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Rh back into his dreamland when the spoon ceased to empty itself down his throat, and vaguely he sought for the utter peace of it again. But that was not to be. Life was stirring in him now, and when, towards evening, he looked up and spoke, his senses were sharpening. Anderson was on guard; but he called Hensham, and Hensham came, bringing his strong vigorous presence into the misty greyness which hedged Dick.

"Here's some more soup," said Hensham, and went to work promptly with spoon and bowl. Then he propped Dick with pillows and gave him leave to talk.

"Not that I imagine you'll have much to say just yet," he remarked. "You came pretty near finding us drawing up your epitaph, Heriot. When we heard that you hadn't been seen on the Mackenzie we guessed what had happened."

Dick shut his eyes. The voice was surely friendly; but in this dim light he could not tell what the face was saying, and sheer physical weakness made him afraid to look.

"What—did happen?" he asked slowly.

"Why, I guess you know best." Hensham laughed. "We figured out that the girl ran away from you and you went right after her without coming back for help. I've heard that you always defied Providence when you had a chance. And then—well, you got lost, of course. But I want to know what happened to her?"

"She ran away—she ran away" Dick tried to remember; but his thoughts were in flux, and he could not get beyond the lead which Hensham's words had given him.

"There!" Hensham spoke triumphantly to someone unseen. "What did I tell you, Baskerville! I said he'd come out with a clean sheet all right. You go to sleep again, Heriot. Lord, he's as weak as a day-old puppy."

The little room shook with the strong tread of life going out from it; and Dick lay still, hovering yet on the edge of that life and unsure if he were man or only spirit. The long starvation and the long suffering had taken more from him than would come back at once, and the memories that drifted through his brain were not acute enough to hurt him. There was the knowledge somewhere that they