Page:From the West to the West.djvu/79



"The child has a strong sense of justice, inherited from you, John. You know she is wonderfully like you."

"Yes, yes, Annie. I wish she had been a boy instead o' Hal. She'd have made a rackin' good lawyer."

"I'll admit that she advised me to urge you to make the deed, John."

"Very well; we'll see about it sometime, Annie" and he arose to go.

Mrs. Ranger's heart sank.

"Why is it that men who are proverbially just and upright in their dealings with their fellow-men are so often derelict in duty where women, especially their own wives, are concerned?" she asked herself as she tottered by his side in silence.

The next morning found her unable to rise. A racking cough, which had disturbed her all through the night, was followed at daybreak by a burning fever. Her husband, who had slept like a top in an adjoining tent, was startled when he saw the ravages the night had left upon her pinched, white face.

"You caught cold last night, darling," he said, as he prescribed a simple remedy. "You ought not to have been sitting out in the night air."

"That didn't hurt me, John."

"Then it is the apprehension you suffer on account othat wench that is making you sick."

"No, John; it isn't that at all."

"Then what is it?"

"Ask Jean. I have nothing more to say."

But there was no time for further parleying. The breakfast was ready, and the hurry of preparation for departure was the theme of the hour.

"We reached camp in a pouring rain last night and pitched our tents, amid much discomfort, on the outskirts of the little town of St. Joseph," wrote Jean on