nd I want to see my baby before I go," she pleaded.

Tess shook her shoulders, and hesitated awkwardly.

"He air to sleep.... And ye ain't no business a-wakin' him up, nuther."

Suddenly a dread flashed into Teola's mind.

"Tessibel, he is.... There is something the matter with him!" She was
fully dressed, tremblingly holding the post of the bed for support.
"There is something the matter with him!" she gasped again.

"Nothin' that air a-hurtin' him," soothed Tess. "He air marked with the
fire what killed his pa, that air all.... See, t'ain't much."

She lifted the babe from the bed and held him up. The covering dropped
from the shoulder, exposing the brilliant scar.

"Not much," moaned Teola. "Not much! Poor little baby Dan!"

The mark gleamed out on the wizened old face, the deep veins in the thin
skin showing darkly. To Tess it looked more horrible than in the night
before. But she had to reassure the mother--the little mother who,
before that year, had never known one twinge of agony.

"It sure goes away sometime," said Tess.

Teola took the infant in her arms for a moment only. Moving the child
caused the large grey eyes to open, the mouth widening into a yawn.

"Take him, Tess!" mourned the mother. "Oh, I--I want to die. Dear God!
Dear, good God! Dan!... Dan, I want to come to you!"

In the presence of such grief Tessibel was silent.

She covered the infant again, and for some minutes she sat by the bed,
with her fingers tightly pressed in those of Teola. It was a tragedy
with which Tess could not cope. So she remained there until Teola cried
herself into a quietude that left an expression of wonder, knowledge and
sorrow. As Tess led her up the hill to the minister's cottage, she saw
that tears would come no more; that the mother would never know the
emotions of a girl again. Teola resembled the squatter, Myra, with her
pain-drawn face.

"She falled from the rocks," glibly lied Tess, as Rebecca placed the
pale girl in a chair. "Better put her in bed.... She has a bad ankle....
She couldn't walk much."

The frightened maid quickly responded to the advice of the squatter.

"She found me," pleaded Teola, "and you will let her come once in a
while to see me?"

Rebecca hesitated.

"Your mother and father--"

"They are not here yet, and I am so lonely and ill. Let Tessibel come
once in a while!"

"I have my doubts," said the maid, and she followed Tess down the long
stairs, just to see that the f