At last, bit by bit, from hurried speech, the supervisor derived the fact, the location, the hour, and directed the herder to ride back and guard the remains till the sheriff arrived.
“Keep it all quiet,” warned Ross, “and get the sheriff and a doctor to come up here as quick as you can. What in the name of God is this country coming to?” he cried, in despair. “Will this deed go unpunished, like the rest?”
Redfield’s voice had lost its optimistic ring. “I don’t know; I am stunned by it all. Don’t do anything rash, Ross. Wait till I come. Perhaps this is the turning-point out here. I’ll be up at the earliest moment.”
The embittered and disheartened ranger then called up Lee Virginia, and the sound of her sweet voice turned his thoughts to other and, in a sense, more important matters; for when she heard his name she cried out with such eager longing and appeal that his heart leaped. “Oh, I wish you were here! Mother has been worse to-day. She is asking for you. Can’t you come down and see us? She wants to tell you something.”
“I can’t—I can’t!” he stammered. “I—I—I’m a long way off, and I have important work to do. Tell her I will come to-morrow.”
Her voice was filled with disappointment and fear as she said: “Oh, I need you so! Can’t you come?”
“Yes, I will come as soon as I can. I will try to reach you by daylight to-morrow. My heart is with you. Call up the Redfields; they will help you.”
“Mother wants you. She says she must see you. Come as soon as you can. I don’t know what she wants to tell you—but I do know we need you.”
Her meaning was as clear as if she said: “I need you, for I love you. Come to me.” And her prayer filled him with pain as well as pleasure. He was a soldier and under orders from his chief, therefore he said: “Dear girl, there is a sick man far up on the mountain-side with no one to care for him but a poor old herder who is in danger of falling sick himself. I must go back to them; but, believe me, I will come just as soon as my duties will let me. You understand me, don’t you?”
Her voice was fainter as she said: “Yes, but I—it seems hard to wait.”