ost at a stroke.

Again there had been no revelation. As the heaped fires illuminated
the clearing, five mature Hillmen stalked past the white men's hut and
into the forest. Terry identified them to the Major as the sub-chiefs
who ruled the five adjacent villages.

The Major sat in the window a while, watching the Hillmen, who
squatted around the fires smoking their ridiculously tiny pipes and
conversing in low gutturals. He fidgeted, then left Terry
unceremoniously and skirting the village through the woods unseen by
the crowd, he waited an hour near Ohto's house in the hope of seeing
Ahma. Disappointed, he returned and threw himself on the cot.

Terry sat in his accustomed place in the doorway, watching the fleecy
clouds that a high wind drove across the sky, vast sliding shutters
which opened and closed over the cool glow of the moon. The cold
breeze chilled the Major, and he drew his blanket tight about him.
Terry's voice roused him from his dejected reverie.

"Major, I notice that you didn't carry your gun to-day. Don't go
without it again."

The Major half rose: "Why--you don't think--I haven't seen any
indication of--"

"I guess you've forgotten that we are in the Hill Country. If they
find a 'sign' that is unfavorable to us--there won't be any delay. And
we don't want to sell out cheaply."

The grave judicial tones startled the Major. In his absorption in the
white girl he had lost sight of their precarious situation.

Terry went on: "The tide of sentiment is turning against us. They seem
more antagonistic, more sullen. So please be careful."

Terry lapsed silent and sat in the door, chin in hand. Soon the
increasing wind drove the Major under his blanket again, and overcome
by a curious feeling of comfort and security in the mere presence of
the slight figure huddled at the door, he soon fell asleep.

Terry, unmindful of the chill breeze, remained in the doorway, deep in
thought. Suddenly he brought his hand to his knee in quick decision,
and after tip-toeing over to the Major to be sure that he slept, he
silently departed the hut and skirting the edge of the moonlit
clearing, disappeared into the lane that led to the house where Ahma
lived.

* * * * *

Toward morning the Major woke with a start, bewildered by an unearthly
sound that smote his ears. The wind had risen to a gale, tearing the
fleece from the sky, so that the moon peered down upon a sea of
treetops tu