"You see, Carley, this is our America," said Flo, softly.
Carley had never understood the meaning of the word. The immensity of
the West seemed flung at her. What her vision beheld, so far-reaching
and boundless, was only a dot on the map.
"Does any one live--out there?" she asked, with slow sweep of hand.
"A few white traders and some Indian tribes," replied Stanton. "But you
can ride all day an' next day an' never see a livin' soul."
What was the meaning of the gratification in his voice? Did Westerners
court loneliness? Carley wrenched her gaze from the desert void to look
at her companions. Stanton's eyes were narrowed; his expression had
changed; lean and hard and still, his face resembled bronze. The
careless humor was gone, as was the heated flush of his quarrel with
Flo. The girl, too, had subtly changed, had responded to an influence
that had subdued and softened her. She was mute; her eyes held a light,
comprehensive and all-embracing; she was beautiful then. For Carley,
quick to read emotion, caught a glimpse of a strong, steadfast soul that
spiritualized the brown freckled face.
Carley wheeled to gaze out and down into this incomprehensible abyss,
and on to the far up-flung heights, white and red and yellow, and so
on to the wonderful mystic haze of distance. The significance of Flo's
designation of miles could not be grasped by Carley. She could not
estimate distance. But she did not need that to realize her perceptions
were swallowed up by magnitude. Hitherto the power of her eyes had been
unknown. How splendid to see afar! She could see--yes--but what did she
see? Space first, annihilating space, dwarfing her preconceived images,
and then wondrous colors! What had she known of color? No wonder artists
failed adequately and truly to paint mountains, let alone the desert
space. The toiling millions of the crowded cities were ignorant of this
terrible beauty and sublimity. Would it have helped them to see? But
just to breathe that untainted air, just to see once the boundless open
of colored sand and rock--to realize what the freedom of eagles meant
would not that have helped anyone?
And with the thought there came to Carley's quickened and struggling
mind a conception of freedom. She had not yet watched eagles, but she
now gazed out into their domain. What then must be the effect of such
environment on people whom it encompassed? The idea stunned Carley.
Would such people grow in proportion to the nature with which they
were in conflict? Hereditary influence could not be comparable to such
environment in the shaping of character.