Pagina 64 van 439

But at her journey's end her eyes were gladdened by no sight of

the horses. Every draw was like its neighbor, every rolling rise

a replica of the next. The truth came home to a sinking heart.

She was lost in one of the great deserts of Texas. She would

wander for days as others had, and she would die in the end of

starvation and thirst. Nobody would know where to look for her,

since she had told none where she was going. Only yesterday at

her boarding-house she had heard a young man tell how a

tenderfoot had been found dead after he had wandered round and

round in intersecting circles. She sank down and gave herself up

to despair.