osed
eyes, with the soft tress of Nada's hair in her hands. It was the
physical union between them, and all that day, and the night that
followed, Yellow Bird held it in her hand or against her breast as she
struggled to send out the soul that was in her on its mission to Oo-Mee
the Pigeon. In darkness she buried the food that was left her, and
stamped on it with her feet. The sacrifice of her body had begun, and
for two days thereafter Jolly Roger and Slim Buck saw no movement of
life about the lone tepee in the sand.

But the third morning they saw the smoke of a little greenwood fire
rising straight up from in front of it.

Slim Buck drew in a deep breath. It was the signal fire.

"She knows," he said, pointing for Jolly Roger to go. "She is calling
you!"

The tenseness was gone from the bronze muscles of his face. He was
lonely without Yellow Bird, and the signal fire meant she would be with
him again soon. Jolly Roger walked swiftly over the white beach.
Again he tried to tell himself what folly it all was, and that he was
answering the signal-fire only to humor Yellow Bird and Slim Buck. But
words, even spoken half aloud, did not quiet the eager beating of his
heart.

Not until he was very near did Yellow Bird come out of the tepee. And it
was then Jolly Roger stopped short, a gasp on his lips. She was changed.
Her radiant hair was still down, polished smooth; but her face was
whiter than he had ever seen it, and drawn and pinched almost as in the
days of the famine. For two days and two nights she had taken no food,
and for two days and two nights she had not slept. But there was triumph
in her big, wide-open eyes, and Jolly Roger felt something strange
rising up in his breast.

Yellow Bird held out her hands toward him.

"We have been together, The Pigeon and I," she said. "We have slept
in each other's arms, and the warmth of her head has lain against my
breast. I have learned the secrets, Neekewa--all but one. The spirits
will not tell me where lies the Country Beyond. But it is not up
there--beyond the stars. It is not in death, but in life you will find
it. That they have told me. And you must not go back to where The Pigeon
lives, for you will find black desolation there--but always you must
keep on and on, seeking for the Country Beyond. You will find it. And
there also you will find The Pigeon--and happiness. You cannot fail,
Neekewa, yet my heart stings me that I cannot tell you where that
stra