when a bird or
animal is full of motion and maybe joy, why, to see it stiff and cold
all of a sudden and to know you can never make it alive again----"
Jean's voice broke off abruptly. She did not care to show emotion to a
stranger.

"I understand," Ralph answered slowly. "I believe I would like to have
my sister feel that way. I know you have not asked it of me, and we may
never meet again, but so long as I live I shall never kill anything
unless I positively need it for food, or am trying to protect some one."

For several hours Ruth, the girls and their guest huddled inside their
tent waiting for the storm to pass and the wanderers to return. The rain
beat in until their waterproof cloaks were hung over the slits and
openings, and then, in spite of the coldness of the night outside, the
air in the tent grew close and heavy. Ruth did her best to keep up a
conversation with Ralph, but Jean and Olive sat on a pile of sofa
cushions with their arms about each other, waiting, listening for some
sound that would tell them the wayfarers were almost home. Frieda had
fallen asleep in a weary lump on a cot, with a tear of sheer
lonesomeness for Jack not yet dry on her pink cheek.

Suddenly the girls jumped to their feet and Frieda rolled off the cot.
From afar off they heard Jim's familiar whistle and long, cheerful call.
Ralph Merrit rushed out to pile the fire with the pine cones and logs
they had been keeping dry inside the tent. Jean and Olive lit the extra
candles they had been saving all evening. The rain having almost ceased,
Ruth flung a mackintosh about her and ran forth to follow the sound of
Jim's voice.

"Home at last!" thought Jim Colter happily, his worry and uncertainty
slipping from him as he caught the distant gleam of the camp-fire. For
many miles after leaving the mine he had hurried on, expecting each
moment to overtake Jack and Carlos. Then fearing they might have lost
their way, he turned aside at every doubtful place along the trail,
searching and calling their names until he was hoarse. Not only was he
torn with anxiety at the loss of his fellow-truants, but uneasy about
Ruth and the girls alone in a tent in a fierce summer tempest. Now his
journey was almost over, he believed Jack and Carlos had traveled fast
and were safe within their own shelter. The vision of Ruth's pretty
figure battling toward him through the wind seemed a good omen.

Both of them stretched out their hands. "Where's Jack?" th