ffort, tumbled it
clear of the curtains. Debby raised herself still higher.

"Oh!" she groaned. "Talk about--Land sakes! who's comin'? Men, ain't it?
Let me out of here quick! QUICK!"

She scrambled out of her prison on hands and knees, and jumped to her
feet with reassuring alacrity. Her fur-collared cape was draped in a
roll about her neck, and her bonnet hung jauntily over her left eye.

"I'm a sight, ain't I?" she asked. "Haul this bunnet straight, quick's
ever you can. Hurt? No, no! I ain't hurt none but my feelin's. Hurry
UP! S'pose I want them men folks to see me with everything all hind side
to?"

Miss Dawes, relieved to find that the accident had had no serious
consequences, and trying her hardest not to laugh, assisted the widow
to rearrange her wearing apparel. The blacksmith and his helper came
running up the hill.

"Hello, Debby!" hailed the former. "What's the matter? Hurt, be you?"

Mrs. Beasley, whether she heard or not, did not deign to reply.

"Get my horn out of that carriage," she ordered. "Don't stand there
gapin'. Get it."

The ear trumpet was resurrected from the interior of the vehicle. The
widow adjusted it with dignity.

"Had a spill, didn't you, Debby?" inquired the blacksmith. "Upset,
didn't you?"

Debby glared at him.

"No," she replied with sarcasm. "Course I didn't upset! Just thought
I'd roll round in the road for the fun of it. Smart question, that is!
Where's that Bailey Bangs gone to with the rest of my carriage?"

The blacksmith pointed to his shop in the hollow. Before it stood Mr.
Bangs, holding Henry by the bridle, and staring in their direction.

"He's all right," volunteered the "helper." "The horse stopped runnin'
soon's he got to the foot of the next hill."

Mrs. Beasley was not, apparently, overjoyed at the news.

"Humph!" she grunted. "I 'most wish he'd broke his neck! Pesky, careless
thing! gettin' us run away with and upset. Who's goin' to pay for fixin'
my sulky, I want to know?"

"Mr. Bangs will pay for it, I'm sure," said Phoebe soothingly. "If he
doesn't, I will. Oh, Mrs. Beasley! did you find the diary?"

"Diary? No, no! I told you I was afraid I'd burnt it up. Well, I had,
and a whole lot more of them old ones. But I did get all them Arizona
papers, and took the trouble to tote 'em all the way here so's you could
look at 'em. And now"--she shook with indignation and waved her hand
toward a section of horizon where little white dots indicated the