"
I laughed again, which George seemed to think was very hard-
hearted. He looked quite as if he could not understand such
callousness, and said: "Yes; you don't care a bit. Do you?"
Whereupon I laughed harder, and this time he did too, a little.
Then he went on: "Oh, I just thought I was never going to see you
again. I'm never going to forget about it. I was thinking about
how you would feel when you knew you were lost. It is an awful
thing to be lost. If I had never been lost myself I wouldn't know
what it means to be lost. And what would we do if you got lost or
fell in that rapid? Just think what _could_ we do? Why, I could
never go back again. How could any of us go back without you? We
can't ever let you go any place alone after this."
Then after a thoughtful pause. "And to see you, too, the way you
look. Just as if you would never scare anybody."
When we reached camp it was growing dusk. Joe and Gilbert had just
finished putting up my tent. They, too, had been out on the ridge.
Though I could not help being amused at the unexpected success of
my little plan to be even with them for leaving me alone in the
storm, I was really sorry.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137