"I want to run."
Her fingers sought his hand and clung to it again as they set out. At
intervals they stopped, staring about them into nothingness, and
listening. Twice Alan thought he heard sounds which did not belong to
the night. The second time the little fingers tightened about his own,
but his companion said no word, only her breath seemed to catch in her
throat for an instant.
At the end of another half-hour it was growing lighter, yet the breath
of storm seemed nearer. The cool promise of it touched their cheeks, and
about them were gathering whispers and eddies of a thirsty earth rousing
to the sudden change. It was lighter because the wall of cloud seemed to
be distributing itself over the whole heaven, thinning out where its
solid opaqueness had lain against the sun. Alan could see the girl's
face and the cloud of her hair. Hollows and ridges of the tundra were
taking more distinct shape when they came into a dip, and Alan
recognized a thicket of willows behind which a pool was hidden.
The thicket was only half a mile from home. A spring was near the edge
of the willows, and to this he led the girl, made her a place to kneel,
and showed her how to cup the cool water in the palms of her hands.
While she inclined her head to drink, he held back her hair and rested
with his lips pressed to it.
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