There might be a sinister meaning in that picture, but it was so
well hidden that he had little hope of ever finding it. Also, it
occurred to him that Peppajee, usually given over to creature
comforts and the idle gossip of camp and the ranches he visited,
was proving the sincerity of his manifest uneasiness by a
watchfulness wholly at variance with his natural laziness. On
the other hand, Peppajee loved to play the oracle, and a waving
wisp of smoke, or the changing shapes in a wind-riven cloud meant
to him spirit-sent prophecies not to be ignored.
He turned the matter over in his mind, was the victim of
uneasiness for five minutes, perhaps, and then drifted off into
wondering what Evadna was doing at that particular moment, and to
planning how he should manage to fall behind with her when they
all rode home, and so make possible other delicious moments. He
even took note of certain sharp bends in the trail, where a
couple riding fifty yards, say, behind a group would be for the
time being quite hidden from sight and to all intents and
purposes alone in the world for two minutes, or three--perhaps
the time might be stretched to five.
Pages:
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198