Then shehad watched Jett and Catlee hitch up this team. All day she followed
it, often in the shade of trees. Then, witha great throb in her breast, she
turned to mount the wagon.
There was a slow, torrid beat of her pulse. Shewaited, watching on one side,
then the other. It hadbeen just after daylight when she escaped from Jetts camp.
The presence of the horses, as they grazed near, brought somethingof comfort,
if not relief.
A slight breeze fannedthe red embers of the meager fire.
Whity was lame and Specks had a clangingshoe, but these were small matters.
The endhad not come then; it had been averted, but it was inevitable. The
silence had been relieved bycrickets and frogs.
The grove sloped down to thegreen bench where she had waited for the buffalo to
pass. One of the white horses, Jetts favorite, plunged to hisknees.
Then thespace on the left closed in until buffalo were right alongside
thewheels.
Natives of the Post strolledacross from the store to question the traveler from
the buffalofields. Milly scornedherself for dreading they would run away,
leaving her utterlyalone.
Thesecarcasses were black and dried; they had no odor; they were ghastlyheaps
of bones and hides.
They plunged in unison andsingly; they screamed and bit at the kicking buffalo.
Milly had seen him draw maps in the dirt.
Alwaysthey sheered away, some of the bulls kicking out with wonderfulquickness.
But she was driven to secure firewood whilethere was light enough. Between the
road and thecottonwoods camps sent up their curling columns of blue smoke.
Northward the black creeping tide of backsextended to the horizon. Thesehurried
on, rustling the bush, on to splash into the shallow ford.
Then she climbed out ofthe wagon, ready for the day.
It hadbeen just after daylight when she escaped from Jetts camp.
In the bright sunlight the whole panorama wassplendid and stirring to Milly.
Sherecalled that she had left it tied on the hoop of the wagon coverin Jetts
camp. The iron tirerevolving fast scraped hard on his hide. Milly labored to
unhitch them, and when the task was done she sankto the ground to rest.
Suddenly she understood the meaning of motion and the sensation offilled ears.
Driving that iron-mouthedteam was a mans job.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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