“Mary Temple, your miner’s bread is simply exquisite this morning,” Charmian told her placidly. “You haven’t forgotten our delightful days in Alaska, I see. Mary Temple, hereafter I intend to refer to you as my companion at arms. You’re so companionable that I couldn’t think of existing without you, and you’re always up in arms. Companion at arms is right. I’m glad I thought of that one. Naming things is my hobby, you know, Doctor.” “Charmian,” quoth Mary in a sepulchral voice, “have you forgotten what Madame Destrehan saw in your Valley of Foolishness?” “Let’s see. It was a madman bending over me, wasn’t it?--and stretching out his talonlike fingers toward my throat?” “It was--and you know it. Well, haven’t you had warning enough?” “You are well aware, Mary Temple, that I put no faith whatever in the second sight of Madame Destrehan or any other swindler,” Charmian reminded her. “But in this case, isn’t her prophecy working out? Haven’t we had the madman right here in our camp? What better evidence of her powers can you ask for, Charmian?” “In camp,” said the perverse young widow, “I always take two cups of coffee for breakfast, Doctor. One with the trimmings, and one black. May I trouble you to pour me another cup? And do you really think Shirttail Henry is a nut, Mary Temple?” “Putting aside what Leach and Morley told us about him,” Mary replied, “didn’t we see him strike off for the mountains when he saw a tiny cloud no bigger than a pancake? And think of him writing to the President when his puny little check fails to come on the dot! I wouldn’t call him a nut. I wouldn’t call anybody a nut, because that’s vulgar. But he’s a subject for a padded cell, and he’ll choke you to death in your old Valley of Tomfoolery if you persist in going up there and giving him the chance.” “That would be a rather unique experience, don’t you think, Andy?” asked the girl. “I’ve never even had a madman’s fingers at my throat, let alone being choked to death by one. I think, if I barely succeeded in escaping alive, that my life would be fuller ever afterward. And if Henry wants to give me the delicious experience I mean to let him have his chance. But he mustn’t overdo it. You’ll keep close and see that Henry doesn’t go too far, won’t you, Doctor Shonto? When my tongue lolls out and I’m beginning to get blue in the face, just yell, ‘Look at that cloud drifting over your rain gauge, Henry!’” “Funny, ain’t you?” sniffed Mary. “Trying to be,” said Charmian humbly. The four ate in silence after this, Charmian’s roguish brown eyes hidden by the long lashes. Now and then she looked up and smiled mischievously at Andy or the doctor, for all the world like a contrary little girl who knows she is exasperating and glories in it. “When do we start?” asked Mary suddenly. “For where?” “For the mountains and Henry Richkirk’s place.”