Three times she repeated the distorted version of that grand old song, and somehow the frown of perplexity smoothed itself from the listener's brow.
"Dear little girl," she whispered; "it's your father and your mother! I am a selfish old heathen! Of course I will stay as long as I am needed!"
Quietly returning to the kitchen where Gloriana sat pretending to sew, she laid the mother's letter on the table before the seamstress, and when the gray eyes had read the message and glanced inquiringly up at the dark face beside her, Tabitha nodded her head. "Yes," she half-whispered. "I can't desert them now." Then after a moment of silence, she added, "But you will go with Myra, Glory. Please! I'd feel so much better, knowing that you were having a good time."
The red head shook a vigorous denial. "I shall stay with you," Gloriana declared. "I knew you wouldn't leave here as long as you were needed, and you needn't think I'll let you stay alone. I shouldn't have a good time at all if I did such a thing as that, Tabitha."
"But it may mean all summer," Tabitha protested. "And it does get so hot here. Besides, there will be little fun in such a vacation."
"Then it is up to us tomakesome fun," said Gloriana firmly.
"That's so," Tabitha replied, startled at the thought. "Maybe the boys wouldn't be such trials then. Let's try it!"
"All right," agreed Gloriana.
And straightway the two girls put their heads together to devise some method of breaking the deadly monotony of the desert days, and bringing added enjoyment to their troublesome charges.
There was a glorious moon that night, and as the girls were washing the supper dishes, Tabitha proposed, "Let's go up to the peak when we are through here and watch the moon rise."
There was a moment of dead silence in the room. Usually the two inexperienced young housekeepers sought to hustle their restless, boisterous brood into bed as soon as the evening meal had ended and the night's chores were done. What had come over her to suggest such a thing as an evening stroll, or climb, as it would be if they went up to the peak? Susie looked at Tabitha with incredulous eyes, then glanced questioningly at Mercedes, but the older sister was as much mystified as were the rest.
"Do you mean that, or are you joking?" demanded Irene bluntly.
"I mean it," replied Tabitha calmly, though her face flushed uncomfortably under the surprised stare of eight pair of eyes.
"You usually chase us off to bed, you know," said Susie, still wondering what the unexpected proposal meant.
"Well, it is such a lovely night, I thought it would be fun to follow the trail to the top of the mountain, and watch the moon come up."
"And tell stories?" breathed Irene, clasping her hands ecstatically.
"Yes, if you wish," laughed the senior housekeeper.
"And speak pieces!" cried Mercedes, who was never tired of hearing Tabitha recite.
"Perhaps."
"And sing songs," suggested Rosslyn, who loved to listen to Gloriana's rich, sweet voice carolling joyous lays or softly crooning lullabyes.
"Maybe."
"And build a bonfire to roast—" began Billiard, but paused, remembering that it was too early for green corn yet, and not being able to think of anything else roastable.
"Mosquitoes," finished Toady mischievously.
But Tabitha's face clouded anxiously. "I am afraid we'll have to let the bonfire go this time," she said gravely. "There is a law against such things here in Silver Bow. A fire is such a hard thing to fight on the desert, supposing it once gets started; so no one takes any risks."
Toady's face fell and Billiard looked rebellious, seeing which, Tabitha hastily continued, "Some day we will go down to the river——"
"Oh, and have a picnic!" squealed Susie, giving such an eager little hop of anticipation that the cup she was drying flew out of her hand and half-way across the room, falling with a dull thud in a pan of bread sponge which Tabitha had just been mixing.
"My!" breathed Irene enviously, "I wish my dishes would do that! WhenIdrop one it always bu'sts."
Her peculiar grievance, coupled with Susie's look of utter amazement at the performance of her cup, caused a merry laugh all around, and the subject of bonfire was speedily forgotten, to Tabitha's unbounded relief.
The dishes were soon washed and piled away in the cupboard, the evening chores completed, and the troop of eager children romped gaily up the rocky trail to the summit of the mountain, on which the Eagles' Nest was built. It was just such a night as Tabitha loved, and she would gladly have sat in silence the whole evening through, watching the barren landscape lying glorified in the white moonlight; but not so with the younger members of the party. To be sure, it was a pretty picture that the old moon revealed to their eyes, but even the most beautiful pictures cannot hold a child's attention long. It is excitement that they desire; so scarcely had the party reached their goal than Inez demanded imperiously, "Now Tabitha, speak something for us."
"Oh, not right away," protested the older girl, glancing wistfully about her at the beauties of the night, and longing for a few moments of solitude that she might enjoy herself in her own peculiar fashion. "Let's watch the moon come up."
"No," clamored the boys, who had heard Tabitha's many talents lauded by their cousins until their curiosity had well-nigh reached the bursting point. "Speak right away. It's no fun watching the old moon come up! Besides, it's high enough now to make things as plain as day."
"Suppose you recite something first, then," suggested Gloriana, noting the wistfulness in the big, black eyes of her new sister.
"Not on your tin-type!" Billiard emphatically declared. "It's ladies first, you know! We want Tabitha to spiel."
"Well, then, what shall it be?" sighed that young lady resignedly.
"Something with ginger in it," was Toady's prompt reply. "Not a sissy-girl piece."
"About a battle or a prize-fight," suggested Billiard with amusing impartiality.
"Barbara Fritchie," put in eager Irene.
"No, don't," cried Susie. "We've heard that so often. SpeakSheridan's Ride."
"OrDriving Home the Cows," suggested Mercedes. "I think that is so pretty, and it is a war piece, too."
"But it is too sad," promptly vetoed Susie. "We want something—noisy."
"With cannons and guns," seconded the boys.
