“She couldn’t possibly think that.”  Kate was too loyal at heart to contemplate that possibility for a moment.  “Marion knows better than that.  But it does hurt me to see her so careless of her own dignity and good name.  We’re strangers in this community, and people are going to judge us by appearances.  They have nothing else to go by.  I care more for Marion, it seems to me, than she cares for herself.  Why, Douglas, that girl even telephoned down to the Forest Service that she was up there and going to stay, and wanted them to send word to me.  And they are men in that office—­human beings, that are bound to think things.  What can they think, not knowing Marion at all, and just judging by appearances?”

“I suppose they understood perfectly that it would be impossible for her to get home across the fire, Kate.  By George!  I can see myself that she couldn’t do it.  I shouldn’t blame the girl for that, Kate.  And I can see also that it was a consideration for you that prompted her to send word in the only way she could.  Poor girl, you are completely worn out.  Now be a good girl and go in and rest, and don’t worry any more about it.  I shall stay here and keep an eye on camp—­and I want you to promise that you will lie down and take a good, long sleep.  Go—­you need it more than you realize.”

Tears—­unreasoning, woman tears—­stood in Kate’s eyes at the tender solicitude of his tone.  Very submissively she picked up the pitcher and the glasses and went into the cabin.  The professor sighed when she was gone, kneaded the pillows into a more comfortable position and proceeded to keep an eye on camp by falling into so sound a sleep that within five minutes he was snoring gently.  It would be cruel to suspect him of wanting to be rid of Kate and her troubles so that he could sleep, but he certainly lost no time in profiting by her absence.  Nature had skimped her material when she fashioned Professor Harrison.  He was not much taller than Kate—­not so tall as Marion by a full inch—­and he was narrow shouldered and shallow chested, with thin, bony wrists and a bulging forehead that seemed to bulge worse than it really did because of his scanty growth of hair.  He was a kind hearted little man, but the forest rangers had worked him hard all night.  One cannot blame him for wanting to sleep in peace, with no sound but the gurgle of the creek two rods away, and the warbling call of a little, yellow-breasted bird in the alders near by.

It was Fred Humphrey tramping wearily into camp three hours later, who awoke him.  Fred was an altogether different type of man, and he was not so careful to conceal his own desires.  Just now he was hungry, and so he called for Kate.  Moreover, he had with him two men, and they were just as hungry as he was, even if they did suppress the fact politely.

“Oh, Kate!  Can you scare up something right away for us to eat?  Make a lot of coffee, will you?  And never mind fancy fixings—­real grub is what we want right now.  Where’s Marion?  She can help you get it ready, can’t she?”