In that vast silence Kate 's soft breathing at my side seemed an intrusion of sound where no sound should be . `` Philippa Blair , can you believe it 's yourself ? '' I said mentally . `` Here you are , lying on a brush bed on a western prairie in the middle of the night , at least twenty miles from any human being except another frail creature of your own sex . Yet you 're not even frightened . You are very comfy and composed , and you 're going right to sleep again . '' And right to sleep again I went . * * * * * Our fifth day began ominously . We had made an early start and had driven about six miles when the calamity occurred . Kate turned a corner too sharply , to avoid a big boulder ; there was a heart-breaking sound . `` The tongue of the wagon is broken , '' cried Kate in dismay . All too surely it was . We looked at each other blankly . `` What can we do ? '' I said . `` I 'm sure I do n't know , '' said Kate helplessly . When Kate felt helpless I thought things must be desperate indeed . We got out and investigated the damage . `` It 's not a clean break , '' said Kate . `` It 's a long , slanting break .
If we had a piece XXXXX rope I believe I could fix it . ''
Kate about at except from in night of on to