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"Yes," said Bulan, and there was a sudden rush of fire to his eyes that kept

Virginia Maxon from urging a detailed explanation of just how she might repay

him.

In truth she did not know whether to be angry, or frightened, or glad of the truth

that she read there; or mortified that it had awakened in her a realization that

possibly an analysis of her own interest in this young stranger might reveal more

than she had imagined.

The constraint that suddenly fell upon them was relieved when Bulan motioned

her to follow him back down the trail into the gorge in search of food. There they

sat together upon a fallen tree beside a tiny rivulet, eating the fruit that the man

gathered. Often their eyes met as they talked, but always the girl's fell before the

open worship of the man's.

Many were the men who had looked in admiration at Virginia Maxon in the past,

but never, she felt, with eyes so clean and brave and honest. There was no guile

or evil in them, and because of it she wondered all the more that she could not

face them.

What a wonderful soul those eyes portray," she thought, "and how perfectly they

assure the safety of my life and honor while their owner is near me."

And the man thought: "Would that I owned a soul that I might aspire to live

always near her--always to protect her."

When they had eaten the two set out once more in search of the river, and the

confidence that is born of ignorance was theirs, so that beyond each succeeding

tangled barrier of vines and creepers they looked to see the swirling stream that

would lead them to the girl's father.

On and on they trudged, the man often carrying the girl across the rougher

obstacles and through the little streams that crossed their path, until at last

came noon, and yet no sign of the river they sought. The combined jungle craft of

the two had been insufficient either to trace the way that they had come, or point

the general direction of the river.

As the afternoon drew to a close Virginia Maxon commenced to lose heart--she

was confident that they were lost. Bulan made no pretence of knowing the way,

the most that he would say being that eventually they must come to the river. As

a matter-of-fact had it not been for the girl's evident concern he would have been

glad to know that they were irretrievably lost; but for her sake his efforts to find

the river were conscientious.

124

The Monster Men