"Upweekis will be away just now, so he won't disturb you with his screeching."
"And who may Upweekis be?"
"The lynx! He will have gone to the burned lands after the rabbits for the summer-hunting."
"Anything else on the forest visiting-list?" asked the girl merrily.
"Kookooskoss, the owl may hail you."
"Pooh! Who's afraid of owls?"
She laughed again, and then grew suddenly grave. "But we are talking too much," she said quickly. "There is a little-too-bright colour in your face. I think you had better try to sleep. I shall be just outside the tent, and if there is anything you need you must call me. Good night, Mr. Stane. In spite of the forest folk, I expect I shall sleep like a top."
"Good night, Miss Yardely."
The girl went outside, and after sitting for quite a long time looking in the fire, retired to the couch of spruce which she had prepared for herself, and almost instantly fell asleep.
Four hours afterwards she awakened suddenly and looked around her. A rosy glow through the trees proclaimed the dawn. The forest was wonderfully still, and there seemed no reason whatever for the sudden awakening. Then a stream of meaningless babble came through the canvas wall of the tent. She sat up instantly, and listened. Plainly, the patient was delirious, and the sound of his delirious babble must have broken through her sleep. Three minutes later she was inside the tent, her brow puckered with anxiety.