"
Everybody in the valley knew him, and knew his condition. It did
not interfere with his capacity as a worker, for the greater part of
the time. He was one of the best shearers in the region, the best
horse-breaker; and his services were always in demand, spite of
the risk there was of his having at any time one of these attacks of
wandering. His absences were a great grief to Ramona, not only
from the loneliness in which it left her, but from the anxiety she
felt lest his mental disorder might at any time take a more violent
and dangerous shape. This anxiety was all the more harrowing
because she must keep it locked in her own breast, her wise and
loving instinct telling her that nothing could be more fatal to him
than the knowledge of his real condition. More than once he
reached home, breathless, panting, the sweat rolling off his face,
crying aloud, "The Americans have found us out, Majella! They
were on the trail! I baffled them. I came up another way." At such
times she would soothe him like a child; persuade him to lie down
and rest; and when he waked and wondered why he was so tired,
she would say, "You were all out of breath when you came in,
dear.
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