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Page 40
Betty watched until she saw the mail-bag tossed aboard, and then gave a
deep sigh of thankfulness. "Well," she exclaimed to Lad, in a relieved
tone, "that's done! We're too late for the charades, but maybe we'll get
back to the mill in time for the cake-walk."
It would have been quite dark by the time she reached the cross-roads
again, if it had not been that the moon was beginning to rise, and cast
a faint whiteness over the dusky fields. She could not remember which
way to turn. The first time she passed that way she had paid no
attention to direction, but had followed heedlessly after Lloyd. The
second time the pony had shot by so fast that she had had no time to
consider. Now he stood still, not caring which way she chose so long as
he had to travel away from his stall and feed-bin.
"It must be to the left," she said, in bewilderment, after a moment's
hesitation, and slowly turned in that direction. But she had taken the
wrong way. She went on and on, wondering why she did not come to a gate,
when the road suddenly turned into a narrow wagon track, with dark
corn-fields on each side. There was not a house or a human being in
sight.
The moon was not high enough yet to dispel much of the gloom of the
twilight, and bullbats were circling overhead, dipping so low at times
that once they almost brushed her face.
"Oh, I'm lost!" she whispered, with trembling lips. All of a sudden
there was a rustling of the high corn, and out of it limped a big burly
negro. He had a gun on his shoulder, and a savage-eyed dog skulked at
his heels. Betty nearly screamed in her terror at this sudden
appearance. She knew at a glance that the fellow must be "Limping Tige,"
one of the worst characters in the county. He had just served a third
term in the penitentiary, and she had heard Mom Beck say that nobody in
the Valley would draw an easy breath while Limping Tige was loose.
A cold fear seized the child, and such a weakness numbed her trembling
hands that she could scarcely hold the bridle.
Wheeling the pony so suddenly that she almost lost her balance, she gave
him a cut with the switch that sent him flying back over the road he had
come, at the top of his speed. Now every bush and every tree and every
brier-tangled fence corner seemed to hold some nameless terror for her,
and even her lips were cold and blue with fear.
At the cross-roads she had another fright, as something big and black
loomed up in the moonlight ahead of her. "Oh, what is it?" she moaned,
so frightened that her heart almost stopped beating. The next glance
showed her that it was some one coming toward her on horseback, and then
a cheery whistling reassured her. Nobody could be very dangerous, she
knew, who could go along the road whistling "My Old Kentucky Home" in
such a happy fashion.
It was Keith, who had come to hunt for her. They had missed her, when
the charades were over, and, finding her pony gone too, thought that she
must have been taken suddenly ill, and had slipped away quietly in
order not to disturb the pleasure of the others.
Keith had offered to ride up to Locust and see what was the matter, and
his surprise showed itself in his rapid questioning when he met her
riding wildly away from the place where she had seen Limping Tige. It
did not take long for him to learn the whole story of her lonely ride,
and the fright she had had, for his questions were fired with such
directness of aim that truthful Betty could not dodge them. "And you
missed it all--the charades and the chance of taking the prize--and came
all the way back by yourself just to post a letter, when you didn't know
the way!" he exclaimed again as they drew in sight of the old mill.
"Well, I call that pretty plucky for a girl."
"I didn't want to," confessed Betty, "but there wasn't anything else to
do. It was a sacred promise, you know, and I had to keep it--to the
utmost."
They jogged along in silence side by side, a moment longer. Then as the
bonfire at the old mill flared into sight, Keith looked down at the
tired little figure on the pony beside him.
"Betty," he said, with a gleam of admiration in his eyes, "you're a
_brick_!"
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