"I hope you will; but you mustn't prevent me going down. It's your duty to try and get well, father, and a doctor would help you."
"Cousins from the Cottage Hospital then—nobody else. But there's no hurry."
Auna, however, knew that she ought not to lose a moment. The way was long and, at best, it must be several hours before succour could be won.
"Tell me just exactly how you feel, because that will help doctor to know what's overtook you, father."
He explained, but vaguely. She felt that he was in a great fever, and saw that his pain increased.
Presently, to her dismay, he refused to let her go.
"It's come over me that I'm finished," he said. "I believe and hope this may be the beginning of death, Auna. And if that's so, there's no need for you to leave me. I'd little like any other woman to close my eyes. But you must be patient. I'm going to be called to suffer a lot I expect."
For an hour she begged and he denied. Then, to her great joy, she saw a horseman creeping up over the moor in the morning sunshine.
She was sitting beside Jacob with her eyes on the window, when the tiny figure appeared, afar off.
"Father!" she said, "there's somebody coming up over!"