The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1890-08-21
Mandy looked around her hastily

tiers and, small as she was, the care
OF the household devolved upon her,
and she washed, and cooked, and
mended with a mature, stead y-mind-
ed industry which had grown out Of
| the necessity of satisfying the clam
orous needs Of a home without IA
ther or mother. Frank knows"
she went on, with little air OF trust,
which was almost devout. eve can
be sure Frank won't do nothin' out
O the way | won't believe they's
anything wrong bout it. Her
quiet voice thrilled with the warmth
Of some feeling which she did not
otherwise express. Buff yeshould
let a word slip when they happened
to be anybody round $3.50" She look
| ed frightened at the mere thought.
Sissy locked frightened, too, and
was silent for a moment.
He said if we did't he'd be took
off n we Wou]dn't never see i'm no
more, she finally whispered.
"No, never; m then we'd be left up
ere all lone n every day ud be like
this I'm, less we went back to Uncle
Asher in Indiany."
sit 'ud be orfle never to see m
again-O, my!''
II do hope he won't do nothin'
wrong fer the sake O. gittin' a little
money. / reckon it must take heap
to keep us a goin,' Sissy. heerd
Frank say t'other day t times was
orhe hard Hesaid a dollar looked Is
big's locomotive. o, dear! I
wish't we was rich n he didn't have
to buy n sell cattle no more''
The cloud burdened skies had flung
off their load before the sun, the
pines had ceased moaning and were
hurnming pleasantly, while the
sound of the creek was like thunder
carried on liquid sunshine.
franks allus been a good bro ther
to US, remarked Sissy, gazing out
into the clear air.
''They amt mother 'un like i'm
nowheres in this ere worl! answered
Mandy Withenthusiasm. 81 f'tWan't
for i'm, where'd we be, I'd like to
know, with our father N mother
both dead? IN Sissy, think O. him
a-puttin' 'nough money in Mis- Tar
bells hams to take us back to Uncle
Asher! If anything happened m we
was left. m he ain tnever fetched
it, nuther, spite O. the hard times"
II wonder what he meant by sayin'
If anything should happen. He
looked so solemn; dye member"
Eyes, I member. Mis- Tarbell
said he looked solemn when he gave
her the money, n tole her what it
was fer, too
II like Mis- Tarbell,' said Sissy,
whose conversation sometimes flew
off at a tangent. s.She promised to
gimme some o. her phlox seed this
fall The Tarbells make me think O.
the children O lsreal in Egypt what
we was readin' bout in the Bible
t'other day-they's sech q lot o. 'em
down there to their ranch, all in a
heap. The land was filed with
them, it said. =
The afternoon was wearing away,
and Mandy, mindful that her brother
might return at any time, rekindled
the fire in the ugly black fireplace,
hung the kettle over the flames and
set about getting dinner. Sissy did
not help; she did not like to work,
and Mandy really preferred to per.
form her tasks alone. So Sissy went
out to sec how her flowers Jared aft
er the rain. She had managed to
procure some dandelion seeds from
Mrs. Tarbell, who had sent to friends
in the east for them, and Sissy had
planted them in an incidental strip
OF adobe soil which the rocks held in
place near the cabin, and the flowers
had fourished surprisingly. Against
the blue-gray earth they looked as
! yellow as you have seen the stars
when the moon has set and night
fans their fires into spreading, petal
like flames. Besides these exotics,
the treasures of the little garden,
there was number of native plants
in blossom -cacti, Mariposa, lilies,
and those wonderful columbines 81
the high attitudes, so delicatein their
cold purity as to remind one ofmag-
nifed snow crystals.
/ - I v w c1o SlOWllS uolA w 0A y Ibuh
Laws came home. Mandy heard him
in the canyon that led up to the cor
raj, and she ran to a ledge of rocks
and looked over, intending to shout
4 a welcome to him. 1t was darker in
| the canyon than where she stood but
she could still distinguish objects
the opaque pines, the many colored
rocks, the creek, like a tawny thread,
4 frayed here and there into cleaning
white, and, more than all else, the
cattle which her brother Frank was
driving up the narrow pass every
thing was horribly distinct after a
moment in spite Of her unwillingness
4 to see.
She perceived the cattle as one in d
4 diseased condition Of mind perceives
4 objects detached, portentous, with.
out perspective. To her eyes The
brand on the Launches of the beasts
was written in letters Of fire only
| two letters, G. A., but carrying with
4 them shudd ering assurance of crime
and punishment Mandy knew that
brand too well. 1t marked the prop
erty Of Reuben Campbell, a ranch.
man who lived as far up the valley
d as the Tarbells lived down.