I saw that she
did not understand. My voice was thick, but I tried to speak again.
She interrupted.
"This is not a surprise to me. This wilderness that seems so lonely is
full of eyes and ears. I feared that you would hear that we had turned
west."
Her face was unsteady with tenderness. I had never seen her look like
that. I warded her away though she was several feet distant. "You do
not understand," I said. "I knew that you were in the camp, yet I gave
the signal to attack it. I gave the signal to attack it with Indians,
and you were inside."
"But I was not inside, monsieur."
"I believed you to be, and I gave the signal."
"But, monsieur, I"----
"Madame, I believed you to be in the camp, and I gave the signal to
attack it."
She was silent at that, and I knew that at last she understood. We
stood side by side. I looked at the litter in Cadillac's tent, and
counted it piece by piece. There were clothes, papers, a handmill for
grinding maize. I felt her touch my hand.
"Will you sit beside me on the couch?"
I followed her. She sat facing me, just out of reach of my hand. The
light in the tent was blue and dim, but I could see the breath flutter
in her throat.
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