So Tabitha obligingly recited the thrilling lines:
"'Up from the South at break of day,Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,The affrighted air with a shudder bore,Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain's door,The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,Telling the battle was on once more,And Sheridan twenty miles away.'"
And her thoughts flew back to that black day in the dingy old town hall, when she had declaimed those very lines, and of the dire punishment which had overtaken her; but the sting of it was all gone now, and she found herself smiling at the recollection of that fateful encore. Everything was so different these days. She could afford to forget the old heartaches and longings in the happiness which had come to her during the past year.
"'Here is the steed that saved the dayBy carrying Sheridan into the fight,From Winchester, twenty miles away!'"
she finished; and before the enthusiastic audience realized that the recitation was ended, she beganHoratius at the Bridge. Then followed in quick succession all the thrilling wartime pieces at her tongue's command, while the delighted children held their breath in wondering admiration.
Breathless at length, she paused, and surveying the circle of faces about her, said whimsically, "That's a plenty, I reckon. My throat is as dry as the desert!"
"Just one more!" they pleaded eagerly.
"But I have spoken all I can think of now with guns and cannons in them."
"Then give us a different kind," wheedled Irene, in her most persuasive tones.
"That one you spoke May Day at Ivy Hall," suggested Mercedes, "when you tumbled off the platform."
"Tumbled off the platform?" echoed the boys in great surprise. This was an adventure which had never been recounted to them. "How did she tumble off the platform? Tell us about it."
Tabitha merely laughed and shook her head, but Mercedes, elated at the opportunity of singing the praises of her idol, regaled them with a laughable description of Tabitha's mishap. This led to other boarding school reminiscences,—the christening of the vessel, when Cassandra took her memorable plunge into the ocean; the night of the opera and their experiences with the runaway ostriches; the voice of the mysterious singer in the bell-tower, which some of the more timid students had mistaken for a ghost; and finally, the appearance of the Ivy Hall ghost itself. The McKittrick girls had heard all these events recounted so often that they knew them almost by heart; but, nevertheless, they were never tired of listening, and drank in the stories of all those delightful mishaps with almost as much eagerness as was displayed by Billiard and Toady, hearing them for the first time.
But all frolics come to an end, and Tabitha at length roused with a start to announce, "That clock struck ten, I am positive."
"What clock?"
"Yours. The one in the kitchen. We were unusually quiet, I reckon, for I was able to count ten strokes. We must fly into bed as fast as we can get there. I had no idea it was so late, although Janie and Rosslyn have been snoozing for ages. Come on, let's march. See who can get to the house first."
Away they scampered as hard as they could run down the rough path, while Tabitha and Glory wrestled with the two little sleepers, trying to rouse them from their slumber so they might walk down to the cottage instead of having to be carried. But Rosslyn refused to waken thoroughly, and created such a scene that it was some minutes before they could coax him to follow them down the trail. So when they entered the moonlit kitchen, leading the stumbling boy and carrying Janie, who could not keep her eyes open or her feet under her, the rest of the family had vanished completely.
"Can they be in bed already?" asked Tabitha in surprise. "Have we been wrestling with those children so long?"
Gloriana tiptoed across the floor and opened the door to the room where the four sisters slept, and disclosed four flushed faces peacefully reposing on their pillows. Mercedes and Irene were already fast asleep, and the other two so near the land of Nod that their eyes merely fluttered open for an instant at the sound of the opening door, and then drowsily fell again.
Satisfied, Gloriana turned to Tabitha, busy trying to slip Rosslyn's nightgown over his limp body, and whispered, "All serene!"
"Then skip off to bed," said the other girl. "I will bring Janie when I come."
"But——"
"Oh, it is just the bread. I want to knead it down once more. It won't take me half a jiffy, but if I don't do it now, it will be all over the floor by morning."
So Gloriana crept wearily away to her room, for it had been a long, hard, disappointing day, but a moment later she scurried back into the kitchen; and when Tabitha wheeled about in surprise at her hasty entrance, she laughed nervously, half apologetically, "I kicked someone's shoes under the bed! Don't know whether they are my own or a burglar's!"
Knowing how timid the red-haired girl still felt on the desert at night, Tabitha refrained from smiling at what seemed an uncalled-for fright, and said reassuringly, "No burglars ever visit Silver Bow. There is nothing in a miner's shack to tempt them."
"I should think there would be plenty of gold nuggets," answered Gloriana in surprise.
"Not many in Silver Bow houses, I reckon," Tabitha placidly replied, "But if you are afraid to go to bed alone, you better wait for me. I'll be ready in a minute."
She did not mean to speak scornfully, for she sympathized heartily with the sensitive gain remembering with what horror the desert nights used to fill her when Silver Bow first became her home. But Gloriana thought she detected a hint of ridicule in her companion's voice, and hurriedly departed for their room once more, saying with a great show of bravado, "Oh, I'm not afraid! Come to think of it, I believe I left my slippers at the foot of the bed, and that is probably what I hit."
The door closed behind her again, and Tabitha, smiling sympathetically at the girl's attempt at bravery, began to cover the mound of soft, white dough in the huge pan, when a wild, unearthly shriek echoed through the house, followed by the sharp crack of a pistol, and the muffled fall of a body.
For one brief instant Tabitha stood rooted to the spot, fairly paralyzed with horror. Then the thought of Glory gave wings to her feet, and, heedless of her own danger, she flew for the scene of disaster, whispering to herself, "Oh, why did I leave the house unlocked all the evening while we were gone?"
As the door of her room swung back on its hinges, the first thing her eyes fell upon was the flickering, smoking, chimneyless lamp standing on the low dresser; and even in her terror she wondered how it chanced that careful Glory had neglected to protect the light properly. The next object that met her gaze was Glory herself, leaning white and limp against the closet door, holding a battered, smoking pistol at arm's length from her.
