“Oh,” he responded lightly, “that’s hardly worth talking about. I’ll strike something. So long as you’re pretty active there’s generally work to be had, and when it grows monotonous you pull out and go on again.”
Miss Foster mused.
“After all,” she said, “life must have a good deal to offer a strong man with the ability to make the most of things. He can set off, when he likes, in search of new and interesting experiences.”
“It has its drawbacks now and then,” declared Kermode, smiling. “Anyway, you needn’t imagine you’re shut off from everything of the kind. You took a big risk and faced a startling change when you came out here.”
“So I felt. Though I had misgivings, the thought of it drew me.”
“I understand. You have courage, the greatest gift, and you felt circumscribed at home. No doubt, the love of adventure isn’t confined to one sex. It’s a longing many of us can’t overcome; but it doesn’t seem to meet with general sympathy, and it’s apt to get one into difficulties.”
“Yes,” Miss Foster assented with some bitterness; “particularly a woman.”
After that, she went on with her meal while dusk crept up about the lonely camp. The sky was pale green in the west and the hills stood out against it, black and calm; not a breath of wind was stirring and it was very still, except that out of the distance came the murmur of falling water. When the air grew damper, Kermode brought her a blanket which she wrapped about her shoulders and they talked on for an hour in a casual manner. Then he got up.
“You will be quite safe in the tent,” he said. “I’ve found a comfortable berth in the wood. We’ll get off as soon as it’s light to-morrow.”
He disappeared into the shadows and she noticed that he had left her the two blankets he had brought from the settlement. She hesitated about taking them both, but decided not to call him back. A little later she entered the tent, while Kermode scraped out a hollow in a bank of fallen leaves and went to sleep.