Then with an exclamation of self-reproach, he laid her down again on the ground, ran to his broncho; caught the water-bottle from the saddle, lifted her head, and poured some water between the white lips.
Presently her eyes opened, and she stared confusedly at Orlando, unable to realize what had happened.

Then memory came back, and with it her very life-blood seemed to flow like water through the opening gates of a flume, with all the weight of the river behind.

As her face flooded, she shivered with emotion.

She was resting against his knee; her head was upon his arm; his face was very near; and there was that in his eyes which told a story that any woman, loving, would be thrilled at seeing.
What restrained him from clasping her to his breast?
What kept her arms by her side?
The sun was gone, leaving only a glimmer behind; the swift twilight of the prairie was drawing down.

Warm currents of air were passing like waves of a sea of breath over the wide plains; the stars were softly stinging the sky, and a bright moon was asserting itself in the growing dusk.