"Probably," he answered. "There are lots of prairie dogs and things
about. The more you listen, the more you hear on the prairie, especially
at night."
There was silence for a moment, and then he added: "My broncho'll steer
straight for Slow Down Ranch, and that'll bring my men. You can be quite
sure there'll be a search-party out from Tralee, too, at the first streak
of dawn. You can't make the journey, so the only thing to be done is to
wait here. That coat will keep you from getting cold, and I'll cut a lot
of long grass and make you a bed here. Also, the grass is warm, and I'll
cover you with it and with pine branches."
"I can't lie down," she answered. "No, I can't; I'm afraid. It's all so
strange, and to-morrow, he--"
"There's nothing to be frightened about," he interrupted. "Nothing at
all, Louise."
It was the first time he had ever addressed her by name, and it made her
shiver with a new feeling. It seemed to tell a long, long story without
words.
"You must do what I ask you to do--whatever I ask you to do," he
repeated. "Will you?"
"Yes, anything you ask me I'll do," she answered, and then added quickly,
"For you won't ask me to do anything I don't want to do. That's the
difference. You understand, Orlando."
A few minutes later he had found a suitable place to make a kind of bed
of grass for her, and had prepared it, with his knife, cutting the
branches of small shrubs and grass and the scanty branches of the pine.
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