High above, the sun beat down relentlessly. Not a breath of air stirred. There was the sleepy droning of the everlasting insects, the number of which seemed always magnified at such a time. There had been no rain for many a day. The dust was thick along the roads. Now and then a passing automobile left an instant's breeze to be more than paid for in the swirl of dust.

A solitary figure was scuffling along wearily. A casual glance marked him as a knight of the road, a tramp. But if you had stopped to observe a little more closely, you would have noted that he was not of that type, unkempt and bedraggled though he appeared.

He had stopped at the last house on the road and then, after no little hesitation, had asked for a drink of water. He had rested for a few minutes—then he had gone on. The people in the house had noticed his obvious weariness and had asked him if he did not wish to rest. But the evident and simple kindness of the woman, who was Mrs. Quinn, had seemingly embarrassed the man.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am," he had replied huskily, "but I must be on my way."

And so he had trudged wearily on. Every move on this hot, breezeless day was an ache, as if he were stepping on live and tender nerves. He had been able to make but one half mile in an hour. Then nature could do no more—and with a sigh, he had fallen to the ground. The heat had proved his master.

Along the road from the village which was two miles from the house where he had stopped, came Mary Lee. For her the heat had no terrors. There was beauty in this day, hot and merciless though it had seemed but a little while before. And, as you traveled with her, you also partook of the joy she received from Nature, because, whatever its guise, it was Nature nevertheless.

It was months since Dr. Anderson and Aunt Madge had visited her. Letty and Ruth had come almost every other week after that first spring visit. She had seen Bob, too, almost the day after he had arrived from abroad. With him had come his mother and his father. It had been a wonderful summer for Mary Lee.

How her heart rejoiced at the sight of Bob, who had gotten out of the auto a little way down the road so that Mary Lee, who had been his playmate and friend, could see him walk up the road, no longer crippled but like other boys. Bob had stayed over for a few days. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron had been greatly pleased with Mary Lee. They were surprised at the way she had grown and admired the tanned cheeks and the clear eyes.

Bobbie was to come out again at the end of July and a few days later Ruth and Edith and Letty were to come. And while all of them were at the farm, Aunt Madge and Dr. Anderson would drive out.

As Mary Lee came tripping down the road, some of the joy in her was for the days to come. She was not only thinking of the coming of her friends but also of September when she would join these friends in the city and be as one of them. A spirit of gratefulness mingled with her other emotions as she thought of the rapid changes that had taken place in the short time she had been out of the orphanage.

"Some day," she said very softly, "I am going to make my friends very proud that they are my friends." It never occurred to this simple, lovely little girl, that she had already given them cause for their pride in the mutual friendship.

"When Bob and the girls come we can visit the Sanitarium. If we can only get Dr. Anderson to go with us he can explain things to us and in that way we can learn so much more. Then, too, we can have real campfires and meetings and Bobbie can visit us as a Boy Scout."

So her mind planned it all, as she hastened along. There was no need for hurrying, but it was never in the nature of this girl to move slowly. But often she stopped along the road for there were many things that drew her interest.

"You poor things," she said to some dry and withered looking ferns along the way. "I shall practice being a real Red Cross Girl with you." She hurried into the woods somewhat farther down the road and from a brooklet brought some water with which to give the ferns new life.

This act set her to dreaming of her future when she would be a Red Cross Nurse and of Dr. Anderson who was to give her the opportunity to gain the necessary experience. It was great work to relieve and cure the sick.

Then across her line of vision came a blurred form which she could not make out. She hurried forward. As she neared it she saw the body of a man lying prone upon the ground.

For one moment there was a scared, helpless feeling within the girl. There was a great sinking in her heart. She seemed very small, very helpless. Then from somewhere within her a small voice whispered:

"Mary Lee, you are a Red Cross Girl."