Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-08-12


see for yourself there's none in on
pasture; and the only other place 4
our house-if you please to search that
There's the attic, and the cellar, AM
the woodshed, and all the closets
and If the bay horse with the whit,
star is as clever at curling his legs III
under him as he must be at stretching
them to run away, or maby to scram
Bile up and down stairs, he nigh
even be slowed away in the pumpkin
bin! I have often hid there myself
and indeed it's good place to Ii.
snug. Will you look?"
Now, the sergeant was already
thinking he had made a mistake II
searching hilltop, and that the boy
must have slipped past them some
how in the fog; and, moreover, he was
a kind man, who did not enjoy fright
ening little girl as desperately al
he seemed to have frightened lilly;
and besides, II the horse was not there,
It must be somewhere else and time
was being wasted.
So the puzzled sergeant looked hard
for an anxious minute from Axy ia
her aunt; and then, growing only,
F! "Saucy tongues aren't safe for little
girls" he flung upon his horse, tossed
quick order to his comrades, and
away went the three scarlet figures
together, Gathering swiftly down the
hill.
Nobody spoke till they were we'll
beyond the first "thank-you-ma'am"
Of the rough road. Then lilly, lift
ing her streaming face from Aunt
Nancy's crumpled kerchief, where she
had buried it. sobbed Historically:
"Oh, Axy-oh, Axy! they asked me
II I'd seen 'em-and I had! And so I
wouldn't say anything at all. And they
said they'd take me away with 'em
If 1 didn't; and I was so frightened I
didn't know what to do; but I .lidn't
tell didn't tell!"
She dropped her face again against
the soaked kerchief; and Aunt Nancy
patted her shoulders and murmured:
There, my dear; there, there!" She
add more sharply: what Is the poor
child talking about. Axy?"
Come into the house and I'll show
you," said Axy; and taking Tilly's
hand, she led the way to the parlor,
whisked the key from behind the hall
cupboard, and threw open the door.
For moment they could not sec into
the dim room, and before their eyes
had grown used to the darkness Be-
linda neighed a greeting-neighed un-
checked, so loud and long that even
Aunt Nancy heard, and jumped as If
she we're shot! A minute later Axy
was pouring out explanations, while
lilly still sobbed softly; and Belinda,
forgotten In the excitement, walked
slyly over to the mantelpiece, and,
laying her nose down sideways, and
curling back her lips. chased the last
remaining apple Up and down the
smooth ledge, with her white teeth
swapping, and little snorts and puflngs
Of enjoyment.
where she remained safe during the
few remaining days before the British
marched out of the vicinity. Then Zeb
took her home. And little later Or.
Thyng-who, scarcely less than tho
parson and the squire, was great
man Of the neighborhood-rode out in
his Sunday coat and best ruffles to
make formal call on miss Achsah
and Miss Matilda Binns," and to thank
them for all they had done; and which
had done the most he declared he
could not tell; and he praised them
both till lilly blushed like peony,
and Axy held her chin so high with
pride it tipped up skyward almost as
sharply as her little turn.up nose!
And If the two sisters did not really
enjoy this VISIT as much as the many
less imposing which zeb, their warm
friend from that day, made in less
stately fashion, yet 1t was great hon
or and a great event, none the less.
Standing on the doorstep, curtsying
their goodbys. they felt, as the doctor
In his saddle lifted his fine cooked hat
shook the reins on Belinda's glossy
neck. and cantered away, as If some
thing had lifted them quite out of lit
tie girlhood and added q good ten
years to their dignity.
THE END.