Day before yesterday he was about as
useless a lookin' piece of bric-a-brac as ever draw'd breath--an' look
at him now! There ain't been any real change. The man was there all
the time, only he was so well disguised that no one ever know'd
it--himself least of all. Yesterday I saw him take a chew off Bat's
plug--an' Bat don't offer his plug promiscuous. He'll go back East,
an' the refinement will cover him up again--an' that's a damned shame.
But he won't be just the same. It won't crust over no more, because
the prejudice is gone. He's chewed the meat of the cow country--an'
he's found it good."
Later, long after the others had gone to sleep, Alice lay between her
blankets in the little shelter tent, thinking.
CHAPTER XV
THE TEXAN HEARS SOME NEWS
Bat had pitched the tent upon a little knoll, screened by a jutting
shoulder of rock from the sleeping place of the others. When Alice
awoke it was broad daylight. She lay for a few moments enjoying the
delicious luxury of her blankets which the half-breed had spread upon a
foot-thick layer of boughs. The sun beat down upon the white canvas
and she realized that it was hot in the tent. The others must have
been up for hours and she resented their not having awakened her. She
listened for sounds, but outside all was silence and she dressed
hurriedly.
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