as talking, too. And
then he heard a man's voice--and from far off to his right came the
chopping of an axe. Old Robert was at work. Giselle and Cassidy were at
home.

He stepped up to the door, coughing to give notice of his approach. And
then, suddenly, he stopped, staring thunderstruck at what was happening
within.

Terence Cassidy was sitting in a big chair. The girl was behind him. Her
white arms were around his neck, her face was bent down, her lips were
kissing him.

In an instant Cassidy's eyes had caught him.

"Come in," he cried, so suddenly and so loudly that it startled the
girl. "McKay, come in!"

Jolly Roger entered, and the girl stood up straight behind Cassidy's
chair, her cheeks aflame and her eyes filled with the glow of the
sunset. And Terence Cassidy was grinning in that old triumphant way as
he leaned forward in his chair, gripping the arms of it with both hands.

"McKay, you've lost," he cried. "I'm the winner!"

In the same moment he took the girl's hand and drew her from behind his
chair.

"Giselle, do as you said you were going to do. Prove to him that I've
won."

Slowly she came to Jolly Roger. Her cheeks were like the red of the
sunset. Her eyes were flaming. Her lips were parted. And dumbly he
waited, and wondered, until she stood close to him. Then, swiftly, her
arms were around his neck, and she kissed him. In an instant she was
back on her knees at the wounded man's side, her burning face hidden
against him, and Cassidy was laughing, and holding out both hands to
McKay.

"McKay, Roger McKay, I want you to meet Mrs. Terence Cassidy, my wife,"
he said. And the girl raised her face, so that her shining eyes were on
Jolly Roger.

Still dumbly he stood where he was.

"The Missioner from Du Brochet was here yesterday, and married us," he
heard Cassidy saying. "And we've written out my resignation together,
old man. We've both won. I thank God you put that bullet into me down
on the shore, for it's brought me paradise. And here's my hand on it,
McKay--forever and ever!"

Half an hour later, when McKay stumbled out into the forest trail again,
his eyes were blinded by tears and his heart choked by a new hope as big
as the world itself. Yellow Bird was right, and God must have been with
her that night when her soul went to commune with Nada's. For Yellow
Bird had proved herself again. And now he believed her.

He believed in the world again. He believed in love and happiness and