Chapter Twenty-Five
After many weeks Max notices that he is directed more and more into the rising sun. Eastward, he realizes. Miss Luda’s steady southerly trek is detouring. With the warmer climate, apparently the driving need to continue south fades. Upon encountering a modest river, Luda turns Steel to follow the northern bank, still heading easterly toward the morning sun.
Max pulls and endeavors to keep the bell chiming in cadence with his feet, a diversion insisted upon by Miss Luda. His relentless owner knows that as he tires towards day’s end, the staggered ringing of the bell is the first indication of exhaustion. That is typically when Doodie dismounts and Max is cropped until Luda deems the nightly respite is earned. And it is during the cropping that the sound of the bell bec
