If y'u think I enjoy your conversation
y'u have got another guess coming."
So by mutual consent the sheepman fell in behind the blatant
youth who had wearied McWilliams so and rode in silence.
It was again getting close to nightfall. The slant sun was
throwing its rays on less and less of the trail. They could see
the shadows grow and the coolness of night sift into the air.
They were pushing on to pass the rim of a great valley basin that
lay like a saucer in the mountains in order that they might camp
in the valley by a stream all of them knew. Dusk was beginning to
fall when they at last reached the saucer edge and only the
opposite peaks were still tipped with the sun rays. This, too,
disappeared before they had descended far, and the gloom of the
great mountains that girt the valley was on all their spirits,
even McWilliams being affected by it.
They were tired with travel, and the long night watches did not
improve tempers already overstrained with the expectation of a
crisis too long dragged out. Rain fell during the night, and
continued gently in a misty drizzle after day broke. It was a
situation and an atmosphere ripe for tragedy, and it fell on them
like a clap of thunder out of a sodden sky.
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