again?"

She shook her head with a sad little smile.

"I am leaving to-night, Winnie, and going far away. I may return
sometime, quien sabe?--but I have played a lone hand ever since Dad was
killed and I've got to go on to the end. You're wonderfully kind,
wonderfully dear, but I have a long trail to follow and I must travel
it alone."

"You're leaving to-night!" He turned and walked to the window where he
stood for some minutes gazing out at the blank darkness before him in
silence. When he broke it at length and turned again, his face was
very pale but composed.

"You will write and let me know where you are and that all is well with
you?"

"Perhaps," Willa said gently. "At any rate you will know that I shall
think of you always and value your friendship as the one worth-while
thing in all this experience. I wish I could have cared for you,
Winnie, in that way, but it couldn't be."

"I understand." His voice was very low. "Remember that I am your
friend, if I can be nothing more, and I shall be waiting. If you ever
want me, or need me, you will have only to send me a word and I shall
come if it is half across the world.--I'm going, now. Don't be afraid
that I shall tell anyone where I found you. I can't bear to say it,
but it is 'good-bye', Willa. I--I hope, wherever you are, that nothing
but happiness will come to you. Good-bye, best and sweetest and
dearest----"

His voice broke, and Willa held out both her hands.

"Good-bye, Winnie. You're going to be happy, too, some day. I'll
always be proud of your friendship and what you have offered me. Our
trails may cross again some day, and if they do I shall be glad,
indeed. Till then, good luck and every wish of my heart to you, my
pal!"

Winnie pressed her hands, then dropped them and stumbled from the room.
In the machine, he turned and waved. Willa stood in the window, her
slender form outlined against the light behind her, her small head
proudly erect, and it seemed to the boy's blurred, exalted gaze as if
an aura of golden haze like a halo surrounded it. A passing glance and
he was swept along into the darkness ahead, the vision and the memory
of her all that remained to him.

CHAPTER XXI

THE RETURN OF TIA JUANA

"I tell you, Starr, it's all very well to play a waiting game, but
we've got to start something and start it soon, or we'll be up against
the worst fix we've ever struck in our lives, and that will be going
some!"