Her spring of
life was ended, but even now she was grateful for the full richness of
those six years with Dan; and if she turned from him now it was only
because a mighty instinct commanded her and a voice without words drove
her--Joan must go on to a normal, womanly happiness. Dan Barry lived from
day to day, glutting himself with a ride in the wind, or the whistle of a
far-off bird, or the wail of a mountain-lion through the night. Each
instant was to him complete, but the eye of Kate looked far away and saw
the night when this daughter of hers should sit holding an infant by such a
fire, and her heart was both empty and full.
It was no wonder, then, that she heard the first sound long before either
Haines or Buck Daniels, for her mind was on guard against dangers which
might threaten her baby. It was a faint slipping, scratching noise on the
veranda; then a breathing at the front door. Kate turned, and the men
followed the terror of her eyes in time to see the door fall open, and a
broad paw appear in the interval. The snaky head of Black Bart thrust into
the room.
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