e winter wind.

"It was a strange thing," he thought, "but every human token is startling
out here. What's that now?"

The doctor had a plainsman's ear as well as a plainsman's eye. As he
listened, through the wail of the wind borne along the distance, he caught
the words of a song, low and pleading like a plaintive cry for help:

Though, like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone--
Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee.

It was a woman's voice and Carey faced about to listen. He knew it came
from the bushes below the red scarf. So he changed his course and hurried
around a bend in the stream to the other side of the brush where Virginia
Aydelot stood beside Juno.

"I'm afraid there isn't even a stone to rest on here, Madam. Can I be of
any service to you?" he said, lifting his hand toward his cap in
semi-military salute.

Virginia stood looking at the stranger with a half-comprehending gaze. She
had been less than an hour beside the bushes, but it had seemed to her
like many hours. And the terrifying certainty of a night alone on the
prairie made the sudden presence of a human being unreal to her.

"I beg your pardon; I am Dr. Carey, of Carey's Crossing, and I was
striking across the prairie to the Big Wolf settlement when I saw your
scarf and heard your singing. I took them both to be distress signals and
came over to see if you needed me."

One had only to listen to Dr. Carey's voice to understand why Darley
Champers should accuse him of laying a charm on the whole settlement.

Virginia recovered herself quickly, saying with a wan smile:

"You came just in time, Doctor. I am lost and need help. I was going to
you, anyhow."

Each one's face was so muffled against the wind that the eyes and lips and
a bit of the cheeks alone were visible.

"Not a bad-looking woman for all the Kansas tan," the doctor thought. "She
has a voice like a true Virginian and fine eyes and teeth. But any woman
who bundles up for a horseback ride across the plains on a day like this
isn't out for a beauty show contest. I've seen eyes like that before,
though, and as to her voice--"

"I am Mrs. Asher Aydelot from the Grass River Valley," Virginia went on.
"There are only three settlers out there now, Mr. Shir