Judith looked into Doug’s face attentively.  His eyes were heavy and deep sunk in his head.

“You are very, very tired, Douglas.  Why don’t you get some sleep?”

Douglas shook his head.  “To-morrow, if all goes well, we’ll reach Nelson’s place.  This is to be my one last night alone with you.  I’m not going to sleep until I have to.  This camp might seem sort of cold and up in the air to some people, but to me, it’s pretty close to heaven!”

“I never can connect the man you’ve grown to be,” mused Judith, “with the horrid boy you were once.  I wonder what has changed you so?”

“Boys are rotten,” agreed Douglas cheerfully.  “Loving you is what has changed me most.  Everything else came out of that.”

“I suppose,” Judith looked at the fire thoughtfully, “that if I’m going to work in an office, I’d better begin to polish up my manners.”

“You’ll be a wonder in an office!” said Douglas.  “I can just see you coaxing and taming a typewriter same as you coaxed and tamed old Sioux.  And just about as easy a job.  You won’t miss your horses and the Wolf Cub.  You won’t be homesick for the range.  O no!”

“I’ve thought that all out, too,” returned Judith coolly.  “I’ll hate every moment of it.  But I’ll be learning.”

“Learning what, Judith?”

“About life!”

“About life!  Judith, this is life.  All of life.  This!” He turned her face to his and kissed her lingeringly.

She was silent for a moment and there were tears in her eyes.  Then she said, softly, “No, it’s only a part of life.  Things of the mind count heavily as you grow older.  They count very much with you right now.  What else is your fight for the sky pilot but a thing of the mind?”

“It’s all based on my love for you, Judith,” repeated Doug.  “Judith, you never can stay away from Lost Chief.”

“I’ll stick it out.  See if I don’t!  Will-power is the best thing I possess.  Inez always said I’d never get up courage to leave.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been so angry.  But I did leave.  She didn’t know me.”

“I wish Inez had run away.  She’s been your and my curse.”

“How is she worse than Charleton?”

“She’s more likable and a lot finer and so she has more influence.  You don’t really think for a moment that Peter will marry her, do you?” Douglas spoke contemptuously.

“Well, if he doesn’t marry her, it won’t be because he considers that he’s led a perfect life, I hope.”

“That isn’t the point.  I think that men insist on marrying decent women because there’s a race instinct that makes a man turn to something better than himself for his mate.  It’s what lifts the race, keeps the spiritual side of life moving uphill instead of down.  If this wasn’t true, human beings would never have got out of the monkey stage.”

Judith looked at Doug with interest.  “That might all be true, but I hope you don’t put that up as an excuse for the double code.”