We need some sleep." With Steele in
the lead, we stalked away into the open.
Two days later, about the middle of the forenoon, I sat upon a great
flat rock in the shade of a bushy mesquite, and, besides enjoying the
vast, clear sweep of gold and gray plain below, I was otherwise
pleasantly engaged. Sally sat as close to me as she could get, holding
to my arm as if she never intended to let go. On the other side Miss
Sampson leaned against me, and she was white and breathless, partly from
the quick ride out from the ranch, partly from agitation. She had grown
thinner, and there were dark shadows under her eyes, yet she seemed only
more beautiful. The red scarf with which I had signaled the girls waved
from a branch of the mesquite. At the foot of the ridge their horses
were halted in a shady spot.
"Take off your sombrero," I said to Sally. "You look hot. Besides,
you're prettier with your hair flying." As she made no move, I took it
off for her. Then I made bold to perform the same office for Miss
Sampson. She faintly smiled her thanks. Assuredly she had forgotten all
her resentment. There were little beads of perspiration upon her white
brow. What a beautiful mass of black-brown hair, with strands of red or
gold! Pretty soon she would be bending that exquisite head and face over
poor Steele, and I, who had schemed this meeting, did not care what he
might do to me.
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