Sentences

His visitors had crawled through the south fence and were crossing the meadow, angling toward the house.

Now he saw that both the man and woman were moving slowly and irregularly, staggering, as if they found it a struggle to remain on their feet.

Reaching the house ahead of them, he waited with his Winchester in his hands.

They crawled through the north fence and came on toward him, and now he saw that both were young, not more than nineteen or twenty.

They were dirty, their clothes were torn, and the girl was so exhausted that she fell when she was still twenty feet from the front door.

She lay there, making no effort to get back on her feet.

The boy came on to the porch and sat down, his gaze on Morgan as if half expecting him to shoot and not really caring.

Morgan hesitated, thinking that if this was a trick, it was a good one.

He didn't think it was possible for this couple to be pretending.

The boy licked his dry lips.

He asked, `` Could we have a drink ''??

Morgan jerked his head toward the front door.

`` In the kitchen '', he said.

Leaning his Winchester against the front of the house, he walked to the girl.

`` Get up.

There's water in the house ''.

She didn't move or say anything.

Her eyes were glazed as if she didn't hear or even see him.

She had reached a point at which she didn't even care how she looked.

Her face was very thin, and burned by the sun until much of the skin was dead and peeling, the new skin under it red and angry.

Her blond hair was frowzy, her dress torn in several places, and her shoes were so completely worn out that they were practically no protection.

It must have hurt her even to walk, for the sole was completely off her left foot and Morgan saw that it was bruised and bleeding.

He picked her up, sliding one hand under her shoulders, the other under her knees, and carried her into the house.

She was amazingly light, and so relaxed in his arms that he wasn't even sure she was conscious.

Any lingering suspicion that this was a trick Al Budd had thought up was dispelled.