e, while this adventure with you is something
to talk and laugh over all our lives. I've cut my boot off and
bandaged my leg as well as I could, and am now hungry. That's a good
sign. I shall be positively hilarious if you make as good supper as
this meagre spread permits. Take a little water, for your throat must
be parched. You will have to drink it from the bottle, Pat's fashion,
for my rubber cup is broken."

"Indeed, a little water is all I want at present, and I must gather
wood for the fire before it is darker."

"Very well," he said, laughing; "supper shall wait for you."

The vicinity appeared as if never before visited, and there was an
abundance of dead and decaying wood lying about. When she had secured
a large quantity of this she came and sat down by the fire, and said,
"I will take a little supper now, and then it will be so dark that we
can signal in some other way."

"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "it has cut me to the heart to lie
helplessly here and see you doing work so unsuitable."

"Nothing could be more suitable under the circumstances. You do think
we shall be found soon? Oh, I'm so worried about you!"

"More, then, than I am about myself. I shall have to play invalid for
some time. Won't you be my nurse occasionally?"

"Yes, Graydon, all I can."

"Why, then, don't worry about me at all. The prospect makes me fairly
happy. Come, now, eat the whole of that sandwich."

She complied, looking thoughtfully into the fire meanwhile. By the
light of the flickering blaze he saw the trouble and worry pass from
her brow and the expression of her face grow as quiet and contented as
that of a child's. At last she said, "Well, this does seem cosey and
companionable, in spite of everything. There, forgive me, Graydon; I
forgot for the moment that you were in pain."

"Was I? I forgot it, too. Sitting there in the firelight, you
suggested the sweetest picture I ever hope to see."

"You can't be _in extremis_ when you begin to compliment."

"Don't you wish to know what the picture was?"

"Oh, yes, if it will help you pass the time!"

"I saw you sitting by a hearth, and I thought, 'If that hearth were
mine it would be the loveliest picture the world had known.' Now you
see what an egotist I am. You look so enchanting in that firelight
that I cannot resist--I would try so hard to be worthy of you, Madge.
Make your own terms again, as I said once to you before."

"My own terms?" she repeated, tur