He felt the vigorous shake of her head. "I should have walked back to the last hut, and an oxcart would have taken me in to the station."
"But then you would have been out all night."
"I should have loved it." Though he did not see the sudden blooming under her hood, he felt the unconscious squeeze which testified to the sincerity of her feeling. "I love them--the roar of the wind, black darkness, the beat of the rain in my face. Mother would have had me stay in Mexico till the rains were over, but when Don Luis wrote that the river was at flood nothing could hold me." He had thrilled under her unconscious pressure, but her conclusion proved an excellent corrective. "I am afraid that the site for your new buildings must be under water."
"How can that be?" He spoke quickly. "We are building well back from last year's mark, and Don Luis said that it was the highest known."
"But this year it has gone even higher--and all because of the Yankee companies that are stripping the upper valley of timber. There were great fires, too, last year which broke away from their servants and burned hundreds of miles of woods."
Her quiet answer went far to allay his sudden suspicion, but not his anxiety. He spoke of Billy. "It is over a month since he came out to the station for stores, and the agent told me that none of your people had seen him for weeks."
"But he has with him Angelo"--she gave Caliban his correct name--"and he, as I once told you, was counted Sebastien's best man in his war against the brigands. Though he may not show it to you, he is not ungrateful for the gift of his life. If food is to be had in the country, Mr. Thornton will not go lacking."
He spoke more cheerfully. "Then I don't care; though if the site _is_ flooded we shall be thrown back at least three months with our work."
"And what is three months?" she added, laughing.
To him it was a great deal. Before paying over the loan Don Luis's lawyers had taken Seyd's signatures upon certain instruments which exhibited the General in the new light of a shrewd and conservative business man. Withal, having still plenty of time, he answered quite cheerfully when she turned the conversation with a question concerning his plans. Under the stimulation of her curiosity, which surprised him by its intelligence, he went into details, talking and answering her questions while the horse trudged steadily on into the darkening rain. If the trail had not suddenly faded out, night would have caught them unnoticed.