Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1880-01-16

her heart sinking in her bosom. Oh
where was she and what would be
come of her a.?
She could make no further effort.
so bewildered had she become that
she knew no longer in which direc-
tion to search. Must she stay there
all night9 If so she tried to believe
that nothing would harm her.
But it grew dark. The frefies
swarmed around her head. She
heard strange, distant, mournful
noise which terrified her.
Suddenly she heard her name
called: "Aunt Laure Aunt Laure p
She replied, "Here !" eagerly, and a
small figure came bounding through
the rustling grass to her side.
1t was Ted.
"Oh, Ted A.! l am lost :"
81 know it. came to find you.
was watching for you to come back
you did not come. said nothing
to the others. set off to find you.
Come quick /! I think l can find the
ford"
Laure grasped the boys small,
eager hand, and hurried away with
him through the dew-wet grass.
"You are all wet, Ted"
81 could not wait to find the ford
l swan across"
Laure's wide eyes distended still
further with surprise.
They were hurryiDg-running.
81 know the way, but it is so dark, "
said Ted.
''Ted, won't the others come for
me?"
'I don't know"
"YOur own folks are away, you
know ?"
A selfish, churlish man, two young
and unreliant girls; who would
search the lone, chilly prairie if Ted
had not come?
Laure's soft, jewelled hand closed
tighter oD the child's rough one.
"Oh, Ted A! my husband will pay
you for this %
He stopped.
''Aunt Laure, it's no use to go on.
l can't find the ford, it's got so
dark"
He was painting.
care you afriad, Ted ?'
''The tree" he replied. "Wasn't
it an old dry one ?''
"Dry and withered, believe
yes"
''We must go back to it"
"Why ?"
He did not answer, but hurried
her on.
'Ted, what is that noise I hear
Dogs barking?
':Hurry, hurryT pulling her on
over the backward path.
"Why must we 60 back to that
tree, Ted ?''
''It is dry, you said ?"
''Ted, what is that howling?"
Her voice shook with vague fear
now.
"Here it is"
He placed her with her back
against the old dry tree.
81 brought some Matches" he
painted.
"Matches ! What for?"
He snatched some dry leaves to-
gether, tore some strips from his old
cotton jacket-sleeve, and lighted the
whole.
Then he threw on dead branches,
all piled against the further side of
the tree-trunk.
''Ted, what is that for ?"
"Wo4ves, wolves! Don't you see
them ?" cried the boy, throwing out
his arms. "But you needn't be afrad
they can't hurt you now. Oh, Aunt
Laure, they'll never come near us
now, for they are afraid of fire, and
the tree is burning"
Laure had sank upon the ground,
fainting with terror.
''Oh, Ted, dear Ted!" she sobbed,
''I'll help you!'-fOr, the fame dying
down for an instant, the boy began
snatching up handfuls of the dry
grass.
For hours they worked, piling all
the infammable material they could
find around the trunk of the cotton
wood, while those strange dancing
sparks so near the ground-the
fierce eyes of the wolves, which
Laure saw plainly now-reluctantly
retreated when the flames blazed, at
last, to the topmost boughs of the
tree, and the light streamed far and
wide.
Disheveled, pallid, exhausted, her
misery lost at last in a brief sleep
thus Algernon Amberley found his
wife in the early dawn.
The ground smoked beneath her,
burning twigs fell around her; but
Ted's watching eyes took care that
she was not burned. His little jack
et.was wrapped around her shoulders;
her head was pillowed on his knee.
"She's tired, l reckon" he said,
simply.
ooh, my boyl" broke from Alger-
non Amberley's lips.
He carried his wife home in his
arms, Ted leading the way-Ted
never once conscious of the love he
had earned, but sad and lonely again
in that old farm house.
But Laure had him brought to her
bedside, held his hands in hers,
kissed his little grimy checks.
'"Ted, you are going back with us,
There is not another boy so loved in
all the world"
And it was true.
A Roman Well Under London.