The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-02-03

the slender ankle in her OVID warm hands
Its better, though, declared Kitty, at
ter a while. cts decidedly better, and
can walk, think, if you will let me holt
} Butthe ir@t step brought renewed pale
ness, and a groan.
i : vi sAa" we do2" said the troubled
<; MY dear, goesey, don't look SO terrified
It's n simple enough business. I shall 81
here quietly-the: ankle does. well enough
down the Hill to- the Barrett farm, and &c
rett, wherever he happens to be, and asl
me-. That's all that's necessary, dear, 81
don't be worried. Only you'd better star
at once, for the afternoon is getting on
Stay. though. Before you go, couldn't yo,
help me to q. less !conspicuous$ place thar
this? Somehow don't fancy the idea of sit.
ting here alone to be stared at by the people
in the Mountain House stage as they 60 by
Oh, know There's the old Pound; I'll
"The old Pound?"'.
Didn't YOU know that that thing owe,
there was the Pound? Dear me! I've known
about it ever since that first afternoon. Ben
told me, think. Railways seemed rather
interesting, somehow, but never took the
trouble to GO inside before. They haven't
used it for years, believe, but it will make
a very good retreat till you come back, just
as good as if was cow" And laughing
gayly, though with q brow twisted by pain,
Kitty hoped across! the road, and into the
small walled Enclosure opposite There
that is beautiful" she declared, dropping
into corner. 4"This wall makes a good
back for me to lean against, and no one but
you will suspect that am here: Don't run,
and don't heat yourself, Ditha,s or you'll
have q headache tomorrow. Ina doing
very nicely. and don't mind waiting bit.
Take your time.
With this injunction, Judith departed.
For few moments her Footsteps were au-
dible on the stony road; then they died
away, and perfect quiet took possession of
the hilltop and the old Pound, broken only
by the drowsy chirr of grasshoppers in the
soft yellow grass. So silent was it that
when flying bird skinned across the wall
with sharp call to his mate, Kitty. quite
started in her corner. About her stretched
carpet of low aromatic growths -tansya and
sweet fern and ite-blossomed immor-
telles, with here and there a. tall spike of
6oANASA-Aou AUuAAVAAt5 A<o NCAAO" Lux. LUZ
sun was nearing the horizon now. Crimson
tints flushed the soft valley distance, and
little fleets of rose and purple cloudlets be-
gan to fleck the pure sky overhead. After
while Kitty heard the rattle of the stage
wheels and the snap of the drivers whip,
as it cranched by on the steep
road. Then came, silence - again,
broken, a little later, by the sound of dis
,tant voices, which she guessed to be those
of people on the lower cross roads; but
they did not come near her retreat; nor was
she startled when soft thud Of hoofs drew
near, till loud "Haw!" close to her ear,
made her jump, and at the same moment a
big red COW vaulted into the Pound with a
bounce and a: clatter.' There was rattle of
bars, dance of boyish boots on the road,
and before Kitty could realize the situation,
and scream, it was too late. The boots
were far down the hill, and there was she,
Kitty Roach, shut-yes, actually shut into
the old Teverton Pound with red Ayr
shire-she, whose horror from childhood
had been COW, to whom the fear of lion
was as nothing in comparison! It was too
terrible.
Fright, no less than her disabled ankle,
kept her perfectly motionless. Even had
she been lableato~ stir, nothing would have
induced her to reduce the distance. by an
inch which lay between herself and the
terrific creature which was now cropping
the immortelles in the immediate neighbour
hood of the gateway. Frozen by fear, she
sat, her one hope being that Judith might
return SOON when suddenly the sound of
manly footsteps on the road restored her
faculties of speech, or rather of screech,
and, with wild and despe' ate energy, she
screamed, ooh, please come here, Whoever
you are!"
Come where?" asked voice; and above
the wall, close, very close, to Kitty s corner,
appeared head we'll known, determined,
handsome head, with thick wavy auburn
hair and beard, whose ends melted into
warmer color still the head, in short, of
Ben Hazard, the very Benjamin from
whom Kitty was proposing to run away the
next day save one. Poor Kitty! running
was the last thing possible now.
why, whatever does this mean?" he de-
manded, while Kitty, flushed and half cry
ing, between pain, vexation, and alarm,
faltered forth a lame explanation.
, $50 Judith wentto eet Mr., Barrett and the
carry all," she concluded. 'And 1 came
in here to be out of the way, and then some
one turned that dreadful COW in, and, oh,
please, won't you drive her out? I am so
afraid Of cows! andI am expecting every
minute that she will discover am here.
and turn upon met"
Had Ben Hazard had good fortune to
be born a decade or SO earlier in the century,
he would probably have made valuable
addition to, that large force of generals
which shed such lustre on our Union arms,
SO rapid was his grasp Of the strategical sit
uation, and his assumption of it's key.
II think that would hardly be right" he
said. It would be an interference with the
town authorities, and make trouble. But
I'll tell you what I'll -artfully; I'll sit
here on the wall close beside you, and if the
animal makes the least attempt at violence,
will jump over and protect you, even if it
costs ME the last drop of my blood!'