"'I never saw a purple cow,'" quoted he patiently.
"Oh, I wasn't!" cried Desire in distress.
Spence begged her pardon. But he did it abstractedly. His eyes were still upon the sky.
"You'll fall over that root," prophesied she grimly. "Do look where you are going!"
The professor returned to earth with difficulty. "Sorry!" he murmured. "I doubt if I should allow these moods to bother you. But you told me it might do me good to talk."
"Not all the time!" said Desire a trifle tartly.
He looked surprised. "But—" he began.
"Oh, I'm so hungry!" said Desire. "Do let's hurry."
She hastened ahead down the slope towards the camp. The tents lay in the shadow now but, as they neared them, a flickering light shot up as if in welcome. Desire paused.
"Someone lighting a fire!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Who can it be?"