They took the train for Redding, were installed in the gable room,
explored together for three days the delights of the old-fashioned
house, the spicy joys of Grandma Orde's and Amanda's cookery, the
almost adoring adulation of the old folks. Then Orde packed his
"turkey," assumed his woods clothes, and marched off down the street
carrying his bag on his back.
"He looks like an old tramp in that rig," said Grandma Orde, closing
the storm door.
"He looks like a conqueror of wildernesses!" cried Carroll,
straining her eyes after his vanishing figure. Suddenly she darted
after him, calling in her high, bird-like tones. He turned and came
back to her. She clasped him by the shoulders, reluctant to let him
go.
"Good-bye," she said at last. "You'll take better care of my
sweetheart than you ever did of Jack Orde, won't you, dear?"
XXII
Orde had reconnoitred the river as a general reconnoitres his
antagonist, and had made his dispositions as the general disposes of
his army, his commissary, his reserves. At this point five men
could keep the river clear; at that rapid it would require twenty;
there a dozen would suffice for ordinary contingencies, and yet an
emergency might call for thirty--those thirty must not be beyond
reach.
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