No one saw her as she left the levee. She passed Silent, who was issuing orders. She heard him say, “The boss says so.”
She took the road by the railroad sheds, to avoid the dismissed shifts, moving townward. At full speed, she collided with a man, rounding the sheds’ corner. It was Rickard. Her veil had slipped to her shoulders and he saw her face.
“Miss Hardin!” he exclaimed. “Whatever are you doing here?”
“I was looking for my brother.”
“You ought not to be out at night alone here.”
“It’s morning!”
“With every Indian in the country coming in. I’ll send Parrish with you.”
She recognized Parrish behind him. She tried to tell him that she knew every Indian in Mexicali, every Mexican in the twin towns, but he would not listen to her. “I’m not going to let you go home alone.”
She blinked rebellion at the supplanter of her brother. But she found herself following Parrish. She took a deep pride in her independence, her fearlessness. Tom let her go where she liked. She had an impulse to dismiss Parrish; every man was needed, but he would obey Rickard’s orders. MacLean had told her that! “They don’t like him, but they mind him!”
Rickard made his way down to the levee. “Where is Hardin?” he asked of every one he met. The answer came pointing in the direction where Innes had stood.