They rose and walked together to the horse, which he saddled. He did not unhitch the rein from the branch. Instead, he turned and drew Molly close against him.
"I shall never forget you, whatever happens to us. I shall always remember you as something very lovely and evasive. Whenever I see a tree in blossom, I shall think of you with a lantern in your hand. Whenever I see a star fall down the sky, I shall think of the first kiss I gave you. But, child, it is time we gave by our kissing. Your kisses are for someone else, and I must ride my own roads. We shall often see each other again, but this must be our real good-bye."
"Jim!" was all she said, though she leant closer to him.
They kissed their last kiss by the shrunken margin of Pelican Pool. The cloud wrack blotted out the stars; but the trees lifted wide arms above them. They kissed their last kiss in the heat and passion of the young night, while the flying foxes glided on quiet wings over the tree tops, and the insect armies fluttered on their many errands about the dark. As Power felt her lips laid against his own, he experienced a surge of regret and thankfulness—regret for what this summer madness had cost him—thankfulness for the widened vision he had gained. Presently he took his lips from her lips, and bending again, laid a chaste kiss upon her forehead. Then he had drawn himself from her embrace, and had taken the bridle rein in his hands.
CHAPTER XXI The Coming of the Rains
The storm burst in the middle of the night. A rush of wind came with a high call out of the South and tore at the hessian walls of Surprise with multitudinous fingers. It fell with upraised voice upon the timbered country of Pelican Pool and swung together the heads of the trees. It leapt in rage upon the staunch homestead of Kaloona so that the timbers groaned beneath the buffet. There blazed through the dark a sheet of light and the ghost of day stood an instant naked and trembling. There sounded a roar of thunder. And at once the sky was torn from end to end to let down the rains.
The waters struck the iron roofs of Surprise and Kaloona with the shock of a cataract. They flogged the bleached walls of the tents. They lashed the ground, tearing the small stones from the soil. Ever and again lightning ripped in shreds the dark and thunder pealed in the skies. The wind came and went in giant claps. The minutes wore out without any wearying of this rage.
A sheet of water crept about the face of the country, exploring and claiming the hollows of the land. Tiny torrents tumbled wherever the ground was broken. Dry creeks woke to life and swept upon the journey to the river. The grasses were beaten to the ground. The saplings cowered and wrung their limbs. And ever new lightnings tore the dark in pieces, and thunders cracked in the skies; even the voices of drumming waters called in the dark in answer to the shouting of the wind.