CHAPTER XX—THE POND IN THE WOODLANDSome one was kicking his foot He awoke to find Ruddy, hands in pockets, grinning down on him.
“Been op for hoars,” he whispered; “been exploring. Found a ripping pool Want to swim in it?”
Teddy eased his arm from under the little girl and nodded. “Let’s light a fire first. She’ll know then that we’re not far away, and won’t be nervous.”
The blur of foliage quivered with mysteries of a myriad coinings and goings. Everywhere unseen paths were being traveled to unseen houses. Within sight, yet sounding distant, a woodpecker, like a postman going his rounds, was tap-tap-tapping.
Ruddy knelt and struck a match; tongues of scarlet spurted. The camp-fire became a beating heart in this citadel of gray-green loneliness.
Desire lay curled among withered leaves
