About noon she came out of the canon into the foothills. Another brief
rest, and from the top of a knoll she found herself looking upon a
valley about the size of the one she called "home." Otherwise, it was
very different. For one thing, it was far better watered; nowhere could
she see the half-dried brownishness so characteristic of her own land.
The whole surface was heavily grown with all manner of vegetation; and
so far as she could see it was all absolutely wild. There was not a sign
of cultivation.
Keeping to the left bank of the river, a much broader affair than any
she had seen before, Rolla made her way for several miles with little
difficulty. Twice she made wide detours through the thicket, and once it
was necessary to swim a short distance; the stream was too deep to wade.
The doctor watched the whole affair, purely as a matter of professional
interest.
"She is a magnificent specimen physically," he said in his impersonal
way, "and she shows none of the defects of the African savages."
And such was his manner, in speaking of his distant "patient," that
Billie took it entirely as a matter of course, without the slightest
self-consciousness because of Van Emmon and Smith.
All this while Rolla had been intent, as before, upon finding some of
the coveted crystals.
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