page_357

< previous page | page_357 | next page >

Page 357

| able to maneuver it. It had healed well enough. She had hoped that gangrene would set in so that she would have to amputate it. Being so vain, he would not have been able to live with such an imperfection! |

| "Are you saying that we may leave this place soon?" Bianca dared to ask. "That we will be traveling back to Melbourne?" |

| "I never promised that I'd take you back to Melbourne," Stanford grumbled, leaning his cigar into the flames of the fire and puffing on it until it was well lighted. "But I think I can safely say that we will be leavin' this place soon enough," he volunteered. "The mitchell grass that Ashton's sheep survive on has long since been nibbled away and no new growth has come in to replace what has been grazed to the nubbin. Grass needs water to sprout." He chuckled. ''Why, even the acacia thickets are providing only a fourth of the shade they usually do. Their leaves have all shriveled and fallen." |

| "But the clouds that roll by overhead are empty," Bianca said. "They are waterless clouds." |

| "And so I hope it continues for just a while longer," Stanford said smugly. "What's left of Ashton's stock won't survive much longer in this drought. He'll lose everything." He flicked ashes into the fire. "He'll have to resort to lookin' elsewhere for the means of survival. He'll soon be goin' to that fancy chest to get the coins so that he can guarantee that pretty lady won't leave him. Mark my word, he'll be leadin' me to that chest soon." |

| Bianca placed her hand to her abdomen. The mention of Sasha reminded her of what she must do with her child after it was born. Sasha must become |

< previous page | page_357 | next page >