only way a cold could get me would be to bite me. I'm the
wellest thing on earth."

"Broadway won't know you, you're so brown," he commented, looking down
at her.

"Broadway? What's that?"

"A state of mind," he laughed.

The days slid by with incredible swiftness. They extended their holiday
twice to please Bill, who insisted on some special expeditions. A
descent upon the cabin in the valley found a pile of mail awaiting them.

"Shall we burn it without opening it?" Trent asked her.

"And never go back?" she challenged him.

"And never go back," he answered gravely.

"Your proposition interests me," she said to lessen the tension. "This
is a call to rehearsal." She held up the envelope.

"And this is a summons from my party leaders," he remarked, matching her
envelope with his.

"What do you say, Barbara? Work or bolt?"

She looked at him steadily for a long moment, then slit her envelope. He
lifted his eyebrows slightly and began on his letters.

"My call is for Monday. When is yours?" she said presently.

"Mine is urgent, but Monday in New York is soon enough. That means we
must leave here Friday morning."

"This is Tuesday night. Let's go up once more, and come down Thursday
night. We can pack in an hour. Let's say good-bye to it, up there."

"Good-bye to what?"

"To the mountains."

So it was arranged, and they set out on their last climb. The weather
was uncertain but Bob would hear of no postponement.

"It seems as if we had always spent our days like this, as if we always
would," she said as they rode.

"But you wouldn't like that."

"Probably not."

As the day wore on and they went higher with each mile, clouds began to
gather, and thunder rumbled far away, then nearer.

"Goin' to git a storm," said Bill.

"Good! That's the one big thing we haven't had in the way of
experience," Bob answered.

"Yer goin' to git it."

"How far are we from shelter, Bill?" Trent asked.

"There's a loggin' shack 'bout five miles up. We'd better jog along and
git to it, fer when this here thing busts it's goin' to rip snort."

They pushed the ponies into a trot on all the level spots, and they
scrambled up the steep grades, as if they, too, sensed danger. The
clouds grew blacker and blacker.

"Those clouds bubble out of a huge cauldron," Bob said. Lightning began
to crack across the sky, like fiery lashes of a whip. Bob reined up to
watch.

"Come on, Bob, hurry!" ordered Trent. "This is no st