Furst time I
came over yere long with Lacy, I wrote all these yere things down."
Conversation ceased, the drear depression of the scene resting heavily
on the minds of all three. Moore sat humped shapelessly in his seat,
permitting the horses to toil on wearily, the wagon rumbling along
across the hard packed sand, the wheels leaving scarcely a mark behind.
Sikes stared gloomily out on his side, the rifle still between his
knees, his jaws working vigorously on a fresh chew of tobacco. Stella
looked at the two men, their faces now clearly revealed in the
brightening dawn, but the survey brought little comfort. Sikes was
evidently of wild blood--a half-breed, if his swarthy skin and high
cheek bones meant any characteristics of race--scarcely more than a
savage by nature, and rendered even more decadent by the ravages of
drink. He was sober enough now, but this only left him the more morose
and sullen, his bloodshot eyes ugly and malignant. The girl shrank
from him as a full realisation of what the man truly was came to her
with this first distinct view.
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