"We shall become no wetter moving, and your camp, you said, was only a short distance away." "But are you strong enough to walk ?" And as I leaned forward toward her, a quick flash of vivid lightning, directly overhead, lit both our faces.

I marked she did not shrink, and no look of fear came into her eyes.
"I am quite myself once more," she answered confidently.

"It was despair and loneliness that so disheartened me.

I have never been timid physically, and your presence has brought back the courage I needed." There was a natural frankness, a peculiar confidence, about this girl, that robbed me of my usual diffidence; and as we struggled forward through the dampening sand, her dress clinging about her and retarding progress, I dared to slip one arm about her waist to help in bearing her along.

She accepted this timely aid in the spirit with which it was offered, without so much as a word of protest; and the wind, battering at our backs, pushed us forward.
"Oh, that troublesome hair!" she exclaimed, as the long tresses whipped in front of our faces, blinding us both.