"Oh, I'm going to drive this outfit away!" he said, as he went out.
In her anger and excitement over the sheep, Harry had completely forgotten Garnett and his horse. She began to gather up the dishes, and then, leaving everything, ran outside. A queer excitement filled her. She wondered what Rob would do. He had disappeared beyond the willows and for some minutes all was silent. From where she stood she could see, above the top of the grove, the rocky slope of the hillside running across the end of the cañon. Suddenly, from that hillside a cloud of dust began to rise. Harry could hear nothing, but in a few moments she saw the sheep spread up over the hill and scatter in all directions. The dust rose in blinding clouds; the sheep, catching the panic from their leaders, fled wildly, and finally disappeared round the hilltop. Harry sighed contentedly and went back to her dishes. Rob would soon come in and tell her what had happened. Absorbed in her work, she quite forgot Rob. Not until some time later, when she had hung up her apron and was putting on her hat with the idea of joining him at his work, did she remember where he had gone.
"Something must have happened!" she exclaimed. "He's been gone almost an hour." She went outside and looked up toward the glen. All was quiet; she could see no sheep or dust. "He's probably gone on over the hills," she decided, "driving them off so far that they cannot come back."
Satisfying herself with that explanation, she went inside and sat down to do some mending. In a few moments her brother came slowly into the tent.
"Rob!" she cried out. "What is it?"
His face looked strange, and he stared at her without answering. She took a quick step forward and drew a terrified breath. His hair was matted with blood; blood oozed from a gash on his forehead; and as she felt him over with trembling hands, she touched a bruise, swollen and dark, at the base of his skull.
"Oh, Bobs! What has happened to you, dear? Oh, he's fainting! Bobs, don't! Oh, what shall I do!"
Rob had turned very white; he swayed dizzily, and then caught himself.
"I'll lie down a while!" he muttered. "Feel pretty mean. That fellow beat me up. Jumped out on me from the bushes before I saw him. I'd run the sheep up the hill—was waiting to see if they'd come back. He knocked me over—kept beating me. Must have fainted."
His words trailed away and his face grew moist with sweat. Stumbling to the bed, he dropped down on it.