In his sleep his mind had been active.

The idea that greeted him, beautiful as the sunrise, flashed in memory of Auchincloss's significant words, "Take your chance with the girl!" The old rancher was in his dotage.

He hinted of things beyond the range of possibility.

That idea of a chance for Dale remained before his consciousness only an instant.

Stars were unattainable; life could not be fathomed; the secret of nature did not abide alone on the earth--these theories were not any more impossible of proving than that Helen Rayner might be for him.
Nevertheless, her strange coming into his life had played havoc, the extent of which he had only begun to realize.
For a month he tramped through the forest.