BETTY'S BLESSINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 29 October 1908, Page 37

BETTY'S BLESSINGS

through the snowy hemlocks on the mountains, with no breath of wind to sw.rl it, and the great, round sun away off by the Sangre do Cnsto Range was sending its red rays over the snowy who AT I vT^ 1 tO an ° ther *"• ""d bathing the gS who stood by the httlc cabin window in its soft radiance But the g,rl, Betty Bethune, was not attracted to it-not a bit' She seemed rather to lake it as an affront, for she glared back at the great orb with a defiant air, and at last said? Oh, I wouldn't stand there blazing away if I hadn't done more than just to rise and set, over since I was born- No I wouldn't. I would do something! ' Betty Bethune was in a 'do something ' mood. Turning paU tha^h nn d ° thlng H bett ? r ' she P«*ed gunpowder pail that had served as a seat from her so ruthlessly that if tapped over and rolled ignominious* into a corner ! box. Well, stay there! You're not fit to sit on, anyway. msmm iSPr-iii

■ Yes, go right to that chair ! You always do run to father if he is here, and to his chair when he isn't, whenever you think you re abused. But I want you to understand, Tom, you can't so much as look at that, bird ! Dandy Dick has come to stay, and it's in theMook where the mischief lies.' Then, realising • how snappy sh« was, she. cried, 'I can't help it!' saying it bitterly, while pressing back thejiot tears. •I- just can't help it I It isn't the place for a girl up here in the mountains among the sheep. And it wasn't nice of father to ask me to count my blessings. I don't care if I did ask him where they were. ' He didn't like it. I shouldn'e have said it. No, and he -is going off and having the worst of it.' The door opened and shut again, and Betty turned/ tb find Jimmy Barnes standing there with his cap unremoved . ' ° h .\J£ S yy ° U '< iS U? ' She said ' tr y jn g to s P**k a softer tone. What does father want; more salt?' 'John Sayles sent me,' said Jimmy. 'He says as how you am tto get scared and lose your head. Maybe the snow hain't fallen from the North Notch, and the south shed is: mostly unaer the North Notch. 1 " - ' - t 'The snow?' A frightened look shot into the girl's eyes. Jimmy Barnes, has the snow fallen from Crown' Point?' There was now abject in Betty's whole attitude, 'On the south side it's fallen. It's a mile high over the gulch road. But maybe your father hain't had time to get onto the road, and if he's at the shed-he went there just before sunset, Long John says, to salt the sheei>-maybe the shed's all right. \ou can't tell.' The girl dropped into a chair, all brightness stricken from her face, her eyes wide with fear. ; n«J VT: Z™ ain>t t0 d ° ' lt ' Bet Lon 2 John sa y s so >' Jimmy protested, taking a step nearer the girl - her !nL ßetty^ d T **" " Her head Was hw '«* »» her apron. She knew too much about Crown Point. She knew how often they had said they would move the south shed It was too near the Point. - She knew how they had watched he snow on the south side of that great sloping pyramid the he kTewr t! W3rm and sUn ShG k-w.^she kne" she knew! The apron came down. The boy sidled back to the door It was something he could never stand-tears on L WO H :V aCe - he C ° uld not stand * with his mother. H e opened the door, and Betty was alone. But after a few' plunges ure Tmi J ,! mmy , tlirned b3Ck -' ' Lon « J° hn ***> Bet, "Be sure and tell her, the -last thing before you close the door the very last thing, as how maybe the North Point hasn't fal^n and kf/the J7 'T ath f' S aH Hght; maybe aS how he left the shed, and wasn't on the gulch road." They're coin' round by the bend and comin' up on that side. They'lfget here just as soon as they. can.' 8 The girl started to her feet. 'I am goings she cried look «g wildly around the room for something" to wrap he 3 in Long John says you ain't to stir one step from* the -house You don't know where the snow is, and where it ainV Ther ? s lots of ,t f«l|« round everywhere. You're jest to keep right stUl S3 itS Sain™™ — «"* - d Betty never knew how she got^through that night. It was amazmg that one o'clock should strike so many times in one night, and such long waits in between, too I Mos of the time whoTn " TOm< What WaS Dand r Dlck-beLde Tom SSSBr-"=T — «&?s „ BB f f U l . When thern^ning came, and the room was full of menZ*£s&z zzjzr ::S sings? Every heart for miles around held one. When, a little later, the men crowded- to the table for »