"Belding, what was that terrible roar?" asked Mr. Gale. "We were
badly frightened until Miss Nell came to us. We feared it was an
earthquake."
"Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gale, we've had some quakes here, but
none of them could hold a candle to this jar we just had."
Then Belding explained what had caused the explosion, and why it
had been set off so close to his property.
"It's an outrage, sir, an unspeakable outrage," declared Mr. Gale,
hotly. "Such a thing would not be tolerated in the East. Mr.
Belding, I'm amazed at your attitude in the face of all this
trickery."
"You see--there was mother and Nell," began Belding, as if apologizing.
He dropped his head a little and made marks in the sand with the
toe of his boot. "Mr. Gale, I've been sort of half hitched, as
Laddy used to say. I'm planning to have a little more elbow room
round this ranch. I'm going to send Nell East to her mother. Then
I'll-- See here, Mr. Gale, would you mind having Nell with you
part way when you go home?"
"We'd all be delighted to have her go all the way and make us a
visit," replied Mr. Gale.
"That's fine. And you'll be going soon? Don't take that as if I
wanted to--" Belding paused, for the truth was that he did want
to hurry them off.
"We would have been gone before this, but for you," said Mr. Gale.
"Long ago we gave up hope of--of Richard ever returning. And I
believe, now we're sure he was lost, that we'd do well to go home
at once.
Pages:
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365