She who had once been unable to endure the thought
of separation from her father could now look back on his death and say,
"How I suffered then," and know no reminiscent pang. She would have
wondered at herself if, in the happiness in which she was lapped, she
could have drawn her mind from its contemplation to wonder at anything.
There was no world beyond the camp, no interest in what did not focus
on Courant, no people except those who added to his trials or his
welfare. The men spent much of their time at the Fort, conferring with
others en route to the river bed below Sutter's mill. When they came
back to the camp there was lively talk under the old tree. The silence
of the trail was at an end. The pendulum swung far, and now they were
garrulous, carried away by the fever of speculation. The evening came
and found them with scattered stores and uncleaned camp, their voices
loud against the low whisperings of leaves and water.
Courant returned from these absences aglow with fortified purpose.
Reestablished contact with the world brightened and humanized him,
acting with an eroding effect on a surface hardened by years of lawless
roving.
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