"Glory, are you hurt?" she gasped.
"No!"
"But the gun—the shot——"
"No one's shot—only the lamp chimney! I aimed at the—the burglars under the bed, and shot off the lamp chimney," she panted, beginning to laugh hysterically, and tightening her grasp on the rusty gun.
"Where is the burglar?" Intrepidly she stooped and peered under the bed, half expecting to see the disturber of their peace still hiding there.
"In the closet,—-both of them!"
"Two?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Glory!"
"They are locked in. Here is the key."
"I must go for the constable."
A scuffling sound suddenly issued from the closet, and Gloriana cried in terror, "And leave me here alone with them?"
"There is no other way. I'll be gone but a minute. They surely can't get loose in that time!" And she darted from the room without giving Gloriana opportunity for further objections.
Hardly had the sound of her racing footsteps died away in the distance, however, when the red-haired guard, leaning against the door, half dead with fear, was electrified at hearing a muffled voice call through the keyhole, "I say, Glory, let us out, do! We were just a-foolin'. Didn't you know 'twas us? Please don't turn us over to the sheriff!"
"'Twas Tabitha's story about the Ivy Hall ghost that made us think of it," pleaded Toady. "We ain't sure-enough burglars. We just meant to scare you a little bit."
"And you sure scaredusenough to make up," coaxed Billiard. "Please let us out before Tabitha gets back. She said she'd write Uncle Hogan the next time we got into trouble."
"And that will mean he will take us away from here," wheedled Toady. "He's awful hard on a fellow."
"You deserve it!" suddenly answered Glory, with a grimness that startled even the girl herself.
"Then you won't let us out?" cried the boys in great dismay.
"I—I haven't decided yet," Gloriana was forced to admit.
"But Tabitha will be back directly."
"Yes, she's a swift runner. I don't think she will be gone long." Glory was beginning to enjoy the strange situation.
"Oh, Glory, don't keep us here, please! prayed Billiard desperately.
"We'llneverplay burglar again!" promised repentant Toady.
"No, it will be something else the next time," said their jailer heartlessly.
"If you'll just set us free this time, we'll be reg'lar sissy girls all the rest of the summer," they cried.
"You have promised so many times—" Glory began wearily.
"Oh, I can hear her coming!" cried Toady, half frantic at thought of the constable whom Tabitha had gone to summon.
Gloriana thought she could, also, and swiftly turning the key in the lock, she let the quaking prisoners out, urging them on with a violent push as they scurried past her, and hissing in their ears, "Scamper! If you aren't in bed when she gets here, she'll know you did it."
But they needed no urging. Their feet scarcely touched the floor, it seemed to Gloriana, as they made a mad rush for their room; and when Tabitha returned a moment later, alone, they lay tense and breathless under the coverlets of the cot.
"Glory!" they heard her ejaculate. "You let them get away from you!"
"I couldn't help it," replied the red-haired girl in excited tones. "Couldn't you get anyone? Wasn't the constable at home?"
"No, but he'll investigate as soon as——"
The rest of the sentence was lost in the slamming of a door; but the two culprits lay and quaked with fear long after the rest of the household was fast asleep, little dreaming that as soon as the door was tightly closed so they could no longer distinguish the voices, Glory had wheeled on Tabitha and giggled accusingly, "You knew all the time!"
"Not until I ran past their door and saw their bed was empty," whispered the black-haired girl with her hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter she could no longer suppress.
"What possessed you to keep on, then?'
"I surmised what would happen, and decided to scarethema little, too. So I crept around the house and listened to you talking with them. When they thought they heard me coming back, I concluded it was time I did put in appearance again; but I thought I'd die laughing to hear them scuttling into bed. Now I reckon the score is even!"
"Then you won't tell their Uncle this time?"
"I ought to."
"They've had a big punishment already, Puss."
"They deserve it."
"I—I scared them stiff when I shot."
"Poor girlie, and you were as badly scared yourself. My brave Glory!"
"Don't praise me, Kitty. I'm an awful coward. My teeth are chattering yet."
"And you are trembling as if you had the ague. Are you sure you're not hurt? I thought I heard something fall."
"The gun kicked and knocked me over," Gloriana admitted. "That is what gave the boys a chance to scramble into the closet. I didn't know it was Billiard and Toady then, because the bullet splintered the lamp chimney and I couldn't see real well."
"But you locked them in."
"Oh, that was easy! They were holding the door shut with all their might, and the only thing left to do was to turn the key in the lock. I am so thankful it was only a prank!"
"So am I," Tabitha admitted grudgingly. "But I can't say I relish that class of pranks."
"Give them another chance, Tabitha. I think they really are trying to be good."
"Well, I'll—see. We'll forget all about it now and go to sleep. Morning can't be very far off."
But when morning dawned, Gloriana lay flushed and feverish upon her pillow, her head throbbing until she could scarcely open her eyes. Tabitha was alarmed, and between her worry over the sick girl lying in their darkened room, and her ministrations to croupy Janie, who had caught cold sleeping in the night air on the mountain top, the poor housekeeper was so nearly distracted that she had little time to devote to the rest of her large family, and they wandered about the premises like so many disconsolate chicks who had lost their mother. It was an ideal time to get into mischief, and yet something restrained them.
The girls, it seemed, had slept through all the racket of the previous night, and were not aware that anything out of the ordinary had occurred, but they could not understand the tense atmosphere; and when Mercedes heroically tried to fill Tabitha's place the other members of the brood resented her authority, frankly found fault with her badly cooked oatmeal and unsalted potatoes, and insulted her attempts at housekeeping in such a heartless, unfeeling manner that she finally dissolved in tears and refused to do anything further toward their comfort. Susie and Inez quarreled over the dishes and had the sulks all day. The boys, still fearful of the consequences of their latest prank, and somewhat remorseful at having frightened Gloriana into a fever, wandered aimlessly away toward town, glad to escape from Tabitha's watchful eye, and greatly relieved to think no mention had been made by anyone of the burglars' visit.
