or what she meant to do. The life-line made from her
cherished bedclothing was twisted about his wet shoulders like a flash.
Yet there seemed nothing violent nor vindictive as she rolled him over
and over, wisely winding and binding first his hands and feet. After
that the punishment she administered was but a question of endurance on
her part, and the length of the line.

"There, you blatherskite! What's your guardian angel thinkin' of ye the
now, you poor, ignorant, heathen gossoon? Well for ye that old Cleena
has met up with ye to beat some bits o' sense into your idle pate.
Tight, is it? Well, not so tight as the bands o' me heart when I looked
to see ye brought up to me dead. 'Twon't hurt. Lie there an' rest."

Cleena finished her harangue and her task together. After that she stood
up straight and strong, and regarded the teamster with a questioning
eye.

"Is it true, what he says, that he's nor kith nor kin, hereabouts?"

"I guess it's true," answered John, laughing at the ludicrous appearance
of Fayette upon the ground. "He was born in the poorhouse, an' I've
heard his mother died. His father had before then, I know. I used--"

Cleena was in no mood for long stories, and she foresaw that one was
imminent. She interrupted without ceremony--

"So, if I take him in hand to train him a bit, what for no? There'll be
no one botherin' an' interferin', is it?"

"I guess there won't anybody worry about 'Bony.' He's right handy around
the mill, an' he does odd jobs for a many people; but if you want him, I
'low you can have him 'for a song.'"

"I'll have no song singin', not I, nor from him. But if I don't make a
smart, decent lad where there lies a fool, my name isn't Cleena Keegan,
the day. Now what's about the well?"

"That's what I want to know, Cleena," cried Amy. "How did he, could he,
fall into it and climb out of it alive?"

"Easier than you think, miss. He slid down the rope as far as it went, I
suppose, then caught his feet in the stones of the sides, then his
hands, and went down just as he came up. He didn't go into the water in
the bottom, of course; but he's proved that the well is safe enough, and
to-morrow morning he ought to be made to go down, properly fixed, with a
rope around his waist and the tackle for bailing it out. It'll be a job,
then, even after to-day's beginning. But I'll tell the boss about it,
and I don't doubt he'll send the other man that helps 'Bony' in the mill
village, and ge