ad to stoop his head
a little, and knew that he was a taller, bigger man than she had
realized until now.
"If I were as big as you are," she laughed at him, "I'd be in constant
fear of bumping my head in the dark."
He laughed with her, told her that he was getting used to it, and came
back for his hat.
"If you'll be getting ready," he told her, "I'll go out and bring in the
horses. If you're rested up?"
She assured him that she was, noted again how he stooped for the
doorway, and watched him move swiftly away through the shadows cast by
the trees about the cabin. She put on her hat, buckled on the spurs she
had dropped on the table, and was ready. Then, before he could have gone
half way to the barn, she heard swift steps coming back.
He had forgotten something; but what? She looked about her expecting to
see his tobacco sack or some such article, a block of matches, maybe,
which he had left behind. But there was nothing. She lifted the lamp in
her hand so that the weak rays searched out the four corners of the
cabin. Then she turned again toward the door.
Out yonder through the clear night came on the tall figure with the long
free stride of the man of the outdoors. In a patch of bright moonlight
his head was down as though his mood were one of thoughtfulness, and the
shadow of his wide hat hid his face and eyes from her. In the black
shade under the live oak before Harte's door he lifted his head
quickly; here he came for an instant to a dead halt, half turning. It
struck her abruptly that he was tense, that the atmosphere was suddenly
charged with uneasiness, that he was listening as a man listens who more
than half expects trouble.
"What is it?" she called. She could not make out more than the vague
outline of his figure now as he stood still, his body seeming to merge
into the great trunk of the tree. He did not answer. Again, head down
and hurriedly, he came on. On through the thinning fringe of shadow and
into the full bright moonlight.
A sudden formless fear which in no way could she explain was upon her.
His actions were so strange; they hinted at furtiveness. He had been so
outright and hearty and wholesome a moment ago and now struck her as
anything but the big free and easy man who had supped with her. She drew
back a little, her underlip caught between her teeth as was her habit
when undue stress was laid upon her nerves, her breath coming a trifle
irregularly. After all she was just a gir
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