FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73  
74   75   76   >>  
s. Halford. "You must eat," said her husband, simply, "and you must make the rest of them eat. You might do all right without it, but I wouldn't trust the rest of them. You may need all the nerve you've got." "Yes, dear," said his wife, submissively. She had been with her husband in times of danger, and she knew he was a leader to be followed. "I'll have sandwiches and coffee and tea; I can make them drink tea, anyway." "Third," went on Jack Halford, as if he had not been interrupted, "bring my field-glass with you. Dirck and I will range together along the river. If I put up a white handkerchief anywhere down there, you stay where you are and we will come to you. If I put up this red one, come right down with blankets and brandy in the first carriage you can get hold of. Get on the north edge of the hill and you can keep a line on us almost anywhere." "Couldn't you give us some signal, dear, to tell us if--if--if it's all right?" "If it was all wrong," replied the husband, "you wouldn't want the mother to learn it that way. I'll signal to you privately, however. If it's all right, I'll wave the handkerchief; if I move it up and down, you'll understand." Two minutes later he bade her good-by at the door. "Now remember," he said, "white means wait, red means ride." And having delivered himself of this simple mnemonic device, he passed out into the darkness. At the next gate he met Dirck and the two swung into step together, and walked up the street with the steady stretching tread of men accustomed to walking long distances. They said "Hello!" as they met, and their further conversation was brief. "River," said Halford; "what do you think?" "River, sure," said the other; "a lot of those younger boys have been taking the youngsters down there lately. I saw that kid down there last week, and I'll bet a dollar his mother would swear that he'd never seen the river." "Then we won't say anything about it to her," said Halford, and they reached along in silence. Before them, when they came to the end of the road, rose a hill with a broad plateau on its stomach. Here through the dull haze of the morning they saw smoky-orange lights beginning to flicker uncertainly as the wind that heralds the sunrise came fitfully up. The soft wet grass under their feet was flecked with little grayish-silver cobwebs, and here and there they heard the morning chirp of ground-nesting birds. As they went farther up the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73  
74   75   76   >>  



Top keywords:
Halford
 

husband

 

morning

 
mother
 

signal

 
handkerchief
 

wouldn

 

youngsters

 

taking

 

younger


dollar

 
nesting
 

accustomed

 

walking

 

stretching

 

walked

 

street

 

steady

 

distances

 
conversation

farther

 

ground

 
fitfully
 

flecked

 

lights

 

beginning

 

flicker

 
heralds
 

orange

 
sunrise

stomach

 

reached

 

silence

 

Before

 
uncertainly
 

silver

 

grayish

 
plateau
 

cobwebs

 

interrupted


carriage

 
brandy
 

blankets

 

coffee

 

sandwiches

 

simply

 

leader

 

danger

 

submissively

 

delivered