But always he was everywhere in the night about her.
All this she pondered as they began the ride up the valley, but as the
long journey continued, and the hours and the miles rolled past them,
a racking weariness possessed her and numbed her mind. She began to
wish desperately for morning, but even morning might not bring an end
to the ride. That would be at the will of the outlaw beside her.
Finally, only one picture remained to her. It stabbed across the
darkness of her mind--the red hair and the keen eyes of Pierre.
The storm decreased as they went up the valley. Finally the wind fell
off to a pleasant breeze, and the clouds of the rain broke in the
center of the heavens and toppled west in great tumbling masses. In
half an hour's time the sky was clear, and a cold moon looked down on
the blue-black evergreens, shining faintly with the wet, and on the
dead black of the mountains.
For the first time in all that ride her companion spoke: "In an hour
the gray will begin in the east. Suppose we camp here, eat, get a
bit of sleep, and then start again?"
As if she had waited for permission, fighting against her weariness,
she now let down the bars of her will, and a tingling stupor swept
over her body and broke in hot, numbing waves on her brain.
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