The hot sunshine that lasted so long, and the freshness that followed when the shadows deepened, calmed and strengthened her.

She felt braced in mind and body; her doubts and impatience had gone.

She was quietly confident that they would find the ore.
But they did not find it, and at length the time Agatha had allowed herself came to an end.

It was possible that she had already lost her post at the school, but if not and she wanted to keep it, she must return at once.
She did not, however, mean to give up the search while their food held out and there was no shortage yet, perhaps because the half-breeds often went fishing and gathered wild berries.

Then one hot day, when they nooned beside a shining lake and she sat in the shade of a boulder, she heard the men talking.
"The summer she is good," a _Metis_ remarked.