"Guess the girls couldn't have heard the noise last night," ventured Toady, when they had left the house far enough behind to make it impossible for anyone to overhear their conversation.
"The girls?" repeated Billiard blankly, his thoughts on another phase of the situation.
"Mercedes and Susie and the twins, I mean."
"Oh! P'r'aps Tabitha's making 'em keep still."
"Do you think Tabitha knows we did it?" cried Toady in alarm.
"Naw, you ninny! That is, not 'nless Glory's gone and squealed."
"But——"
"I meant she'd prob'ly try to hush them up if they had heard our racket, so's the whole town wouldn't know about the burglars."
"Why? That's just what is worrying me. If she has hushed them up, it's just to make us believe she doesn't suspect. I'll bet the constable will be up there bright and early with his d'tectives, asking all sorts of questions, and everyone in Silver Bow will join in the hunt."
"Then we'll be found out even if Glory doesn't tell."
Toady nodded gloomily.
"It'll go hard with us if theconstableshould find out who did it."
Again Toady nodded.
"We—better—light—out—now."
Toady stopped stock-still in the roadway. "Why?" he demanded.
"Do you want to go to jail?"
"Naw, but they don't putkidsin jail here. I s'pose likely we'd get a good thrashing——"
"Would you rather stay here and take a whaling than skip while you've got the chance?" cried Billiard, turning pale at the mere thought of such a punishment at the hands of a desert constable, who, somehow, in his imagination, had assumed the proportions and disposition of a monster.
"We—we deserve a sound licking," bravely replied Toady, whose conscience was troubling him sorely.
It was Billiard's turn to halt in the rocky road and stare with unbelieving eyes at his brother, finally finding vent for his feelings by hissing the single word, "Coward!"
"No more coward than you!" Toady denied. "We have been as mean as dirt ever since we came here, and if Tabitha had been as hateful as most girls are, she'd have written Uncle Hogan long ago."
"So you're fishing to get her to write, are you?"
"No, I ain't, but I believe she'd—like it—better—if we told her ourselves, instead of getting found out by someone else."
"Oh! Going to turn goody-goody, are you?" sneered Billiard, not willing to admit that he had been thinking similar thoughts.
Toady bristled. "I hate goody-goodies as bad as you do," he said, with eyes flashing. "But I'm going to own up to my part in last night's racket. We might have scared Glory to death."
"Pooh! You make me sick! Suppose you think she'll let you off easy if you squeal. Well, go ahead, tattler! You will change your mind maybe, when she writes to Uncle Hogan."
"If she wants to write Uncle Hogan, let her write!" screamed the exasperated Toady, stung by his brother's taunts. "I'm going to quit bothering them right here and now; and what's more, I'm going to own up, too."
"Tattler!"
Toady turned on his heel and strode haughtily away, not daring to trust himself to further speech.
"Coward! 'Fraid cat! Sissy girl!" jeered Billiard.
That was the last straw. The younger boy wheeled about and retraced his steps in a slow, ominous manner. Thrusting his angry face close to Billiard's, and shaking his clenched fist under his nose, he said quietly, "Say that again if you dare, Williard McKittrick!"
Billiard was delighted. He had succeeded in making Toady mad, and now he would have the pleasure of thrashing him. He felt just like pounding someone.
"Coward! 'Fraid cat! Sis——"
A white fist shot out with accurate aim, striking the bully squarely between the eyes. A shower of stars danced merrily about him, blood spurted from his nose, and the next thing he knew, he was stretched flat on the rocky ground, with a grim-faced Toady bending over him.
"Do you take it back?" a menacing voice was asking.
"You—you—" spluttered the angry victim, mopping his streaming nose with his coat sleeve.
"Or do you want some more?" The doubled-up fist drew perilously near the disfigured face in the gravel.
"That's it! Hit a fellow when he's down!" taunted the fallen bully, still unable to realize just what had happened.
"I shan't hit you while you're down," said Toady calmly but decisively. "I'll let you get onto your pins and then I'll knock them from under you again."
And Billiard, looking up into the determined face above him, knew that it was no idle threat. Toady was in deadly earnest, but still the older boy temporized. It would never do to give in to Toady. If he took such a step as that, his leadership was gone forever. "Aw, come off!" he began, in what he meant to be jocular tones. "Quit your fooling and let me up! I've swallowed a bucket of blood already!"
"Will you take it back, or shall I pummel the stuffing out of you?"
Billiard capitulated. "I take it back," he said sullenly, "but,"—as Toady removed his knees from his chest and allowed him to rise—"I'll get even with you for this."
"All right," responded the younger boy cheerfully. "But don't forget that you will get what's coming to you, too."
"Don't be so sure, sonny! You took me off guard; you know you did, or you'd never have laid me out. You weren't fair."
Toady, tasting his first victory over his bully brother, and finding it very sweet, suggested casually, "I'll scrapyouany time you say. Now, if you like."
"My head aches too bad," said the other hastily. "That was a nasty place to fall. It's a wonder it didn't fracture my skull."
Toady looked back at the spot which Billiard had adorned a moment before, and remorse overtook him. "I'm sorry, old chap, if I hurt you," he said contritely. "I wasn't aiming to put you out of business, but you made me so all-fired mad——"
"Aw, forget it! I was just fooling," protested Billiard, shamed by Toady's frank and manly confession. "Say, ain't that the haunted house the girls are always talking about?"
