“Don’t let us speak of it. It horrifies me. I will look up the date of my dream in my journal, when we get home, and see if it corresponds with the date of the tragedy. If it should prove to be the same, I should believe that I saw the crime in my sleep. Ugh!�
“We will stop to rest under this tree,� said Nathan. “This is the first large tree we have seen for some distance.�
Later in the day they halted at a ranch, and bought some delicious water-melons of a smiling and inquisitive Dutch farmer, who grew them. After mid-day they stopped by the side of a lovely, quiet river, and enjoyed their luncheon, taken in this primitive fashion.
“I wonder if I was ever so hungry before,� said Lissa. “These peaches are delicious, and surely melons were never so sweet and appetizing. The biscuits are ambrosia and this lemonade is nectar. It was a good idea to bring this ice, for the river water must be very warm to drink.�
The lunch ended, Lissa went down to the water and bathed her face and hands in its limpid depths. Suddenly she found the skirt of her gown covered with persistent burrs, which stuck to her fingers as she tried to remove them, and pricked and irritated her hands intolerably.
Nathan laughed heartily at her discomfiture.
“Why, those are only sand-burrs, dear. I wonder if you have never before made their acquaintance? We have no patent upon them, and you may find them in many parts of the country, East and West. We don’t lay entire claim to them here.�
“I should hope not,� said Lissa ruefully; “at least, we might dispense with them, if they would permit us to, which is doubtful.�
Lissa tried again to free herself from the noxious weed. With Nathan’s help she at last succeeded, and they resumed their journey.
The sun was painting the western horizon a glorious crimson when they entered the last town on their route.