Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-09-29

Steps all night with my dress on! Why,
we've ruined away!' she exclaimed.
"That's what the folks I'll saw, l
s'pose," replied her practical brother,
jumping up cheerily now that daylight
was at hand. ..And they'll saw we
ought to be whipped, too, l guess. But
Ia be willin' to be whipped when I get
home, if I only could get there. And
oh, but amt l hungry"
$50 am l." said Arminda.
"Well. let's have some breakfast,
then,'" suggested Theodore. "There
are nice, big berries all round here. I
see some. just you wait"
He soon came back with an armful
OF branches from the heavily laden
bushes, and they both devoured an un-
lawful quantity.
81 guess the VI make us sick, such a
lot" said Arminda, in a cheerful tone;
"but there's a lot more in the pals; and
we mustn't lose our pails," she added.
land If we carry 'em home full of ber-
ries, then they'll like it better"
I'VE must pick our pals FULL" said
Theodore, $50 that, if we don't find any
more, we won't starve." And he pro-
ceeded to fill the pals.
"Im all skeeter-bites!" sobbed Ar
minda. And the spiteful insects had
indeed cruelty wounded the little girls
face and neck and soft, round arms:
and Theodore, too, borO many a mark
of their sharp stings. ssWell, we must
hurry and get home," said he, and
mother'n cure EN-"
So they set out on their journey, eat
ing the big ripe hu%ckleberries from the
bushes as theywalked, filling their pals,
in case they should come to places
where there were no berries, and quench-
ing their thirst at the creeks and small
streams which they CHANGED upon at
intervals. This day, too, wore slowly
away, and once more they made a rude
bed at the spot where darkness over
took them, and slept as best they could.
Sunday came and passed. The little
ones, walking hand-in-hand through
the dense u%nderbrush, could find
no clue to guide them out of the
wilderness. Yet all day they keptmov-
ing on. When they looked up to the
tops of the tall trees, they felt lost and
lonely; and when they grew tired, the
great stiffness subdued them, like the
height of the trees. Now and then, the
chirp of a bird or the crackle of a dead
branch made little Arminda SILVER and
sink her voice to a low whisper.
But that night-the third which they
had passed in the woods-they heard
another sound far away in the dis
lance.
"O-ho! O-ho-o! O-ho-o-o!"
Theodore recognized his brothers.
voice and shouted loudly in answer, Ar
minda joining. They called again and
again. But the wind was against them.
The sound they had heard grew fainter
their brother was evidently moving
away. At last only a little echo an
swered their cry, and then the great
woods seemed more silent than ever.
The next day, while they were walk
ing along, Theodore thought he heard
a call, and they stopped to listen.
"'Twas over yonder," said the boy.
''You wait here a minute, and I'll 90
and see if 1 can get a sight of 'em." He
rushed through the brake a few rods,
shouting and calling, and at last thought
he saw q man moving among the trees
in the dim distance. But the figure
soon faded from sight, and, as Theodore
turned to go back to his sister, he found
that, in his eagerness, he had gone
much farther away from her than he
supposed. He called and called, but
got no answer He looked about..him,
faltered and stopped short. How far he
had run he could not tell, and the way
back to his little sister was lost COM
pletely in the bewildering sameness of
the forest. He plunged into the bushes,
first in direction. then in another,
but seemed to get no nearer to the spot
he had left. He leaned at last against
a tree, dashed his fist across his eyes,
and with a great gulp cried hoarsely,
II have lost her!"
But he would not give up; and he set
to work to find the path he had taken
through the thicket after leaving her.
While seeking this, he caught sight of a
iuttering bit of rag on a bush a few rods
away. 1t flashed upon Theodore that
here was a guide; these bits of calico
belonged to Arminda's dress, and he
had only to follow their lead to find his
sister. He took the poor little rags ten
derby from the bushes, and when at last
he did find his sister, the thrifty little
soul insisted on putting them, with 9TH
er pieces that she had preserved, in her
own pocket, "as Mother would need
them when she mended the dress"
In the early dawn of the next morn
ing Theodore leaped suddenly from the
bed of leaves where he was lying, and
looked wildly about him in every direc-
ton He had heard it again, that far
off "O-ho-o! O-ho-o-ow And what was
that, now up, now down, dancing in
and out among the dark trees? Couldit
be a light? Could it be the light of his
fathers lantern? Yes, it was! As the
daylight grew he could distinctly see
his father with a lantern in the distance.
But all his frantic shouts failed to reach
the searcher's ear, and, in his terror at
losing his sister the day before, Theo-
dore had resolved that nothing should
tempt him to leave her again. And this
determination he kept now, since he
preferred to starve in the terrible woods
rather than save his life by deserving
her. :
In the evening of the next day came
the storm. The stiffness of the forest
began to be broken by the. stirring and
rustling of leaves, and then by long