distance from that
window, away across toward the sheep-corrals and cattle-pens; but nobody
was in sight. What did it mean? Barney was punctuality itself.

Five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes more she worked with flying fingers,
and still there was no sight or sound of Barney; but her work was
finished, and now--now, what then?

There was only Hannah and John, the two house-servants, at hand. Hannah
couldn't go, and John had strict orders never to leave the premises in
Captain Elliston's absence. She looked at the clock; every second seemed
an age. If Barney didn't come, if _no one was sent in his place_, her
promise to Wallula would be broken, and Molly remembered Wallula's
words, "My mother say all white peoples forget, and break promises to
Indians;" and her own vehement reply, "_I_ sha'n't forget; I sha'n't
break _my_ promise, you'll see, you'll see, Lula!" Break her promise
after that! Never, never! Her father himself would say she must
not,--would say that _somebody_ must go in Barney's place, and there
was nobody,--nobody to go but--herself!

"Yer goin' alone, yer mean, over to the Injuns!" demanded John, as Molly
told him to bring her pony, Tam o' Shanter, to the door.

"Yes, yes, and right away, John; so hurry as fast as you can."

"Do yer think yer'd orter, Major Molly? Do yer think the Cap'n would
like it?" asked John, disapprovingly.

"John, if you don't bring Tam 'round this minute, I'll go for him
myself."

"'T ain't safe fur yer to go over there alone!" cried Hannah.

"Safe! I know the way, every inch of it, with my eyes shut, and so does
Tam; and I know the Indians, and Wallula is my friend; and I told her
she should have her present Christmas eve, sure, and I'm going to keep
my promise. Now bring Tam 'round just as quick as you can."

John obeyed, though with evident reluctance, and Hannah showed her
disapproval by scolding and protesting; but they had both of them lived
on the frontier for years, and their disapproval therefore was not what
it might have been under different circumstances. Molly, they knew,
could ride as well as a little Indian, and was familiar with every inch
of the way, as she had said, and Wallula was her friend.

"And 't wouldn't 'a' done the least bit o' good to hev set myself any
more against her. If I had, just as like as not the Cap'n would 'a'
sided with her and been mad at me, for he thinks the Major's ekal to
'most anything," John confided to Hannah, as he brough