Page:The venture; an annual of art and literature.djvu/147

 to end the talk, and he passed behind the house. The early day was breaking, and he stood there, his eyes seeking the light and the road.

The travellers girdled their swords to return to the village, and passing behind the house they saw him. Hands beat on breast and a sob was heard.

The scabbard-twines were broken before they reached the Kir, and she turned and saw; but her eyes sought the road again; and she had sobbed but once, for the sex she belonged to.

And so they cut her down; and a stone marks the place on the old tank.

There when the cattle stray at dusk, homeward from the fields, the women turn them to the village and the men keep the road.

SHADWELL BOULDERSON.