old woman sure does like my singin', Tess." He waddled toward the
girl and when he noticed the expression on her face,

"Somethin's happened," he ejaculated, "Anything the matter with Ma
Brewer?"

Tessibel backed into her room and beckoned the dwarf onward by a
movement of her head. After she'd shut the door, she pointed to the
child with a hissing swish of the whip.

"Waldstricker's," she announced briefly. "The squatters stole her and
gave her to me."

The sight of the little girl stopped Andy near the door. Instantly his
alert mind pictured Waldstricker's present anxiety and the awful
retribution he'd exact when he learned of her abduction. He had no idea
as yet what Tess intended to do and her attitude revealed no hint.
Personally, he was powerless because, to his physical weakness, the
storm presented an unsurmountable obstacle. Except for Mother Moll, he
was alone in the house with Tess and the Waldstricker child. Here was a
terrible predicament. He'd already lost many years of his life, because
he was present when Waldstricker's father was killed. He'd done what he
could to avert that crime and paid a heavy penalty, for his
interference. What to do, now, he didn't know. How to save the little
one and protect Tess he couldn't guess. Casting frightened eyes first on
the girl, then on the silent child, he crouched against the wall.

"What ye goin' to do with 'er?" he mumbled at last.... "What's the whip
for?"

"I don't know yet," replied Tess, and she balanced the raw-hide in her
hand. "This is the whip Waldstricker used.... Jake says to beat 'er like
he beat Boy."

The cruel look on her face and the fire in her eyes frightened the
dwarf. To him, she seemed almost insane.

"What'd ye tell 'em you'd do, Tess? Air you goin' to lick 'er?"

"I guess so. I didn't tell 'em for sure what I'd do."

She dropped the whip on a table and walked across the room to the window
where she stood looking out into the night with unseeing eyes. Then,
whirling on Andy, she clenched her fists and burst forth.

"She's the only thing Waldstricker loves! If I hurt her, don't I hurt
him?"

"Sure, dear," the little man acquiesced. "Sure, it'd make 'im ... think
a bit ... mebbe."

Elsie stirred uneasily, making the chair rock back and forth.

"Baby's hungry," she whimpered.

Tess threw off her wraps and flung out of the room. In the kitchen she
stirred the fire and heated some milk and broke bread into it.

While she was g