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Our work was interrupted by the approach of night, and we made our way to our bivouac, each loaded with a heavy fagot. As soon as we arrived, Lucien had the satisfaction of trying one of our flambeaux. The branch crackled when lighted, and, as we entered the cavern, five or six bats flew out. I led Lucien by the hand, and very soon he was the only one who could stand upright.
For days we had journeyed along the exhausted bed; all Nature, even in Nature's poverty, was most poor: no bush could boast a leaf, no tree could throw a shade, crisp gums crackled upon the stems of the mimosas, the sap dried upon the burst bark, sprung with the withering heat of the simoom. In one night there was a mysterious change. Wonders of the mighty Nile!
It was too dark to seek for a way of descending or round the head of it, and he decided to remain where he was until the morning. Twenty minutes sufficed to make his simple camp, and he sat with his back to a cedar-trunk and a can of green tea beside him, while the shadows crept higher up the hillsides and night tame down to meet them out of the dimness of the east. The fire crackled joyously.
Carruthers' match crackled savagely as he lighted a cigar. "Yes, I see," he growled. "But I don't see you'll pardon my saying so how vulgarity like that ever acquired membership in the St. James Club." "Carruthers," said Jimmie Dale plaintively, "you ought to know better than that.
Recourse to his whisky flask only made him the drowsier, until at last he was fain to lie down and roll himself up tightly in his blanket. The next moment he was sound asleep. His horse neighed twice from the summit, but Concho heard him not. Then the brush crackled on the ledge above him, a small fragment of rock rolled near his feet, but he stirred not.
And reverently he touched its pages once again; he bent and by the guttering light tried to make out a few words here or there upon the crackled, all but perished leaves. He came upon a crude old woodcut, vague and dim; then a line of text caught his eye. "By Gad! 'Pilgrim's Progress'!" he exclaimed. "Look, Beatrice 'Pilgrim's Progress, of all books!
To chase away the gloom, the family threw pine-branches on their fire till the dry leaves crackled and the flame arose, discovering once again a scene of peace and humble happiness. The light hovered about them fondly and caressed them all.
'I don't mean to go up, or allow you to leave this room, for a good half hour at least. Gladys laughed a little, and dropped on one knee on a stool before the quaint fireplace, where the logs burned and crackled in a cheerful blaze. 'And I have a crow to pick with you, madam, said the lover, made bolder by the perfect freedom of the girl's demeanour. 'I don't like second-hand messages.
It crackled and whistled in him and around him; it was just the kind of frosty weather a snow man must thoroughly enjoy. But he did not enjoy it; and, indeed, how could he enjoy himself when he was stove-sick? "That's a terrible disease for a Snow Man," said the Yard Dog. "I have suffered from it myself, but I got over it. Away! away!" he barked; and he added, "the weather is going to change."
Then, while beyond in the forest bright fires crackled and savory smells of sweetly roasting venison and fat capons filled the glade, and brown pasties warmed beside the blaze, did Robin Hood entertain the Sheriff right royally.
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