They had already come to regard the vagaries of the weather as
matters of no import. Mosquitoes and Indians were all they feared. On
such nights many of them slept in the open under a tarpaulin, and when
the water grew deep about them scooped out a drainage canal with a hand
that sleep made heavy.
When the disorder of the camping ground was still in sight, Susan, with
the desire of social intercourse strong upon her, climbed into the
wagon of her new friends. They were practical, thrifty people, and
were as comfortable as they could be under a roof of soaked canvas in a
heavily weighted prairie schooner that every now and then bumped to the
bottom of a chuck hole. The married sister sat on a pile of sacks
disposed in a form that made a comfortable seat. A blanket was spread
behind her, and thus enthroned she knitted at a stocking of gray yarn.
Seen in the daylight she was young, fresh-skinned, and not uncomely.
Placidity seemed to be the dominating note of her personality. It
found physical expression in the bland parting of her hair, drawn back
from her smooth brow, her large plump hands with their deliberate
movements and dimples where more turbulent souls had knuckles, and her
quiet eyes, which turned upon anyone who addressed her a long
ruminating look before she answered.
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