"Which? Maybe 'tis. It's the last one in town, they said. Mercy promised to point it out the next time we climbed the trail behind the house. Do you s'pose it really is haunted?"
"I dunno," Billiard answered indifferently.
Haunted houses in his opinion were things to be avoided. He had merely sought to distract Toady's thoughts from their fistic encounter by mentioning the place. But the younger boy's curiosity was aroused, and as they neared the deserted, unpainted, dilapidated hut, he studied it closely. To him it looked like any other untenanted shack in the mining town, and so he said musingly, "I wonder if that man really did kill himself there, or was he murdered?"
Billiard shivered. "Mercedes said hediedthere. That's all I know."
"She told me he wasfounddead, with all his pockets turned inside out, and——"
"Oh, Toady," interrupted Billiard again, "here's a plant just like those mamma always has in her garden. I didn't s'pose things like that would grow here on the desert."
"That's a castor bean."
"Like they make castor oil of?"
"Sure! At least, I guess so. Glory told me it's the only thing green on the desert that the burros won't eat. Folks could have flowers here the same as back home if water didn't cost so much, and the burros didn't eat the plants as fast as they came up."
"It's the first castor beanI'veseen here."
"Why, there's a whole bunch down by the drug-store! We've passed them dozens of times. Where are your eyes?"
Billiard's face flushed wrathfully. Toady's recent victory had made him suddenly very important and domineering, but his fists were certainly hard enough to deal a telling blow; so the older boy, still caressing his swollen, aching nose, thought it wise to overlook such sarcastic flings, and, pretending to be deeply interested in the queer-leaved plant, he casually asked, "Do they all have such funny burrs on them?"
"When they're big enough. That's where the castor beans themselves grow."
Billiard gingerly picked one of the strange balls and minutely examined the hooked prickles of the reddish covering. Then with his jack-knife he proceeded to investigate the inside. "Do you s'pose they really make castor oil out of these? I don't see how they can."
"Glory says they do."
"The insidessmellsomething like castor oil, but they don't look at all oily."
"I'll bet they taste oily."
"Stump you to eat one!"
"Huh! It doesn't bother me to take castor oil. I can eat anything!" To prove his boast, he plumped one white bean into his mouth, and chewed it down with apparent relish.
Billiard watched him with eagle eyes to see that he actually did swallow it, then held out another, and Toady obediently munched it. Three, four, five,—bean by bean they disappeared down his throat; but at last he rebelled.
"You hain't tasted one, Billiard McKittrick! How many do you think you are going to feedme?"
The brother laughed derisively. "Wanted to see how big a fool you was," he jeered. "Thought you were going to eat all there were on the bush."
Toady made no reply. The beans tasted anything but appetizing, and already the boy was beginning to feel queer.
"Sure you don't want some more?" teased Billiard.
"No. Guess I'll go home."
"And tat—tell about last night?" Billiard remembered all at once the reason they were so far from the Eagles' Nest, and was alarmed lest Toady's threatened confession should involve him also.
"Y-e-s."
"I think you're downright mean, Toady McKittrick!"
"I shan't tell on you."
"Might as well! They will know I was in it."
"And you know you ought to own up, too."
"Cut it out, good—Toady. If you won't tell, I'll not plague them—nor you—any more."
Toady silently plodded on, and in exasperation Billiard caught him by the shoulder and shook him roughly.
"Le' go!" muttered the boy. "I'm going home, I tell you! Ge' out my way!"
The white misery of that round, freckled face as it turned toward him struck terror to the older brother's heart, and he excitedly demanded, "What's the matter, kid? Are you sick?"
"Feel funny," panted the castor-bean victim. "I—want—to—lie—down."
"Let's hurry then. We'll soon be home." Billiard was genuinely alarmed now, and seizing the other's cold hand, he tried to hasten the lagging steps up the rocky trail. But Toady was really too ill to care what happened or where he went, and he stumbled blindly on, tripping over a loose pebble here, or bruised by staggering into a boulder there, protesting one minute that he could go no further, and the next instant begging Billiard to hurry faster.
At length, however, the house was reached, and Toady drifted like a crumpled leaf across the threshold and lay down in the middle of the floor. Irene had seen them coming, and rushed pell-mell for Tabitha, shrieking in horrified accents, "Kitty, oh, Kitty, they've been to a s'loon and got drunk!"
So Tabitha was somewhat prepared for their dramatic entrance; but one glance at the livid lips, pinched nose and heavy, lusterless eyes would have convinced her that Irene was mistaken, even if Billiard had not caught the words and indignantly denied it. However, recalling a certain episode in Jerome Vane's life in Silver Bow, she demanded severely, "How many cigarettes has he smoked, Billiard McKittrick?"
"He hain't been smoking at all!" declared that young gentleman, more ruffled at Tabitha's tone than at her accusation. "He—he—I dared him to eat some castor-beans, and I guess they made him sick."
"Castor-beans!" shrieked Tabitha in wild alarm. "Go for the doctor at once. Dr. Hayes at the drug-store! Tell him it's castor-beans. He worked all night to save the Horan children who ate them once."
Billiard had shot out of the door before the words were out of her mouth and was half-way down the trail before the dazed girl awoke with a start to the realization that something must be done at once for the suffering boy on the floor, or it might be too late. "We must make him vomit," she said to red-eyed Mercedes, who had come out of her hiding-place to see what was the cause of all the commotion.
"But how?"
"I don't know myself what emetic would be best. They use mustard and warm water for some poisons, and—oh, I remember! Bring me that three-cornered, blue bottle from the cupboard, Susie. Hurry! Your mother told me to use plenty of that if any of you got poisoned. Mercedes, light the stove and set on the tea kettle. Inez, get the boy's bed ready, and Irene, bring some clean towels from the closet."
