struck a tear from his cheek, turned, and fled. He went to the
rough lean-to that served as a stable and began to saddle his pony.

In all the heavens there was not a cloud. It was what the natives, too
often scourged by drought, called an ugly night. The full moon rose
visibly into the pale bowl of blue. Above her tropic glare the satellite
stars shone wanly and far away.

As Lewis was about to mount, Natalie came running from the house. She
held her new dress above her knees. Her white scarf streamed out like
two wings behind her.

"Lew!" she called. "Wait! What are you doing?"

Lewis waited for her. She came close to him and laid her hand upon his
arm. Her brown eyes, shot with gold, were bigger than ever. They looked
their question into his face.

"Nat," he said, "I've quarreled with your dad. There's nothing to talk
about. I must go."

"Go, Lew? Go where?"

Lewis shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he said. "Just go."

Natalie laid her head against him. Her two hands gripped his shoulders.
She sobbed as though her heart would break. Lewis put his arm about her.
He felt the twitching bones of her thin, warm body. His face was in her
hair.

"Ah, Natalie," he murmured, brokenly, "don't cry! don't cry!"

They were children. They did not think to kiss.

CHAPTER X

Lewis traveled toward the ancient town of Oeiras. He had cast about in
his mind for some means of livelihood and had decided to become a
goatskin-buyer. He was hoping to come to an arrangement with some
merchant in Oeiras.

One morning as he jogged along, his eyes on the ground, his thoughts far
away, he heard the patter of many hoofs on the hard clay trail. A
pack-train was coming toward him. At its head rode a guide. The guide
stopped upon meeting Lewis, and immediately every mule behind him
stopped, too.

"The blessing of God be upon you, friend!" he drawled. "Whence do you
come and whither do you go?"

"God's blessing be praised," answered Lewis. "I come from the hills. I
go to Oeiras."

"To Oeiras? We come thence. It is a long road, Oeiras."

"I go to seek a merchant who will start me as a goat-skin-buyer. Do you
know of any such?"

"A goatskin-buyer? Friend, for almost every goat there is a
goatskin-buyer. My brother is one, my father-in-law another. I myself
shall become one after this trip is over. You would do well to choose
some other occupation."

Lewis did not smile at the man's guile, though it had not esc