Chapter 26
She was ready, crouched close to the window of her room, when
the signal came, but first she was not sure, because the sound was
as faint as a memory. Moreover, it might have been a freakish
whistling in the wind, which rose stronger and stronger. It had
piled the thunder-clouds higher and higher, and now and again a
heavy drop of rain tapped at her window like a thrown pebble.
So she waited, and at last heard the whistle a second time,
unmistakably clear. In a moment she was hurrying down to the
stable, climbed into the saddle, and rode at a cautious trot out
among the sand-hills.
For a time she saw no one, and commenced to fear that the whole
thing had been a gruesomely real, practical jest. So she stopped
her horse and imitated the signal whistle as well as she c
