And so we marched away, down the street flanked with its stone houses
and out through the wide gateway in the stone wall which surrounds the
city and on across the clearing toward the forest through which we must
pass to reach the northern boundary of Galu, beyond which we would turn
south. At the edge of the forest I cast a backward glance at the city
which held my heart, and beside the massive gateway I saw that which
brought me to a sudden halt. It was a little figure leaning against
one of the great upright posts upon which the gates swing--a crumpled
little figure; and even at this distance I could see its shoulders
heave to the sobs that racked it. It was the last straw.
Bowen was near me. "Good-bye old man," I said. "I'm going back."
He looked at me in surprise. "Good-bye, old man," he said, and grasped
my hand. "I thought you'd do it in the end."
And then I went back and took Ajor in my arms and kissed the tears from
her eyes and a smile to her lips while together we watched the last of
the Americans disappear into the forest.
[Transcriber's note: I have made the following changes to the text:
PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
75 15 later latter
108 14 in is
123 24 the he
131 13 plans planes
131 28 new few
132 24 Donosaur Dinosaur]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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