I know, because I've done it. I'm a pioneer. But if I ever
tackle another job like that it's going to be a crazy-quilt!"
And Joe considered, in spite of the din which answered him, that his
challenge was ample.
CHAPTER XVIII
I'M TELLING YOU GOOD-BYE
It was fully an hour after Fat Joe and Garry had rolled themselves up
in their blankets when Steve, who had elected to sit up for one last
pipe even though his body was aching with fatigue, heard behind him the
approach of her footsteps. Outside at the top of the rise some fifty
yards in front of the tents, he had seated himself on a log, chin
buried in one palm and eyes vacantly steady before him; but even before
he turned--before he rose slowly to his feet--he knew who was coming,
knew and realized that she should not have come. Wrapped in a long
heavy coat, face half-hidden by the upturned collar, bare of head,
Barbara came quietly down to where he waited. And without word of
greeting on the part of either of them, they sat down together, facing
the silvered bowl of the valley.
Time passed before Barbara opened her lips for a long, quivering intake
of breath.
"I never dreamed it could be so big," she murmured in awe. "And then
to think that some day--within a few months in reality--engines will go
screeching their signals across this very place. It doesn't seem
possible; it seems almost a shame to spoil it, too.
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