Page:The Untamed.djvu/28

18 The Untamed "Says he, lookin' at me casual like over his shoulder: 'I'm jest takin' a stroll an' whistlin . Does it bother you, mister?'

"'It doesn't bother me none,' says I. 'Where do you belong, sonny? '

"'Me?' says he, lookin' sort of surprised, 'why, I belong around over there ! An' he waved his hand careless over to the settin' sun.

"There was somethin' about him that made my heart swell up inside of me. I looked down into them big brown eyes and wondered well, I don't know what I wondered; but I remembered all at once that I didn't have no son."

"Who's your folks? says I, gettin' more an more curious.

"He jest looked at me sort of bored.

"'Where does your folks live at ?' says I.

"'Oh, they live around here,' says he, an' he waved his hand again, an' this time over towards the east.

"Says I : 'When do you figure on reachin' home ?'

"'Oh, most any day,' says he.

"An' I looked around at them brown, naked hills with the night comin' down over them. Then I stared back at the boy an' there was something that come up in me like hunger. You see, he was lost; he was alone; the queer ring of his