mself felt became a positive torture to
Ambrose.

On the night of this day, lying in bed, he found himself wide awake
without being able to say what had awakened him. He lay listening, and
presently heard the sound again--the fall of a little object on the floor.

The chinks of the log walls were stopped with mud which had dried and
loosened; nothing strange that bits of it should fall--still his heart
beat fast.

He heard a cautious scratching and another piece dropped and broke on the
floor. Now he knew a living agency was at work. Job growled. Ambrose
clutched his muzzle.

Suddenly a whisper stole through the dark--in his amazement Ambrose could
not have told from what quarter. "Angleysman! Angleysman!"

Awe of the supernatural shook Ambrose's breast. He had come straight
from deep slumber. A fine perspiration broke out upon him. It was a
woman's whisper, with a tender lift and fall in the sound.

Job struggled to release his head. Ambrose sternly bade him be quiet.
The dog desisted, but crouched trembling.

The whisper was repeated; "Angleysman!"

A man must answer his summons. "What do you want?" asked Ambrose softly.

"Come here."

"Where are you?"

"Here--at the corner. Come to the foot of your bed."

Ambrose obeyed. Reaching the spot he said: "Speak again."

"Here," the voice whispered. "I mak' a hole in the mud. Put your ear
down and I spik sof'."

Ambrose identified the spot whence the sound issued. He put his lips to
it. "Who are you?" he whispered.

"Nesis," came the softly breathed answer. "I your friend."

Friend was always a word to warm Ambrose's breast, and surely at this
moment of all his life he needed a friend. "Thank you," he said from a
full heart.

"I see you at the tea-dance," the voice went on.

Ambrose had an intuition. "Were you the girl--"

"Yes," she said. "I sit be'ind you. I think you pretty man. When we
run out I squeeze your hand."

Ambrose grinned into the darkness. "I thought you were pretty, too," he
returned.

"Oh, I wish I in there," she whispered.

He was a little nonplused by her naive warmth.

"The men say you strong as one bear," she went on. "They say you got
gold in your teeth. Is that true?"

"Yes," said Ambrose laughing.

"I lak' to see that."

In spite of the best intent on both sides conversation languished. It is
difficult to make acquaintance through a wall of logs. Finally Ambrose
asked how it was she could