Let me dream, as of old, by the river,
And be loved for the dream alway;
For a dreamer lives forever,
And the toiler dies in a day.”
The bronze eyelashes hid the eyes of Shanty Madge as Joshua’s voice ceased. She looked up presently, to smile back at him despite herself.
“I know that,” she told him, “and I like it. I—I fight it—sometimes.”
Joshua turned abruptly to the wagon.
“Which room have you picked for yourself?” he asked. “Point it out and I’ll carry your bedding there.”
Then suddenly, from close at hand, came the tread of many hoofs on the rocky road to Ragtown.