Suppose Kate got lost -- suppose she could n't find me again -- suppose something happened to her -- suppose she could n't get help -- suppose it came on night and I there all alone -- suppose Indians -- not gentlemanly Stoneys or even Peter Crows , but genuine , old-fashioned Indians -- should come along -- suppose it began to pour rain ! It did begin to rain , the only one of my suppositions which came true . I hoisted an umbrella and sat there grimly , in that horseless wagon in the mud-hole . * * * * * Many a time since have I laughed over the memory of the appearance I must have presented sitting in that mud-hole , but there was nothing in the least funny about it at the time . The worst feature of it all was the uncertainty . I could have waited patiently enough and conquered my fears if I had known that Kate would find help and return within a reasonable time -- at least before dark . But everything was doubtful . I was not composed of the stuff out of which heroines are fashioned and I devoutly wished we had never left Arrow Creek . Shouts -- calls -- laughter -- Kate 's dear voice in an encouraging cry from the hill behind me ! `` Halloo , honey ! Hold the fort a few minutes longer . Here we are . Bless her , has n't she been a brick to stay here all alone like this -- and a tenderfoot at that ? '' I could have cried with joy . But I saw that there were men with Kate -- two men -- white men -- and I laughed instead . I had not been brave -- I had been an arrant little coward , but I vowed that nobody , not even Kate , should suspect it . Later on Kate told me how she had fared in her search for assistance . `` When I left you , Phil , I felt much more anxious than I wanted to let you see . I had no idea where to go . I knew there were no houses along our trail and I might have to go clean back to the tepees -- fifteen miles bareback .
I did n't dare try any other trail , for I knew nothing XXXXX them and was n't sure that there were even tepees on them .
before behind from in of on since than to with