Lance McClain was entirely unlike his brother in appearance. He was dark and small. He went directly to the girl who seemed most to require his help.
As she struggled to rise at his approach and was not able, Lance knelt down on the grass beside her, while Kara explained what had occurred.
Never, Tory Drew decided, would she forget the aspect of their own camp in Beechwood Forest, when an hour or more later she, in the lead, caught the first glimpse of it. It was as if one had struggled through one of the circles of Purgatory to reach Paradise at last.
Actually a few lines from Dante that her father had recited many times returned to Tory’s memory:
| “My senses down, when the true path I left; But when a mountain foot I reached, where closed The valley that had pierced my heart with dread, I looked aloft and saw his shoulders broad Already vested with that planet’s beam, Who leads all wanderers safe through every way.” |
The way had been difficult with Kara helpless.
With their arms forming a kind of basket chair and Kara’s arms about their necks, Donald and Lance had moved slowly down the hillside.
Once Tory became aware that Lance looked almost as ill and exhausted as Kara herself.
Don’s color continued as ruddy, his eyes as blue and serene and his expression as steadfast as the moment when they had set out on the descent of the hill. To call attention to the fact that Lance was less able to endure the fatigue, Tory knew from past experience would anger him.