He had appraised the man as a dullard
under his stupid, inflexible crust of egotism, despite his veneer of
manners. But even a clod may be dangerous. A bomb is a harmless thing,
so much inert metal and chemicals, until it is touched off; yet it
needs only a touch to let loose its insensate, rending force.
Hollister rose to start down the path after Myra with the idea that he
must somehow convey to her a more explicit warning. As he stepped out
on the porch, he looked downstream at Bland's house and saw a man
approach the place from one direction as Myra reached it from the
other. He caught up his glasses and brought them to bear. The man was
Mills,--whom he had thought once more far from the Toba with the rest
of his scattered crew. Nevertheless this was Mills drawing near
Bland's house with quick strides.
Hollister's uneasiness doubled. There was a power for mischief in that
situation when he thought of Jim Bland scowling from his hiding place
in the willows. He set out along the path.
But by the time he came abreast of Lawanne's cabin he had begun to
feel himself acting under a mistaken impulse, an exaggerated
conclusion.
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