palace entrance. The coat-of-arms seemed a
disturbing element. She covered it with a strip of paper, but still
thoughts would not come.

Disgruntled and out-of-sorts, she put away her letter, and started toward
the house. Carver's mood was contagious, she said to herself. In Hannah's
kitchen she found Mrs. Alec and little David, a roly-poly youngster of
three who demanded too much attention for just one mother. Priscilla,
seeing in David a sure antidote for introspection, offered to play the
part of the necessary other mother, and took him out-of-doors, much to the
relief of tired Mrs. Alec. She had no more time to think of family mottoes
or coats-of-arms. David clamored for attention, begged to be shown the
horse, the dogs, and all the live-stock which the ranch afforded.
Priscilla was an obedient guide. Nothing was omitted from the itinerary.
When David, satisfied as to the other four-footed possessions, said "Pigs"
in his funny Scotch way, pigs it was!

She led him down the hill to the corral, then off toward the right where
the pigs had their abiding-place. A pile of rocks, the crevices of which
were filled with all weeds infesting the neighborhood of pigs, offered a
vantage-ground from which they might view the landscape so alluring to
little David. With his hand in hers, she was helping him mount the rocks
one by one.

Suddenly a miniature saw-mill whirred at their feet. A swarm of bees
filled the air! Priscilla, intent upon David, had not noticed the flat
surface of the rock where the sun lay warm and bright. Warned by the
strange sound, her terrified eyes saw the snake, coiled and ready to
spring! She had a fleeting vision of a flat, cruel head, and a thousand
diamond-shaped yellow dots as she grasped little David by the neckband and
pulled him from the rocks to the corral. It was a rattlesnake! The
brakeman's prophecy had come true! In spite of Virginia's assertion that
they never came near the house, she had seen one!

Little David was crying from surprise and a sore neck. He had not seen the
snake. Priscilla was trembling in every muscle. There was no one whom she
could call. The men were on the range and in the fields; Mr. Hunter and
the girls, except Vivian, were in town; Aunt Nan was at the Keiths. The
snake must not be allowed to live. Little David might be playing around
there again, or some other child. She herself would never, never have the
courage----! She started, for suddenly in place of the so