Yet when he pointed to the stone she sat down.
"Yes," she answered, speaking those common words hesitatingly as if they were from some unfamiliar foreign tongue, "I am to do what you say." She bent wearily down, her head buried within her hands.

For a moment Winston stood hesitating, scarcely daring to leave her.

But she did not move, and finally he turned away, walking directly toward that indistinct figure standing beside the cabin door.

As he drew closer he recognized the old miner, his rifle half-raised in suspicion of his visitor.

It must be done, and the engineer went at his task directly.
"Has Brown come back ?" "Shore; he 's in thar now," and Hicks peered cautiously into the face of his questioner, even while pointing back into the dark cabin.