g boxes out for seats; McCloud did not stop to
look up. "I crawl under the bed--the others don't seem to mind it."

"Which is your bed?"

"Whichever I can crawl under quickest. I usually sleep there." He
pointed to the one on the right.

"I thought so. It has the blanket folded back so neatly, just as if
there were sheets under it. I'll bet there aren't any."

"Do you think this is a summer resort? Knisely, my assistant, sleeps
there, but of course we are never both in bed at the same time; he's
down the river to-night. It's a sort of continuous performance, you
know." McCloud looked at Dicksie. "Take off your coat, won't you,
please?"

Whispering Smith was trying to drag a chest from the foot of the cot,
and Marion stood watching. "What are you trying to do?"

"Get this over to the table for a seat."

"Silly man! why don't you move the table?"

Dicksie was taking off her coat. "How inviting it all is!" she
smiled. "And this is where you stay?"

"When it rains," answered McCloud. "Let me have your hat, too."

"My hair is a sight, I know. We rode over rocks and up gullies into
the brush----"

"And through lakes--oh, I know! I can't conceive how you ever got here
at all. Your hair is all right. This is camp, anyway. But if you want
a glass you can have one. Knisely is a great swell; he's just from
school, and has no end of things. I'll rob his bag."

"Don't disturb Mr. Knisely's bag for the world!"

"But you are not taking off your hat. You seem to have something on
your mind."

"Help me to get it off my mind, will you, please?"

"If you will let me."

"Tell me how to thank you for your generosity. I came all the way over
here to-night to ask you for just the help you have offered, and I
could not--it stuck in my throat. But that wasn't what was on my mind.
Tell me what you thought when I acted so dreadfully at Marion's."

"I didn't deserve anything better after placing myself in such a fool
position. Why don't you ask me what I thought the day you acted so
beautifully at Crawling Stone Ranch? I thought that the finest thing
I ever saw."

"You were not to blame at Marion's."

"I seemed to be, which is just as bad. I am going to start the 'phones
going. It's up to me to make good, you know, in about four hours with
a lot of men and material. Aren't you going to take off your hat?--and
your gloves are soaking wet."

McCloud took down the receiver, and Dicksie put her hands slowly to
her head to un