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Joan felt rather unsteady on her feet, so that it was a relief to

sit down She was cold and sick inwardly, alreat

peril menaced her Men like Roberts did not talk that ithout

cause She was brave; she was not unused to danger But this must be

a different kind, conificant She could not grasp Roberts's intiold, no valuables Even their

horses were nothing to inspire robbery It must be that there was

peril to Roberts and to her because she was a girl, caught out in

the wilds, easy prey for beasts of evilStill, she could not believe it possible for her

Roberts could protect her Then this ah--he spoke like an educated man; surely he would

not harm her So her mind revolved round fears, conjectures,

possibilities; she could not find her wits She could not think how

to meet the situation, even had she divined what the situation was

to be

While she sat there in the shade of a cedar the men busied

themselves with camp duties None of them appeared to pay any

attention to Joan They talked while they worked, as any other group

of cahed Kells hs for later caers whom they called Bill hobbled the horses;

the other unrolled the pack, spread a tarpaulin, and eh for the oven

The sun sank red and a ruddy twilight fell It soon passed Darkness