"I hoped you were going to tell me what your poor wife said in her letter," said Mrs. Kimbal.
"Oh, Ma'am," he said, hesitated, cleared his throat, and became routed and confused.
"If you'd rather not--" said Mrs. Kimbal.
"It isn't that," he said. "It would seem like bragging."
Saterlee, with his eyes on the broad, brown flood which they were approaching, repeated like a lesson:
"'Mark--I'm dying. I want it to do good, not harm. Jenny always thought the world of you. You'll be lonely when I'm gone. I don't want you to be lonely. You gave me peace on earth. And you can't be happy unless you've got a woman to pet and pamper. That's your nature--'"
"That was all," he said, and wiped his forehead with the palm of his hand. "It just stopped there."
"I'm glad you told me," said Mrs. Kimbal gently. "It will be a lesson to me not to spring to conclusions, and not to make up my mind about things I'm not familiar with."
When they came to where the road disappeared under the swift unbroken brown of Gila River, the old horse paused of her own accord, and, turning her bony and scarred head a half revolution, stared almost rudely at the occupants of the buggy.
"It all depends," said Saterlee, "how deep the water runs over the road, and whether we can keep to the road. You see, it comes out higher up than it goes in. Can you swim, Ma'am?"
Mrs. Kimbal admitted that, in clothes made to the purpose, and in very shallow water, she was not without proficiency.
"Would you rather we turned back?" he asked.
"I feel sure you'll get me over," said she.
"Then," said Saterlee, "let's put the hood down. In case we do capsize, we don't want to get caught under it."
Saterlee on his side, and Mrs. Kimbal, not without exclamations of annoyance, on hers, broke the toggle-joints that held the dilapidated hood in place, and thrust it backward and down. At once the air seemed to circulate with greater freshness.
For some moments Saterlee considered the river, up-stream, down-stream, and across, knitting his brows to see better, for the light was failing by leaps and bounds. Then, in an embarrassed voice:
"I've _got_ to do it," he said. "It's only right."
"I feel sure," he said, "that under the circumstances you'll make every allowance, Ma'am."