inor,
laughing. "You'll be seeing with the eyes of a cook next. Sunsets will
remind you of tomato soup and clouds will make you think of meringues
and--"

Elinor broke off, her eyes wide with astonishment, and the others
following the direction of her gaze saw that she was looking at a man
who had crept into their midst so silently that no one had noticed him.
In that haggard and unshaved face they recognized Mr. Lupo.

"Something to eat," he demanded fiercely. "I'm almost starved."

Without a word Billie handed him several sandwiches and some fruit.

"Eat it over there," she ordered, pointing to a distant tree, "and
afterwards you can tell us what is the matter."

The others admired her calm assurance with the half-breed, but Billie
was tired of the Lupos. The wife had come near being the death of her
beloved cousin, and the husband was a lazy, loafing fellow. Such was her
judgment of them.

"Come, Phoebe. Come, Dr. Hume," she said, and the others gathered around
the lunch cloth. Mr. Lupo lifted his sodden, bloodshot eyes at the word
"Phoebe," and saw with astonishment the young girl, whom Billie knew the
couple hated, now drinking tea and mingling on equal terms with the
people of Sunrise Camp.

His eyes narrowed into little slits. After choking down the sandwiches
greedily, he stalked over into their midst.

"What have you done with my wife?" he demanded.

"We know nothing of your wife, Lupo," answered Dr. Hume, who knew all
about the couple by this time. "You had better go on now, if you have
had enough food."

"I don't want any more of your cursed food," answered Lupo, looking very
much like his namesake, the wolf, at that moment. "But I tell you if
you've given my wife money to leave me, you will have to pay for it in
another coin."

"Nobody has ever given your wife any money. She has never been back
since the day she threatened Miss Campbell with a carving knife. If
anybody has driven her away, it's you, with your drunken, low habits."

Lupo moved a step nearer and pointed his thumb at Phoebe.

"So you're trying to make a lady of her, are you?"

Phoebe took not the slightest notice. She was watching the antics of a
squirrel leaping in the branches of a giant oak tree, but she turned her
eyes gratefully toward Billie, when that young woman burst out with:

"She is a lady and my friend. I think you'd better go now, Mr. Lupo."

"Whoever meddles with those two shall pay for it," cried the man
fier