He answered with well-simulated carelessness. "No; but it is most

likely they are well into the game by this time. It's bound to prove a

hard campaign, to judge from all visible indications, and the trouble

has been hatching long enough to get all the hostiles into a bunch. I

know most of them, and they are a bad lot of savages. Crook's column,

I have just heard, was overwhelmingly attacked on the Rosebud, and

forced to fall back. That leaves the Seventh to take the brunt of it,

and there is going to be hell up north presently, or I 've forgotten

all I ever knew about Indians. Sitting Bull is the arch-devil for a

plot, and he has found able assistants to lead the fighting. I only

wish it were my luck to be in it. But come, little girl, as I said, I

'm quite likely to be off before night, provided I am fortunate enough

to strike a fresh trail. Under such conditions you won't mind my

kissing you out here, will you?"

She held up her lips and he touched them softly with his own. Her eyes

were tear-dimmed. "Oh, Bob, I hate so to let you go," she sobbed,

clinging to him. "No one could have been more to me than you have

been, and you are all I have left in the world. Everything I care for

goes away from me. Life is so hard, so hard!"

"Yes, little girl, I know," and the man stroked her hair tenderly, his

own voice faltering. "It's all hard; I learned that sad lesson long

ago, but I 've tried to make it a little bit easier for you since we

first came together. Still, I don't see how I can possibly help this.

I 've been hunting after that fellow a long while now, a matter of

fifteen years over a mighty dim trail, and it would be a mortal sin to

permit him to get away scot-free. Besides, if this affair only manages

to turn out right, I can promise to make you the happiest girl in

America. But, Naida, dear, don't cling to me so; it is not at all like

you to break down in this fashion," and he gently unclasped her hands,

holding her away from him, while he continued to gaze hungrily into her

troubled face. "It only weakens me at a time when I require all my

strength of will."

"Sometimes I feel just like a coward, Bob. It's the woman of it; yet

truly I wish to do whatever you believe to be best. But, Bob, I need

you so much, and you will come back, won't you? I shall be so lonely

here, for--for you are truly all I have in the world."




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