"
This was directed to two children who lay on the grass by the fire,
with blinking eyes, already half asleep. As they did not immediately
obey she assisted them with a large foot, clad in a man's shoe. The
movement though peremptory was not rough. It had something of the
quality of the mother tiger's admonishing pats to her cubs, a certain
gentleness showing through force. The foot propelled the children into
a murmurous drowsy heap. One of them, a little girl with a shock of
white hair and a bunch of faded flowers wilting in her tight baby
grasp, looked at her mother with eyes glazed with sleep, a deep look as
though her soul was gazing back from the mysteries of unconsciousness.
"Now lie there till you get your supper," said the mother, having by
gradual pressure pried them out of the way. "And you," to Susan,
"better bring your things over and camp here and use our fire. We've
nearly finished with it."
In the desolation of the morning Susan had wished for a member of her
own sex, not to confide in but to feel that there was some one near,
who, if she did know, could understand.
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