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Page 30
The men unpacked and unsaddled the horses, and, hobbling their forefeet
together, turned them loose. Twilight had fallen and each man appeared to
be briskly set upon his own task. Glenn was cutting around the foot of a
thickly branched cedar where, he told Carley, he would make a bed for her
and Flo. All that Carley could see that could be used for such purpose was
a canvas-covered roll. Presently Glenn untied a rope from round this,
unrolled it, and dragged it under the cedar. Then he spread down the outer
layer of canvas, disclosing a considerable thickness of blankets. From
under the top of these he pulled out two flat little pillows. These he
placed in position, and turned back some of the blankets.
"Carley, you crawl in here, pile the blankets up, and the tarp over them,"
directed Glenn. "If it rains pull the tarp up over your head--and let it
rain."
This direction sounded in Glenn's cheery voice a good deal more pleasurable
than the possibilities suggested. Surely that cedar tree could not keep off
rain or snow.
"Glenn, how about--about animals--and crawling things, you know?" queried
Carley.
"Oh, there are a few tarantulas and centipedes, and sometimes a scorpion.
But these don't crawl around much at night. The only thing to worry about
are the hydrophobia skunks."
"What on earth are they?" asked Carley, quite aghast.
"Skunks are polecats, you know," replied Glenn, cheerfully. "Sometimes one
gets bitten by a coyote that has rabies, and then he's a dangerous
customer. He has no fear and he may run across you and bite you in the
face. Queer how they generally bite your nose. Two men have been bitten
since I've been here. One of them died, and the other had to go to the
Pasteur Institute with a well-developed case of hydrophobia."
"Good heavens!" cried Carley, horrified.
"You needn't be afraid," said Glenn. "I'll tie one of the dogs near your
bed."
Carley wondered whether Glenn's casual, easy tone had been adopted for her
benefit or was merely an assimilation from this Western life. Not
improbably Glenn himself might be capable of playing a trick on her. Carley
endeavored to fortify herself against disaster, so that when it befell she
might not be wholly ludicrous.
With the coming of twilight a cold, keen wind moaned through the cedars.
Carley would have hovered close to the fire even if she had not been too
tired to exert herself. Despite her aches, she did justice to the supper.
It amazed her that appetite consumed her to the extent of overcoming a
distaste for this strong, coarse cooking. Before the meal ended darkness
had fallen, a windy raw darkness that enveloped heavily like a blanket.
Presently Carley edged closer to the fire, and there she stayed,
alternately turning back and front to the welcome heat. She seemingly
roasted hands, face, and knees while her back froze. The wind blew the
smoke in all directions. When she groped around with blurred, smarting eyes
to escape the hot smoke, it followed her. The other members of the party
sat comfortably on sacks or rocks, without much notice of the smoke that so
exasperated Carley. Twice Glenn insisted that she take a seat he had fixed
for her, but she preferred to stand and move around a little.
By and by the camp tasks of the men appeared to be ended, and all gathered
near the fire to lounge and smoke and talk. Glenn and Hutter engaged in
interested conversation with two Mexicans, evidently sheep herders. If the
wind and cold had not made Carley so uncomfortable she might have found the
scene picturesque. How black the night! She could scarcely distinguish the
sky at all. The cedar branches swished in the wind, and from the gloom came
a low sound of waves lapping a rocky shore. Presently Glenn held up a hand.
"Listen, Carley!" he said.
Then she heard strange wild yelps, staccato, piercing, somehow infinitely
lonely. They made her shudder.
"Coyotes," said Glenn. "You'll come to love that chorus. Hear the dogs bark
back."
Carley listened with interest, but she was inclined to doubt that she would
ever become enamoured of such wild cries.
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