"
"What for?"
"Perhaps to keep me from running away. I always threatened that.
Mostly, though, because the men got drunk at the villages. But
they were always good to me. I wasn't afraid."
"A prisoner! That must have been hard on you?"
"I liked that. As long as I can remember I've been locked up
there at times, and those times were the only happy ones I ever
had. It's a big cabin, high up on a cliff, and I could look out.
Then I had dogs and pets I had tamed, and books. There was a
spring inside, and food stored, and the men brought me fresh
meat. Once I was there one whole winter."
It now required deliberation on Venters's part to persist in his
unconcern and to keep at work. He wanted to look at her, to
volley questions at her.
"As long as you can remember--you've lived in Deception Pass?" he
went on.
"I've a dim memory of some other place, and women and children;
but I can't make anything of it. Sometimes I think till I'm
weary."
"Then you can read--you have books?"
"Oh yes, I can read, and write, too, pretty well. Oldring is
educated. He taught me, and years ago an old rustler lived with
us, and he had been something different once. He was always
teaching me."
"So Oldring takes long trips," mused Venters. "Do you know where
he goes?"
"No. Every year he drives cattle north of Sterling--then does not
return for months.
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