“We’ve won,” he echoed. “A few fatalities—but not enough to count.” He had engaged in much folly in his time, but it was to be said of Hugh that he wasted no emotion or maudlin words over the dead body of José in the burning brush behind. “And we can get Fargo too—on a charge of arson, at least. There will be some way to handle him. And the only thing left to talk about is you and I.”
“Shep, too,” she reminded him soberly.
The man glanced down into the loving brown eyes of the shepherd dog. He also was dirty and disheveled,—a shocking thing to be seen in a drawing-room but beloved past all utterance here. “Heaven forgive me, Shep, for forgetting you,” the man cried, dropping to his knees. He was quite sober as he held the dog a long moment in his strong arms. His bronzed face was intent. It was enough reward for Shep. His master released him, and he circled round the two of them, barking in mad joy.
And after all they attended to Shep’s destinies very swiftly. No wealth on earth could take him from them. And because their thought was clear and their understanding great, they did not even consider banishing him to a life of ease,—a chimney corner where he might doze away the days. Shep was of the world of toil; until his noble spirit departed from his body he would still have his guard of honor over the sheep. He would still know the hard labor, the long grinding hours, the nervous sleep in the firelight beloved of long ago, and perhaps—for reward—a plain meal and a caress at the end of the day.
“And if you’re going to stay with Shep,” the girl went on, her eyes averted, “it means—that you’re going to stay with the sheep?”
He smiled strangely. “Could I ever leave them, Alice?” He groped for words, but none had ever been invented that could reveal the sudden, moving impulses of his soul. “I can’t tell you how much it has all meant—how much it will mean in the future. Don’t you see, Alice—that this is my rightful place? With the sheep? In the wilderness? I couldn’t go—even if you sent me away, I’d have to go into the sheep business on my own account.”
“That’s right—you could. You could raise money——”
He suddenly laughed,—in sheer delight. His wealth—forgotten in the great vaults in an Eastern city—would be of use to him, after all. In a few breathless sentences he told her of his past life, his wasted days, and his regeneration. They would fill the hills with the feeding flocks, these two. Still they would know the comradeship of the camp fire, the night wind whispering through the secret places. It was their heritage, and they would not forego it. They were the shepherds, and this was their destiny.
“And if we’re both going to have old Shep, and both follow the flocks—there’s another consideration, too,” Hugh went on. “Maybe it’s too much to ask. But the soldier has seen some service; and he can’t restrain himself any longer. We’ve got to have each other, too.”
A strong man’s love looked out to her from his eyes, and his face was sober and wistful with entreaty. There was just one instant in which the whole world hung suspended over a pit of darkness. And then, with a glad little cry, she stole into his arms.