and

Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night thinking of Ann, and then could not get back to sleep.

His plans and dreams had revolved around her so much and for so long that now he felt as if he had nothing.

The easiest thing would be to sell out to Al Budd and leave the country, but there was a stubborn streak in him that wouldn't allow it.

The best antidote for the bitterness and disappointment that poisoned him was hard work.

Because the summer was unusually dry and hot, the spring produced a smaller stream than in ordinary years.

In any case, he had no intention of being caught asleep, so he carried his revolver in its holster on his hip and he took his Winchester with him and leaned it against the fence.

He stopped every few minutes and leaned on his shovel as he studied the horizon, but nothing happened, each day dragging out with monotonous calm.

When, in late afternoon on the last day in June, he saw two people top the ridge to the south and walk toward the house, he quit work immediately and strode to his rifle.

When they were closer and he saw that one was a woman, he was more puzzled than ever.

He cleaned his shovel, left it against the fence, picked up his Winchester, and started downstream.

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.

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.

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.

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.