New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-03-15
CHAPTER Vl--Continued.

80
Tell John to saddle up and 90 for
the doctor, Phoebe, and don't let NOM
mic know whatever you do. This ism
her iumbago at all. | don't know what
cloth wouldn't be better than this? I've
II good mind to try il; her eyes are
CLASSY with fever and her skin is cold
AS "a fish. You tell John to hurry up.
He can ride Boxer. Tell him | want
him to get II doctor here by tomorrow
moor if he has to kill his horse do
ing it,
That night took its toll of Billy
Louise and left a scared place in her
memory. 1t vas IA night of Swapping
fire in the cook stove that hot water
might te always ready; of tirelesS
struggl" with the pain that came and
tortured, retired sullenly from Billy
Louise's stubborn lighting with poul-
ticcS and %tur3entinc cloths and every
hOmcly remedy she had ever heard of.
and came again just when she thought
She had won the fight.
There was no time to give thought to
the trouble that had ridden home with
her. thouan its presence was like a
black ~sh11ow behind her while she
worked and went to and fro between
bedroom and Kitchen and fought that
tearing pain.
She met the dawn hollow eyed and
so tired she could not worry very much
about anything. Her mother slept I'M
easily to prove that the battle had not
gone altogether against the girl who
had fought the night through. She had
her reward in full measure when the
doctor came, in the heat of noon. and
after terrible minutes of suspense for
Billy Louise while he counted pulse
and took temperature and studied
symptoms, told her that she had done
well and that she and her homely poul-
tees had held back tragedy from that
house.
Billy Louise lay down upon the couch
ont on the back porch and slept heav-
lily for three hours, while Phoebe and
the doctor watched over her mother.
She woke with a start. She had been
dreaming, and the dream had taken
from her cheeks what little color her
night vigil had left. She had dreamed
that Ward was in danger, that men
were hunting him for what he had done
at that corral. The corral seemed the
center Of a fight between Ward and the
men. she dreamed that he came to
her and that she must hide him away
and save him. But though she took
him to a cave, which was secret enough
for her purpose, yet she could not feel
that he was safe even there. There
was something-some menace.
Billy Louise went softly into the
house, tiptOed to the door of her moth
er's room and saw thai she lay quiet,
with her eyes closed. Beside the win
dow the doctor sat with his spectacles
far down toward the END of his nose,
reading a pale green pamphlet that he
must have brought in his pocket. Phoe-
be was down by the creek washing
clothes in the shade of a willow clump.
She went into her W room, still
walking on her toes. In her trunk was
a blue plush box of the kind that Is
given to one at Christmas 1t was fad
cd and the clasp was showing hrassy
at the edges. Sitting upon her bed with
the box in her lap Billy Louise paved
hastily in the tumble of ~keepsak-s it
held: an eagles claw which she meant
some time to have mounted for a
brooch; three or four a~rrowheads of
the shiny, black stuff which the Indians
were said to have brought from Vel
Iowstone park; a knot of green ribbon
which she had worn to a st. Patrick's
,lay dance in Boise; rattlcsnake rattles
of all sizes; several folded clippings
verses that had caught her fancy and
had been put away and forgotten: an
amber bead she had found once. She
turned the box upside down In her lap
and shook 1t. 1t must be there-the
thing she sought. the thing that had
troubled her most In her dream; the
thing that was a menace while it ex-
listed. 1t was at the very bottom of
the box, caught in a corner. She took
II out with fingers that trembled, crum-
pied 1t into a little ball SO that she
could not read what 1t said, straight
ened it Immediately and read 1t re-
l%uctantly from the beginning to the end
the last word was clipped short
with hasty scissors. A paragraph cut
from a newspaper 1t was; yellow and
from contact with other objects,
Of things /:
Billy Louise bit her lips until they
hurt, but she could not keep back the {
that came hot and singing while
she read. She slid the little heap of 1
odds and ends to the middle Of the bed, {
the clipping into her palm and {
vent out stealthily into the immaculate l
kitchen. As if she were being spied I
upon she went cautiously to the stove, l
lifted a lid and dropped the clipping In |
where the wood blazed the brightest. |
She watched it flare and become moth
even a pinch Of ash IS; the
was not very large. When it
vas gone she put the lid back and 1
vent tiptoeing to the door. Then she
ran.
Phoebe was down by the creek, SO
Billy Louise went to the stable, t