There was nothing picturesque, nothing adventurous about it. It was just
straight, heart-breaking tragedy, that had its sordid side too. Her dad
was a querulous sick man absorbed by his sufferings and not yet out of
danger, if she read the doctor's face aright. Jim and Sorry had taken
orders all their life, and they would not be able to handle the ranch
work alone; yet how else would it be done? There was Lone,--instinctively
she turned her thoughts to him for comfort. Lone would stay and help,
and somehow it would be managed.
But to think that these things could be done without fear of
retribution. Jim and Sorry, Swan and Lone had not attempted to hide
their belief that the Sawtooth was responsible for Frank's death, yet
not one of them had hinted at the possibility of calling the sheriff, or
placing the blame where it belonged. They seemed brow-beaten into the
belief that it would be useless to fight back. They seemed to look upon
the doings of the Sawtooth as an act of Providence, like being struck by
lightning or freezing to death, as men sometimes did in that country.
To Lorraine that passive submission was the most intolerable part, the
one thing she could not, would not endure.
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