"Well?" asked Carter bending down from his saddle.
"May I go too, sir? Just as groom, sir. Please, sir?" he added, seeing a shade of dissent upon his master's face. "The truth is, sir, I 'ad a bad dream last night. Don't laugh," he pleaded as the corners of Carter's mouth twitched suggestively, "don't laugh. It was too real, too 'orrible. I thought an army rode over you and 'Er Grace and tramped you down. You called out to me to 'elp. I could 'ave saved you, but was too far away. Let me go, sir; just as groom. I'll keep far be'ind." The fellow was honestly distressed, so Carter sent him to Trusia, who gave him the desired permission. Then for the first time the Major noted that Carrick wore his sabre. The holster by his saddle held a revolver.
XXI
CARRICK WAS FAR BEHIND
Carrick was far behind. Overhead the tattered roof of leaves made a lacework of the sun. Birds were singing; their bright eyes turned curiously on the young couple passing beneath their verdant bowers. Tiny feathered brides nodded dainty heads, urging the great, stupid, human fellow to sing the love song in his heart to the girl by his side. "Mate now," they chirped, "in leaf time, in flower time, while fields are warm and nature yielding. The great mother, herself, commands it."
The impulses of nature were astir in the breasts of both Trusia and Carter, awakening in each a silent rebellion against a destiny which was forcing them to talk of trivial nothings which add naught to the greater issues of life. So far they had bowed to the dictates of destiny, but were growing more and more restive under the self-imposed restraint.
The horses stopped to drink from a stream which crossed their path. Carter, glancing in the direction of its source, saw that a heavy limb had fallen from a dead tree, blocking the passage of what had otherwise been but a wavering string of water. Restrained, however, it had mounted higher and higher, until at last, broadened, strengthened, and deepened, it had swept triumphantly over the dam and kept on its way. He felt that he was undergoing the same process in restraining the natural expression of his love for Trusia. Unconscious of his comprehension, she, too, had grasped the lesson of the stream. Their satiny nozzles dripping sparkling drops of water, the horses resumed their progress beneath the forest colonnade.
Trusia turned to him. Her resolution had been difficult to reach.
"When Krovitch is free," she said, "you must still remain with our army." She observed him covertly as she awaited his reply. The hopefulness, which at first drew him erect, gradually disappeared, leaving in its wake the bending lines of despair. There was a drawn look in his face as he turned to answer.