It was only by drowning that little oasis twice a day that the grass was
kept green and the flowers alive.
She found him other jobs in course of the day, and indeed he was always
helping somebody or other, and became quite ruddy, bronzed, and plump of
cheek, and wore a strange look of happiness, except at times when he
got apart, and tried to recall the distant past. Then he would knit his
brow, and looked perplexed and sad.
They were getting quite used to him, and he to them, when one day he did
not come in to dinner. Phoebe sent out for him; but they could not find
him.
The sun set. Phoebe became greatly alarmed, and even Dick was anxious.
They all turned out, with guns and dogs, and hunted for him beneath the
stars.
Just before daybreak Dick Dale saw a fire sparkle by the side of a
distant thicket. He went to it, and there was Ucatella seated, calm and
grand as antique statue, and Christopher lying by her side, with a shawl
thrown over him. As Dale came hurriedly up, she put her finger to her
lips, and said, "My child sleeps. Do not wake him. When he sleeps, he
hunts the past, as Collie hunts the springbok."
"Here's a go," said Dick. Then, hearing a chuckle, he looked up, and was
aware of a comical appendage to the scene.
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