"It's a long road, but we'll git there's soon as we can," said Seth, with the weight of the journey upon him.
[CHAPTER XXI]
A WARM WELCOME
For two days Eager raked over the sand-hills, from morning till night, with all the men he could press into the service, and all the ardour he could rouse in them.
In long, undulating lines, rising and falling over the hummocks like the long sea-rollers, they scoured the wastes till they were satisfied that no Jim was there.
Each night Sir Denzil met him, when he came upstairs to report, with a repressed eagerness which gave way to cynical satisfaction the moment he saw his face.
"So!" he would say, with a gratified nod, as he helped himself to snuff with studied elegance. "No result, Mr. Eager. I really begin to think we must give him up. You are simply wasting your time and that of all your--er--friends."
"Supposing, after all, the poor lad should be lying, unable to move, in some hollow----"
"Let us hope that his sufferings would be over long before this!"
"It is too horrible to think of. I cannot sleep at night for the thought of it."