A dread of the place was beginning
to creep over him; a dread of the days to come, when the monotonous
sunshine should lay bare the loneliness of these walls; the long, long
days of endless blue and cloudless, overhanging solitude; summer days
when the wearying, incessant trade winds should sing around that empty
shell and voice its desolation. He gathered together hastily a few
articles that were especially his own--rather that the free communion
of the camp, from indifference or accident, had left wholly to him. He
hesitated for a moment over his rifle, but, scrupulous in his wounded
pride, turned away and left the familiar weapon that in the dark days
had so often provided the dinner or breakfast of the little household.
Candor compels me to state that his equipment was not large nor
eminently practical. His scant pack was a light weight for even his
young shoulders, but I fear he thought more of getting away from the
Past than providing for the Future.
With this vague but sole purpose he left the cabin, and almost
mechanically turned his steps towards the creek he had crossed
that morning.
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