. He was very ill for a
time, and but for the ministrations of Dr. Balsam, who came up from
Ridgely to look after him, and the care of a devoted nurse in the person
of Terpsichore, this history might have ended then. Terpsichore had,
immediately after Keith's accident, closed her establishment and devoted
herself to his care. There were many other offers of similar service,
for New Leeds was now a considerable town, and Keith might have had a
fair proportion of the gentler sex to minister to him; but Dr. Balsam,
to whom Terpsichore had telegraphed immediately after Keith's rescue,
had, after his first interview with her in the sick-room, decided in
favor of the young woman.

"She has the true instinct," said the Doctor to himself. "She knows when
to let well enough alone, and holds her tongue."

Thus, when Keith was able to take notice again, he found himself in good
hands.

A few days after he was able to get up, Keith received a telegram
summoning him to New York to meet the officers of the company. As weak
as he was, he determined to go, and, against the protestations of doctor
and nurse, he began to make his preparations.

Just before Keith left, a visitor was announced, or rather announced
himself; for Squire Rawson followed hard upon his knock at the door. His
heavy boots, he declared, "were enough to let anybody know he was
around, and give 'em time to stop anything they was ashamed o' doin'."

The squire had come over, as he said, "to hear about things." It was the
first time he had seen Keith since the accident, though, after he had
heard of it, he had written and invited Keith to come "and rest up a bit
at his house."

When the old man learned of the summons that had come to Keith, he relit
his pipe and puffed a moment in silence.

"Reckon they'll want to know why they ain't been a realizin' of their
dreams?" he said, with a twinkle in his half-shut eyes. "Ever notice,
when a man is huntin', if he gits what he aims at, it's himself; but if
he misses, it's the blamed old gun?"

Keith smiled. He had observed that phenomenon.

"Well, I suspicionate they'll be findin' fault with their gun. I have
been a-watchin' o' the signs o' the times. If they do, don't you say
nothin' to them about it; but I'm ready to take back my part of the
property, and I've got a leetle money I might even increase my
herd with."

The sum he mentioned made Keith open his eyes.

"When hard times comes," continued the old man,