And then a strange revulsion of feeling, quite characteristic of the emotional side of his singular temperament, overcame him.

He was taking leave of his wife--the dream of his youth--perhaps forever! It should be no parting in anger as at Robles; it should be with a tenderness that would blot out their past in their separate memories--God knows! it might even be that a parting at that moment was a joining of them in eternity.

In his momentary exaltation it even struck him that it was a duty, no less sacred, no less unselfish than the one to which he had devoted his life.

The light was growing stronger; he could hear voices in the nearest picket line, and the sound of a cough in the invading mist.

He made a hurried sign to the on-coming figure to follow him, ran ahead, and halted at last in the cover of a hackmatack bush.