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Hiding was another matter entirely. There were literally thousands of places for a person to hide. But eventually every rabbit had to come out into the open to find water or to find food or simply to find a safer place to hide.
Ja
Ja
Yet hunger wasn't Ja
Now she was trapped. She had to move across bare rock in order to get to the sole path up Black Plateau's steep eastern side. The instant she broke cover Ty would be on her like a hungry coyote on a rabbit.
Why didn't you just ride Zebra up onto the plateau when she became restless? Ja
Nothing answered Ja
He was still there.
Ordinarily Ja
But no longer. Ja
The thought deepened the unhappy downward curve of Ja
Ja
If she had been the silken lady of Ty's desire, she would have died at the same lonely water hole her father had, for there had been no one to depend on but herself. If she hadn't died there, she would certainly have starved, because she would not have been able to catch and kill her own food. Instead of feeling wretched because she was self-sufficient, she should be thanking God for her ability to adjust to the harsh demands of surviving in the wild land.
Do I really want to be all soft and useless just so I can attract Ty? she asked herself scornfully.
Yes.
The prompt, honest reply didn't improve Ja
If I'd been all simpering and soft in the head, Cascabel would have tracked Ty down and killed him. But did Ty ever think of that? No. He just mooned over a will-o'-the-wisp that would probably faint combing tangles out of her own hair.
Ja
Ty remained in place.
Another half hour crawled by, marked by no more motion than that of the shadows responding to the slow arc of the sun across the empty sky. Ravens called across empty ravines. Rabbits nibbled on brush. Lizards whisked across hot rock, towing the racing black shape of their shadows behind. A hawk circled overhead, sending its keening cry to the earth like a thrown lance. Ja
Another sound came-a rifle shot rather than the call of a hawk. The sound was distant and wasn't repeated.
Three things occurred to Ja
No sooner had the thought occurred than Ja
Ty had heard the sound of the rifle shot at the same instant Ja
He spotted Ja
Ja
One instant Ja
Even so, Ja
"Don't you think it's time that you and I had a little chat?" Ty drawled.
"Let go of me!"
"Promise you won't run?"
Ja
"I'm bigger than you are, if you hadn't noticed," "iy said. "A little thing like you doesn't have a chance against a man of any size, much less one as big as I am."
Ja
A big hand clamped over Ja