But fear was not one of the Girl’s emotions. At the display of guns that met her gaze she merely shrugged and inquired placidly:
“Oh, how many guns do you carry?”
Not unnaturally she waited for his answer before starting in quest of a chair for him; but instead Johnson quietly went over to the chair near the door where his coat lay, hung it up on the peg with his hat, and returning now with a chair, he answered:
“Oh, several when travelling through the country.”
“Well, set down,” said the Girl bluntly, and hurried to his side to adjust his chair. But she did not return to her place at the table; instead, she took the barrel rocker near the fireplace and began to rock nervously to and fro. In silence Johnson sat studying her, looking her through and through, as it were.
“It must be strange living all alone way up here in the mountains,” he remarked, breaking the spell of silence. “Isn’t it lonely?”
“Lonely? Mountains lonely?” The Girl’s laugh rang out clearly. “Besides,” she went on, her eyes fairly dancing with excitement, “I got a little pinto an’ I’m all over the country on ’im. Finest little horse you ever saw! If I want to I can ride right down into the summer at the foothills with miles o’ Injun pinks jest a-laffin’ an’ tiger lilies as mad as blazes. There’s a river there, too—the Injuns call it a water-road—an’ I can git on that an’ drift an’ drift an’ smell the wild syringa on the banks. An if I git tired o’ that I can turn my horse up-grade an’ gallop right into the winter an’ the lonely pines an’ firs a-whisperin’ an’ a-sighin.’ Lonely? Mountains lonely, did you say? Oh, my mountains, my beautiful peaks, my Sierras! God’s in the air here, sure! You can see Him layin’ peaceful hands on the mountain tops. He seems so near you want to let your soul go right on up.”
Johnson was touched at the depth of meaning in her words; he nodded his head in appreciation.
“I see, when you die you won’t have far to go,” he quietly observed.
Minutes passed before either spoke. Then all at once the Girl rose and took the chair facing his, the table between them as at first.