Armitage slept for an hour
after a simple luncheon had been prepared by Oscar, studied his letters
and cablegrams--made, in fact, some notes in regard to them--and wrote
replies. Then, at four o'clock, he told Oscar to saddle the horses.
"It is spring, and in April a man's blood will not be quiet. We shall go
forth and taste the air."
He had studied the map of Lamar County with care, and led the way out of
his own preserve by the road over which they had entered in the morning.
Oscar and his horses were a credit to the training of the American army,
and would have passed inspection anywhere. Armitage watched his adjutant
with approval. The man served without question, and, quicker of wit than
of speech, his buff-gauntleted hand went to his hat-brim whenever
Armitage addressed him.
They sought again the spot whence Armitage had first looked down upon
Storm Valley, and he opened his pocket map, the better to clarify his
ideas of the region.
"We shall go down into the valley, Oscar," he said; and thereafter it was
he that led.
They struck presently into an old road that had been an early highway
across the mountains.
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