So, whenever it was possible she sat down, allowing the others to wander on without her.
They were about to start on the homeward journey when she chanced to speak to Tewa again, and this time they were alone.
Bettina was sitting in the sand with her chin in her hand by the side of a giant petrified tree. She was staring at the place where it had split open in falling, showing not only stones but precious and costly gems on the inside.
Bettina was thinking so deeply that she did not hear the Indian coming toward her.
He did not speak until she seemed to feel her eyes drawn away from the things at which she was gazing, by another pair of eyes looking upon her. Then she started a little.
“Mrs. Burton sent me to tell you that you were to ride back to Nampu’s house in the wagon. You did not hear me coming? The Indian moves silently because the moccasins we wear are best suited to the sands of the desert.”
The young man, thrusting his hands inside his belt, drew out an exquisite pair of moccasins made for a woman and of softest leather and embroidered in bright beads.
“You will wear these and you will be less tired,” he said.
Were they a gift and, if so, what ought she to do? Bettina did not know whether she should accept them.
But the Indian seemed to take her acceptance for granted.