.

"I am afraid I must have fallen asleep," she began hurriedly. "I----"

"Have you been watching me all night?" he asked in a rather weak voice.

"No, not all night," she protested. "I awoke outside a little time ago,
and heard