He
dismissed that thought grimly. There had been no talk of going
away lately, and he knew that Jimmy had little money. Dannie
started for home, and for a rod on either side he searched the
path. As he came to the back of the barns, he rated himself for
not thinking of them first. He searched both of them, and all
around them, and then wholly tired, and greatly disgusted, he
went home and to bed. He decided that Jimmy HAD gone to Mrs.
Dolan's and that kindly woman had relented and taken him in. Of
course that was where he was.
Dannie was up early in the morning. He wanted to have the work
done before Mary and Jimmy came home. He fed the stock, milked,
built a fire, and began cleaning the stables. As he wheeled the
first barrow of manure to the heap, he noticed a rooster giving
danger signals behind the straw-stack. At the second load it was
still there, and Dannie went to see what alarmed it.
Jimmy lay behind the stack, where he had fallen face down, and as
Dannie tried to lift him he saw that he would have to cut him
loose, for he had frozen fast in the muck of the barnyard. He had
pitched forward among the rough cattle and horse tracks and
fallen within a few feet of the entrance to a deep hollow eaten
out of the straw by the cattle.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229