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"She’s allright They’ll takegood care of her" He groped, wanting to offer so else "She’spretty," he said at last His voice was nearly gone, no irl"

The ht between embarrassment, dismay, and pleasure

"Oh," he said "Dat be froently She had stopped sobbing, but stood with her face pressed against his chest, still and silent It was nearly full dark; in the deep dusk, all color was leached away; her skin see but a tattered shirt, wet through, so that his dark skin showed in patches through it He had a rope belt, though, with a rough cloth bag strung on it He groped one-handed in this, and drew out the astrolabe, which he extended toward Roger

"You don’t h he was standing inside a cloud; everything was beginning to feel far away and hazy, and words reached hih cotton wool

The ex-slave shook his head

"No, man, what I do wid dat? Beside," he added, with a wry lift of the mouth, "maybe no one co--he coer took the heavy disk, and put the thong over his neck It took two tries; his ar," he said He turned and walked aith no idea where he was, or where heAfter a few steps, he turned and looked back, but the night had already sed them

84

BURNT TO BONES

THE HORSES SETTLED SLIGHTLY, but were still uneasy, pawing, sta at their tethers, as the thunder ruhed, kissed the top of h the conifers to the tiny clearing where they stood

"Well, if ye dinna like it up here," I heard hih, and I heard Gideon whinny briefly in pleasure at seeing hi, when a flicker of ht rip on one of the hemlock’s branches for safety, but it hadfroees had coh the branches, and reached a spot near the end of the narrow ledge where I had a clear view of the river valley below

Not a horse, quite--it was--

"It’s Clarence!" I shouted

"Who?" Jae, half-drowned by the rustle of the branches overhead The as still rising, daer’s ing branch and balancedto a rocky outcrop that jutted froe There were serried ranks of trees below,down the slope, their tops no more than a few inches below the level ofdown into them

It was Clarence, I was sure of it I was by no nize any quadruped by its distinctive gait, but Clarence had suffered soe or other skin disease in his youth, and the hair had grown in white over the healed patches, leaving hi over the stubbled corn fields, ears pointed forward and obviously happy to be rejoining society He was also saddled and riderless, and I said a very bad word under my breath when I saw it

"He’s broken his hobbles and run" Jaure of the mule He pointed "See?" I hadn’t noticed, inof cloth tied round one of his forelegs, flapping as he ran

"I suppose that’s better," I said My hands had gone sweaty, and I wiped my palms on the elbows of my sleeves, unable to look away "I er wasn’t thrown, or knocked off and hurt"

"Ah, no" Ja walk back, is all" Still, I saw his gaze shift out, over the narrow river valley, now nearly filled with s under his breath--no doubt a cousin to my own bad word

"I wonder if this is how the Lord feels," he said aloud, and gave lance "Able to see what foolishnessabout it"

Before I could answer hi flashed, and the thunder cracked on its heels with a clap so loud and sudden that I jurip Ja, and pulled ain, at the far end of the ledge, and he turned toward them, but stopped suddenly, his hand still on , and saw nothing but the wall of the cliff, soo , walked toward the cliff And, I saard an old fire-blasted snag that stood near it Very delicately, he reached out and tweaked so from the dead tree’s bark I reached his side and peered into the pal, coarse hairs White hairs