During breakfast she noticed the work going 292 forward on the other side of the river and asked Bud about it.
“The cowmen moved their camp down here opposite us as soon as they could find out where we were,” he explained. “I guess they want to talk with me regarding several matters. I’m pretty sure I have a thing or two to say to them, now that I am out of their clutches.”
“Oh, then my father must be among those men.”
“He must, although I have not seen him. I intend to take you over to him immediately after breakfast.”
Suddenly for the first time, the girl’s face clouded; through their sweet bantering pierced the hideous visage of the thing that haunted her and that she had come to ask him about.
“Talk to me a little while first, will you?” she pleaded. “You know I came to see you for a special reason last night but had no time to discuss it then.”
“Certainly, dear girl,” he replied.
When they had finished eating they strolled a little way up the noisy stream and finally found a cozy nook between two trees. All about them in the succulent grass of the banks and river bottoms they could hear the bells and contented 293 blethering of the flocks; for Sims had determined to rest his animals for a few days before starting again the long trek north.
“Bud,” she began, speaking slowly so as to choose her words, “I am going to ask you questions about things that you have never chosen to discuss with me for some reason I could not fathom. If it is unmaidenly I am sorry, but I must ask them. I cannot stand any more such anxiety and pain as I have suffered in the last few weeks.”
Bud’s features settled themselves into an expression of thought that told the girl absolutely nothing.