Run over the
thing with him and verify our figures. If there's anything left of the
afternoon when you get through you can take it off an' see the sights
in Valley City. Find out how they're fixed for water an' grub an'
wood. Tommy's got all that dope at the tip of his tongue. An' be back
here the first thing in the mornin'."
He went back to his work, and Conniston hurried away, decidedly glad
for the change of work. Just to grip his horse between his knees, to
swing out alone across the rolling fields, to drink deep of the
untroubled stillness of the wide places, to be an independent, swiftly
moving figure with nothing to break the silent harmony of the still,
hot sky above and the still, hot sands beneath--a harmony which the
soul leaped out to meet--brought a quiet, peaceful content. The day
was serene and perfect, like yesterday and to-morrow in this land of
dreary barrenness and of infinite possibility; the faint blue of the
cloudless sky met the gray monotone of the earth between two mounds in
front of him; and as his horse's hoofs fell noiselessly, as though
upon padded felt, his sensation was that of drifting across the wide
sweep of a gently swelling ocean toward a landlocked sea of pale
turquoise.
It was shortly after four o'clock when he rode into Valley City. He
passed the one-room school-house, with its distinctive little belfry
and flag-pole, and a glance in at the open windows told him that the
children had been dismissed.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216