Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/80

 “You should not go,” she said again at the last, but the light of excitement danced in her eyes as  plainly as in Hugh’s.

He shouldered his pack, adjusted the straps and held out his hand to say good-by. The spotless house, as he looked about it for the last time, seemed a very homelike little place even though  he had known it for only a day. The white, scrubbed floor, the bright blue cupboard, the picture on the wall of the Edmonds boys and their  great white dog—how soon would he see them all  again?

Even in early-rising Rudolm there was no one yet abroad to see him go. He went out the gate, past a half dozen houses, across a stretch of  meadow, came out at last upon the road, Oscar’s  road, and set off up the hill.

The sun was just coming up over the ridge to the eastward, the birds were beginning to chirp  in the thickets and the tall, scattered pine trees  were bowing their heads in the autumn wind. Very little of all this did Hugh notice for he had eyes of wonder and interest only for the road