Slowly, and with the taste of raw brandy in his mouth, Hubert Stane came to himself. The first thing he saw was Helen Yardely's white face bending over him, and the first sound he heard was a cry of gladness.
 
"Thank God! Thank God!"
 
He did not understand, and at her cry made an attempt to move. As he did so, sharp pains him, and forced a from his lips.
 
"Oh!" cried the girl. "You must lie still, Mr. Stane. I am afraid you are rather badly hurt, indeed I thought you were killed. I am going to do what I can for you, now that I know that you are not. Your leg is broken, I think, and you have other injuries, but that is most serious, and I must manage to set it, somehow."
 
"To set it——" he began, and broke off.
 
"Yes! I am afraid I shall not prove a very efficient surgeon; but I will do my best. I hold the St. John's Ambulance medal, so you might be worse off," she said, with a smile.
 
"Much," he agreed.
 
"Now that you are conscious I am going to leave you for a few minutes. I must find something that will serve for splints."
 
Without more ado she departed, taking with her an ax, and presently through the stillness of the forest there reached him the sound of chopping. In spite of his pain he smiled to himself, then after listening for awhile, he began to try and the extent of his injuries for himself. There was a warm on his face and he guessed that there was a somewhere; his body seemed to be one great sore, from which he that he was badly ; whilst his leg pained him intolerably. Lying as he was on the flat of his back, he couldn't see the leg, and desiring to do so he made a great effort and sat up. As he did so, he heavily, and incontinently fainted.
 
He was still unconscious when the girl returned, and after one quick look of alarm she nodded to herself. "A faint," she whispered. "Perhaps it is just as well."
 
With a knife she ripped the breeches leg right up the seam, then with the aid of and a blanket, together with the rough splints she had cut, she made a shift to set the broken leg. Twice during the operation Stane opened his eyes, groaned heavily, and passed into unconsciousness again.
 
Helen did not allow these of suffering to her from her task. She knew that her unskilled surgery was bound to pain him , and she welcomed the into unconsciousness, since they made her task easier. At last she gave a of relief and stood up to survey her handiwork. The and the looked terribly rough, but she was confident that the fractured ends of bone were in position, and in any case she had done her best.
 
After that she busied herself with building a fire, and after heating water, washed the wound on Stane's forehead, and carefully examined him for other injuries. There were in plenty, but so far as she could discover no broken bones, and when she had satisfied herself on that point, she turned to other tasks.
 
Cutting a quantity of young spruce- she fashioned them into a bed close beside where he lay, and filled all the interstices with springy moss, laying over all a blanket. That done, she turned once more to Stane, to find him with eyes wide open, watching her.
 
"I have set your leg," she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. "I've done the best I could, though I am afraid it is rather a rough piece of work."
 
He raised his head slightly, and glanced down at the bandaged limb, then he smiled a trifle .
 
"It has a most workmanlike look," he said in a faint voice.
 
"Now I want to get you on this bed. I ought to have done so before I set your leg. I had forgotten that there was no one to help me lift you on to it. But perhaps we shall be able to manage, though I am afraid it will be a very painful for you. Still it must be done—we can't have you lie upon the ground."
 
The ordeal was certainly a painful one, but by no means so difficult as the girl had anticipated. Making a out of the pack ropes, Helen held the injured leg clear of the ground, whilst Stane, using his arms and his other leg, managed to lift himself backward on to his couch.
 
The strain of the effort tried him severely, and he lay for a long time in an condition, with his eyes closed. This was no more than Helen had expected, and she did not let the fact trouble her . Working methodically she the little tent in such a position that it covered the injured man's bed; and then prepared a meal of such things as their resources afforded, lacing the coffee she had made with a little brandy.
 
Stane was too done up to eat much, but he swallowed a fair quantity of coffee, whilst the girl forced herself to eat, having already realized that the welfare of both of them for the time being depended upon her and upon her strength. When the meal was ended, she found his pipe, charged it for him, and him a light, and with a of thanks, Stane began to smoke.
 
From where he lay, through the open tent-fly, he could see a portion of the windfall barrier which had been the cause of the disaster.
 
"I thought I was done for," he said as he looked towards the trunks. "I slipped and right into a sort of , didn't I?"
 
"Yes," answered Helen quietly. "It was a little time before I could find you. There was a kind of made by crossed trunks, and you had slipped between them into it."
 
"How did you manage to get me out?" he asked, his eyes on the amazing of trunks and branches.
 
"Well," was the reply, given with a little laugh, "as I told you this morning I am fairly strong. But it was a hard task for all that. I had to cut away quite a number of interlacing branches, and you out of the crevasse with the pack ropes, then slide you down the deadfall as best I could. It took me a full hour to get you clear of the trees and safely to the ground, and all the time I was oppressed with the thought that you were dead, or would die before I could do anything to recover you. When I got you to the ground, I went through your pack and found the brandy which I saw you place there this morning. The rest you know."
 
Stane looked at her with eyes that glowed with . "You make it a little thing," he said gratefully, "but I know what it means. You have saved my life, Miss Yardely."
 
The girl flushed , and then laughed a little to hide her . "Oh, as to that—we are quits, Mr. Stane."
 
"Not quite," he said quietly.
 
"What do you mean?" she asked quickly.
 
"Well," he answered, speaking slowly and considering every word, "I am tied here for some time—for weeks certainly. I can't move and I can't be moved. You——"
 
"I!" she interrupted sharply. "I shall remain here. I shall nurse you. There is nothing else to be done. I could not go forward a mile in this of trees without being lost; and I certainly couldn't find my way back to the river—even if I wanted to."
 
"But your uncle and friends. They will be looking for you, they will think you are lost."
 
"There's no help for that," she answered . "You will be able to do nothing for yourself. As you said just now you are tied here for weeks; and I am tied with you. There is simply nothing else for it. You were at my service when I needed you, and I am at your service now that you need me. I think that is all that need be said."
 
"Perhaps some wandering Indian may show up," he said . "Then——"
 
"I shall refuse to leave you before you are well," replied Helen with a little laugh. "You are my patient, Mr. Stane—the very first that I have had the chance of practising on; and you don't suppose I am going to surrender the privilege that fate has given me? No! If my uncle himself showed up at this moment, I should refuse to leave you until I saw how my amateur bone-setting turned out. So there! That is my , sir."
 
There was an almost merry note in her voice, but there was a note of resolve also; and Stane's and admiration increased. He looked at her with grateful eyes. Her face was , her eyes were bright with laughter, though they turned away in some confusion as they met his.
 
"You are a very noble——"
 
"Oh," she interrupted quickly, her face taking a deeper . "You do not know me yet. You haven't seen me at my worst. You don't know how catty I can feel sometimes. Wait until you do, and then you can deliver ."
 
She ended with laughter, and rose from her seat as if to leave the tent; seeing which Stane quickly.
 
"Whatever the worst or best of you may be, I am happy to be in your hands!"
 
"Just wait until I have shown my claws," she said over her shoulder, as she passed outside.
 
Stane lay quite still with a very thoughtful look in his eyes. Outside he could hear her moving about, singing softly to............