Part 35 (2/2)
”I guess we'lldown”
They camped early, and Aldous rolled hiuished the candle in her tent He found that he could not sleep, and he relieved MacDonald at eleven o'clock
”Get all the rest you can, Mac,” he urged ”There s to-ht now, but the stars were clear He lighted his pipe, and with his rifle in the crook of his arm he walked slowly up and down over a hundred-yard stretch of the narrow plain in which they had ca, which was now a glowing mass without flame Finally he sat doith his back to a rock fifty paces froht The air was cool and sweet He leaned back until his head rested against the rock, and there fell upon him the fatal temptation to close his eyes and snatch a fewthe early hours of the night He was in a doze, oblivious to ht, when a cry pierced the struggling consciousness of his brain like the sting of a dart In an instant he was on his feet
In the red glow of the log stood Joanne in her long white night robe She see when he first saw her Her hands were clutched at her bosoht beyond the burning log, and in her face was a look of terror He sprang toward her, and out of the gloom beyond her rushed Donald MacDonald With a cry she turned to Aldous and flung herself shi+vering and half-sobbing into his ar coals in the fire, Donald MacDonald stood a step behind the rifle in his hands
”What is it?” cried Aldous ”What has frightened you, Joanne?”
She was shuddering against his breast
”It--it htened me But it was so terrible, and I'”
”What was it, dear?” insisted Aldous
MacDonald had drawn very close
Joanne raised her head
”Please let o back to bed, John It was only a drea, when there's sunshi+ne--and day”
Soht Aldous' eyes
”What was the dreaed
She looked from him to old Donald, and shi+vered
”The flap of ht I ake I thought I could see the glow of the fire But it was a dream--a _dream_, only it was horrible! For as I looked I saw a face out there in the light, a white, searching face--and it was his face!”
”Whose face?”
”Mortih's,” she shuddered
Tenderly Aldous led her back to the tent
”Yes, it was surely an unpleasant dreaet all the rest you can”