ough that crowd of fiends to fall unconscious at my feet."

"I shouldn't think you could!" Winnie's breath came fast. "What a
magnificent stunt for a chap to do! Was he a Mexican?"

"No, an American. His name is Kearn Thode."

"What! Who?" Winnie exploded. "You can't mean----! For the love of
Pete!"

Willa stared at him in dawning comprehension.

"You don't mean that you know him?"

"'Know him'?" he repeated, jubilantly. "I should rather think I do!
Classmate of mine at college and the best fellow that ever lived. So
old Kearn's been pulling off heroic stuff in Mexico! I never thought
he had it in him; he was always one of the quiet kind, but at that he
was right there when it came to a show-down. He's an engineer of some
sort and forever wandering over the face of the earth. I haven't seen
much of him consequently in the last three or four years, but I ran
into him about six months ago, and he told me he'd been out in
Oklahoma. I wonder what he's doing in Mexico!"

"Tell me about him," Willa invited. "I'm interested after what he did,
although I really liked him before that; he is so strong and clean and
straightforward."

"Yes, he's all of that," replied Winnie. "There isn't very much to
tell about him, though. We were at St. Paul's together and then
college, and we were pretty thick in those days, although he never
cared much for the society racket. His sister is his only living
relative; that's she, Mrs. Beekman, in the gray gown over there."

Willa eagerly followed his eyes. Why had she not guessed? He had
spoken only of "Edna" to her, but the likeness was unmistakable; the
same smooth brown hair, clear-cut profile with the firm, rounded chin
and frank, steady, laughing eyes. She remembered vaguely having been
presented, but the conventional tone of the other's greeting had
awakened no memories. Willa drew a deep breath.

"I'd like to really know her," she said wistfully.

"She's a rattling good sort; you'll like her, when you do.--I say, was
Wiley anywhere around when that raid took place?"

"I don't know." The eager light faded from Willa's eyes. "Why?"

"Oh, well, I can't just imagine him doing what Thode did, that's all.
But perhaps I shouldn't have said that. Even if you haven't met him
yet, you will probably see a great deal of him when he returns."

"How do you mean?" Her tone was oddly constrained, but Winnie was
impervious to subtleties.

"I really haven't any rig