myself, so you'll have to pull 'em
out." Then seriously. "You do come over here often, don't you?"

"Of course--" then, the last thorn disposed of, she rose--"to see
Ba'tiste. I look on him as a sort of a guardian. He knew my father.
But let's talk about yourself. You seem remarkably clear in your mind
to be afflicted with amnesia. Are you sure you don't remember
anything--?"

"No--not now. But," and Barry hedged painfully, "I think I will. It
acts to me like a momentary thing. Every once in a while I get a flash
as though it were all coming back; it was just the fall, I'm sure of
that. My head's all right."

"You mean your brain?"

"Yes. I don't act crazy, or anything like that, do I?"

"Well," and she smiled quizzically, "of course, I don't know you, so I
have nothing to go by. But I must admit that you say terribly foolish
things."

Leaving him to think over that, she turned, laughed a good-by, and with
the rolling, bow-legged old Lost Wing in her wake, retraced the path to
the top of the hill, there to hesitate a moment, wave her hand quickly,
and then, as though hurrying away from her action, disappeared. Barry
Houston sat for a long time, visualizing her there on the brow of the
hill, her head with its long-visored cap tilted, her hand upraised, her
trimness and her beauty silhouetted against the opalesque sky,
dreaming,--and with a bit of heartache in it. For this sort of thing
had been his hope in younger, fairer days. This sort of a being had
been his make-believe companion of a Castle in Spain. This sort of a
joking, whimsical girl had been the one who had come to him in the
smoke wreaths and tantalized him and promised him--

But now, his life was gray. His heart was not his own. His life was
at best only a grim, drab thing of ugly memories and angered
determinations. If a home should ever come to him, it must be in
company with some one to whom he owed the gratitude of friendship in
time of need; not love not affection, but the paying of a debt of
deepest honor. Which Barry would do, and faithfully and honestly and
truthfully. As for the other--

He leaned against the bark slabs of the cabin. He closed his eyes. He
grinned cheerily.

"Well," came at last, "there's no harm in thinking about it!"

CHAPTER VI

It was thus that Ba'tiste found him, still dreaming. The big voice of
the Canadian boomed, and he reached forward to nudge Barry on his
injured shoulder.

"