The first hint of her old combative spirit or her old archness! A wave of feeling rushed over me, too much for me in my weakened condition.

Dizzy, racked with sudden shooting pains, I closed my eyes; and the happiness I embraced was all the sweeter for the suffering it entailed.

Something beat into my ears, into my brain, with the regularity and rapid beat of pulsing blood--not too late! Not too late! From that moment the ride grew different, even as I improved with leaps and bounds.

Sanderson behind us, the long gray barren between Sanderson and the Rio Grande behind us, Del Rio for two days, where I was able to sit up, all behind us--and the eastward trail to Uvalde before us! We were the only passengers on the stage from Del Rio to Uvalde.

Perhaps Steele had so managed the journey.