And so, having no other answer ready, I merely
held my tongue, but felt as if I were resting under
an imputation of guilt, and that my silence was be-
ing construed into a confession.
Just then a cold shadow fell upon my cheek, and
caused me to look up. We were descending into
my ravine! I cannot describe the sensation that
came upon me: I had not seen it since it unbosomed
itself four years before, and now I felt like one to
whom a friend has made some sorrowing confession
of crime long past, and who has basely deserted him
in consequence. The old memories of Jo. Dunfer,
his fragmentary revelation, and the unsatisfying
explanatory note by the headstone, came back
with singular distinctness. I wondered what had
become of Jo., and--I turned sharply round and
asked my prisoner. He was intently watching his
cattle, and without withdrawing his eyes replied:
'Gee-up, old Terrapin! He lies aside of Ah Wee
up the gulch. Like to see it? They always come back
to the spot--I've been expectin' you. H-woa!'
At the enunciation of the aspirate, Fuddy-Duddy,
the incapable terrapin, came to a dead halt, and
before the vowel had died away up the ravine had
folded up all his eight legs and lain down in the
dusty road, regardless of the effect upon his derned
skin. The queer little man slid off his seat to the
ground and started up the dell without deigning to
look back to see if I was following.
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