e made her stretch out on the divan while he gave her face and
hands and wrists an aromatic bath. Never before had Phoebe been
ministered to and waited on. She smiled at the doctor with dumb
gratitude.

"When people are hungry and tired and discouraged, they have a pretty
hard time holding on to their faith, Phoebe," he said. "Even when they
haven't anything to worry about, it's hard enough. You go to sleep now
and I promise you we will start on the search for your father at once."

Phoebe raised her eyes gratefully to his. In those clear brown depths
she read strength, gentleness and sympathy. She felt she was looking
into the face of an angel with a shiny bald head and shaggy red-gray
eyebrows.

"I believe God sent you," she said, and in a few moments dropped off
into a deep exhausted sleep.

After luncheon or dinner, whatever that meal might be called in camp,
Percy got out his motor cycle and proceeded to the Antler's Inn to ask
for news of Phoebe's father. Ben took the trail to Indian Head and
Billie and Dr. Hume went down to the village in the motor car to drum up
a search party or find guides to help them scour the mountains. In
neither attempt were they in the least successful.

On the way down the mountain, Billie decided to unburden herself of
something that had been on her mind for a long time.

"You have never seen Phoebe's father, have you, Dr. Hume?"

The doctor shook his head.

"Have you ever heard of a case like his? I mean forgetting one's past."

"Oh, yes. I have seen a number of cases. The patient usually loses his
memory altogether in time and goes insane."

"But he's not insane, doctor. He's not even going insane. Really and
truly, except about always trying to find a physician, his brain is as
clear as anybody's."

The doctor smiled. He liked this earnest, enthusiastic girl who was
always doing things for other people and modestly disclaiming credit.
There was something masculine in her disregard for small things and the
largeness of her views.

"A very nice man has instilled her with extremely big ideas about life,"
he reflected. "She is furthermore a wholesome, healthy young creature
with a high order of intelligence and a very warm, tender heart."

So much engaged was he in his diagnosis of Billie's character that he
had almost forgotten the subject of the conversation when she spoke up
again rather timidly.

"What I'm driving at is this, doctor, and I've been thinking about it