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Page 14
She looked into his face for an instant, and noted his earnestness; and
all at once she broke into a clear ripple of laughter. The young man was
astonished anew that she had understood him enough to laugh. She must be
unusually keen-witted, this lady of the desert.
"If 'twas as bad as that," she said in quite another tone, "you c'n
laugh."
They looked at each other then in mutual understanding, and each fell to
eating his portion in silence. Suddenly the man spoke.
"I am eating your food that you had prepared for your journey, and I have
not even said, 'Thank you' yet, nor asked if you have enough to carry you
to a place where there is more. Where are you going?"
The girl did not answer at once; but, when she did, she spoke
thoughtfully, as if the words were a newly made vow from an impulse just
received.
"I am going to school," she said in her slow way, "to learn to 'sight' the
Desert of Sahara."
He looked at her, and his eyes gave her the homage he felt was her due;
but he said nothing. Here evidently was an indomitable spirit, but how did
she get out into the wilderness? Where did she come from, and why was she
alone? He had heard of the freedom of Western women, but surely such girls
as this did not frequent so vast a waste of uninhabited territory as his
experience led him to believe this was. He sat studying her.
The brow was sweet and thoughtful, with a certain keen inquisitiveness
about the eyes. The mouth was firm; yet there were gentle lines of grace
about it. In spite of her coarse, dark calico garb, made in no particular
fashion except with an eye to covering with the least possible fuss and
trouble, she was graceful. Every movement was alert and clean-cut. When
she turned to look full in his face, he decided that she had almost
beautiful eyes.
She had arisen while he was watching her, and seemed to be looking off
with sudden apprehension. He followed her gaze, and saw several dark
figures moving against the sky.
"It's a herd of antelope," she said with relief; "but it's time we hit the
trail." She turned, and put her things together with incredible swiftness,
giving him very little opportunity to help, and mounted her pony without
more words.
For an hour he followed her at high speed as she rode full tilt over rough
and smooth, casting furtive, anxious glances behind her now and then,
which only half included him. She seemed to know that he was there and was
following; that was all.
The young man felt rather amused and flattered. He reflected that most
women he knew would have ridden by his side, and tried to make him talk.
But this girl of the wilderness rode straight ahead as if her life
depended upon it. She seemed to have nothing to say to him, and to be
anxious neither to impart her own history nor to know his.
Well, that suited his mood. He had come out into the wilderness to think
and to forget. Here was ample opportunity. There had been a little too
much of it yesterday, when he wandered from the rest of his party who had
come out to hunt; and for a time he had felt that he would rather be back
in his native city with a good breakfast and all his troubles than to be
alone in the vast waste forever. But now there was human company, and a
possibility of getting somewhere sometime. He was content.
The lithe, slender figure of the girl ahead seemed one with the horse it
rode. He tried to think what this ride would be if another woman he knew
were riding on that horse ahead, but there was very small satisfaction in
that. In the first place, it was highly improbable, and the young man was
of an intensely practical turn of mind. It was impossible to imagine the
haughty beauty in a brown calico riding a high-spirited horse of the
wilds. There was but one parallel. If she had been there, she would, in
her present state of mind, likely be riding imperiously and indifferently
ahead instead of by his side where he wanted her. Besides, he came out to
the plains to forget her. Why think of her?
The sky was exceedingly bright and wide. Why had he never noticed this
wideness in skies at home? There was another flock of birds. What if he
should try to shoot one? Idle talk. He would probably hit anything but the
birds. Why had that girl shot that bird, anyway? Was it entirely because
she might need it for food? She had picked it up significantly with the
other things, and fastened it to her saddle-bow without a word. He was too
ignorant to know whether it was an edible bird or not, or she was merely
carrying it to remind him of her skill.
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