He turned to her, "With your permission, I shall say that I have just found you, that I have given you something to eat and while you were resting I went to telephone. Does that make you any happier?"
Her answering look was radiant.
"Now, remember—don't change a word of this. . . . Here's your coffee, Johnny. When you reach the Lodge, don't forget that you haven't seen me and that you are still unfed——"
"Unfed is right," said Johnny ungratefully. "Oh, my gosh, I am stiff as a poker. What do you say, Barry, to our doping this out around that fire—or have you got some other little thing in there you are keeping incog as it were?"
Refreshed and unabashed he grinned at them.
But Barry did not offer his fire.
"You'd better cut on before you are discovered," he advised. "It's a long way to go—like Tipperary. And I'll hurry off to Peter's place. . . . You strike over that shoulder there and down the trail to the right and you'll find the main road. It's shorter than the river. Besides you can't use the river trail or you would have found me. . . . Now mind—don't change a word of it."
"Sure, I've got it down. Well, I'll be off then!"
But Johnny was not off. He hesitated a moment, turning very obviously to Maria Angelina, who stood silent upon the doorstep, and it was Barry who took himself suddenly off around the corner of the cabin, with a plate of scraps for the vociferous Sandy.
Embarrassedly Johnny muttered, "I say, Ri-Ri, I'm sorry."