United States -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
"Well," sighed Judith, "I don't think I'm regretting my decision. This
might be worse," stretching out her mittened hands to the blaze.
"Nice, girlish kind of amusements you enjoy!" grunted Douglas, with a
little grin. "Something quiet and restful about playing games with you,
Jude! Now listen, my dearest, don't close your eyes until I tell you you
may. A night camp under Black Devil Pass is plain suicide, if you
forget for a moment."
Judith threw off the blankets. "I'll chop some wood and get warmed up."
"Aren't you warm now?" asked Douglas.
"All but around the edges," replied Jude.
"Well, you put the blankets round yourself again and save your strength
for to-morrow. You'll need it. It won't take me long to get things ready
for the night."
Judith snuggled back in the blankets. "I'm really not a bit more done up
than you are, but it's worth a trip over the Pass to see a Lost Chief
rancher take such care of a girl. I didn't know you had it in you,
Doug!"
Douglas laughed and began making the camp ready for the night. When he
had finished his preparations, he sat down beside Judith, pulled a part
of the blankets over his shoulders and drew her close against him. The
Wolf Cub lay as close as he could crowd against Judith's other side, his
nose almost in the embers.
Judith looked into Doug's face attentively. His eyes were heavy and deep
sunk in his head.
"You are very, very tired, Douglas. Why don't you get some sleep?"
Douglas shook his head. "To-morrow, if all goes well, we'll reach
Nelson's place. This is to be my one last night alone with you. I'm not
going to sleep until I have to. This camp might seem sort of cold and up
in the air to some people, but to me, it's pretty close to heaven!"
"I never can connect the man you've grown to be," mused Judith, "with
the horrid boy you were once. I wonder what has changed you so?"
"Boys are rotten," agreed Douglas cheerfully. "Loving you is what has
changed me most. Everything else came out of that."
"I suppose," Judith looked at the fire thoughtfully, "that if I'm going
to work in an office, I'd better begin to polish up my manners."
"You'll be a wonder in an office!" said Douglas. "I can just see you
coaxing and taming a typewriter same as you coaxed and tamed old Sioux.
And just about as easy a job. You won't miss your horses and the Wolf
Cub. You won't be homesick for the range. O no!"
"I've thought that all out, too," returned Judith coolly. "I'll hate
every moment of it. But I'll be learning."
"Learning what, Judith?"
"About life!"
"About life! Judith, this is life. All of life. This!" He turned her
face to his and kissed her lingeringly.
She was silent for a moment and there were tears in her eyes. Then she
said, softly, "No, it's only a part of life. Things of the mind count
heavily as you grow older. They count very much with you right now. What
else is your fight for the sky pilot but a thing of the mind?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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