in a sort of titular and universal
aunt-hood, which really was a much greater tribute and honor than she
dreamed. Not a man, woman, or child, within her reach, that did not call
her or know of her as "Aunt Ri."

"I donno whether I'd best make enny more fire naow or not," she said
reflectively; "ef this storm's goin' to last till mornin', we'll come
short o' wood, thet's clear." As she spoke, the door of the hut burst
open, and her husband staggered in, followed by Alessandro, both covered
with snow, their arms full of wood. Alessandro, luckily, knew of a
little clump of young cottonwood-trees in a ravine, only a few rods from
the house; and the first thing he had thought of, after tethering the
horses in shelter between the hut and the wagons, was to get wood. Jeff,
seeing him take a hatchet from the wagon, had understood, got his own,
and followed; and now there lay on the ground enough to keep them warm
for hours. As soon as Alessandro had thrown down his load, he darted to
Ramona, and kneeling down, looked anxiously into the baby's face, then
into hers; then he said devoutly, "The saints be praised, my Majella! It
is a miracle!"

Jos listened in dismay to this ejaculation. "Ef they ain't Catholics!"
he thought. "What kind o' Injuns be they I wonder. I won't tell mammy
they're Catholics; she'd feel wuss'n ever. I don't care what they be.
Thet gal's got the sweetest eyes'n her head ever I saw sence I wuz
born."

By help of Jos's interpreting, the two families soon became well
acquainted with each other's condition and plans; and a feeling of
friendliness, surprising under the circumstances, grew up between them.

"Jeff," said Aunt Ri,--"Jeff, they can't understand a word we say,
so't's no harm done, I s'pose, to speak afore 'em, though't don't seem
hardly fair to take advantage o' their not knowin' any language but
their own; but I jest tell you thet I've got a lesson'n the subjeck uv
Injuns. I've always hed a reel mean feelin' about 'em; I didn't want ter
come nigh 'em, nor ter hev 'em come nigh me. This woman, here, she's ez
sweet a creetur's ever I see; 'n' ez bound up 'n thet baby's yer could
ask enny woman to be; 'n' 's fur thet man, can't yer see, Jeff, he jest
worships the ground she walks on? Thet's a fact, Jeff. I donno's ever I
see a white man think so much uv a woman; come, naow, Jeff, d' yer think
yer ever did yerself?"

Aunt Ri was excited. The experience was, to her, almost incredible. Her
ideas of