nly of the brush, Roger--and of the hurt it might
cause me?"

"Yes, only of that," and he chuckled softly.

"Then I don't think it nice here at all," she complained. "I shall sit
up straight so the brush may put my eyes out!"

But her head pressed even closer against him, and careful not to
interrupt his paddle-stroke she touched his face for an instant with her
hand.

"It's there," she purled, as if utterly comforted. "I wanted to be
sure--it is so dark!"

With cimmerian blackness on all sides of them, and a chaotic tunnel
ahead, they were happy. Staring straight before him, though utterly
unable to see, McKay sensed in every movement he made and in every
breath he drew the exquisite thrill of a miracle. And the same thrill
swept into him and through him from the softly breathing body of Nada.
Light or darkness made no difference now. Together, inseparable from
this time forth, they had started on the one great adventure of their
lives, and for them fear had ceased to exist. The night sheltered
them. Its very blackness held in its embrace a warmth of welcome and
of unending hope. Twice in the next half hour he put his hand to Nada's
face, and each time she pressed her lips against it, sweet with that
confidence which so completely possessed her soul.

Very slowly they moved through the swamp, for because of the gloom
his paddle-strokes were exceedingly short, and he was feeling his
way. Frequently he ran into brush, or struck the boggy shore, and
occasionally Nada would hold lighted matches while he extricated the
canoe from tree-tops and driftwood that impeded the way. He loved the
brief glimpses he caught of her face in the match-glow, and twice he
deliberately wasted the tiny flares that he might hold the vision of her
a little longer.

At last he began to feel the pulse of a current against his paddle,
and soon after that the star-mist began filtering through the thinning
tree-tops again, so that he knew they were almost through the swamp.
Another half-hour and they were free of it, with a clear sky overhead
and the cheering song of running water on both sides of them.

Nada sat up, and it was now so light that he could see the soft shimmer
of her hair in the starlight. He also saw a pretty little grimace in her
face, even as she smiled at him.

"I--I can't move," she exclaimed. "UGH! my feet are asleep--"

"We'll go ashore and stretch ourselves," said McKay, who had looked at
his watch in the light of