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heard herself discussed if she had listened. The clatter around the table stopped instantly.

"We 're in a quandary, mamma and I/* she said, blushing. "Our matches are damp and won't burn. I thought perhaps—"

A half-dozen men were on their feet in an instant, and half-a-dozen hands went suddenly into half-a-dozen pockets, while half-a-dozen blocks of matches were forthcoming in less than half a minute.

"Here are more than I need, gentlemen, and I thank you ever so much," she said, taking the offer from Scotty; and, with a bow and a smile to all, she was gone.

"The red of her lips is like rubies, the white of her teeth is like pearls, and her voice is a symphony," said Scotty, looking after her as she ran.

"Scotty's attack is as sudden as it is serious," laughed Lengthy, a short, stocky teamster, whose nickname was a ludicrous misfit.

"What freak o' fate do you s'pose it was that brought that beauty out here on a journey like this?" asked Yank, a Southern-born teamster, whose accepted nickname was another palpable misnomer, and who dropped his r's, like a negro preacher.

"I know!" cried Bobbie, his fingers dripping with molasses. "She came to meet Scotty."

The laugh that followed disconcerted the child, who ran, abashed, to his mother in the family wagon.

"I thought," exclaimed Sambo,—a gaunt Vermonter, who dropped his ^'s as frequently as Yank dropped his r's,—"I thought there'd be several ladies comin' along, to keep us company."

"Can you tell us why Mrs. O'Dowd didn't join us?" asked Yank, turning deferentially to the Captain. "I thought we were to have the pleasure of one woman's company,—I mean in addition to the ladies present, of