--you hear me. I don't
often claim to be boss, but when I do I mean it. Them children can
stay here just as long as they will. For all their lives, an' I'll be
glad of it. The Lord has denied us any little shavers of our own, an'
maybe just because in His providence He was plannin' to send them two
orphans here for us to tend. As for the squaw, she's proved her soul's
white, if her skin is red, an' she stays or goes, just as she
elects--ary one. That's all. Now, you'd better see about fixing 'em a
place to sleep."

Because she was too astonished to do otherwise, Mercy complied. And
Wahneenah wisely relieved her unwilling hostess of any trouble
concerning herself. She followed Abel to the barn, to attend him upon
his belated "chores," and to beg the use of some coarse blankets which
she had found stored there. Until she could secure properly dressed
skins or bark, these would serve her purpose well enough for the
little tepee she meant to pitch close to the house which sheltered her
children.

"For I must leave them under her roof while the winter lasts. They are
not of my race, and cannot endure the cold. But I will work just so
much as will pay for their keep and my own. They shall be beholden to
the white woman for naught but their shelter. For that, too, I will
make restitution in the days to come."

"Pshaw, Wahneeny! I wouldn't mind a bit of a sharp tongue, if I was
you. Ma don't mean no hurt. She's used to bein' boss, that's all; an'
she will be the first to be glad she's got another female to consort
with. I wouldn't lay up no grudge. I wouldn't."

But the matter settled itself as the Indian suggested. It was pain and
torment to her to hear Mercy alternately petting and correcting her
darlings, yet for their sakes she endured that much and more. She even
failed to resent the fact that, after a short residence at the farm,
the Smiths both began to refer to her as "our hired girl, that's
workin' for her keep an' the childern's."

It did not matter to her now. Nothing mattered so long as she was
still within sight and sound of her Sun Maid's beauty and laughter;
and by the time spring came she had procured the needful skins to
construct the wigwam she desired. Her skill in nursing, that had been
well known among her own people, she now made a means of sustaining
her independence. Such aid as she could render was indeed difficult to
be obtained by the isolated dwellers in that wilderness; and having
nursed Abel