"
"How soon? you know the signs better than I do. How soon will
it be here?"
"It will come soon, I think."
Yet there was no anxiety in Daisy's voice. It was perfectly
calm, though feeble. The Captain held his peace, looked at the
clouds, and drove on; but not as fast as he would have liked.
He knew it was a ride of great suffering to his little charge,
for she became exceedingly pale; still she said nothing,
except her soft replies to his questions. The western clouds
rolled up in great volumes of black and grey, rolling and
gathering and spreading at a magnificent rate. The sun was
presently hid behind the fringe of this curtain of blackness;
by and by the mountains were hid beneath a further fringe of
rain; a very thick fringe. Between, the masses of vapour in
the sky seemed charging for a tremendous outburst. It had not
come yet when the slow-going little wagon passed through Crum
Elbow; but by this time the Captain had seen distant darts of
lightning, and even heard the far-off warning growl of the
thunder. A new idea started up in the Captain's mind; his
frisky horse might not like lightning.
"Daisy," said he, "my poor little Daisy — we cannot get to
Melbourne — we must stop and wait a little somewhere.
Pages:
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269