Similarly she built walls
and a roof, the latter thatched with many layers of great leaves.
The fashioning of the barred windows and the door were matters of
great importance and consuming interest. The windows, there were
two of them, were large and the bars permanently fixed; but the
door was small, the opening just large enough to permit her to
pass through easily on hands and knees, which made it easier to
barricade. She lost count of the days that the house cost her; but
time was a cheap commodity--she had more of it than of anything
else. It meant so little to her that she had not even any desire to
keep account of it. How long since she and Obergatz had fled from
the wrath of the Negro villagers she did not know and she could
only roughly guess at the seasons. She worked hard for two reasons;
one was to hasten the completion of her little place of refuge, and
the other a desire for such physical exhaustion at night that she
would sleep through those dreaded hours to a new day. As a matter
of fact the house was finished in less than a week--that is, it
was made as safe as it ever would be, though regardless of how long
she might occupy it she would keep on adding touches and refinements
here and there.
Her daily life was filled with her house building and her hunting,
to which was added an occasional spice of excitement contributed
by roving lions.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302