ers and the chirping of crickets and tree-frogs came with
it.

One by one the lawn-sprinklers fell silent. Gradually there descended
upon the world the deep slumbrous stillness of late night; a stillness
compounded of a thousand and one mysterious little noises repeated
monotonously over and over until their identity was lost in
accustomedness. Occasionally the creak of timbers or the sharp scurrying
of a mouse in the wall served more to accentuate than to break this
night silence.

Orde sat lost in reverie, his book in his lap. At stated intervals the
student lamp at his elbow flared slightly, then burned clear again after
a swallow of satisfaction in its reservoir. These regular replenishments
of the oil supply alone marked the flight of time.

Suddenly Orde leaned forward, his senses at the keenest attention. After
a moment he arose and quietly walked toward the open window. Just as he
reached the casement and looked out, a man looked in. The two stared at
each other not two feet apart.

"Good Lord! Heinzman!" cried Orde in a guarded voice. He stepped
decisively through the window, seized the German by the arm, and drew
him one side.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Heinzman was trembling violently as though from a chill.

"Dake me somewheres," he whispered hoarsely. "Somewheres quick. I haf
broke quarantine, and dey vill be after me."

"The place for you is at your own house," said Orde, his anger rising.
"What do you mean by coming here and exposing my house to infection?"

Heinzman began to blubber; choked, shivered all over, and cried aloud
with an expression of the greatest agony:

"You must dake me somewheres. I must talk with you and your goot wife. I
haf somedings to say to you." He in his turn grasped Orde by the arm. "I
haf broke quarantine to gome and tell you. Dey are dere mit shotguns to
kill me if I broke quarantine. And I haf left my daughter, my daughter
Mina, all alone mit dose people to come and tell you. And now you don't
listen."

He wrung his hands dramatically, his soft pudgy body shaking.

"Come with me," said Orde briefly.

He led the way around the house to the tool shed. Here he lit a lantern,
thrust forward one nail keg, and sat down on another.

Heinzman sat down on the nail keg, almost immediately arose, walked up
and down two or three times, and resumed his seat.

Orde looked at him curiously. He was half dressed, without a collar,
his thin hair unkempt. The u