r Lucetta had fallen into a troubled sleep, he
made his way to the riverbank to stare anxiously in the darkness up and
down the stream in the faint hope that help might appear. But for all
his longings the silent river gave back neither sight nor sound.

In the morning Lucetta's fever had abated, but it had left her weak and
exhausted; much too weak to continue the march, though she was willing
and anxious to make the trial. Prime vetoed that at once and tried his
best to concoct something out of their diminished store of provisions
that would prove appetizing to the invalid. She ate a little of the
broth prepared from the smoked deer meat merely to please him, and drank
thirstily of the tea; but still Prime was not encouraged.

During the afternoon Lucetta's temperature rose again, and, harassed and
anxious as he was, Prime was thankful that the fever did not make her
delirious. That, he told himself, would be the final straw. So far from
wandering, she was able to talk to him; to talk and to thank him
gratefully for his earnest but skilless attempts to make her more
comfortable.

"It is simply maddening to think that there isn't anything really
helpful that I can do," he protested, at one of these pathetic little
outbreaks of gratitude. "What do they do for people who have fevers?"

"Quinine," she said, with a twitching of the lips which was meant to be
a smile. "Why don't you give me a good big dose of quinine, Donald?"

"Yes, why don't I?" he lamented. "Why do I have to sit here like a bump
on a log and do nothing!"

"You mustn't worry," she interposed gently. "You are not responsible for
me and my aches and pains. You must try to remember that only a little
more than three weeks ago we were total strangers to each other."

"Three weeks ago and now are two vastly different things, Lucetta. You
have proved yourself to be the bravest, pluckiest little comrade that a
man ever had! And I--I, whose life you have saved, can do nothing for
you in your time of need. It's heartbreaking!"

The night, which came on all too slowly for the man who could do
nothing, was even less hopeful than the previous one had been. Though he
had no means of measuring it, Prime was sure that the fever rose higher.
For himself he caught only cat-naps now and then during the long hours,
and between two of these he went to the river-bank and built a
signal-fire on the remote chance of summoning help in that way.

Between two and three o'