It is hard to understand.
It's a mystery."
"Was he going on east?" I asked--and I thought I heard a stir in the bed
back of me as I waited for the answer.
"No," said the elder, "he is coming back this way, hunting high and low
for her. I have no doubt he will find her. She can not have reached a
point much farther east than this. She is sure to be found somewhere
between here and Independence--or within a short distance of here. There
is nothing dangerous in the weather, the wild animals, or anything, but
the bewilderment of being lost and the lack of food. God will not allow
her to be lost."
"I guess not," said I, thinking of the fate which led me to my last
night's camp, and of Gowdy's search having missed me as he rode by in
the night.
They drove on, leaving us standing by the roadside. Virginia crept
forward and peeked over the back of the seat after them until they
disappeared over a hillock. Then she began begging me to go where Gowdy
could not find us. He would soon come along, she said, with that tool of
his, Pinck Johnson, searching high and low for her as that man had said.
Everybody would help him but me. I was all the friend she had. Even
those two good people who were inquiring were helping Gowdy. I must
drive where he could not find us. I must!
"He can't take you from me," I declared, "unless you want to go!"
"What can you do?" she urged wildly. "You are too young to stand in his
way. Nobody can stand in his way.
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