"There she is already," said Lambert, half vexed, half laughing, as now a large person, whose clothes were an unusual mixture of women's and men's clothing, and who, carrying a rifle on her shoulder, pressing through the bushes, soon reached the pair.
CHAPTER VI
"So!" said Aunt Ursul. "There yon are, sir!"
She remained standing, took her rifle from her shoulder and looked with large, round eyes on those who were approaching, like a beast of prey on a coming victim.
"God bless you, aunt," said Lambert, extending his hand to his old friend in salutation. "It is long since we have seen each other."
"And it might have been longer had it depended on you, sir," replied Aunt Ursul. "But one must first visit his pinery. Relatives and friends come later. It is fortunate that Aunt Ursul knows her people, or she might have had to look long for you, sir."
She threw her gun with a powerful swing on her shoulder, turned short on the heel of her man's boots, and began to stride back over the road along the creek by which she had come. She had returned Lambert's salutation but slightly, and had not noticed Catherine at all.
"How did you learn that I am back?" asked Lambert.
"Not from you, sir," replied Aunt Ursul.
"How is uncle?"