Tabitha had suddenly grown calm again, and as she issued orders to the panic-stricken sisters, she was deftly at work herself, pouring the vile-tasting emetic down poor, unresisting Toady's throat. She worked hard and furiously, fearful that her efforts might fail, and her heart sank within her as she watched the white face grow whiter and listened to the weak moans which escaped his lips with every breath.
Would the doctor never come? The suspense was horrible. When it seemed as if she must scream with frenzy, the five watchers on the door-step shouted wildly, "He's coming, he's coming! Billiard found him and he's got his v'lise!"
Another instant and he was in the kitchen kneeling beside the limp form on the floor, and working as he questioned. It was over at last, the boy was pronounced out of danger, and Tabitha, weak and trembling, felt her strength suddenly ooze from her limbs.
"Here, here, none of that!" commanded the physician in gruff but kindly tones. "There is no use of fainting now, my girl, when you have done your work so well. But for your efforts before I got here, the chap might have been—well, he can thank his lucky stars that he is in the land of the living."
Perhaps Toady heard, for when Tabitha bent over him a few moments later, the brown eyes fluttered weakly open, and the repentant sinner murmured, "How is Glory?"
"Better. She will be well by morning. But you mustn't talk now."
"Yes, I must, 'cause I made her sick. I burgled—that is, I pretended I was a burglar last night and hid under your bed. I only meant to scare you, though. Honest!"
"Sh! I know all about it. Go to sleep now, Toady." When seeing an unspoken question in his eyes, she answered, "No, Glory didn't give you away. I found it out myself."
"The constable——"
"I never went for him at all. He doesn't know a thing about it."
"Uncle Hogan—I expect you'd better write him. It was awful mean of me, and I'm sorry, but he ought to know."
"Not this time, Toady. I am sure you will not forget again."
A great light of relief crept into the big, brown eyes, and Toady answered with all the vim he could muster, "You are right, I won't."
Billiard, white, scared, remorseful, had crept away up the mountainside the minute he had seen Dr. Hayes bending beside the still form on the kitchen floor, and remained in his retreat, watching the house with frightened eyes, until the physician's bulky figure strode down the path toward town again. Then, flinging himself face down in the gravel, he sobbed in unrestrained relief, until, exhausted by the strain of his recent fearful experience, he fell asleep in the shadow of a ragged boulder, where late that afternoon Tabitha found him, after a vain search about house and yard.
Surprised at having caught a glimpse of this unsuspected side of the bully's character, she beat a hasty retreat, and with the tact of a diplomat, sent one of the younger girls in quest of him, feeling that he might resent being awakened by her while the trace of tears still showed on his face. Nor was she mistaken in this surmisal, for the instant the boy's eyes unclosed in response to Susie's energetic shaking, he demanded, "Does Tabitha—know where I am?"
"She wouldn't have set the rest of us to hunting if she had, would she?"
"Well, 'tain't necessary for you to tell her I was asleep. The sun was so hot it made my head ache, and I guess it has burned my face to a blister," cautiously touching his puffed, smarting cheeks.
Susie eyed the swollen lids and scarlet visage suspiciously, but for once held her tongue, only announcing briefly as she started on a trot down the trail, "We're waiting supper for you."
"Well, you needn't for I'm not hungry. Tell Tabitha I don't want anything to eat. I am going to bed. My head aches."
"All right," retorted Susie, too cheerfully, he thought with bitterness in his heart, as he followed her nimble feet toward the house. He had hoped she would at least express some sympathy for his aching head; but what did she care? What did anyone care about him? Morosely he shambled along behind his agile cousin; but instead of entering the kitchen, which was of necessity also the dining-room, he chose the front door, and quietly sought the room where he and his brother slept.
Toady's pale face on the pillow made him pause on the threshold, while a twinge of remorse tugged at his heart, but the victim, hearing the creak of the opening door, opened his round eyes, and smiling beatifically, asked in a weak voice, "Seen Tabitha?"
Billiard grunted an unintelligible reply.
"Tell you what, she's a crackerjack!" continued the invalid. Then, as Billiard's only answer was a vicious jerk which divested him of collar and waist at a single effort, Toady cried in surprise, "Why, Bill, have you had your supper?"
"Don't want any!" growled the other, tugging savagely at his boots.
"What's the matter? Sick?"
"Headache!"
"Youdidn't eat any castor-beans, did you?"
Billiard paused in the act of crawling into bed to glare angrily at his brother, thinking he was being made fun of; but Toady's cherubic face seemed to allay his suspicions, and he briefly, but savagely replied, "Naw!"
"You better tell Tabitha—" began Toady in genuine solicitude; but Billiard again misconstrued his brother's meaning, and interrupted, "Aw, shut up! Let a feller alone for once, can't you?" And as Billiard wriggled into bed, puzzled Toady lapsed into silence.
Tabitha, too, was puzzled by the older boy's actions. She had hoped that the poisoning of his brother would awake his better nature if nothing else would, so she was keenly disappointed, as well as surprised, at the change which now took place in him.
"It seems so strange," she confided to Gloriana. "He acted so terribly cut up the day he brought Toady home sick, that I thought it would cure him of his mean mischief, at least. But now he seems bent on trying to find the limit of human endurance—doubling his mischief and being more aggravatingly hateful than ever."
"Perhaps he is getting even for Toady's reform," suggested the red-haired girl, looking worried.
"Toady—bless the boy!" exclaimed Tabitha fervently. "I should go wild if he had taken the streak Billiard has."
"And yet I can see how provoking it must be to Bill——"
"Why, Gloriana!"
"I mean that Toady's declaration of independence would naturally rouse Bill's 'mad,' as Rosslyn says, when Toady had blindly followed his leadership for so long. And besides, the way Toady flaunts his virtues in his brother's face——"
"Thatisrather amusing, isn't it?"
