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She kept her voice well under control; it would not do to show the slightest emotion, and now she sat down and half turned away from the child. With her eyes she flashed a signal at the two troubled men and they followed her lead. Their center of vision was now upon the fire. It left Joan, to all appearances, quite out of notice. "Oh, that'll be a long, long time, munner."
She was no longer lonely, having this small, soft body to protect. There sat her mother, leaning a little toward her with a glance at once misted and bright, and she forgot forthwith all the agency of Kate in carrying her away from that cave of delight. "Look, munner! He's burned his nose!" The puppy was licking the injured nose industriously and whimpering the while.
His wails died out against her breast. "But you mustn't do that, honey. He'd die in this cold night wind long before you got there." "Oh!" sighed Joan, and considered her mother with great eyes. Black Bart turned and uneasily tugged at her dress. "Will you take good care of him, munner? Till I come back?" "But I don't know how to take care of him, dear.
Her face was blanched indeed, but she tilted it up now, smiling; she stole towards the door, but Kate caught the child and gathered her close with strangling force. Joan made no attempt to escape. "S-sh!" she cautioned, and raised a plump little forefinger. "Munner, don't you hear? Don't you like it?"
If you go he'll cry and cry and cry until he dies." Joan sighed. "See how quiet he is when you hold him, Joan!" "Oh," muttered Joan again. The distress of the problem made her wrinkle her forehead. She turned to Kate for help. "Munner, what'll I do?" "You'd best stay here until the puppy is strong enough to go with you."
"Joan, Joan, I love him! Of course." But Joan sat with a dubious eye which quickly darkened into fear. "Oh, Munner, don't take us back!" Such horror and terror and sadness mixed! The tears rushed into the eyes of Kate. "Do you want to stay here, sweetheart?" "Yes, munner." "Without me?" At first Joan shook her head decidedly, but thereafter she quickly became thoughtful. "No, except when we eat."
It moved a fiber of trust and sympathy in Joan, an emotion as real as the sound of music, and with the puppy held idly in her arms for a moment, she looked curiously into Kate's face. On her own, a faint smile began in the eyes and spread to the lips. "Poor little puppy, munner," said Joan.
The recital was quite endless, as they pushed farther and farther into the shadows, and it was the uneasiness which the dim light raised in her that made Kate determine that the time had come to go home. "Now," she said, "we're going for that walk." "Not away down there!" cried Joan. Kate winced. "It's lots nicer here, munner. You'd ought to just see what we have to eat!
And if you go to munner, she always be takin' care of you, and no harm'll ever come to you and you'll sleep soft between sheets, and if you wake up in the night she'll be there to talk to you. And you'll have pretty little dresses with all kinds of colors on 'em, most like. Joan, do you want to go to munner, or stay here with me?"
"We're too far away even if he were at the cave now." "I tell you he'll hear! Don't talk to me about distance." Kate reined her horse beside Lee. "Joan!" she commanded. They were sweeping across the meadow now at an easy gallop. Joan screamed again, a wild plea for help. "Joan!" repeated Kate, and her voice was fierce. She raised her quirt and shook it. "Be quiet, Munner whip hard!"
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