'
At last they were all gone, all but her guard of honour--Shaw, Vernon
Winton, Geordie, Nixon, Abe, Nelson, Craig, and myself.
This was the real farewell; for, though in the early light of the next
morning two hundred men stood silent about the stage, and then as it
moved out waved their hats and yelled madly, this was the last touch
they had of her hand. Her place was up on the driver's seat between Abe
and Mr. Craig, who held little Marjorie on his knee. The rest of the
guard of honour were to follow with Graeme's team. It was Winton's
fine sense that kept Graeme from following them close. 'Let her go out
alone,' he said, and so we held back and watched her go.
She stood with her back towards Abe's plunging four-horse team, and
steadying herself with one hand on Abe's shoulder, gazed down upon us.
Her head was bare, her lips parted in a smile, her eyes glowing with
their own deep light; and so, facing us, erect and smiling, she drove
away, waving us farewell till Abe swung his team into the canyon road
and we saw her no more.
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