“That’s all I ask for, Chief,” said Bruce, eagerly, trying to raise his head from the pillow as he spoke, and then letting it fall again from sheer weakness. “The work was getting rather tiresome down there and I hated to be left alone when all the men were away at fires. But if you’ll only let me go with them, I won’t ask anything more of you.” Then Chief Trask went away promising to come again soon, and Skinny, who had watched him closely through his small squirrel eyes, now turned and said: “Hay boss, dat was de chief of de bat’lion, I’ve seen him lots of times.” And it was evident from the boy’s manner that he regarded his friend and preserver with much greater respect than before. A church clock in the neighborhood had just finished striking eleven, when Miss Ingraham the day-nurse, came to Bruce’s bedside and said, “There’s a young lady down stairs who wishes to see you; do you feel well enough to talk any more?” A young lady to see him! Bruce wondered, who could it possibly be, and then a look came into his face that made the young lady in the white cap and plaid dress smile, for she guessed from it that it was someone in whom he was deeply interested, so she simply said “I’ll send for her to come up,” and three minutes later Bruce’s heart gave a great bound and then seemed to stand almost still as he saw Laura Van Kuren pause for a moment in the doorway and then walk directly towards his bed. “Bruce,” she said, as she bent down beside him, “are you very much hurt? Oh I was so, so sorry when I read in the paper that you were precarious, and so I came right down to see you.” Of course Bruce had not the slightest idea of what she meant by his being precarious, for he did not know that his exploit had been mentioned in the papers at all, but then Laura often used long words which she found in her favorite books, and he had become accustomed to this peculiarity of hers, and seldom inquired what she meant when the language happened to seem vague and unintelligible. “No, I’m not badly hurt,” he answered cheerfully, “but I say, though, it was splendid of you to come down and see me and I’m ever so much obliged to you. Did you come all alone? Where’s Harry?” “I came down here all alone,” replied the young girl solemnly, “and you mustn’t tell Harry a word about it, because I’d get into awful trouble if you did. Now promise you’ll never say a word about it.” Bruce promised readily enough, and then Laura went on: “It would be awful if you had died without finding out the secret of your birth. Only think, you might go to Heaven and never know your own relations when you saw them there and they might be the very nicest people there too.” [Illustration: Laura visits Bruce in the hospital.—_Page 190._]