Page:Edison Marshall--Shepherds of the wild.djvu/307

Rh He suddenly laughed,—in sheer delight. His wealth—forgotten in the great vaults in an Eastern city—would be of use to him, after all. In a few breathless sentences he told her of his past life, his wasted days, and his regeneration. They would fill the hills with the feeding flocks, these two. Still they would know the comradeship of the camp fire, the night wind whispering through the secret places. It was their heritage, and they would not forego it. They were the shepherds, and this was their destiny.

"And if we're both going to have old Shep, and both follow the flocks—there's another consideration, too," Hugh went on. "Maybe it's too much to ask. But the soldier has seen some service; and he can't restrain himself any longer. We've got to have each other, too."

A strong man's love looked out to her from his eyes, and his face was sober and wistful with entreaty. There was just one instant in which the whole world hung suspended over a pit of darkness. And then, with a glad little cry, she stole into his arms.

"Each other—always," she told him. "Oh, shepherd of my heart!"

And perhaps the spirit of the Old Colonel—sitting in the Greenwood Club and dreaming of the mountain realms he loved—came wandering over peak and plain and saw these two, their arms about each other and their eyes lighted with