oked at
me with their mouths open.

"You go home," says I, "and take care o'
yourselves, if you know how. When I want you or
the like o' you, I'll send for you. _Scat!_"
And I shut the door and bolted it, b'ilin' with
rage, and came back to my poor Queen.

She was down on the floor, all huddled up in a
corner, moanin' and moanin', like a dumb beast
that has a death wound. I lifted her up, and
tried to soothe and quiet her,--she was
tremblin' all over,--but 't was hard work. Not
a word could I get out of her but "Devil!
Devil!" and then "Solomon!" over and over
again. I brought the Bible, and read her about
the Temple, and the knops and the flowers, and
the purple, and the gold dishes, till she was
quiet again; and then I put her to bed, poor
soul! though 't was only six o'clock, and sat
and sang "Jerusalem the Golden" till she
dropped off to sleep. I was b'ilin' mad still,
and besides I was afraid she'd have a fit o'
sickness, or turn ravin', after the fright, so
I didn't sleep much myself that night. Towards
mornin', however, I dropped off, and must have
slept sound; for when I woke it was seven
o'clock, the sun was up high, the door was
swingin' open, and the Queen o' Sheba was gone.

Don't ask me, little Dolly, how I felt, when I
found that poor creature was nowhere on the
place. I knew where to go, though. Something
told me, plain as words; and Bluff and I, we
made a bee-line for the Rollin' Dam woods. The
dog found her first. She had tried to get into
her hole, but the earth had caved in over it;
so she had laid down beside it, on the damp
ground, in her nightgown. Oh, dear! oh, dear!
How long she'd been there, nobody will ever
know. She was in a kind o' swoon, and I had to
carry her most o' the way, however I managed to
do it; but I was mortal strong in those days,
and she was slight and light, for all her bein'
tall. When I got her home and laid her in her
bed, I knowed she'd never leave it; and sure
enough, before night she was in a ragin' fever.
A week it lasted; and when it began to go down,
her life went with it. My poor Queen! she was