I don't understand. She's not alone?"
"I'll try to tell you from the first. She started out for you with
Dick Wilbur for a guide."
"Good old Dick, God bless him! I'll fill all his pockets with gold for
that; and he loves her, you know."
"You'll never see Dick Wilbur again. On the first night they camped
she missed him when he went for water. She went down after a while and
saw the mark of his body on the sand. He never appeared again."
"Who was it?"
"Listen. The next morning she woke up and found that someone had
taken care of the fire while she slept, and her pack was lashed on one
of the saddles. She rode on that day and came at night to a camp-fire
with a bed of boughs near it and no one in sight. She took that camp
for herself and no one showed up.
"Don't you see? Someone was following her up the valley and taking
care of the poor baby on the way. Someone who was afraid to let
himself be seen. Perhaps it was the man who killed Dick Wilbur without
a sound there beside the river; perhaps as Dick died he told the man
who killed him about the lonely girl and this other man was white
enough to help Mary.
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