Part 42 (2/2)

”Hush!+” she said gently, ”Your head is very hot, dear, and thereYou ht, Donald!”

Like a boy MacDonald did as she told hih the cabin door Joanne levelled the pillows and lowered John's head

”I can't sleep, Joanne,” he protested

”I will sit here close at your side and stroke your face and hair,” she said gently

”And you will talk to me?”

”No, I must not talk But, John----”

”Yes, dear”

”If you will promise to be very, very quiet, and let me be very quiet----”

”Yes”

”I will make you a pillow of my hair”

”I--will be quiet,” he whispered

She unbound her hair, and leaned over so that it fell in a flood on his pillow With a sigh of contentment he buried his face in the rich, sweetbreeze that had come to him in his hours of darkness, her hand caressed hi perfume of her tresses; and after a little he slept

For

When Aldous awoke it was dawn in the cabin Joanne was gone For a few minutes he continued to lie with his face toward theHe knew that he had slept a long ti Slowly he raised hione; he was still laer helpless He drew hie of the bunk and sat there for a tihted at the result of the experiainst the wall, and he dressed hi, li a little as he went MacDonald was up Joanne's tepee was close to the cabin The two reeted each other quietly, and they talked in low voices, but Joanne heard the about her and went straight into the ar of the three wonderful days that yet remained for Joanne and John Aldous in Donald MacDonald's little valley of gold and sunshi+ne and blue skies They were strange and beautiful days, filled with a great peace and a great happiness, and in thees were at work On the second day Joanne and Marie rode alone to the cavern where Jane lay, and when they returned in the golden sun of the afternoon they were leading their horses, and walking hand in hand And when they came down to where DeBar and Aldous and Donald MacDonald were testing the richness of the black sand along the streaht in Marie's eyes and a radiance in Joanne's face which told again that world-old story of a Mary Magdalene and the dawn of another Day And now, Aldous thought, Marie had becoht, and confided s into the ears of Aldous, while Marie and DeBar talked for a long time alone out under the stars, and came back at last hand in hand, like two children Before they went to bed Marie whispered so to Joanne, and a little later Joanne whispered it to Aldous

”They want to know if they can be rown tired of trying to h ”Have you?”

His answer satisfied her And when she told a srew as soft as the night, and she whispered the words to Joe

The third and last day was the most beautiful of all Joe's knife wound was not bad He had suffered most from a blow on the head Both he and Aldous were in condition to travel, and plans wereMacDonald had unearthed another dozen sacks of the hidden gold, and he explained to Aldous what al possession of the little valley Histhis was unnatural and strained His words caly There was unhappiness in his eyes It was in his voice It was in the odd droop of his shoulders

And finally, when they were alone, he said to Aldous, with alold were not here!”

He turned his eyes to the narled hands in both his own

”Say it, Mac,” he said gently ”I guess I knohat it is”

”It ain't fair to you, Johnny,” said old Donald, still with his eyes on the mountains ”It ain't fair to you But when you take out the claims down there it'll start a rush You knohat it means, Johnny There'll be a thousand men up here; an' mebby you can't understand--but there's the cavern an' Jane an' the little cabin here; an' it seems like desecratin'

_her_”