"Provoking? I should, say! Billiard has been used to saying the word and Toady has obeyed. It's rather a—a—jar, to be defied, or ignored all of a sudden. Bill is bright——"
"Too bright," sighed Tabitha, somewhat sarcastically, Gloriana thought.
"Heisbright!" championed the younger girl warmly. "This morning I happened to overhear him teasing the girls at play under the kitchen window, and he declared that it was a mistake for Inez and Irene to be twins; that it should have been Susie and Inez, and then their names would have been Suez and Inez."
Tabitha smiled in spite of herself, then said heatedly, "But he is so mean about it! To-day while you were at the bakery and he thought I had gone for the mail, I heard a commotion in the yard, and what do you suppose I found him doing?"
Gloriana shook her head.
"He had the girls and Rosslyn lined up by the woodpile and was making them carry inhiswood. Even little Janie was loaded down with two immense sticks, so heavy she could hardly toddle with them."
"What did you do?"
"Made them drop their loads right where they were, and he had to carry it all in by himself."
"Without even Toady's help?"
"All by himself!" repeated Tabitha emphatically.
"I am afraid—we are not apt—to——"
"To what?" asked Tabitha, as her companion stammered in confusion and paused abruptly.
"To gain anything—muchof anything by trying to force Billiard into being good."
"Howarewe to make him mind, then? He won't coax. You can't flatter him into behaving himself, and threats don't do a mite of good.Ithink a smart dose of the hickory stick would be the most effective medicine for such cases as his."
Glory looked dubious.
"You don't agree with me?" suggested Tabitha.
"He is such a big boy to be thrashed," she evaded.
"He is such a big boy to act that way!"
"Yes, that's true, but——"
How she would have finished her sentence Tabitha never found out, for at that moment a piercing scream broke the stillness of the desert afternoon, followed by a medley of excited accusations, denials, threats, and Billiard's taunting laugh. Tabitha flew to the rescue of her brood and found Irene stretched full length in the gravel, with Mercedes and Toady deluging her with water, while the rest of the sisters danced frantically about the trio.
"He—he shot her!" cried Rosslyn indignantly, at sight of the slender figure in the doorway.
"I gave her fair warning," said defiant Billiard.
"Hand me your gun!" demanded Tabitha in exasperation, after a hasty examination of the victim had convinced her that Irene was more frightened than hurt.
"Gun! Ha, ha, ain't that rich?" mocked Billiard.
"'Twas a slingshot," volunteered Toady.
"And he shooted a rock," added Janie.
Tabitha held out her hand with an imperious gesture. "Pass it over quietly, or I shall make you."
Billiard calmly pocketed the article in dispute, and seeing that Irene was recovering under the heroic treatment of her amateur nurses, he seated himself in tantalizing silence upon the saw-horse, as if to enjoy the scene he had created. But his enjoyment was short lived. Tabitha, now thoroughly aroused, and forgetful of her dignity, swooped down upon the tormentor, wrested his slingshot from his grasp, and before anyone could divine her intentions, seized a barrel stave from the woodpile and gave the surprised boy a sound drubbing.
In the midst of the thrashing, there came vividly to her mind her childish horror of that day of reckoning with her father, when he had struck her with one of his slippers, and she recalled the fact that it was not the physical hurt, but the humiliation of the blow which had wounded her most deeply. Flinging down the stick, she released the struggling lad as suddenly as she had seized him; and in tones that sounded husky in spite of herself, briefly ordered, "Go to your room!"
Angry, stunned, shamed, Billiard bounced through the kitchen, slammed the door of his room, turned the key in the lock and—stood still in the middle of the floor. Whipped by a girl not four years his senior! Whipped by agirl! It was an unforgivable outrage. He would get even for that. But what was he to do? Wouldcouldhe do? She had beaten him at every turn, she had set Toady against him, she had made him the laughing stock of his cousins. He—he—he would do something desperate. He would——
As if in answer to his thoughts, he heard a strange voice close beside the open window say, "Yes, he has run away. The inspector completed his job this morning, found Atwater's accounts five hundred dollars short, and he skipped."
"Who?" demanded Mercedes. "The post-master?"
"Yep! Lit out. Can't have been gone more'n an hour, but no one seems to have seen him anywhere around town, and they are scouring the country for him."
Billiard drew a deep breath. That was an idea. Why hadn't he thought of it before! He, too, would run away. Stealthily he crept to the little closet, selected a clean shirt, a pair of stockings, a necktie, and his pajamas, tied them up in a bath-towel, not having such a thing in his wardrobe as a bandana handkerchief, although he felt that this was an essential; and after a cautious survey of the premises to make sure that the children were nowhere near, he crawled out of the window, carefully shut the screen again, and darted swiftly down the steep, pathless incline on the west side of the house to the flat below. It was a hazardous undertaking, and at any other time he would have shrunk from attempting it, but in his unreasonable anger and desire for revenge, all else was forgotten; and he arrived at the sandy bottom breathless, badly scratched by the mesquite, and smarting from the prick of cactus thorns, but triumphant.
Pausing only long enough to shake his fist defiantly at the house on the cliff above, he made off across the desert as fast as his legs would carry him. His first idea had been to follow the railroad, but on second thought he concluded that he might easily be overtaken and brought back if he took that course. So after a brief survey of the pathless landscape, he decided to skirt the mountains in whose hollow lay the town of Silver Bow, and to strike off to the west, in the direction of a neighboring mining camp called Crystal City.
