"First, there was the matter of the dust in sheltered places, to guide me. The rate of deposition of what, in one or two spots, can't have been anything less than cosmic or star-dust, is fairly certain. "Then again, the rate of this present deterioration of stone and steel has furnished another index. And last night I had a little peek at the pole-star, through my telescope, while you were asleep. "The good old star has certainly shifted out of place a bit. Furthermore, I've been observing certain evolutionary changes in the animals and plants about us. Those have helped, too." "And--and what have you found out?" asked she with tremulous interest. "Well, I think I've got the answer, more or less correctly. Of course it's only an approximate result, as we say in engineering. But the different items check up with some degree of consistency. "And I'm safe in believing I'm within at least a hundred years of the date one way or the other. Not a bad factor of safety, that, with my limited means of working." The girl's eyes widened. From her hand fell the empty gold cup; it rolled away across the clean-swept floor. "What?" cried she. "You've got it, within a hundred years! Why, then--you mean it's _more_ than a hundred?" Indulgently the engineer smiled. "Come, now," he coaxed. "Just guess, for instance, how old you really are--and growing younger every day?" "Two hundred maybe? Oh surely not as old as that! It's horrible to think of!" "Listen," bade he. "If I count your twenty-four years, when you went to sleep, you're now--" "What?" "You're now at the very minimum calculation, just about one thousand and twenty-four! Some age, that, eh?" Then, as she stared at him wide-eyed he added with a smile. "No disputing that fact, no dodging it. The thing's as certain as that you're now the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world!" CHAPTER XII DRAWING TOGETHER Days passed, busy days, full of hard labor and achievement, rich in experience and learning, in happiness, in dreams of what the future might yet bring. Beatrice made and finished a considerable wardrobe of garments for them both. These, when the fur had been clipped close with the scissors, were not oppressively warm, and, even though on some days a bit uncomfortable, the man and woman tolerated them because they had no others. Plenty of bathing and good food put them in splendid physical condition, to which their active exercise contributed much. And thus, judging partly by the state of the foliage, partly by the height of the sun, which Stern determined with considerable accuracy by means of a simple, home-made quadrant--they knew mid-May was past and June was drawing near.