bed an' me an' Watts an' the baby sleeps in
hit, on 'tother side the room. Watts, he aims to put up some bunks
when he gits time."

Sick at heart, and too tired and sore of body to protest against any
arrangement that would allow her to sleep the girl murmured her thanks
and crossed to the door of the bedroom. Not at all sure of her
bearings she paused uncertainly in the doorway until a sound of heavy
breathing located the slumbering Watts, and turning toward the
opposite side of the room, proceeded cautiously through the blackness
until her feet came in contact with her "shake-down," which consisted
of a pair of blankets placed upon a hay tick. The odor of the blankets
was anything but fresh, but she sank to the floor, and with much
effort and torturing of strained muscles, succeeded in removing her
boots and jacket and throwing herself upon the bed. Almost at the
moment her head touched the coarse, unslipped pillow, she fell into a
deep sleep, from which hours later she was awakened by an insistent
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. "Someone has forgotten to pull up the
canoe and the waves are slapping it against the side of the dock," she
thought drowsily. "Did I have it last?" She stirred uneasily and the
pain of movement caused her to gasp. She opened her eyes, and instead
of her great airy chamber in Aunt Rebecca's mansion by the sea, she
was greeted by the sight of the hot, stuffy room of the Watts cabin. A
rumpled pile of blankets was mounded upon the bed against the opposite
wall, and a shake-down similar to her own occupied a space beside the
open door through which hot, bright sunlight streamed.

Several hens pecked assiduously at some crumbs, and Patty realized
that it was the sound of their bills upon the wooden floor that had
awakened her. She succeeded after several painful attempts in pulling
on her boots, and as she rose to her feet, Ma Watts thrust her head in
at the door.

"Lawzie! Honey, did them hens wake yo' up? Sho'! ef I'd a thought o'
thet, I'd o' fed 'em outside, an' yo' could of kep' on sleepin'. 'They
ain't nothin' like a good long sleep when yo' tired,' Watts says, an'
he ort to know. He aims to build a house fer them hens when he gits
time. Yo' know where the worsh dish is, jest make yo'se'f to home,
dinner'll be ready d'rec'ly." The feel of the cold water was grateful
as the girl dashed it over her face and hands from the little tin
wash-basin on the bench beside the door. Watts sat with hi