She could see him with eager gaze
listening. Then he smiled and, rising to his feet, sent a bold,
exultant glance through the darkness to her. She drew her shawl over
her head to shut it out, for she was afraid.
They rested now on the lip of the desert, gathering their forces for
the last lap of the march. There had been no abatement in the pressure
of their pace, and Courant had told them it must be kept up. He had
heard the story of the Donner party two years before, and the first of
September must see them across the Sierra. In the evenings he
conferred with Daddy John on these matters and kept a vigilant watch on
the animals upon whose condition the success of the journey depended.
David was not included in these consultations. Both men now realized
that he was useless when it came to the rigors of the trail. Of late
he had felt a physical and spiritual impairment, that showed in a
slighted observance of his share of the labor. He had never learned to
cord his pack, and day after day it turned under his horse's belly,
discharging its cargo on the ground. The men, growling with
irritation, finally took the work from him, not from any pitying
consideration, but to prevent further delay.
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