Warren sheaf., 1891-12-24

!
| "Out on business, he answered
"Are you ready, Jack?"
Are you all going Off" cried Lillian
in alarm, lest she should lose even the
doubtful pleasure of her brothers
company.
'We're going on the ponies, to lool
up some stray cattle for Uncle A bner. >
| But mamma said you would take
me for drive.''
Cant this morning-too busy!"
| Were all to go this evening. yor
know" comforted jamie.
| This evening! What am l to dc
alone all day?"
| A flood of tears again threatened
"Oh, entertain your callersr' said
| Harry, with scant sympathy.
| Lillian watched the four boys on their
ponies go down the poplar lined lane
to the highway, and then, too desperate
for reading or study, or even helping
her mother, she flung herself on sofa
and hid her face.
The day was dazzling one. The
rolling prairie on every side looked
| like white ocean, with great. sweep
ing pillows Of snow as far as eye cou}C
see.
The widely. separated farmhouses
with their windbrealxs of Lombardy
poplars and interspersing clusters OF
! evergreens, looked like ships on this
endless, shining, cold sea.
| One needed happy heart and busy
hands not to be affected by the vast
| ness and isolation.
Neither of these did Lillian have, an6
it took her nearly the entire forenoon
to get through her bitter struggle with
self
When she finally reused herself she
found her mother had put the rooms tc
rights, and besides her own work, had
done all the little tasks Lillian had been
used to assume.
This made her remorseful. She got
her books and began to study. But
somehow the brilliant sunshine kept
drawing her to the window to look out
The sky was of an intense blue thai
| was almost purple. The blue jays
| were fitting and calling. A few stray
| crows hovered over a distant corn
stubble-these were all the signs O:
life she saw.
She stood tapping tune on the win
dow panes. Presently she noticed, or
the far crest of one of the snow bill
lows, some moving black figures.
They were mere specks against the
intense blue beyond, but they fixed he1
attention. Almost as soon as she saw
them, however, they disappeared in al
intervening valley.
"That is ON the Hardin road,' sh,
said, trying to fix the direction. 81
can't be the boys, for Uncle Abner':
, road is to the south"
Almost Immediately hercuriosity wa
stimulated again by the reappearanc,
of the figures on the next rise. Sh
could not distinguish numbers, but sh,
felt certain it was horsemen.
| Again they vanished from the cres
I into the lower lying space between the
land pillows. And so she watched
them until they were near enough fo
her to see it was indeed horsemen.
| Mother" she called, ''come here
There's somebody coming along tn,
Hardin road.''
Her mother came.
"Who can it be?''
Zone, two, three, four, five, six
seven," counted Lillian s'There ar,
seven of them! Perhaps they will tur1
at the Climbing Hill corners. They
can't be coming here
"Get'the glass;" said Mrs. Wyman
''See if we can make them ont befor.
J they strike the valley. -
| Lillian ran after the glass. She ad
! justed it and raised it to her eyes She
| had only one glimpse, however, before
the descending riders were ag lin hid
den by an intervening ridge.
They ride so wildly. mother!' she
SAID, in a kind of breathless wonder.
! .''They. must be slSirting that hill
,, along the creek" said Mrs. Wyman
"We'll see in a minute if they come u,
from the Corners
| 1t seemed long time before they
came. again in sight Lillian had JUS
said: They've turned on the Clim bine
Hill road" when they burst into full
view on. a not distant summit anG
halted.
|': Lillian could distinctly see then
pointing, as if discussing the way tt
take. Then, of onA accord, they pu
spurs to their ponies and came wildl,
dashing down the slope.
Lillian turned deadly pale.
''Mother!" she gasped, ''they are In
dians!"
Mrs. Wyman grew pale also. Durins
her short life in the west she had seer
only one or.two isolated Indians, anc
those always at railway stations
dull, commonplace creatures enough
and with nothing suggestive of TIL,
warrior about them.
Where is your father?" she asked
with something of a tremor in he
voice.
''Probably over at the sheep sheds.
faltered Lillian. He's always ther,
near noon. I wish-I wish the boy
were here
''They'll be coming directly. Lool
again, now, Lillian. They are approach
ing very fast
Indeed, the Indians were coming OF
fast. They were now in plain sight OF
the long incline and were riding at
full galiop, gesticulating and pressing
forward with what looked to Lilial
like savage fierceness.
''They will go by, no doubt, sal,
Mrs. Wyman, her native courage re
asserting itself. ''They are probabl,
out in search Of lost ponies Or
J Look, m9thsF| See! They 90 to