rst characters in the county. He had just served a third
term in the penitentiary, and she had heard Mom Beck say that nobody in
the Valley would draw an easy breath while Limping Tige was loose.

A cold fear seized the child, and such a weakness numbed her trembling
hands that she could scarcely hold the bridle.

Wheeling the pony so suddenly that she almost lost her balance, she gave
him a cut with the switch that sent him flying back over the road he had
come, at the top of his speed. Now every bush and every tree and every
brier-tangled fence corner seemed to hold some nameless terror for her,
and even her lips were cold and blue with fear.

At the cross-roads she had another fright, as something big and black
loomed up in the moonlight ahead of her. "Oh, what is it?" she moaned,
so frightened that her heart almost stopped beating. The next glance
showed her that it was some one coming toward her on horseback, and then
a cheery whistling reassured her. Nobody could be very dangerous, she
knew, who could go along the road whistling "My Old Kentucky Home" in
such a happy fashion.

It was Keith, who had come to hunt for her. They had missed her, when
the charades were over, and, finding her pony gone too, thought that she
must have been taken suddenly ill, and had slipped away quietly in
order not to disturb the pleasure of the others.

Keith had offered to ride up to Locust and see what was the matter, and
his surprise showed itself in his rapid questioning when he met her
riding wildly away from the place where she had seen Limping Tige. It
did not take long for him to learn the whole story of her lonely ride,
and the fright she had had, for his questions were fired with such
directness of aim that truthful Betty could not dodge them. "And you
missed it all--the charades and the chance of taking the prize--and came
all the way back by yourself just to post a letter, when you didn't know
the way!" he exclaimed again as they drew in sight of the old mill.

"Well, I call that pretty plucky for a girl."

"I didn't want to," confessed Betty, "but there wasn't anything else to
do. It was a sacred promise, you know, and I had to keep it--to the
utmost."

They jogged along in silence side by side, a moment longer. Then as the
bonfire at the old mill flared into sight, Keith looked down at the
tired little figure on the pony beside him.

"Betty," he said, with a gleam of admiration in his eyes, "you're a
_brick_!"