"If Ishouldmiss that place," he reasoned to himself, "I am sure to get somewhere. Perhaps to Los Angeles that Mercy goes so crazy about. Say, that's just the thing! It takes only about twelve hours to get there by train; I ought to be able to walk it in two days, and I'll join the navy. I always did want to be a sailor!"
So he trudged sturdily on through the heavy sand of the flats, building air castles and nursing his wrath, but paying little heed to the course he was taking, until with a shiver of alarm he discovered that the afternoon sun had set and the range of white-capped mountains which sheltered Crystal City was seemingly no nearer than when he had set out. He began to feel faint with hunger and thirst, and was appalled to think he had forgotten in his flight to pack any lunch in his small store of belongings, and was now what seemed miles from civilization, in the midst of the pathless desert with neither food nor drink, and night coming on.
Night! He shuddered. How could he have forgotten the night part of it? Where was he to stay? He was afraid of the desert darkness. Somehow, it always seemed blacker and stiller there than anywhere else on earth. But perhaps the moon would come up. That would be lots of company, and the weather was so warm that he would really enjoy sleeping out in the open air. Eagerly he scanned the evening sky, and perceiving that the east appeared to be growing lighter, his spirits began to rise. After all, he was not sorry he had run away. Wouldn't there be consternation in the Eagles' Nest when his absence was discovered? How Tabitha would regret her unwarranted harshness! And Toady—Toady would cry and snivel because he had deserted his dear, big brother in his hour of need. And searching parties would be sent all over the country to find him. How he gloated over the pictures his vivid imagination had drawn!
But all the while he stumbled on, it was growing darker, the landscape had become an indistinct blur, and night sounds filled the air. The lonely howl of a wolf in the distance sent a chill of fear down Billiard's spine; the scream of a night-hawk overhead made him jump almost out of his shoes, and he was just beginning to consider where he should lie down to sleep when a sudden scurry in the underbrush froze him in his tracks. The next minute, however, he laughed at his fright, for it was merely a mother burro and her baby colt which his steps had routed from their hiding-place and sent flying across the flats for safety. A twig snapping sharply under his feet startled him; what sounded like a warning hiss close by brought his heart into his mouth; and trembling from head to foot he paused by a clump of Spanish bayonets, uncertain what to do next.
Oh, if only he had not run away! If only he were sitting with the rest of the lively troop of children around the supper table! Or perhaps it was too late for supper now. More likely they would be preparing for bed. What frolics they had enjoyed in the evenings when Tabitha made taffy and recited stirring ballads to fill in the moments while the toothsome sweet was cooking. What exciting tales his cousins told of the brave, black-haired maid whom he was trying so hard to hate. He did hate her! That is, sometimes he did. But he could not help admiring her pluck, even though he stood in awe of the fierce temper that blazed up so quickly, and as quickly died away again. She was certainly a wonder for a girl. There was no 'fraid cat about her. He wished she liked him better. But how could she, when he was so tantalizing, mean and sly? Perhaps if he went back home, that is, to Aunt——
"Hands up! We've got you at last!" growled a stern voice almost in his ear, it seemed; and poor Billiard's hands shot high into the air, he shut his eyes, held his breath and waited for the end. But to his utter amazement, a second voice huskily replied, after an instant, "Yes, you've got me, boys. I knew it was no use to run away, but—I—couldn't bear—to stay—and know that everyone looked at me as a thief. I never took the money."
The moon, which had seemed so slow in rising, had finally mounted to the crest of the surrounding hills, and poured a stream of mellow light upon the waste below. Billiard, his hands still thrust stiffly above his head, now distinguished a few feet in front of him the dark shapes of a dozen or more men, armed with revolvers, clustering around one whom he recognized as Atwater, the runaway post-master of Silver Bow.
"That's all right, Atwater," growled the first speaker, who was evidently leader of the posse. "Tell your tale in court, but be a man and face the music. Fall in, boys!"
For a long time, Billiard watched them as they marched their hapless prisoner back to town, and the leader's words kept ringing in his ears, "Be a man and face the music!" Suddenly a new thought flashed through his brain. Why had he not followed them? It wasn't too late yet. He could still see their forms indistinctly moving across the desert, and by following their lead, would sooner or later reach Silver Bow himself. Stepping out from the clump of Spanish bayonets which had formed his retreat, he set out on a dog-trot in the direction the men had taken, and after a long, rough, weary journey, actually found himself trailing up the familiar path to the Eagles' Nest.
He paused as he reached the children's play house and took a furtive survey of the place. One lone light burned in the low cottage. Probably Tabitha had missed him and was waiting for his return. Supposing she should lick him again for running away?
"Billiard!"
'Twas only a whisper from a rock nearby? but the boy almost screamed aloud in his fright at the unexpectedness of it.
"Sh!" the voice continued. "It's only I,—Glory. I had to go to the drug-store for some alum,—Janie has the croup,—and I saw you coming up the trail. Tabitha hasn't missed you yet. She has been so anxious over the baby. So sneak back to your room and I'll bring you something to eat as soon as I can. Run now! Tabitha will be expecting me."
"But Glory, doesn'tanyoneknow I—" began bewildered Billiard, much taken back at his reception.
"Ran away?" finished Gloriana. "No one but Toady and myself. He won't tell. I made him promise. Of course we'd have had to, if you hadn't come back, but I knew—I thought you would—" How could she tell him that she knew he was too much of a coward to persist in running away? "Scramble into your room as quietly as possible," she continued, "so as not to disturb the others, and I will bring you some supper in a minute or so."
"You're—you're awfully good to a feller," mumbled the abashed boy, wondering how he ever could have disliked the red-haired Glory. "I—I'll not forget it." And as the girl hurried up the path to the kitchen door, he skirted the house till he reached the window of his room, through which he wriggled cautiously and disappeared in the friendly darkness within, thankful that he was home again.